Dog Gone Modern is a 1939 Merrie Melodies short directed by Chuck Jones.
Plot[]
Two curious dogs look over a sign and look over it. The home is an all electric house model. The dogs approach the door and as they cross a small object, the door opens. This at first alarms the brown dog, who begins to crawl at it and back away each time the door moves. He then sees the sigh and assures the little white puppy that its okay and they both head inside. The strange beam of light scares the white puppy and he runs into the bigger brown one, causing them to both fall inside the house.
Now inside, they begin to look around. Once again the little while puppy runs into the big brown one, who warns him to be quiet. A sudden robotic voice scares the two dogs while it explains that anything in this model home can be tried. Again the little puppy comes out of hiding, this time seeing a flashing sign that gains their curiosity. He pushes the button and the panel on the wall opens to show a cigar being lit up. The ash from it falls to the floor and from the nearby door bursts a robotic cleaner who comes out, cleans up the ash, then goes back inside the door.
The little white puppy sees another sign and goes to press it until said sign warns him not to touch it. In the kitchen, the bigger dog turns the electric dish washer on to see what it does. The machine then begins to wash dishes.
The little puppy touches the button, despite warning and when the panel opens it scares him and he flies into the kitchen, causing the bigger dog to wind up on the counter in place of the dishes and get washed. The little puppy then begins to laugh at the Napkin Folder button and accidentally presses it, causing the machine to fold him up like a napkin, then insert him into the nearby shelf. As he pops out, he accidentally runs into the brown dog yet-again and he flies onto the counter where he gets another washing...
The little puppy keeps running until he accidentally breaks a vase. But he gets the small gold band off of his body, which he is happy about, until the automatic sweeping robot pops out again and cleans the mess up. The robot then sweeps the dirt underneath a nearby rog and leaves.
The puppy meanwhile is afraid of the gold band and he wanders off to find a Dog Bone dispenser, but before he can eat the yummy treat, the robot sweeps it up! The brown dog manages to avoid the robot, but the puppy runs into him again and he is washed a third time...
The puppy comes across a piano and watches it play as he barks and tries to get off of it. Many instruments startle him and gets him stuck in them. He manages to get blown away, again breaking another vase as the robot comes by to clean it. A fourth time the bigger dog is washed. The robot meanwhile is trying to find the bone that was left on the floor that the puppy happened to find. The puppy manages to make a swift getaway, but robot is right behind him!
The puppy manages to pick up the brown dog on the "flying carpet" and they are accidentally thrown into the garbage dispenser. The robot appears and while it thinks the dogs got away, the little puppy pops out of the one garbage can and hits it over the head with a mallet, knocking it out of service. The puppy then holds up his bone, only for the bigger dog to steal it for himself and shut the lid on the white puppy.
Availability[]
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Volume 5, Side 5, Pesky Pets (1995 Turner dubbed version)
Streaming[]
Goofs[]
- As the puppy sits behind the brown dog and pants a second time, his one ear flashes white momentarily.
Notes[]
- This cartoon's plot was later reworked as "House Hunting Mice", released eight years later.
- According to the Toonheads episode "Future Shock", many of the gags in "House Hunting Mice" are the same in this short, but Chuck Jones changed most of the storyline to keep the audience guessing.[2]
- The 1938-41 ending rendition of Merrily We Roll Along is replaced with the 1941-55 rendition on both European and American Turner "dubbed" version prints. As the restored print on HBO Max uses the soundtrack from the Turner print, this error persists in the restored version.
- According to the Toonheads episode "Future Shock", this cartoon was released in the same year that the World's Fair opened in New York.[2]
- Vitaphone production number: 8745
- The film was copyrighted on 15 December 1938, almost a month before release.[3]
Gallery[]
References[]