Release Date:

December 11, 1954

Main Character(s):

Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog

Summary:

Ralph Wolf attempts to steal sheep from under the nose of Sam Sheepdog for the second time.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1322 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

While the formula wasn’t fully established yet, this is the first time that Ralph attempts to steal sheep as a job. While he and Sam are only enemies during work hours this time around, they actually punch in and out at separate time clocks and their co-workers are a fellow wolf and sheepdog, respectively. Also, while Ralph and Sam respectively have a red nose and red hair, the night workers, George Wolf and Fred Sheepdog respectively have a black nose and black hair (so therefore, George looks exactly like Wile E., but is not him).

Sam refers to Fred as “Ralph” while Fred refers to Sam as “Fred” (at the end though, Sam refers to Fred by his actual name, and Fred refers to Sam as “Ralph”). George also refers to Ralph as “George” and Ralph refers to George as “Sam”, showing how inconsistent the naming was before the formula was established in “Double or Mutton”, the next Ralph and Sam cartoon (in “Don’t Give Up the Sheep”, Ralph went unnamed, Sam was called “Ralph”, and the night sheepdog was named “Fred”).

This is also the only time Ralph is shown to have a night counterpart and the last time Sam is shown to have one (and also the first time Ralph speaks).

Abe Levitow and Richard Thompson are the only animators on this cartoon.

Milt Franklyn scored this cartoon.

The title is a pun for “ship ahoy”. This is another example where the title has nothing to do with the cartoon as Ralph never attempts a pirate-like scheme.

Favorite Scene:

The “ACME Artificial Rock” and the scene where Sam detours Ralph’s bicycle-powered submarine down a waterfall.

What Happens in This One:

At dawn, Ralph sneaks across the land and hides in a bush in a ready to attack position. He licks his lips hungrily upon seeing the grazing sheep. After seeing the night sheepdog, Fred, yawn from a hard night’s work, Ralph checks his watch under his arm fur for the 9:00 day shift whistle. Fred again yawns and begins to leave to punch out at the time clock as Ralph begins to sneak off to steal a sheep. Fred and Sam then pass each other and exchange greetings, “Hello, Fred”; “Hello, Ralph”. As Ralph sneaks away, having successfully caught a sheep, Sam punches in and positions himself on a ledge above Ralph. The first thing Sam does is push a large rock off the ledge with his left foot so that it lands on Ralph’s head when he walks past. The impact of the rock falling on him causes Ralph to freeze in place, before he lets the sheep go back to the meadow. Ralph then collapses front-first, with the large lump growing out of his head pushing the rock off of him (animated by Abe Levitow).

Ralph pushes a boulder off the cliff above Sam for it to fall on him, but a bendable tree on the cliff side causes the boulder to fly back up and land on top of Ralph (animated by Richard Thompson).

Ralph next attempts to pole vault to get a sheep grazing on the cliff (using a small rock to Sam’s right to allow him to vault), only for Sam to catch the pole, drop it, and then catch it himself when Ralph comes within reach of him. He then punches Ralph off the pole and into the distance, before dropping the rest of the pole (animated by Thompson).

Ralph throws an “ACME Smoke Screen Bomb” onto himself, so that he remains hidden inside a smoke cloud, with only his legs visible. Sam is already waiting for him with a dynamite stick and he drops the dynamite into the cloud, causing it to turn from white to gray. Dizzy from the explosion, Ralph ends up staggering to the end of a log hanging off a cliff before he fully appears from his smoke cloud charred and then falls (animated by Thompson).

Having opened the box for an “ACME Artificial Rock” (marked with advertisements such as “Have Fun”, “Be Popular!”, and “Be a Rock!”), Ralph scrunches down and hides himself under the artificial rock in question, making the rock look like it’s moving on its own. Once he passes by Sam, Sam walks toward him with a sledgehammer. Ralph briefly lifts up his rock disguise and upon seeing what Sam is about to do to him, he shakes in fear before Sam literally pounds him to pebbles! Now as a bunch of small pebbles, Ralph retreats back to his cave, followed by the smallest of these pebbles, which was left behind (animated by Thompson).

Ralph next floats down to the sheep with a balloon tied to his back and armed with a fishing pole. Unfortunately, the hook from his fishing pole ends up puncturing the balloon, causing it to deflate and for him to fly around very fast. Once the balloon no longer has any air, Ralph falls and lands somewhere behind a mountain (animated by Thompson).

Ralph’s next scheme involves burrowing under the ground and attempting to get a sheep from there. As his hand reaches out of numerous holes to grope around for a sheep, Ralph pulls in a decoy made by Sam- a large TNT barrel with fake sheep legs. After putting the blown-up decoy back, a completely black Ralph (also sporting a black eye) refills the tunnel he dug with a shovel (animated by Thompson).

As a sheep is taking a sip from the river, Ralph attempts to go up to him in a bicycle-powered submarine (animated by Thompson. Sam holds up a detour sign into view, and unaware of who’s holding it, Ralph obeys the sign. It turns out this leads to a waterfall. Ralph frantically attempts to pedal backward, but it’s too late, as the submarine descends the falls, complete with the periscope seen sticking out all the way down. After the offscreen crash, Ralph pedals out of the water, dazed, in his destroyed sub (animated by Levitow).

Near the end of the day, Sam is seen yawning from a hard day’s work, before Ralph places a plank under him to create a makeshift teeter board, suspended by a rock. Ralph goes back up to the cliff and looks at his blueprint he’s put on a tree, intending to push a rock off the cliff to fall on to the other end of the teeter board, propelling Sam to the mountain. The rock landing on the other end instead results in Sam flying up to the cliff and landing in front of Ralph, before he grabs him by the throat and begins punching him several times. The 5:00 quitting time whistle blows, so Sam lets Ralph go before they leave for their respective time clocks. Fred has just punched in for his shift before he and Sam again greet each other, “Hello, Ralph”, “Hello, Fred”. George, the night wolf, has punched in for his shift, and greets Ralph, who’s about to punch out, with “Hello, George”. Ralph greets him with “Hello, Sam”. With the night shift now having begun, George and Fred pick up where Ralph and Sam left off, with Fred grabbing George by the throat and punching him numerous times (animated by Levitow).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½