Release Date:

May 10, 1952

Main Character(s):

Foghorn Leghorn, Barnyard Dawg

Summary:

Kid Banty is a small boxing rooster who is so punch-drunk that he starts swinging punches whenever he hears a bell. His crate accidentally falls off the trailer it’s on, destroying it. Banty wanders into the farmyard where Foghorn Leghorn and Barnyard Dawg use his punch-drunkenness to their advantage to get back at each other.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1204 and was released as a Looney Tune.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue.

This is the first cartoon where the third character in a Foghorn and Dawg cartoon is a one-off character.

The Banty in this cartoon is not to be confused with the Banty (a shades-wearing beatnik) in 1963’s “Banty Raids” (which is incidentally the last Foghorn cartoon from the Golden Age).

Like with Dodsworth, Banty’s voice is provided by Sheldon Leonard.

The title is an obvious pun for “cock a doodle do”.

This is one of the few cartoons restored by HBO Max in 2020 to not have photoshopped titles (I will never understand why they photoshopped the opening and closing titles of several cartoons because it would have been A LOT easier for them to just simply leave the titles as-is, instead of digitally altering them. Fortunately, though, these titles are fixed on the Collector’s Choice and Collector’s Vault sets).

The animator draft for the cartoon can be viewed here.

Favorite Scene:

Dawg wraps a “gift” for Foghorn, having Banty give it to him. Figuring it might be a booby trap, Foghorn has himself and Banty back away, before he opens it, revealing it to be some kind of clock where a figure comes out to ring a gold metal platter. This, of course, causes Banty to start throwing punches at Foghorn, who realizes that he was right about it being a booby trap.

What Happens in This One:

A car driving on the road is seen transporting a crate reading, “Kid Banty World’s Champion Fighting Rooster Pinfeatherweight Champ”. The car soon hits two bumps on the road, causing the crate to come loose and smash to pieces (animated by Herman Cohen). Panting heavily from the accident, Banty starts talking to himself, talking as if he’s been punched hard in a boxing match, “Take it easy, boy. Stay down. Take the full count, boy. 7…8…9…” and then starts swinging punches before pulling himself together and walking (animated by Rod Scribner) into a field where a cow is grazing. This cow happens to be wearing a bell, which rings, when she lifts her head up. Banty immediately starts swinging punches and socks the cow up against a tree. The dazed cow asks, “Anyone for buttermilk?” (animated by Charles McKimson)

Meanwhile, Foghorn is seen doing a paper-cutting trick with cut outs of a rhombus, and of a cutout of himself kicking a cutout of Dawg while scatting to “Camptown Races” before noticing Dawg building some sort of structure with a long pipe as a telescope. “Now wha-, I say, now what kind of an infernal contraption have ya got here, Dawg?” Dawg nails up a sign, “See a Genuine Flying Saucer”. Foghorn doesn’t believe it, but decides to “take a look anyhow”. Looking into it, Foghorn remarks that he can only see “is a lot of air with a hole around it. I don’t see no flying saucer!” Sitting on a branch, Dawg tells him, “Keep looking” as he uses a large rubber band to slingshot a plate into the pipe towards Foghorn, who starts going berserk, “Now, I say, now I can see one! I can see it just as plain! Why… it’s a-headin’ right for us! We’re gonna-” The plate ends up hitting Foghorn directly in the face, rendering him dazed, and a teacup shortly coming out of the pipe and hanging off of his beak. Dawg appears and seemingly offers him sugar lumps, “One or two lumps, sir?” Foghorn groggily replies, “Uh, two, please”. Dawg brings out a mallet and whacks Foghorn on the head two times, causing two lumps to grow out of his head (animated by Phil DeLara).

Again scatting to “Camptown Races”, Foghorn is trying to put some parts into an alarm clock, “If I can just get this clock to work, I’ll ‘doo-dah’ that dog, but good!” Having finished it, Foghorn sighs in satisfaction and waits for it to ring as a test, only for Banty to suddenly walk into the scene and for him to land a punch on Foghorn, upon hearing the clock go off. Foghorn asks in a daze, “Anybo-, I, I say, anybody get the number of that truck?” Upon snapping out of it, Foghorn starts berating Banty, “Now what… I say, what’s the big idea, bashin’ me in the bazooka that-a-way, boy?” Banty explains, “Gee, mister. I j-j-j-just can’t help it. Whenever I hear the bell, I just, just gotta start throwin’ punches!” (animated by Charles)

Observing this, Foghorn remarks, “Punchy as a drill press” and ponders, “Hmm. Starts throwin’ punches when he hears a bell”. He then looks over at Dawg sleeping, and gets Banty’s attention, “Stop, I say, stop it boy! You’re doin’ a lot of choppin’, but no chips are flyin’! The trouble with you is you’re out of condition! You’re flabby!” He then confides, “His muscles are as soggy as a used teabag” before flexing Banty’s arm, revealing his very large muscle. Foghorn tells Banty, “Boy, what you need is a good workout!” Banty agrees, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Workout, workout”, before Foghorn continues, “Listen to me, boy! Pay attention when I’m talkin’ to ya! Now what ya do, boy, go over to that little house over there and ask the dog for the punching bag! Go on, boy! Get goin’!”, pushing him away to go over to Dawg. Foghorn informs us, “That boy’s about as sharp as a bowling ball!” (animated by Charles)

