Release Date:

September 24, 1949

Main Character(s):

Elmer Fudd

Summary:

The narrator convinces John Rooster that farmer Elmer Fudd may be planning to kill him for a chicken dinner. After an attempt to get rid of the ax fails, John is convinced by the narrator the following day to bump off Elmer first, but due to Elmer having no idea of what’s actually going on, all of John’s schemes backfire.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1092 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue.

The cartoon wasn’t restored for HBO Max, but Warner Archive did restore it very recently for the Looney Tunes Collector’s Vault Volume 1 Blu-ray set in June 2025.

The cartoon is a parody of the radio program, “The Whistler”.

This is one of Jerry Beck’s least favorite Warner Bros. cartoons (believe it or not, I actually served as the inspiration for that post back in April 2021) as he finds it to be disturbing and the narrator to be creepy. However, Thad Komorowski was a bit more kinder towards the cartoon, saying he’s always viewed it as “one of a handful of dark Freleng classics” as well as also having a “throwaway scene that perfectly epitomizes Elmer’s stupidity: him jovially accepting the duck decoy hat and a death sentence while doing his stupid laugh”.

The title is a pun for the 1939 film “Each Dawn I Die”.

This is the last Freleng cartoon to have animation by Manuel Perez until he returned to the unit with 1951’s “Canned Feud” (after briefly animating for McKimson). Perez remained in Freleng’s unit until his departure in 1955.

The narrator is voiced by Frank Graham, in his last role in a Warner cartoon before he committed suicide a year later.

Due to Mel Blanc not voicing any characters in the cartoon, there are no voice characterizations credited in the cartoon. In this particular cartoon, the gap where they would be is very noticeable.

This is one of the very few times where Elmer doesn’t have anything bad happen to him at any point.

During the scene where John buries the ax, a staked sign in the garden identifies one plant brand as “Champin”, being a reference to Ken Champin. A road sign near the church is also labeled as “Frizby”, which is of course yet another reference to Freleng. Finally, the bucket of white paint that John paints a grenade with to look like an egg is labeled “Hadley and Pert”, another variation on Hawley Pratt.

What I Like About This One:

After John’s crowing causes his neck feathers to pop open like an umbrella, he happily jumps down to the ground and struts along in time to a cheerful tune as the narrator asks, “Pleased with yourself, aren’t you, John?” John nods as the narrator continues, “Cock of the walk, lord of your domain, head man. Yes, it’s good to be alive, isn’t it? (chuckles) Think you can stay alive? Long?” John stops in confusion at this (animated by Gerry Chiniquy up to here) and turns around as the narrator tells him, “Oh, don’t be alarmed. It’s just that I see Farmer Fudd over there- sharpening his ax” (animated by Ken Champin).

Elmer is indeed doing just that (animated by Manuel Perez) but John shrugs and walks off in a carefree manner before the narrator says, “And that usually means- chicken dinner”, which causes John to make a horrified take (animated by Chiniquy) and run off squawking in fear while trying to hide in a dog house, under a henhouse, and finally under a barn. The narrator is of no help: “Oh, no use hiding, John. He’ll find you when he wants you”. John sadly walks out as the narrator gleefully continues, “And he’ll want you say… dinner time… Sunday… tomorrow?” John squawks in horror and runs off but runs smack into the barn (animated by Champin).

Elmer finishes sharpening his ax, “Yessiwwee. Just what I’ll need for that nasty job I have to do tomorrow” (animated by Perez). John cringes in terror after Elmer hits the chopping block with the ax and runs around coughing in fear (animated by Champin). After Elmer walks into the farmyard happily singing and scatting to “Some Sunday Morning” (animated by Virgil Ross), the narrator tells a pacing John, “Some Sunday morning (laughs) THIS Sunday morning, John” (animated by Chiniquy).

“If only there was something you could DO”, the narrator continues as John gets an idea to do away with the ax (animated by Chiniquy). He sneaks around, grabs the ax and buries it in the ground but the narrator taunts him again, “You’ve got a good head on your shoulders. Too bad you can’t keep it there” as he laughs fiendishly (animated by Champin).

The plan immediately backfires when Elmer waters his garden and expecting nothing out of the ordinary waters the ground where the ax was buried, causing the ax to sprout up like a plant complete with leaves on it! Elmer scratches his head in confusion but shrugs and takes the ax inside with him (animated by Perez). As John is pacing back and forth and imagining himself inside a pan with a sign sticking out of it, “Here Lies John”, the narrator continues tormenting him, “Too bad, John. You didn’t make it, did you? Ah well. Tomorrow’s another day… Sunday” (animated by Chiniquy).

Shortly before dawn the next morning, a beyond scared John has been chain-smoking all night before snapping out of it upon the narrator telling him the sun will be coming up soon (animated by Champin). Upon seeing Elmer wake up, John paints a night sky on his window which causes Elmer to go back to sleep, but the curtain shade opens the top of the window, which allows the sunlight to come in anyway. John then attempts to make a stone wall block the view of the sun, but it keeps rising higher and higher every time he makes the wall bigger. “And soon, the church bells will be chiming”. John races over to the nearby church as the bell suddenly stops ringing, where it’s revealed that John has put himself in the interior of the bell to prevent it from ringing, albeit at the cost of him smacking around inside it back and forth (animated by Ross).

John runs back to the house and sees (animated by Champin) that Elmer has already walked out with his hoe (animated by Perez). “Well, John, there’s only one thing left to do, isn’t there? (animated by Chiniquy) You’ve got to get HIM before he gets YOU. Yes, it’s you or him, John. You or him”, the narrator advises (animated by Perez).

John gets an idea upon seeing in the newspaper that duck season is now open, causing him to flash an evil smile when getting an idea. He paints glue atop Elmer’s straw hat and puts a duck decoy on it. As Elmer is hoeing, John gives him the hat, which Elmer thanks him for before chuckling and walking off into the cornfield with only the duck decoy visible (animated by Perez). John blows a duck call, but gets shot at by numerous hunters who appear out of nowhere (animated by Champin).

Later, as Elmer is collecting eggs from the henhouse, John paints a grenade white to look like an egg. Elmer comes across it and upon rattling it, realizes, “Uh oh. This one’s about weady to hatch”. John has the misfortune to peek out from where he’s hiding at this moment as Elmer puts him atop the painted grenade: “Here, chicken. You sit on it till it hatches”. After Elmer leaves, the explosion sends John up to the top of the barn, with a few feathers missing (animated by Ross).

At this moment, Elmer decides to get “this disagweeable job” over with as he takes the ax with him (animated by Perez). Thinking it’s all over for him, John tries to get away but keeps running smack into a tree. John writes his will while leaning against the tree, but ducks when Elmer swings his ax the first time. Annoyed, Elmer reveals what he was actually intending to do the whole time: “Get away, you cwazy wooster! How do you expect me to chop this twee down?” (animated by Chiniquy)

The narrator tells a very relieved John, “Well, John, so it wasn’t you after all, was it? Everything’s all right, isn’t it?” as John happily nods both times before doing his happy strut at the start of the cartoon. But to his misfortune, the tree falls right on top of him! (animated by Chiniquy)

In the end, Elmer is inviting a friend of his over for dinner. “Hewwo, Woscoe? Can you come over? We’re unexpectedwy having a chicken dinner”. The oven opens to reveal John doing the “running finger across lips” bit while basting himself (animated by Perez).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org! (with recreated original opening rings due to it being the only video online of the restoration as of this writing)

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½