Release Date:

May 14, 1949

Main Character(s):

Three Bears

Summary:

During breakfast, Pa finds that Junyer has been using all the honey, so he attempts to get some more from a beehive with Junyer’s stupidity screwing most of the schemes up.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1084 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue.

“Bee-deviled” is a pun for “bedeviled”.

This is the first cartoon where Pa cries near the end, “What did I ever do to deserve such a family!?” He would do so again in “Bear Feat” (released seven months later) and one of the Three Bears’ two appearances in Looney Tunes Cartoons, “Life’s a Beach” (2023).

The cartoon is a slight reworking of MGM’s seventh Barney Bear cartoon, “Wild Honey” (1942) where in that cartoon, Barney searches for some honey and eventually comes across a tree filled with honey but oozing with bees. Both cartoons are similar in that the main character ultimately pays the price at the end for attempting to steal honey (most of the Barney Bear cartoons revolve around him trying to have a simple life, only to get into frustrating situations). Although in real life, bees would only end up killing themselves when savagely attacking someone trying to get at their honey.

Ma’s line, “But, Henry. What will the neighbors think?” would be reused in the Bears’ final Golden Age cartoon, “A Bear for Punishment” (1951). “Henry” is Pa’s real name.

What I Like About This One:

Junyer is ecstatic about having toast and honey for breakfast but Pa hits his hand with a butter knife when he all of the pieces of toast. Junyer then takes out a large glob of honey and puts it on his one piece of toast. Pa looks into the jar of honey and is angry to see there is no more. Just as Junyer is about to eat, Pa shoves his honey-covered toast in his face to which Junyer cries, “What did I do? What did I do?” (animated by Ben Washam)

Pa goes off with the empty jar and Ma asks, “But Henry, where are you going?” Pa answers, “I’m gonna get me some more honey! What else?” She tries to tell him something else but she only gets a “Shut up!” (animated by Washam)

Looking up at the beehive, Pa has Junyer crank up a ladder but Junyer cranks it up too high as Pa stands atop it folding his arms with an unamused expression. Junyer lets out a “Phew!” of exhaustion and lets go of the crank, sending Pa all the way back down, and destroying the ladder. Pa rises up to which Junyer tells him, “Why Pa, you did not get any honey”. This gets him socked by Pa, who is not amused by his comment (animated by Phil Monroe).

Pa next yells at Junyer, who now has the empty jar and a spoon, “Well! We haven’t got all day!” He attempts to hold Junyer up for him to get the honey, but Junyer’s weight causes Pa to sink into the ground. Pa demands Junyer to get him out. Junyer does so and informs him, “I am not yet high enough, Pa!” to which he gets punched again. Pa decides, “Well, don’t just sit there, stupid! You boost ME up!” Junyer only throws him up into the air hard, resulting in Pa crashing through the roof of their house/cave and all the way to the bottom floor. Pa comes out dazed (animated by Monroe up to here) and attempts to punch Junyer, but becomes dizzy from the attempt and collapses. Realizing “I done a bad thing”, Junyer picks up Pa’s fist, punches himself with it, and then makes pained noises afterwards (animated by Ken Harris).

The next attempt involves Junyer sitting on the other end of a makeshift teeterboard to be propelled up to the hive and Pa jumping on the other end, but Junyer’s weight only causes Pa to repeatedly hit the branch the hive is on numerous times like a test your strength game (animated by Lloyd Vaughan).

With Ma helping out this time, Pa has her and Junyer above his shoulders as Junyer seemingly gets the honey successfully. When they get back inside, however, and Pa has put the contents of the jar in between two pieces of toast, he sees that Junyer has instead caught a few bees who all give Pa angry looks. Pa nervously gives it to Junyer, who is delighted: “Oh, goody, goody! I done a good thing and I get a prize!” As Junyer eats the bee sandwich, Pa flutters his right eyebrow at the audience but Junyer only gets a buzzing emitting from his mouth. Pa punches him once more which silences the buzzing (animated by Vaughan).

Junyer is then seen holding a pole with Pa at the top and attempting to reach the hive. When a bee lands on his nose, Pa nervously makes buzzing noises to the tune of “Rock a Bye Baby” to lure the bee to sleep and whispers, “Psst, Junyer”. Annoyed, Junyer decides to help out: “Oh, that dirty bee. I will mash him. He swats at the bee with the shovel, which kills it but he also bashes Pa’s face, which creates an imprint in the shape of Pa’s face. Junyer brags as he picks up the dead bee, “I got him, Pa! I got the little bee!”, but Pa puts the bee on Junyer’s nose and whacks him with the shovel with tremendous force (animated by Vaughan).

Pa has Junyer walk across the telephone wire to the hive but Junyer is too heavy as he makes the wire sag all the way down to the ground. Pa orders him to get off but the second he does, it flings back into Pa’s face (animated by Monroe). Pa attempts to walk it himself but Junyer decides to flip the switch for 20,000 volts, which electrocutes Pa and lights him up. Junyer turns him into a lamp by putting bulbs in his ears and putting a lampshade over him (animated by Vaughan). He shows this to Ma who can only comment, “But, Henry, what will the neighbors think?” Pa shuts off both of the bulbs in his ears, removes the lampshade, hits Junyer once more, and unsuccessfully tries to hit Ma (animated by Washam).

Fed up, Pa grabs some spikes to scale the tree and walks out without a word. He climbs up the tree and is soon chased down by the swarm of angry bees who chase him all the way home as he shouts in pain. Pa shuts the door on him and turns around into view, revealing that the bees have stung his face into a swollen mound! (animated by Harris)

With his face covered in bandages, Pa is having eggs and bacon instead. He rages, “Well, don’t tell me there’s no ketchup!” Ma goes to get him a bottle of it and opens the cupboard to reveal shelves filled with countless jars of honey! Seeing this, Pa’s eyes widen in shock and he walks up to the cupboard with an enraged, nightmarish face which frightens Junyer so much, he ends up tearing up the wall while crying in fear. Ma says, “But, Henry, I TRIED to tell you…” Pa climbs up the cupboard but it falls down, shattering the jars and getting honey all over him. Just as he’s about to go into another rage, he instead starts sobbing, “What did I ever do to deserve such a family!?” Another bee comes in and rests on Pa’s nose. This time, when he tries to make buzzing noises to the tune of “Rock a Bye Baby”, he does both buzzing and sobbing, which is interrupted by Junyer again hitting him in the face with a shovel to attack the bee (animated by Harris).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½