Release Date:

January 3, 1953

Main Character(s):

Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog

Summary:

Sam Sheepdog foils Ralph Wolf’s sheep-stealing schemes for the first time.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1221 and was released as a Looney Tune.

This is the first appearance of one of the most interesting cartoon duos, Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog, whose respective jobs are to steal a flock of sheep and guard the flock of sheep, respectively (although in this cartoon only, Ralph attempts to get the sheep at his own time and does it for hunger rather than work). This and their second appearance, 1954’s “Sheep Ahoy” are also the only times where they are full-on adversaries as beginning with their third appearance, 1955’s “Double or Mutton”, onwards, they are shown to actually be great friends outside of work and only enemies during work hours.

Ralph and Sam would appear in six more cartoons in the Golden Age, all of which except for the last one (which was directed by Phil Monroe and Richard Thompson, the latter of whom was soon to become a fully-fledged animator in Jones’ unit), were directed by Jones. These include the aforementioned “Sheep Ahoy” and “Double or Mutton”. The other four include “Steal Wool” (1957), “Ready Woolen and Able” (1960), “A Sheep in the Deep” (1962), and “Woolen Under Where” (1963). They even got three episodes of their own in Looney Tunes Cartoons, “Fleece and Desist” (2020), “A Wolf in Cheap Clothing” (2021), and “Winter Hungerland” (2023).

Ralph looks exactly like Wile E. Coyote except that Ralph’s nose is red and Wile E.’s is black (in a similar way, that’s how Chip and Dale are physically distinguished). Considering they were both created by Jones, they might be related (to support this, the section on Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner in “The Looney Tunes Treasury” mentions Ralph as being the former’s cousin, which is definitely plausible).

The Ralph and Sam cartoons are also similar to the Roadrunner cartoons in that they all use the same plot (Ralph’s schemes to steal the sheep either being foiled by Sam or backfire on him without Sam’s involvement).

Ralph was apparently named after a storyman named Ralph Wolfe, although what cartoons he actually contributed to are currently unknown.

In this cartoon, Ralph goes unnamed, but oddly, Sam is referred to as “Ralph” by Fred, the sheepdog who works the night shift.

The title is a pun for the song, “Don’t Give Up the Ship” (while it had been utilized in several Warner cartoons, it never appears in this cartoon).

The cartoon was originally restored for the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1 DVD set in 2003 in normal pitch. It was re-restored for HBO Max in 2020, but was inexplicably low-pitched.

This is the last Jones cartoon until 1955’s “Two Scents Worth” to feature layouts by Robert Gribbroek.

Carlos Manriquez does the backgrounds for this one instead of Philip DeGuard.

This is the last cartoon to use the 1952-1953 blue rings with the red background and the only 1953 cartoon to do so.

Favorite Scene:

The rope swinging and tree sawing scene which ends with gravity being defied when Ralph tries to pickax the side of the cliff the tree was on off to make it fall.

What Happens in This One:

“Ranz Des Vaches” from the William Tell Overture plays as Sam walks to work with his lunch pail. He and Fred, the sheepdog who guards the flock during the night, exchange greetings as they punch in and punch out at the time clock, respectively. Sam: “Hello, Fred”. Fred: “Hello, Ralph”. Sam then puts his lunch pail inside a hollow tree and lifts up the hair obscuring his eyes to look at a chart suspended by a clipboard on the tree, which presumably lists all of the (unknown) names of the sheep. He also lifts his hair up to count all the sheep before sitting down to watch over them (animated by Ken Harris).

A tail sneaks along the bushes, where it’s revealed to be Ralph, sneaking along, unbeknownst to Sam. Ralph looks at two of the sheep and after imagining them as mutton and lamb chops respectively, licks his lips slowly and loudly before sneaking off. He changes the time from 8:15 to 12:00, causing the lunch time whistle to pop out and alert Sam. Thinking it is indeed that time, Sam goes out to eat his lunch, a bone between two pieces of bread, but just before he can eat it, Ralph changes the time from 12:00 to 1:00 when lunch break is over, so Sam puts his bone sandwich away and runs back to his position to watch the sheep. The whistle blows once more, revealing that Ralph has now changed it to the quitting time at 5:00. Sam is fooled by this too, so he punches out and leaves for home, but realizes he’s been tricked upon seeing the nearby church in the distance give a chime of 9:00. Sam runs back to the field to find the sheep all gone. It turns out that in Sam’s absence, Ralph has managed to grab every single sheep and is carrying them all off. Once he disappears behind a bush and trees, an offscreen attack occurs. Sam shortly comes back with the large pile of sheep to put them back. With a lump on his head, a dazed Ralph is seen with a lump on his head and with his head sticking out of the ground as he sees sheep dancing around instead of stars. A broken stick is seen near him, indicating that Sam pummeled him with that (animated by Lloyd Vaughan).

