Release Date:

July 2, 1949

Main Character(s):

Foghorn Leghorn, Henery Hawk, Barnyard Dawg

Summary:

Henery Hawk is again determined to catch a chicken, but Foghorn Leghorn misleads into believing other creatures are the poultry he’s looking for with the advice, “Start small and work up”. Foghorn also spends his time harassing Barnyard Dawg with numerous pranks.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1090 and was released as a Looney Tune.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue (and since I forgot to mention it this past Wednesday, “Mouse Mazurka” also was given one).

This is the first cartoon where Foghorn sings “Camptown Races”, which would be either sung by him (although he always scats to the tune but always sings the “doo dah” part) or played instrumentally in all of his future appearances, with the exceptions of “A Fractured Leghorn” (1950), “Of Rice and Hen” (1953), and “Banty Raids” (1963).

This is the first non-Cinecolor cartoon to use the 1949 orange rings with the blue background in both its opening and ending rings.

This is the only cartoon where Henery’s name is in the title.

This is the last cartoon where Dawg has a different voice before he would gain his permanent one the following year in “The Leghorn Blows at Midnight”.

“Huckleberry Duck” plays throughout the cartoon as Henery’s theme.

The animator draft for the cartoon can be viewed here.

What I Like About This One:

The lively rendition of “Old MacDonald” over the opening credits.

We open with Henery walking along with a hammer and asiding, “I’m gonna get me a chicken today or my name ain’t Henery Hawk!” (animated by Charles McKimson)

Singing “Camptown Races” for the first time, Foghorn’s first prank on Dawg is creating a ladder for a fire escape and setting up a sign for it, putting a piece of hay in front of his doghouse, and pouring a trail of gunpowder in front of it. He whistles to get Dawg’s attention and lights the trail of gunpowder, which horrifies Dawg into running off (animated by Pete Burness) and upon finding the fire escape sign, going up the ladder but falling off of it. Unsurprisingly, Dawg is not amused (animated by John Carey). Dawg then goes after Foghorn as he’s dribbling a beach ball, only for Foghorn to shove said beach ball in Dawg’s mouth and yell, “AH, SHUT UP!” (animated by Burness)

Foghorn goes over to a small gate in front of the barn to file his nails just as Henery climbs up it with the hammer. He misses Foghorn the first time (animated by Charles), but after climbing back up via the hammer succeeds in hitting him (animated by Carey). Foghorn comes to, and demands Henery, “What’s the bi-, I say, what’s the big idea? Don’t stand there gawkin’, son! Speak up! Why hit me on the noggin? Speak up!” Henery hits him again, with Foghorn now demanding while tossing the hammer aside, “Now, cu-, I say cut that! Now what’s it all about, boy? Elucidate!” (animated by Manny Gould) Henery tells him he’s a chicken hawk and Foghorn’s his victim (animated by Charles).

Foghorn laughs at the idea of Henery being a chicken hawk and tells him that he needs to “start small and work up. You can’t start at the top”. He eventually sends Henery off and soon witnesses him carrying off a hen while he’s underneath her. Foghorn picks her up off of Henery but she slaps him for presumably being fresh. He sends Henery off to try again and asides, “Kids, nowadays, they know it all” before getting a clown face on a stick from a barrel and walking over to Dawg’s house with it (animated by Gould). He sticks the clown face into Dawg’s house and tickles him with it while making a ululating noise. This provokes Dawg into chasing him up to the rope limit where Foghorn taunts him by painting his tongue green (animated by Phil DeLara).

Henery realizes to himself, “I’m getting no place fast” (animated by Charles) and encounters Foghorn again, who points him to what he claims to be chicks: a flock of young ducks, who are being led to the river by their mother. Henery follows them with a club and imitates their quacking but upon jumping in the river (animated by Carey), begins to drown and does the three-finger count before Foghorn rescues him (animated by Charles), brings him back out (animated by Carey), and revives him. Henery admits, “Some day I’d better learn to swim” (animated by Charles).

Later, Foghorn is painting a fake opening entrance on the gate while dressed up like an artist. He then picks up Dawg by the tail and whacks his behind with a plank several times. Foghorn jumps over the fence and Dawg crashes into the fake opening on the gate (animated by Burness). Happy that this was successful, Foghorn walks off singing “Camptown Races” only to stop upon seeing Dawg unhooked from his collar. He sheepishly greets him with, “Hello, Br’er Dog” before Dawg begins to chase him (animated by Gould). Foghorn chops down a tree and takes it into a workshop to carve it into a baseball bat, but Dawg takes it from him and attempts to hit at him with it (animated by Carey). He runs past a trash can which Foghorn is hiding in. Foghorn comes out and laughs, “Mutts i-, I say, mutts is nuts!” (animated by DeLara)

As Henery walks along dejected (animated by Charles), Foghorn encourages him to get a chicken when he’s “still in his shell” and points to one: which is actually the shell of a turtle. After Henery goes off to get it (animated by Burness), Foghorn confides to us, “That kid’s about as sharp as a pound of wet liver” (animated by Charles).

Henery walks up to the turtle’s shell boldly, “I’ll show him who’s boss! I’m a chicken hawk! Yeah, that’s what!” He tells the turtle to “come out with your hands up”, but gets frightened by the turtle popping his head out of his shell. “Don’t do that!”, he scolds. Henery then attempts to pull the turtle out of his shell but the turtle pulls Henery into the shell with him. Figuring he lost him, Henery finds himself popping out of the shell and walking backwards due to the turtle’s head now coming out of the opposite end of the shell. The turtle again pulls Henery into the shell and beats him up before kicking him out, leaving Henery to sulk, “Some chicken hawk I am! Can’t even get a chicken when he’s still in his shell!” (animated by DeLara)

Dawg is still looking for Foghorn while still holding the bat he stole from him and encounters Henery. “Hey, kid. You looking for that chicken too, huh? Well, if we work together, we can get him”. He whispers a plan to Henery, who in the next scene is building a snare trap with an ear of corn as bait. In silhouette, Foghorn pops out of a tree stump and wonders what Henery is up to, before he decides to head on down there (animated by DeLara).

Foghorn asks what Henery is up to (animated by DeLara) to which Henery explains “this is my chicken trap”. Foghorn immediately begins explaining the trap’s apparent faults. “That’s no trap, boy. You planned it wrong. It can’t possibly work. (animated by Charles) Look, I can pick up the corn and nothing happens. I can stand in the loop and nothing happens. It’s no good, son” (animated by Burness). Henery looks at the audience annoyed as Foghorn continues, “A smart chicken wouldn’t go for it. A smart chicken wouldn’t even step in it (animated by Charles). A smart chicken would jump over it like this”. Upon demonstrating the jump, Foghorn falls through a hidden hole in the floor, revealing THAT was how he was supposed to spring the trap. He then tries to explain, “Now look it he-, I say, now look it here son”, but Henery simply puts a rope around his neck before cutting the rope holding the trap (animated by Burness), which causes Foghorn to be flung around back and forth (animated by Carey).

After Foghorn lands on the ground with the rope still around his neck, he is dragged off by Henery as Dawg laughs, “A SMART chicken, eh?” (animated by Carey) Henery confides, “I don’t wanna, I say, I don’t wanna SMART chicken. I want HIM” and sings his own scatting of “Camptown Races” (animated by Charles).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