Release Date:

November 24, 1956

Main Character(s):

Mexican Crows

Summary:

Two dim-witted Mexican crows named Jose and Manuel attempt to catch a clever grasshopper, but end up hurting each other in the process.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1420 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

This is the first of two cartoons with Jose and Manuel the crows. Their other appearance was in 1962’s “Crow’s Feat” (also directed by Freleng).

The cartoon is a slight reworking of “Hop Skip and a Chump” from fourteen years prior except that the grasshopper in this one is a mute plot device while the crows unquestionably carry the humor (that one was also directed by Freleng and featured two crows caricatured as Laurel and Hardy).

This is the first Freleng cartoon solely written by Tedd Pierce since “Canary Row” and the first in general since “Room and Bird”.

The title is a pun for the 1948 film “Two Guys from Texas” (which Bugs made a cameo in).

The cartoon serves as a precursor to DePatie-Freleng’s “Tijuana Toads” cartoons (1969-1972) in that the crows have the exact same voice actors and personalities as the toads, Poncho and Toro (Jose and Toro were voiced by Don Diamond while Manuel and Poncho were voiced by Tom Holland. No, not that Tom Holland, but a completely different one who was a voice actor for numerous cartoons in the latter half of the Golden Age).

Two cats with the same names and personalities as Jose and Manuel would appear in 1959’s “Mexicali Shmoes” where they attempt to catch Speedy.

From this point on for all remaining Warner cartoons, the byline regarding film print type just says “Technicolor” rather than “Color by Technicolor”.

Arthur Davis and Virgil Ross are the only animators on the cartoon.

Carl Stalling scored this one.

The cartoon has a special ending where instead of the “That’s all Folks!” end card appearing and the 1955-1964 Merrie Melodies end theme playing, the already written out “That’s all Folks!” writing along with the “Merrie Melodies” and “A Warner Bros. Cartoon” bylines all appear over the final shot of the cartoon with end music for this specific scene playing.

Favorite Scene:

The scene where Jose and Manuel get tricked into attacking a cactus.

Runner-up is Jose’s ridiculous “Hoppy Hoppy Grasshopper” song.

What Happens in This One:

In their tree, Jose and Manuel are seen lazing around with Jose strumming the guitar and both lethargically singing a rather catchy Mexican ballad. At one point, they suddenly jump up into the air and dance around in mid-air before sliding back down in their tree and continue their lethargic ballad. When Jose stops strumming, Manuel notices something in the former’s sombrero. It turns out to be a grasshopper taking a siesta in the sombrero’s rim. Manuel steals Jose’s guitar and ends up clobbering him with it when trying to hit the grasshopper. Jose exclaims something in Spanish that ends with “-in the head!?”, before the grasshopper hops away off one of the tree’s branches. Manuel points toward him, “A grasshopper! Grasshopper!” Jose also becomes excited as they both jump off the tree with Jose taking his guitar with him and Manuel using his sombrero as a parachute (animated by Arthur Davis).

Once on the ground, they energetically attempt to hit him with their guitar and club, respectively, to no avail. Eventually, Manuel accidentally clobbers Jose. Upon seeing Jose sit up from the accidental attack, Manuel lifts up Jose’s sombrero to reveal a lump having grown out of his head, which Manuel hammers back in. Seemingly calm, Jose thanks him, “Gracias, Senor Crow”. Manuel bows while removing his sombrero, “Por nada. It’s nothing”. Jose then hits Manuel with his guitar and angrily calls him “Stupid!” He lifts Manuel’s sombrero up to reveal his state and upon seeing Manuel give him a wave while smiling, Jose clobbers him again (animated by Davis).

With both flying in the air, Jose spots the grasshopper hopping around and calls out to Manuel flying from a distance to his left, “Hey, Manuel!” before pointing downward. They zoom down towards the grasshopper in opposite directions. The grasshopper sees Jose zooming toward him from his right and Manuel from his left, before Jose realizes to his horror that he and Manuel are about to collide into each other headfirst. The grasshopper jumps into a small hole at the last second, causing Jose and Manuel to bash into each other headfirst and briefly go up into the air dizzy before coming back down (animated by Davis with Virgil Ross animating the shots of the grasshopper watching them zoom toward him).