Disguised as a bush, Ralph abducts a random sheep and sneaks off, only for Sam, who’s disguised as a tree to follow him. Just as Sam is about to kick him, Ralph stops upon sensing he’s being followed before Sam wallops him on the head with one of his tree costume’s branches, giving Ralph a lump. Wondering where the hit came from, Ralph sticks his arm out and feels and flicks the tree bark from Sam’s disguise. They continue walking off before Sam wallops him on the head again with the same branch, which gives Ralph a second lump. Realizing Sam is onto him, Ralph goes to put the sheep back, all the while still in his bush disguise, as Sam is seen tapping his foot and with his “branches” on his hips in a “Come on. Put him back” manner (animated by Ben Washam).

Ralph is seen reading a book on Greek myths and learns that the god of the woods, Pan, lulled shepherds to sleep in order to steal their sheep. He disguises as Pan and plays Mendelssohn’s “Spring Song” on the pipes, doing so while dancing up to Sam. Sam simply punches him without looking back, causing Ralph to dance off dizzily as his playing begins to sound distorted (animated by Harris).

Ralph next tunnels under the ground and pulls down each sheep one by one. Shocked at the sight of the sheep seemingly sinking into the ground, Sam goes to observe this, only for him to get mistakenly pulled down by Ralph. Under the ground, Sam punches Ralph offscreen, so Ralph returns him to the surface and also does this with all the sheep. With a black eye, Ralph then refills the tunnel he dug (animated by Vaughan).

Ralph puts the box of “One ACME Wild-Cat (Handle with Care)” behind Sam and opens it from far away into the distance for it to attack Sam who doesn’t even look back at any point to see what’s going on. Instead of scratching up Sam, the wildcat goes straight for Ralph once it’s released, and thrashes him offscreen. While the fight is never shown, the aftermath is shown with most of Ralph’s fur missing (animated by Vaughan).

Ralph’s next scheme involves swinging from a rope tied to a tree Tarzan-style to catch a sheep. To his misfortune, he ends up catching Sam instead and realizes this when he swings back to the cliff side he jumped off of and sees Sam giving him an angry stare. He climbs up the rope and leaves Sam hanging on to it before he saws off the part of the branch with the rope on it. After an offscreen crash, Ralph turns around to see Sam sawing off this part of the branch, causing Ralph to fall. Sam finds Ralph sawing down the entire branch. Sam then chops the tree down with an ax. Finally, Ralph uses a pickax to remove the part of the cliff Sam is standing on, but his side falls instead, leaving the small precipice Sam is standing on remaining in mid-air. Seeing he’s defying gravity, Sam shrugs to the audience (animated by Washam).

As a sheep is getting a drink from the pond, Ralph decides to ambush it by swimming underwater towards it, using a reed as a snorkel. Sam is seen waiting for him while standing on a rock in the middle of a pond and slips a dynamite stick into the reed. This causes a huge underwater explosion, creating several large bubbles that pop loudly and send Ralph bobbing up and sinking back down headfirst like a ship hit with a torpedo (animated by Washam).

At quitting time, “Fred” punches in as Sam begins to leave to punch out. “Fred” greets him with, “Hello, Ralph”, only for Sam to slug him on the head with a club. “Fred” is revealed to be Ralph in disguise as a large lump grows out of his head, with the Fred mask being on top of it. Ralph attempts to crawl away, only for Sam to grab him and begin spanking him on the behind in time to “The Five O’Clock Whistle”. The real Fred punches in and greets Sam, “Hello, Ralph”. Sam greets him, “Hello, Fred” and gives him the club to have him continue Ralph’s spanking (animated by Harris).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½