Release Date:

November 3, 1951

Main Character(s):

None

Summary:

Maw and Paw O’Possum are unable to get their lazy son, Junior O’Possum, to do his chore of peeling taters, as the only thing he wants to do is sleep. Paw decides to pursue him by dressing up as a large hunting dog in order to scare him awake.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1172 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. When it was restored for HBO Max in 2020, the original opening and closing rings were put back in.

As of this writing, this is the only 1951 cartoon to not be available on disc restored (1951 is also the second instance where every Warner cartoon from a certain year has been restored, with 1946 being the first instance. Other years that have all of the Warner cartoons released in them restored include 1952, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1962, 1963, and 1964).

The o’possums all speak in Southern drawl.

Part of the animator draft for the cartoon can be viewed here.

This is the last cartoon to have layouts by Cornett Wood.

While not the last Warner cartoon he animated on, this is the last Warner cartoon where John Carey is credited.

Favorite Scene:

Paw gets annoyed with Maw being scared over the sight of him in the dog costume when she assumes it’s a real dog. Near the end, she gets scared over him a second time to which Paw responds (while also borrowing one of Yosemite Sam’s oft-used phrases, “Great horny toads, Maw! Ya’ll ought to know it’s me by now!”

What Happens in This One:

Junior is shown sleeping on the tree where he and his family reside by sleeping upside down and hanging onto the branch by his tail. Maw walks in to where Paw is reading the paper, asking if he’s seen Junior. “I told him to peel them taters, and he ain’t touched a-one” (animated by Charles McKimson). After Paw answers, “Nope, I ain’t set eyes on him, Maw”, Maw finds Junior sleeping and is not pleased as she walks out to him, “I declare if that ain’t the laziest possum ever. Sleepin’ again, instead of doin’ the chores” (animated by John Carey).

Maw attempts to wake Junior up by pulling him by the tail so that his rear end keeps hitting the branch. When she pulls him right side up, Junior wakes up and complains, “Aw, Maw. Don’t ya’ll hold me up. You knows a possum can’t sleep less’n he’s a hangin’ by his tail”. Maw scolds, “Ya’ll ain’t supposed to be a-sleepin’! Ya’ll are supposed to be a-peelin’ them taters! Now get yourself inside there and start a-peelin’! Else’t I’ll set your Paw on ya!” Junior doesn’t care and goes back to sleep (animated by Charles).

“Junior!”, Maw exclaims before she walks back muttering in annoyance, “Oh, that boy”. She tells Paw, “Just look at that boy, Paw! A-sleepin’ again! Ya’ll just got to talk to him, Paw!” (animated by Carey) Paw responds, “Shucks, Maw! Talkin’ to him don’t do no good! Goes in one ear and out t’ other. But I got an idear how to get some life into him” as he walks into a closet and takes out a hunting dog costume he saved from a trunk. “I’ll scare him so bad, he won’t NEVER sleep in the daytime no more!” (animated by Phil DeLara)

After dressing up in the dog costume, Paw sneaks up on Maw and loudly says, “Woof! Woof!” She screams dramatically to which Paw reveals himself and gives her a “Seriously?” look (animated by DeLara). As she catches her breath, she says, “Oh, Paw. Ya’ll like the scared the daylights out of me” (animated by Charles). “Aw, Maw. Act your age”, Paw complains before putting the costume’s head back over his own head. “I’ll fix that boy good!”, he says while heading out with a hunting call and rifle. Maw tries to stop him, but he opens her like a door, “One side, woman!” (animated by Rod Scribner)

Paw hangs by his tail next to Junior and wakes him up by blowing the hunting call and saying “Woof!” over and over again while shooting the rifle. This scares Junior into zooming down and running away. Paw chuckles at this, “I KNOW’D I’d get some action!” before chasing after Junior. In the midst of running, he realizes he doesn’t know where Junior is and looks around for him, but after he goes around a bush, Junior is shown hanging onto the tail of Paw’s costume while sleeping. Paw notices this (animated by Scribner up to here), as Junior asks, “Pardon me. Are you all for real?” Paw answers, “Why, of course I am. I’m-” before correcting himself, “ I mean, uh, woof, woof” (animated by Charles).

Junior runs off again with Paw attempting to go after him, only for the latter to immediately smack into a tree face-first offscreen. He chuckles awkwardly and points out, “Tree”. Paw continues the chase where Junior is seen hanging by his tail on a tree branch close to the ground. He runs off upon seeing Paw approaching and in the midst of the chase, keeps hanging onto branches of various trees to get some sleeping in (animated by DeLara).

Paw eventually loses Junior and makes a wild take upon seeing (animated by Scribner) Junior sleeping by his tail on the highest branch of a tall tree. He attempts to use a saw to cut it down but finds Junior hanging by his tail on the other end of the saw only after cutting it and sending it falling. Paw beats the saw with a stick causing it to vibrate and Junior’s tail to unroll from the saw (animated by Emery Hawkins).

The next chase leads to Junior getting cornered when he comes up to a large cliff side so he plays dead (animated by Scribner). Paw chuckles and removes the costume head to aside, “Look at him a-playin’ dead. That’s an old possum trick” (animated by Charles). He then ties Junior’s tail to a skyrocket, “This will get him up. WAY up!”, but as he sneaks off Junior ties the rope to the skyrocket to Paw’s ankle. Paw yanks the fuse out of the skyrocket only to find it attached to a dynamite stick hidden in there, which explodes in his face (animated by Scribner).

Paw then uses a stethoscope against several trees to listen for Junior’s snoring and soon finds him sleeping on the tree nearest to the cliff. Going all the way to the top with a rope, Paw ties the tree on the cliff down with a rock in order to climb across to get Junior. By the time he gets to where Junior was, Paw instead finds a note, “Look Out Below”. He looks down to see Junior cutting the rope with scissors, which causes the tree to fling Paw into the distance. Junior’s silent laughing is short-lived as Paw zooms back to him very fast and again chases him (animated by Hawkins).

Back in the tree home, Maw again gets scared by Paw in the dog costume, causing her to drop several dishes. Paw becomes irritated at this, “Don’t do that, Maw!” (animated by DeLara) Maw explains, “But, Paw, you scared the daylights out of me again”. Paw removes his costume head irritably, “Great horny toads, Maw! Ya’ll ought to know it’s me by now!” (animated by Charles) Maw then asks him how he made out with Junior. Paw answers, “Fine. Just fine, Maw” as he gets out of his costume and answers to Maw's question of his whereabouts by explaining he’s out on the limb hanging by his tail. Maw assumes he’s sleeping again, but Paw contradicts while snickering, “Nope. Peelin’ taters” (animated by Hawkins). A very groggy Junior is seen peeling the potatoes and is held up by a balloon tied to the tree so he can’t go to sleep (animated by Charles).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