Once Banty approaches Dawg, Foghorn strikes a triangle with a hammer, provoking Banty into going into another punching fit and socking Dawg, who was woken up from the triangle. Dawg grabs him and demands, “Hey! What’s the big idea swattin’ me on the schnozzola when I’m sleepin’!?” Banty tells him, “When I hear the bell, I just got to start punching SOMETHIN’!” Dawg asks, “Yeah, well what ya doin’ around here?”, to which Banty answers, “My friend over there said, uh, would ya’s kindly leave me have the punching bag?” “He did?”, Dawg questions before becoming suspicious, “Hmm. Oh, yeah, yeah. Sure. I’ll leave ya have it! Just a minute”. Doing something inside his doghouse with only his head and arms hidden in there, Dawg shortly comes back out with a present. “There ya are! Tell him I wrapped it as a gift!” Banty leaves with, “Thank you’s, pal”, as Dawg snickers at what’s about to happen (animated by Scribner).

Foghorn is playing hopscotch while scatting to “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush” before he is interrupted by Banty coming up to him with the gift and saying, “Hey, pal”. Not pleased at being interrupted from his game, Foghorn asks, “What, I say, what NOW, boy? Can’t ya see I’m playin’ hopscotch?” Banty reminds him, “I, uh, I b-brung ya the punching bag like ya said!” Foghorn asks, “Punching bag?” and then remembers, “Oh, oh, yeah, yeah! The punching bag!” Banty adds, “Your pal says I should tell ya it’s a gift for ya’s!” “He did?”, Foghorn wonders before realizing this could be a trick, “Sta-, I say, stand back, boy! It’s probably a booby trap! Now, keep clear now!”, and opens it, revealing it to be some kind of clock. “Now what in the world have we here?” (animated by Scribner) as Foghorn becomes intrigued by the figure moving out with a gold metal platter, “Say!” Banty remarks, “I never seen THAT kind of punching bag!” The figure rings the platter, provoking Banty into going into another punching fit and socking Foghorn, leaving his neck and head pushed very far down between his shoulders as he’s on the ground and only his beak is sticking out, “I was, I say, I…I was right! It WAS a booby trap!” (animated by Cohen)

Later, a barrel seemingly sneaks up on its own towards Dawg’s house. It’s revealed that Foghorn is hiding in it as he gets Dawg’s attention, “Psst! I say, psst! Hey, Dawg! What, I say, what do ya say we call a truce?”, waving a white flag out of a hole in the barrel. “How’d you like to make five bones?” Dawg begins to consider, “Well….” (animated by Charles) before Foghorn gets out of the barrel, dressed like a coach, “Good! I knew you would! Uh, my boy needs a sparring partner! Now all, I say, all you gotta do is go a few rounds with him!” and walks him over to a test-your-strength-like device. “Oh, oh, yeah. First, I gotta see if you measure up to our height requirements”. Foghorn sees that Dawg’s head doesn’t reach the “Minimum Height” line. “Hmm. A couple of inches too short. Well, we can fix that”. He propels Dawg headfirst up to the device’s bell, which gives him a lump upon hitting it. Said lump ends up enabling him to reach the minimum height. “Ya made it, boy! (animated by DeLara) Congra-, I say, congratulations! Have a cee-gar on me!” The cigar he puts in Dawg’s mouth is actually an explosive one, which blows up offscreen as he walks away. Foghorn remarks, “That’s the trouble with that fool dog! Always shootin’ his mouth off!” (animated by Scribner)

Banty comes up to a charred Dawg and starts demanding, “Come on, come on! Put up your dukes! Put up your dukes!” Dawg takes the ruined cigar out of his mouth and responds, “Yeah, I know, I know. I’m supposed to be your sparring partner! But I’m too big for ya! Now you just take it easy, and I’ll get ya one just your size” (animated by Scribner).

Dawg is seen very excited while looking into the “Hula Hula Hut”, which is presumably a burlesque show. “Whoa-ho-ho-Nellie! (wolf whistles and barks) Oh, bring on the dancing girls! (wolf whistles) Baby! (whinnies like a horse) 23 skidoo!” Foghorn, who’s using a stethoscope to check for worms in apples, hears Dawg making a racket over there and wonders, “Now wha-, I say, now what’s that dog makin’ all that hoop-de-doo about?”, oblivious to the worm in the apple currently in his hand sneaking out. Foghorn moves the howling, panting, and wolf-whistling Dawg out of the way and attempts to look inside for himself, “Alright, Dawg. Don’t be hoggish about it. Let somebody ELSE have a look!” Dawg immediately nails several boards over the “hut”’s entrance (animated by Cohen). Foghorn doesn’t see anything in the “hut” and remarks, “Huh. I don’t, I say, I don’t see no huly-huly girls. I don’t see-”, but then sees a hole from above him. “Ah! They’re in the peep hole! I’ve heard of these shows! Never been to one though!” As soon as he peeks his head through the hole, he gets punched. It turns out the “hut” is actually an ordinary tree stump made into a boxing ring, with Banty now having the perfect sparring partner, Foghorn’s head, which he punches every time Dawg rings the bell (animated by Scribner).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½