Release Date:

August 25, 1956

Main Character(s):

Foghorn Leghorn

Summary:

Foghorn Leghorn’s old college rival, Rhode Island Red, pays him a visit. Annoyed by his practical joking and showing him up in front of his hen friends, Foghorn tries numerous unsuccessful schemes to dispose of Red.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1419 and was released as a Looney Tune.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue.

This cartoon stands out in that Foghorn’s antagonist is a character who behaves exactly like him (Red also steals the cartoon).

Daws Butler’s voice for Red is the same Jackie Gleason voice for the Ralph Kramden hobo in “Half Fare Hare” (apart from his final line, which is done by Mel Blanc).

The title alludes to the cheer “Rah! Rah!”

This is the last cartoon to use the 1955-1956 green rings with the red background.

This is the only Golden Age cartoon where “Foghorn Leghorn” is said verbally (“Telegram for Mr. Foghorn Leghorn!”)

Richard H. Thomas did both the layouts and backgrounds.

When Foghorn says, “Somethin-, I say, something went wrong!”, his mouth doesn’t move. This once again implies that this line was added in after the scene was animated.

Carl Stalling scored this one.

The animator draft for the cartoon can be viewed here.

While “Freddy the Freshman” had played in numerous Warner cartoons, this is the only other time besides the 1932 Merrie Melodie of the same name to utilize the song’s full lyrics (it was sung briefly in “Sweet Sioux” back in 1937). As sung by Red, the song’s lyrics are as follows, “Who’s got all the girlies chasing him around?; Freddy the Freshman, the freshest kid in town! Who wrecks all the parties?; turns ‘em upside down?; Freddy the Freshman, the freshest kid in town!; He plays the ukulele, he plays the saxophone!; And the pretty babies just won’t leave him alone!; Who got bounced at Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Brown?; Freddy the Freshman, the freshest kid in town!”

Favorite Scene:

The ending where Foghorn finally one-ups Red by pulling the same prank Red pulled on him at the start of the cartoon.

Red’s rendition of “Freddy the Freshman” is also very fun and lively.

What Happens in This One:

In the farmyard, Foghorn is seen relaxing contently with his harem of adoring hens- one serenading him by playing a mandolin, two fanning him, and one massaging the back of his neck. Sighing happily, Foghorn remarks, “This is living. I won-, I say, I wonder what the POOR chickens are doing today”. A delivery rooster with a red beard bicycles in with something for Foghorn, “Telegram for Mr. Foghorn Leghorn!” Foghorn takes it and is confused, “Telegram? Now who, I say, who’d be sending ME a telegram?” He reads it aloud, “Put out the welcome mat for your old college chum, Rhode Island Red. Stop. Will drop in on you Friday. Signed, Red”. Dismayed at this, Foghorn slaps his left cheek and openly states his hatred towards him, “Oh, no! Not Rhode Island Red! I ha-, I say, I had enough of that bird-brained loudmouth in college to last me the rest of my life!” He looks at the last line again, “Drop in Friday?” and then realizes, “Hey! TODAY’S Friday! I’d better get going! I gotta make a few arrangements for my old college chum’s arrival!” He comes back with several boards and a hammer and goes on the outside of the fence to get to work (animated by Ted Bonnicksen).

Later, the fence is lined with barbed wire, two bear traps are placed on both sides of a welcome mat which now says “Unwelcome”, with the “un” having been added on there with red paint, and the gate is bolted shut with a padlock and a few boards. There are also numerous handwritten signs on the fence which read, “Closed for Alteration”, “Do Not Open ‘Til Xmas”, “Out to Lunch Back 5 Yrs”, “Quarantine Chicken Pox”, “Go West Young Man”, “Beware Vicious Dog!!”, “Quiet Do Not Disturb”, and “Foggy Doesn’t Live Here Any More”. Having also barricaded the fence from the inside, Foghorn is proud of himself, “I’d ju-, I say, I’d just like to see Red try to drop in on me now! (laughs)” The delivery rooster comes up to him and removes his beard and outfit, revealing he was actually Red in disguise! Red then shouts, “Here’s Red!”, much to Foghorn’s shock, “Red! Why, you-”. Red offers a handshake, “Foggy, old goat! Gimme the grip!”, and shakes Foghorn’s hand with an electric buzzer, sending Foghorn stumbling backwards and knocking into the fence, causing a flowerpot to land on his head upside down. Red laughs at him, “Same old Foggy! Always putting on women’s hats! Anything for a laugh!” (animated by Keith Darling)

After standing on Foghorn’s toes to make him stand back up, Red points to the flower he’s wearing on his outfit, “I, uh, wore a carnation so you’d know me!” This is actually a trick flower that he uses to squirt water at Foghorn with. “Har-har-HARDY-har-har!”, Red laughs. “Foggy, old palsy-walsy, you’re a CARD!”, he continues, slapping Foghorn on the back, causing him to fall down. He then hears the hens giggle (animated by George Grandpre) before they are shown next to a tree doing so. Foghorn decides, “I’ve go-, I say, I’ve gotta get rid of this cornball before he palsy-walsys me to death!” (animated by Bonnicksen)

Red becomes excited, “Well, well, well, well, well! What have we got here? Girls!” He takes out a ukulele and serenades them with a very lively rendition of “Freddy the Freshman” (animated by Bonnicksen). In the midst of him doing this, Foghorn creates a trap by digging a large hole from behind a rocking chair with a shovel, putting a large plank atop the hole, and pushing a large rock on the end of the plank (animated by Russ Dyson).

