Release Date:

May 6, 1950

Main Character(s):

Foghorn Leghorn, Henery Hawk, Barnyard Dawg

Summary:

Foghorn Leghorn misleads Henery Hawk into believing he should be going after pheasants instead of chickens and has him believe that Barnyard Dawg is a pheasant.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1116 and was released as a Looney Tune.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue.

This is the first Foghorn Leghorn cartoon where he is given the star billing instead of Henery Hawk. After this, Henery would only appear in four more cartoons: “Leghorn Swoggled” (1951), “The EggCited Rooster” (1952), “All Fowled Up” (1955), and “Strangled Eggs” (1961). Dawg, on the other hand, would continue being a regular foil for Foghorn.

Other than doing his familiar scatting of “Camptown Races” at the start of the cartoon, Foghorn also hums to “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” during two different scenes but only says the “E-I-E-I-O” parts.

The title is a pun for the 1945 film “The Horn Blows at Midnight”.

The cartoon was released four days after my maternal grandfather was born.

From this cartoon onwards, Dawg gains his permanent voice.

The animator draft for the cartoon can be viewed here.

Henery’s attempt to launch a pumpkin from a catapult in this cartoon is actually such a thing in real life, called “pumpkin chucking” or “punkin’ chunkin’” where people compete to see who can launch pumpkins the farthest distance (Washington Farms in Oconee County has something similar where miniature pumpkins are launched out of a cannon).

McKimson would reuse the “character thinking they’ve become invisible, unaware that it’s the product that’s actually invisible” gag in “Cheese It, the Cat” (1957).

After Foghorn sends Henery off after inspiring him about his ancestors (American heroes depicted as chicken hawks drawn in stick figures), and when Henery goes back to Dawg after declaring “I have not yet begun to fight!”, Foghorn looks at the audience for a brief second and looks like he’s about to say something, but before he can, the shot cuts to Henery entering Dawg’s house for the third time. It’s implied that this was a line of dialogue deleted from the cartoon. What the line was going to be is currently unknown.

A soundalike of “Huckleberry Duck” plays during the scenes where Henery first appears and when he attempts to tie down the pumpkin before Foghorn is seen watching him.

What I Like About This One:

Foghorn is first seen playing solitaire while singing “Camptown Races”. Dawg shortly appears out of his doghouse with a pair of cymbals and after missing a first time, bangs Foghorn’s head with them when he turns around (animated by Rod Scribner).

While juggling and humming “Old MacDonald Had a Farm”, Foghorn grabs a cream pie from the window and upon coming up to Dawg’s house, imitates a cat meowing to get Dawg to peek his head out. He gives Dawg the cherry and then mashes the pie in Dawg’s face, rubbing it in before putting the cherry on his nose. Dawg chases Foghorn in anger and once he reaches his rope limit, Foghorn puts a tube around Dawg’s body, eats the cherry and then removes the pie cream with a razor before putting a scalding hot towel over Dawg’s face, causing him to scream in pain before barking. Foghorn silences him with “Ah, shut up!” and tightens the tube on him (animated by Bill Melendez).

Looking for a chicken, Henery spots Dawg sharpening an ax on a grinding wheel and assumes he’s a chicken, so he pulls Dawg down by tugging on his rope. On the ground, Dawg asks, “What’s the matter, buster?” Henery answers, “I’m a chicken hawk and I just caught my first chicken: you!” (animated by Charles McKimson) Dawg corrects him and points to Foghorn, “I’m no chicken. There’s a chicken”. The camera pans to Foghorn walking across a stone wall while again humming “Old MacDonald Had a Farm”. Henery starts after him but Dawg warns, “Hey, you can’t get a chicken that way. You gotta out-trick ‘em. Now chickens are very curious, so-” and whispers a plan to Henery (animated by Scribner).

Henery attempts to tie down a makeshift catapult in order to launch a pumpkin with it. Foghorn watches him (animated by Scribner) and tells Henery he’s not strong enough to do it, so he does it himself. “There ya are, boy. Your pumpkin is tied down purty” (animated by Melendez). Henery asks him for a match, to which Foghorn gives him one (animated by Charles), but warns, “Now don’t set the world on fire”. After Foghorn leaves, Henery puts a candle underneath the rope to burn it and lights the wick with the match (animated by Scribner). As Foghorn is walking away, he chuckles to himself before realizing that what he’s talking about doesn’t make any sense, “These kids comin’ up nowadays. Don’t even know how to tie down their pumpkins. Why, when I was a boy- Say! I never tied down no pumpkins! Hey, son, what’cha tyin’ down a pumpkin for What’s the big-?” As he walks back, the burned rope lets go of the catapult, to which Foghorn ends up getting the pumpkin on his head. “Ask a silly question, get a silly answer” (animated by Emery Hawkins).

