Release Date:

August 4, 1956

Main Character(s):

None

Summary:

A cosmic mix-up causes a regular baby intended for Earth to be delivered to Mars, and a green-skinned Martian baby named Mot (who only communicates with beeping from his antennae) to be delivered to Earth instead of Mars. Mot ends up being presented as the new baby to Joseph Wilbur and his wife, Martha, with the former being embarrassed about having a very strange baby.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1395 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

This is one of the few cartoons from this period to not feature Mel Blanc. In this one, all of the male characters are voiced by Daws Butler.

The title is a pun for “Rock a bye Baby”.

This is the last Jones cartoon to feature layouts by Ernie Nordli.

“Stinker Toys” are a pun for “Tinker Toys”.

The name, “Sir U. Tan”, is a pun for “Serutan”.

The cartoon’s premise is based around the 1950’s hysteria of UFOs.

The cartoon is in the 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons book.

The name that the martians refer to the Wilbur’s actual baby is “Yob”, which is “boy” spelled backwards.

The author of the magazine Joseph was reading is “D. Foster”, a reference to Don Foster, who designed the title cards and credits for the Warner cartoons.

Favorite Scene:

An old lady initially dotes on Mot, describing him as “such a healthy green baby, too”, before realizing something’s off about this being a green-skinned baby. After Mot steals her glasses to try them on himself, Joseph quickly pushes him back home, while the dumbfounded lady pulls out a pitch pipe and does nothing for a few seconds before screaming in terror two times (as a kid, I initially thought she was using the pitch pipe to imitate Mot’s beeping out of insanity).

What Happens in This One:

Opening narration: “This is the planet Mars. In the summer of 1954, this planet passed extremely close to the Earth. So close that a cosmic force was disturbed. And a baby intended for the Earth was delivered to Mars. While a Martian baby went by mistake to the Earth”. At the City Hospital in the waiting room, several anxious fathers are smoking nervously. A nurse on the intercom then calls, “Mr. Wilbur. You may see your baby now”. Joseph goes up to the window in excitement but is surprised at the baby Wilbur being pushed in the basket being Mot. Joseph believes, “Somebody goofed” before fainting from the shock (animated by Ben Washam).

A few months later at his house during sunrise, Joseph looks out his front door, hoping no one’s out yet. He then asks Martha, “But, Martha, why can’t we keep him in the house? I mean, somebody might see him”. Martha answers, “Because he’s OUR baby, Joseph Wilbur, and he NEEDS sunshine and fresh air!” This fades into Joseph reluctantly pushing Mot around in the stroller, but very embarrassed about it. When Joseph turns his head to look behind him, Mot crawls out on top of the stroller to look in the same direction, causing Joseph to get startled by his beeping. As Joseph rubs his eyes in bewilderment, Mot climbs up onto a brick wall and communicates with a bee on the flower, and with the bee communicating by doing a buzz equivalent of Mot’s antennae-beeping (animated by Ken Harris).

Back in the house, Joseph is seen arguing with Martha again, “But, darling, we- we can’t have him talking to any strange bee he might meet on the street!” Believing he’s making an excuse to not take him for a walk, Martha scolds with her arms folded, “Joseph Wilbur! Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?” (animated by Harris)

Resuming pushing Mot around in the stroller, Joseph looks back at Martha and complains, “But it’s not fair, Martha”, before irritably muttering to himself, “Anyway, I didn’t go NEAR Joe’s Bar and Grill”. He suddenly comes across an old lady, who initially dotes on Mot as she obliviously picks him up, “Well! It’s a baby! So sweet! And such a healthy green baby, too!” Realizing the color she just said, she looks at the audience and in a slightly disturbed manner and asks, “Green?” Mot suddenly beeps and then steals the lady’s glasses to try them on himself. Horrified, Joseph lets out an “Oh no!” and hastily runs back to the house with Mot and the stroller. Utterly dumbfounded at what just happened, the lady pulls out a pitch pipe and blows on it before doing nothing for a few seconds. She then lets out two screams of absolute terror (animated by Abe Levitow).