After Red finishes the song (animated by Bonnicksen), Foghorn pushes a spring-released boxing glove into a trick camera and then calls, “Hey, I say, hey, Red! Come on over here and let me take your picture!” Red enters in an excited manner, “Take my picture? Well, all righty-tighty!” Once Red sits down in the rocking chair and removes his hat, Foghorn instructs, “Now, uh, give me a big smile!” Red gives a grin for the camera, but when Foghorn pulls the squeezer to release the boxing glove and punch Red, nothing happens. Figuring, “Somethin-, I say, something went wrong!”, Foghorn attempts to fix the lens. Red gets up and goes up to the squeezer, “Hey, uh, Blubber Boy! Is THIS what you’re looking for? Well, SQUEEZE it!” He squeezes his and Foghorn’s respective hands on the squeezer, causing the glove to punch Foghorn into the rocking chair, which rocks him backward into the hole. The chair hits the plank, causing it to lift up into the air and drop the rock on Foghorn. Disheveled, Foghorn peers out of the hole and remarks, “Hmm. I thou-, I say, I thought I had a sitting duck! But turned out HE had a pigeon!” (animated by Dyson)

Red then calls, “Hey, Foggy! (animated by Dyson) Ain’t ya gonna take my picture?” Foghorn walks up to the camera dazed, “Oh, uh, yeah! I’ve go-, I say, I’ve gotta reload my camera!” He now has a double-barreled rifle sticking out of the lens. Red acts impressed, “How do ya like that? Double lenses! Stereopticon, no doubt!” When Foghorn instructs, “Hold, I say, hold it!”, Red plugs his fingers in both barrels, causing the gun to explode on Foghorn. Red then takes a look at Foghorn’s state and reacts in disgust at what he looks like before exclaiming, “What a sloppy mess! You’d better go tidy up!” (animated by Grandpre)

Walking with the hens, Red asks them, “I’ll bet you charming gals are, uh, just dying to see the star halfback at Chicken Tech in action?” They all nod excitedly in unison. Spotting a wheelbarrow full of casaba melons, Red walks over to them and explains, “When ya don’t have a football, the next best thing’s a fine old (animated by Grandpre) casaba melon, I always say!” After taking a melon out of the wheelbarrow and removing his coat to reveal a 1950’s-like football outfit underneath, Red runs with it like a football while doing a cheer of his own, “Rah! Rah! Rah! Hit him in the head! Tee! Tee! Tee! Here comes Red!”, pushing Foghorn down in the middle of his run. Red instructs, “Come on, Foggy! Get off the dime! Let’s show ‘em the old 23-skidoo play!” Foghorn gets up and asks, “The lo-, I say, the LONG pass?” Red answers, “Right!” Foghorn calls out, “Sixty-, I say, 66! 32! 23 skidoo!”, as Red hikes it to him and then runs off for a pass. Foghorn gets out a dynamite stick and puts it in the melon as a booby trap before throwing it to Red, who shouts, “I got it! I got it! I got it!” while running. Foghorn chuckles, “You’re GONNA get it!”, before Red suddenly shouts, “Punt formation!” and punts it back to Foghorn. Foghorn catches it and it explodes on him. Charred and missing most of his feathers, as well as his beak, Foghorn remarks in a somewhat muffled voice, “I goofed!” (animated by Darling)

As Red is strumming on his ukulele against a tree, Foghorn comes up to him in a golf outfit, “Golf, I say, golf, anyone?” Red asks, “Golf!?” before getting up and taking off his coat to reveal a yellow polo shirt underneath, “Why, you’re talking to the man who practically invented the game! Give me a Mashie Niblick!” Foghorn gives him a golf club while Red gets into a swinging position and scats to himself. “Well, well, come on! Give me the ball!” Foghorn takes out a box of “ACME Trick Balls. Explode on Contact” and sets up one of said balls for him. In order to be out of the way for the explosion, Foghorn offers, “Now, uh, I-I’ll take the flag and set it up for ya!” as he runs off into the distance. After Red sings to himself, “Am I in for today?”, he hits the ball in a single swing and yells, “Fore!” with the ball exploding on Foghorn once it lands on him. A darkened Foghorn then comes back up and demands, “Gimme, I say, gimme that club!” as he takes said club from Red. He attempts to hit another ball into the distance himself, but the ball explodes on him once he hits it (animated by Bonnicksen).

Putting on the same delivery man outfit and red beard from earlier, Foghorn says to himself, “I oughta ha-, I say, I oughta HATE myself for not thinking of this sooner”. He rides out on the same bicycle and calls, “Telegram! Telegram for Mr. Rhode Island Red!” Walking along and hearing him, Red answers, “Rhode Island Red!? Uh, here, boy, eh, that’s me!” Foghorn gives him the telegram and bicycles off. Red reads this telegram aloud, “Contact me at once regarding inheritance. Signed, A. Shyster. Lawyer”. Elated, Red jumps up while clicking his heels, “Well, hot diggety dog!” before running off (animated by Dyson).

Red passes by Foghorn, who’s against the fence while filing his nails, and bids him farewell, “Uh, well, eh, so long, Foggy! Uh, gotta be going! Uh, big deal, uh, eh, thanks for everything!” Foghorn stops him from leaving, “Hey! Wait a minute! Can’t let ya go empty-handed! Not an old friend! Got a couple of gifts for ya! Here ya are! An electric bowling ball! And an electric clock! Uh, tells ya when it’s time to bowl!” They are actually a time bomb and a time clock respectively. Foghorn then has Red leave with his gifts, “So lo-, I say, so long, Red!” Red leaves with, “So long, Foggy!” Foghorn adds, “Goodbye, old friend!” before covering his ears to anticipate the inevitable explosion. After it occurs offscreen (animated by Bonnicksen up to here), a dazed Red pops his head in through a knothole to groan, “With a friend like YOU, I’ll never need an enemy!” (animated by Grandpre)

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