Release Date:

July 13, 1946

Main Character(s):

None

Summary:

A colony of beavers is busy building a dam to prepare for a flood. The ski-cap wearing Eager Beaver lives up to his name as his overeagerness to help leads to him getting in trouble. A larger beaver advises him to chop down a large tree up on a faraway hill, and Eager winds up having to outrun the flood to put the tree in its place in the dam.

That’s Not All, Folks:

Despite the production number being 2-16 (the second Looney Tune in the 16th release season), the cartoon was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. Mendelssohn’s “Violin Concerto in E Minor” played under the opening credits (and also continues into the start of the cartoon):

Story: Tedd Pierce

Animation: Basil Davidovich, Ken Harris, Ben Washam, and Lloyd Vaughan

Layouts and Backgrounds: Robert Gribbroek

Voice Characterization: Mel Blanc

Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling

Direction: Charles M. Jones

Jones originally planned for a series of Eager Beaver cartoons, but this never came to fruition.

The cartoon contains a very bold gag near the start of the cartoon: the narrator tells us that beavers dam rivers but a few beavers misinterpret this as the cuss word and silently mouth curse words at the river with the words “Blankety Blank Blank” appearing on screen. This was due to the Hays Office banning curse words.

One of the baby birds that jumps out of a chopped down tree has Porky’s voice, complete with stutter.

This is one of the shortest cartoons from this period as the circulating Blue Ribbon print runs for 6 minutes and 18 seconds.

What I Like About This One:

The narrator describes beavers as being the busiest little fellows in the woods, but the camera pans to them being all asleep, and only when prompted by the narrator clearing his throat, do they start working (animated by Ben Washam).

“To protect their homes, the beavers dam the river”. Three beavers misinterpret this as the cuss word and silently yell curse words at said river with only the words “Blankety Blank Blank” appearing. Horrified, the narrator tells them he meant constructing a dam to hold the water back (animated by Lloyd Vaughan).

One beaver has another beaver sit on a block of ice to get his teeth to chatter and then uses his chattering teeth to chop a tree down. Three eggs hatch into birds who shout “Geronimo!” and open up parachutes, except for one who has the same voice as Porky and stutters as he falls all the way down (animated by Washam). Once he hits the ground, he says “Geronimo” in an annoyed tone before his parachute opens and sends him flying away (animated by Basil Davidovich).

A running gag involves a beaver foreman guiding precisely one log for the dam throughout the entire cartoon (animated by Ken Harris).

Eager makes his entrance by attempting to chop a seemingly ordinary tree down, only for a dog to stop him and reveal that he buried his bone there (animated by Washam).

Spotting what appears to be a tree in the distance, Eager steals the ax of a fellow beaver (animated by Vaughan) and chops the “tree” down. It turns out to be a telephone pole, as the irritated worker who was working on the lines gives him an annoyed wave, to which Eager sheepishly puts the ax back in the hands of the beaver he stole it from (animated by Davidovich).

To the tune of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, a much larger beaver chops a tree in time to the music with Eager contributing on occasion. The big beaver believes he accidentally killed Eager and sweats in horror, which turns to annoyance when he sees Eager waving down to him. He then shows Eager a tall lonesome tree on a hill in the distance and suddenly shouts at the top of his voice, “WELL, WHY DON’T YOU CHOP THAT TREE DOWN!?” (animated by Washam)

Running over the hill to the tune of the William Tell Overture, Eager makes it to the tree, but finds it difficult to chop. Using boxes of TNT only leaves the tree suspended in mid-air (animated by Vaughan)

Meanwhile, the beaver looking over blueprints for the dam is warned by a messenger crow whose squawks are translated with subtitles: “English Translation: There’s a Flood Coming - - Get Moving Stupid” (animated by Davidovich).

Eager pulls out a termite and uses it to cut the tree (animated by Washam). He then slides down the slope with the tree, where he opens it like an umbrella to land gently (animated by Davidovich).

Eager ends up landing just as the flood is approaching him, so he runs with the tree to outrun it (animated by Davidovich). As the foreman is still guiding that one log (animated by Harris), Eager jumps over the cliff and causes his tree to land perfectly in the empty space of the dam just in time (animated by Davidovich).

As the whole colony cheers in celebration while carrying Eager off as a hero, the foreman instructs for the log to be let go. It ends up pounding him into the ground (animated by Harris).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½