Release Date:

May 15, 1943

Main Character(s):

Jerry Colonna Worm

Summary:

A fisherman uses the Jerry Colonna worm as bait to catch fish. After successfully catching a few fish, the Colonna worm later has to evade a crab.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. “Keep Cool Fool” played under the opening credits:

Supervision: I. Freleng

Story: Tedd Pierce

Animation: Manuel Perez

Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling

This is the second and final appearance of the Colonna worm following “The Wacky Worm”.

The cartoon was nominated for an Academy Award.

This is the very first Warner cartoon to use Raymond Scott music. Scott was a composer who gave his tunes some very bizarre names which was likely the reason why his music appealed to Carl Stalling (Raymond Scott pieces that were utilized in Warner cartoons include “Powerhouse”, “The Toy Trumpet”, “Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals”, “Reckless Night On Board an Ocean Liner”, “War Dance for Wooden Indians”, “Twilight in Turkey”, “The Penguin”, “Huckleberry Duck”, and several more). In this case, “Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals” plays three times throughout the cartoon: during the first chase of the Colonna worm and the crab, the chase that leads to the Colonna worm challenging the crab to a fight with the crab stripping of his shell, and during the offscreen fight where only splashing is seen above the surface.

The title is a pun for Jerry Colonna’s catchphrase, “Greetings, gate!”

What I Like About This One:

The Colonna worm shivering when he sticks one of his toes in the water before splashing it on himself to get used to the temperature (animated by Gil Turner).

The Colonna worm then sets up an underwater “Joe’s” serving himself as part of a sandwich. Once a fish attempts to eat it, he gets trapped under a silver platter with him and the Colonna worm being pulled back up to the surface (animated by Manuel Perez).

Upon spotting a bigger fish, however, the Colonna worm replaces the original fish with the bigger fish (animated by Ken Champin).

Next, the Colonna worm attempts to provoke a dopey fish into chasing him by wiggling his rump at him. Seeing that the dopey fish won’t cooperate, the Colonna worm decides to resort to an ingenious ruse (animated by Richard Bickenbach).

The “ingenious ruse” is doing a circus-like stunt where the Colonna worm bites on the hook of the fisherman’s pole like an acrobat. He then tells the dopey fish to try it (“Don’t be so reluctant, dragon”). Claiming he can’t do any of “that razzle-dazzle stuff”, the dopey fish eventually gives in and is promptly pulled up (animated by Gerry Chiniquy).

The Colonna worm dressing in drag as a mermaid singing “Trade Winds” which is made very off-key due to his Colonna impersonation. This attracts the attention of a lovesick fish who yells “BLONDIE!” and is then caught (animated by Bickenbach).

Pulling them up this time is the crab resulting in the Colonna worm absentmindendly putting the fish he just caught into the crab’s shell (animated by Perez).

Realizing it’s a crab, the Colonna worm runs behind a treasure chest where the crab puts both eye stalks around the chest where we get a great point of view where the crab sees the Colonna worm running toward him AND away from him at the same time (animated by Phil Monroe).

The Colonna worm then ties the crab’s eye stalks around the chest resulting in the crab seeing a very distorted view of the Colonna worm (animated by Monroe).

Using his eye stalks as a periscope, the crab ends up crashing into a rock (animated by Champin).

The Colonna worm blending in with a pack of seahorses, making him very clearly stand out (animated by Champin).

Fed up with the chase, the Colonna worm declares to the crab, “You wouldn’t be so brave, knave, if you weren’t wearing that shell to protect you!” (animated by Monroe) Accepting the challenge, the crab removes his shell and starts swinging his claws like fisticuffs (the sight of which is absolutely hilarious). Seeing that the crab looks a lot smaller without his shell, the Colonna worm confidently confides, “Puny, isn’t he?” (animated by Turner)

In order to avoid exposing certain people to the upcoming fight, the Colonna worm announces this: “Ladies and gentlemen, the following scenes will be so brutal and horrifying that for the benefit of those with fainter hearts, weaker stomachs, and 4F ratings, we will return you to the surface while I reduce this upstart to crabmeat!” (animated by Turner).

After the underwater fight commences offscreen, the Colonna worm is pulled up to the surface- bandaged and bruised, revealing that he lost the fight. “I could be wrong you know”, he confesses. The fisherman is revealed to be Jerry Colonna himself who asks, “Ah, yes, embarrassing, isn’t it?” (animated by Bickenbach)

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½