Feeling Henery dragging him away, Foghorn demands, “Hey! Let go of my toe!” and upon taking the pumpkin off of his head asks Henery where he’s taking him (animated by Hawkins). Henery’s reply is, “I’m a chicken hawk and I’m gonna take you home. Come on, I ain’t got all day” (animated by Charles). Foghorn gives an aside chuckle to the audience before going into a sob story, “Oh, Mr. Chicken Hawk, don’t take me home. I don’t want to roast in any old black oven. I’m scared of the dark” before sobbing (animated by Hawkins). Henery asks him if he’d rather be fried on top of the stove (animated by Charles), to which Foghorn continues, “I’m too tough, son. No white meat, just gristle. Feel my wing. I was young and tender once-” He then stops to tell Henery, “Feel my wing like I told ya, boy” and finishes when Henery does, “-but that was long ago”. Ending his sob story, Foghorn advises, “Now if you wa-, I say, if you want something tender, get a nice pheasant! Pheasant under glass, there’s good eatin’! Any of this gettin’ through to ya, son?” (animated by Hawkins)

Henery asks, “Are there any of these ph-ph-pheasants around here?” (animated by Charles) Foghorn says, “Why, of course, son!” and picks him up to take him to one. After they both hum to “A-Hunting We Will Go”, Foghorn informs him they’re “nearin’ the pheasant country” and points to a “pheasant’s house”, which is actually Dawg’s house (animated by Hawkins). Henery realizes, “Gosh! I was talkin’ to a pheasant and didn’t know it!” (animated by Charles) Foghorn gives him a glass tureen to put over Dawg as “pheasant under glass” (animated by Melendez). After Henery puts the tureen over Dawg offscreen, Dawg chases him out compressed under the tureen, which comes off once he reaches the rope limit (animated by Phil DeLara). Foghorn appears in a golf outfit and sets up the ball atop Dawg’s nose. The camera zooms in towards Foghorn as he makes his hit, but the camera pans back to reveal that the ball is still there before cutting to Dawg’s rope getting tied around a tree with Dawg swinging around and around (animated by Scribner).

Foghorn then puts vanishing cream on Henery to make him invisible even though it’s the cream itself that’s invisible (animated by Hawkins with Charles animating the shot of Henery being rubbed). He pretends he can’t see Henery to make him believe he’s invisible. After Henery once more goes after Dawg, Foghorn asides, “Nice-mannered kid, just a little on the dumb side” (animated by Hawkins). Henery is excited that no one can see him as he walks into Dawg’s house (animated by Charles). Inside the doghouse, Henery does an evil laugh and threatens, “I got ya now! I’m the invisible hawk! You can’t see me! I might be 20 feet tall! You can’t fight what you can’t see!” Without a word, Dawg pulls out a mirror to show Henery he’s still visible. “I got ya now, ya nincom-poop!” Dawg chases Henery out, but is once again held back by the rope limit. This time, Foghorn puts an accordion over Dawg’s head and plays it, leaving Dawg shaking while his ears ring music notes (animated by DeLara).

Foghorn gives Henery a pep talk, telling him he can’t quit now as he comes from “a long line of fightin’ hawks” (animated by DeLara), with Henery’s thoughts of them being drawn in stick figures. “There was a chicken hawk at Bunker Hill, with John Paul Jones, with Washington at Yorktown, and at Gettysburg!” Inspired, Henery declares while swinging his fists, “Bring on the pheasant. Where is he? Take that, you old pheasant! And that! And this! And that! I have not yet begun to fight!” Marching back (animated by Charles) into Dawg’s house to the tune of “Yankee Doodle”, Henery threatens, “Okay, pheasant. Your time has come”. Dawg tells him off, “Pheasant, schmeasant! What are you, a pheasant hawk?” (animated by Melendez) When Henery reveals, “No. I’m a chicken hawk” (animated by Charles), Dawg asks him, “So, what’s with pheasants? You need a chicken. Unhook my collar. I’ll show ya how to get a chicken” (animated by Melendez).

After an unhooked Dawg and Henery sneak out (animated by Scribner), Dawg makes the barking and strangling noises to make it seem like he’s chasing Henery off and has been held back by his rope limit again before he and Henery hide against the wall. Foghorn appears with a hammer and dinner platter, and is confused upon not seeing Dawg. Dawg takes the platter and puts it on Foghorn’s head while banging it. Realizing, “I’ve been, I say, I’ve been hornswoggled!”, Foghorn gets into a fight with Dawg (animated by DeLara), as Henery, with his dinner pot prepared, cheers them on before deciding, “I don’t care WHO wins. I’ll fricassee the loser!” (animated by Charles)

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½