Sneaking up to the hole, Jose calls down, “Oh, little grasshopper! Why you no come out and play with me, eh?” Unaware that Manuel has also come up to the hole ready to attack the grasshopper with his club, Jose then gets down on all four’s, “Hey, look! I’m a grasshopper too! I’m a BIG grasshopper!” He sings a ridiculously hilarious song, “Hoppy Hoppy Grasshopper” while hopping around on all four’s. Manuel questions “Grasshopper?” and lets his stupidity get the better of him as he clobbers Jose and then picks him up while carrying him off, “Jose! Look! I caught a big grasshopper! Come here, Jose! (speaks in Spanish), we gonna eat a big grasshopper!” Jose comes to and taps Manuel on the shoulder saying Manuel’s name in a singsong voice. Manuel: “Si?” Jose: “I am NOT a grasshopper”. Manuel asks, “No?”, to which Jose lets out an angry “NO!” Manuel replies with a meek “Okay” and puts Jose back down (animated by Ross).

Manuel spots the grasshopper hopping past and knocks Jose down again when chasing after him. The grasshopper hops into a hollow tree as Manuel attempts to reach in there for him. Jose shoves him out of the way, “Scram! Payo!” and attempts to reach in the tree himself. Manuel asks, “You got him, Jose? You got him, huh?” Jose tells him quietly, “Silencio! Silencio!” The grasshopper lights a dynamite stick and puts it within reach of Jose, tricking him into grabbing it by tapping his hand. They both become excited upon believing that Jose caught the grasshopper. Jose attempts to take a look at him with Manuel peering over his shoulder, only for Jose to glare at him and shove him aside. He runs off, only for Manuel to catch up to him and begin wrestling Jose for the grasshopper. Having caught the grasshopper for himself, Manuel looks at him and realizes this is a dynamite stick so he runs back and quickly gives it back to Jose, “Jose! Jose! This must be yours! I don’t understand how this in my possession! Excusa, senor! Excusa, please dispensimi- dispensimiss!” Confused by this, Jose realizes what it actually is and starts yelling, “Help, Manuel! Manuel, help!” Manuel comes back and they both look at the dynamite, which explodes on them, removing most of their feathers before their respective sombreros fall back onto their heads in disheveled states (animated by Ross).

Angrily spotting (animated by Ross), the grasshopper in the tree, Jose tricks the grasshopper by chuckling, “Why, that’s a good joke he played on us, that grasshopper! He’s much too smart for us! We’ll go to Guadalajara where is STUPID grasshoppers!” Jose and Manuel then walk away while singing in unison, “We’re going to Guadalajara to catch the stupid grasshoppers!” Believing he’s safe, the grasshopper hops out of the tree, only for Jose and Manuel to then return and attempt to whack him with their guitar and club. Manuel then realizes something as he taps Jose on the shoulder and points to something in front of them (animated by Davis).

It’s revealed to be the grasshopper posing next to a cactus dressed up with a sombrero and a serape. They mistake it for an animate creature as Jose asks, “Hey! What you do with our grasshopper, eh?” Due to the cactus being inanimate, there is of course no response. Jose continues, “What’s the matter!? Cat got your tongue!?” before threatening, “You gonna give us back our grasshopper or you looking for a punch in the nose!” Manuel encourages quietly, “Give him a big lip, Jose!” The grasshopper hops away as Jose and Manuel tackle the cactus and get covered in cactus needles from attacking it, causing their energetic shouting to turn into pained screaming as they run off into the distance (animated by Ross).

Jose and Manuel take turns removing the needles from each other as Manuel remarks, “It was an awful big fellow!” Jose replies, “Si, but I could lick him! Ah, he don’t fight fair!” After they’ve removed all the needles, Jose and Manuel are back in their tree singing the same ballad at the start of the cartoon. At sunset, the camera pans out from a silhouette of them singing in their tree before the already written out “That’s all, Folks!” text and bylines fade in on the background instead of the usual end card (animated by Davis).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½