That winter, Joseph walks into the house to find Martha starting to worry about Mot’s strangeness. “Darling, I’m so worried about Baby. He’s… he’s doing your income tax”. Joseph and Martha look over and find Mot doing exactly that. “And that isn’t… ALL, Joe. Look!” They peer into his bedroom and find that Mot has spelled “E=MC2” with his toy blocks. Joseph: “What does that stand for?” Martha: “I looked it up. It’s the Einstein Theory”. He has also built something unusual with his “Stinker Toys”. Martha: “And that’s a model of… of the Illudium Molecule”. Joseph responds, “Oh, uh, yeah? A-and I suppose that’s our Solar System?”, referring to the model Solar System Mot has made from Christmas ornaments. Martha confirms, “Yes, it is”. Mot has also made a bar graph on his toy blackboard with the title, “Hurricane Possibilities for Year 1985”. Joseph: “Hmm. Versatile… isn’t he?” Martha then explains, “Darling, it worries me so. Take off your hat, dear”. Joseph does so as Martha continues, “I don’t think it’s good for Baby to concentrate so much”. After looking at two blueprints Mot has made by himself, “How to Build a Better Mouse Trap” and “How to Build a Better Mouse”- the robot kind-, Joseph nervously agrees, “Eh, y-y-you’re-you’re right, Martha. He-he should play more” (animated by Harris).

Joseph takes Mot into the living room to sit him in front of the television, “Okay, young man! (chuckles) Yeah! Mustn’t drudge all the time! There we are! (chuckles as he turns the set on) Eh, h-how’s about we watch ‘Captain Shmideo’?” The announcer, Captain Shmideo himself in a space outfit, is holding a model of a flying saucer as he explains, “Now then. Some lucky boy or girl is going to win this interplanetary flying saucer and Captain Shmideo wants it to be you! Now all you have to do is buy Cosmic Crunchies, the new wonder cereal made from unborn sweetpeas and send in a little old measly twelve box tops! Isn’t that simple? Well, goodnight, space rangers! This is Captain Shmideo blasting off!” In the midst of the program, Mot is delighted at Shmideo’s spaceship model as he goes off to get a ruler to measure the spaceship shown onscreen. Joseph and Martha then watch in confusion as Mot goes back to his room and begins constructing a spaceship of his own. When they see what he’s doing, Joseph believes, “Oh, hey! That’s pretty good! He’s building his own toy spaceship!” (animated by Levitow)

Later that evening, a small rocket-powered ship from Mars delivers a telegram to the Wilbur’s. Joseph absentmindedly takes it and looks over the envelope as Martha asks him who it was. He casually answers as he walks back in, “Oh, nothing. Just a kind of a rocket with a message from Mars”. Martha is also initially oblivious as she sighs in relief, “Oh, is that all? I’m always afraid it’ll be a telegram from Mother”. They both realize, “MARS!?” in unison and look at the telegram from “Sir U. Tan of Mars”, which reads, “An astronomical disturbance has caused one of our Martian babies to be delivered to you. His name is Mot. Your baby is here on Mars. We call him Yob. We will soon be able to exchange these babies. Until then: guard our baby carefully!!!”, with the last four words underlined. After this, they hear whirring noises and find out the spaceship Mot built was a real one to enable him to return home (animated by Harris).

Joseph runs off after Mot in his car repeatedly calling his name and shouting at one point, “I’ll never get MY baby unless you come back!” Mot flies into one of the highest stories in the “Vandergilt Hotel”, with Joseph parking his car outside and going in after him. Mot then flies into the hotel’s auditorium as a UFO skeptic is in the middle of a lecture, “We are nation of nervous, foolish children! We dream up little green men from Mars! We IMAGINE there are flying saucers!” He laughs about the idea of flying saucers and green men before seeing Mot pass by in his spaceship as his laughing becomes hysterical crying (animated by Washam).

After Joseph enters the auditorium, Mot flies out the window as Joseph fails to catch him and falls out. Mot and his spaceship then enter a large flying saucer to go home. Joseph is heard calling up to it, “Hey, you! Wait! Where’s my baby!?”, as he falls to his apparent doom, “Yob! Yob! Where’s my Yob!? Bring back my baby!” Before Joseph falls all the way to the ground, the scene wavers back to the waiting room as a nurse on the intercom calls, “Mr. Wilbur. You may see your baby now. Mr. Wilbur!” Joseph wakes up in the chair he was in at the start of the cartoon, revealing the whole thing was just a dream! He also looks at the magazine he was reading, “Science and Research Vol. VII. Can We Communicate with Mars?” He nervously goes to the window and is so relieved to see the real baby Wilbur as a healthy human boy that he whistles a sigh of relief before giving a puff on his cigarette in contentment. The name on baby Wilbur’s ID bracelet is revealed to be “Yob” (animated by Washam).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½