Release Date:

January 25, 1947

Main Character(s):

Goofy Gophers

Summary:

A posh English watchdog attempts to prevent the garden he’s guarding from being raided by the Goofy Gophers.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1021 and was released as a Looney Tune.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. “Let’s Sing a Song About Susie” (which also plays during the scene where one of the gophers advises against the other not pulling down radishes or strawberries as well as the scene where the Gophers launch the dog to the moon near the end) played under the opening credits:

Story: Warren Foster

Animation: JC Melendez, Manny Gould, Cal Dalton, and Don Williams

Layouts: Thomas McKimson

Backgrounds: Philip DeGuard

Voice Characterizations: Mel Blanc

Musical Direction: Carl Stalling

This is the first appearance of the Goofy Gophers, the overly polite gopher twins later known as Mac and Tosh who are indistinguishable, although one gopher is voiced by Mel Blanc while the other is voiced by Stan Freberg. This is also the only cartoon where the Gophers have gray fur, as in all of their appearances after this one, they have brown fur.

This cartoon was originally begun by Bob Clampett, but he left the studio in the middle of production, leaving Davis to finish it. The cartoon also lacks a director credit due to Davis taking over a cartoon that was begun by someone else. This is more of a Davis cartoon than a Clampett cartoon, however, as the usual trademarks of Clampett’s cartoons are not present, such as the Rod Scribner animation, and off-the-wall wild takes.

This is also the only Davis cartoon written by Warren Foster.

The gophers would face off against similar dogs who are different characters in the hilarious “Two Gophers from Texas” (1948; also directed by Davis) and “A Ham in a Role” (1949; directed by McKimson).

The restored print uses the incorrect ending theme (although the video provided has this error fixed).

During Bugs Bunny’s cameo appearance at the end, his voice was accidentally sped up during production, resulting in him sounding high-pitched.

Speaking of Bugs, this was technically one of two times Davis used him. The other was in “Bowery Bugs”, which was the only Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by him.

What I Like About This One:

Early in the morning, the dog is first seen pacing back and forth with a bayonet and repeating “Hut, two, three, four” before going to sleep. He then hears chomping noises and realizes, “Hark, me thinks ‘tis intruders in yon garden!” So he shoots off a flare cannon to see in the dark (animated by Cal Dalton).

Spotting the gophers relaxing in the garden and sampling the vegetables through a spyglass (animated by Don Williams), the dog decides “I shall give them what for!” and sneaks up disguised as a plant growing tomatoes (since his nose resembles one), calling it, “Commando tactics”, and putting emphasis on the c’s in the latter word (animated by Dalton).

The gophers then pounce a carrot. The first gopher allows the other to pull it out, and the second gopher sees that this is an extra-long carrot and wolf-whistles (animated by Williams).

As the first gopher observes the tomatoes on the dog’s disguise, the second gopher asks, “Hey, look. Who am I making like? Who am I making like?”, puts two carrots behind his head to resemble ears, and asks, “What’s up, doc?” (animated by Williams).

Now during the day, and unknowingly taking the dog with him, the first gopher gathers up some cucumbers, turnips, potatoes, and radishes. The dog asks him, “Delicious, isn’t it?” as he’s observing a watermelon. The gopher asks him, “But have you tried the pumpkin, today?” “Pumpkin? Why, no”, the dog answers. The gopher smashes it over his head: “Well, here have some!” He also asks him if he’s had his iron today. The dog hasn’t had that either, so the gopher smashes a shovel over him. The dog gives chase, but fails to enter the gophers’ hole due to him still having the shovel on his face (animated by Manny Gould).

Coming out with hats resembling those of Carmen Miranda, the gophers bid farewell to each other before descending again. The dog digs up the ground to look for them but gets squirted by one of the gophers using a tomato. He then attempts to decapitate them with hedge clippers every time one of them comes out and taunts him, but they quickly dodge every snip (animated by Williams). The gophers come out from behind the dog through another hole and give him a hotfoot. Noticing this, the dog races to put his foot out in a barrel of water (animated by Dalton).

The gophers next pull every vegetable under in tune to a Conga beat, while also punching the observing dog with a boxing glove at one point. The dog disguises as a scarecrow placed near a bunch of cabbages, hoping to catch them this way. “Ah, once again, me razor-keen mind comes to me rescue!” He gets pulled under as well but is immediately brought back out with the scarecrow coming up with a telegram from the gophers (animated by Bill Melendez) that reads, “We’re vegetarians, you screwball!!!” (animated by Dalton)

The second gopher observes several more produce from underground but the first gopher claims that radishes have starch which makes one fat and that strawberries make one break out in a regular rash. The second gopher attempts to pull down a stalk of celery which the dog notices and tugs on, claiming, “Ah! Now I have got them exactly where-” buts gets pulled into the ground with his rear end sticking in the air (animated by Williams). “-they want me”, the dog finishes in embarrassment, upside down. The gophers then push the roller part of a steamroller over him and peek down both holes to comment, “Silly boy!” in unison (animated by Dalton).

The dog sticks his head out of the ground and confides, “I must extract meself from this precarious position!” and does so in anger. He then reaches down the hole, where one of the gophers pushes a grenade within reach. Pulling the pin out, the dog mistakes this for a fancy ring. “Stunning, isn’t it?”, he asks before it explodes (animated by Melendez).

The dog’s next attempt involves him disguising his hand as a female gopher. In tune to Beethoven’s “Minuet in G”, the gophers allow the other to dance with the dog’s disguise but accidentally pull it off at one point, leaving only the leg parts on the dog’s fingers. The gophers push a mousetrap in the dog’s direction, leaving the dog getting his fingers snapped in it (animated by Gould).

That evening, the dog puts a dynamite stick in a carrot (animated by Dalton, with Melendez animating the shots of the dog sneaking out, lighting the fuse, and anticipating the explosion) but the gophers cut the fuse shortly before the explosion while one of them blows air into a paper bag before popping it (animated by Williams). Thinking he’s finally rid of them, the dog does the same “Hut, 2, 3, 4” from earlier and goes to sleep for the night (animated by Melendez).

The gophers carry the sleeping dog off and put him in a rocket launcher, aiming it at the moon (animated by Dalton with Williams animating the shots of one of the gophers lighting the dynamite stick they put in the dog’s mouth and of the dog being launched). Having disposed of the dog, the gophers saw down the “Beware of Dog” sign and are pleased to have the garden and all those lovely carrots all to themselves. Hearing a familiar crunching noise, however, they turn to see Bugs Bunny leaning against a large pile of carrots and reminding them, “Well, uh, now I wouldn’t say THAT!” (animated by Williams)

Where Can I Watch It?

On YouTube!

Carrot Rating:

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