A Gander at Mother Goose is a 1940 Merrie Melodies short directed by Tex Avery.
Title[]
The title has a double meaning; "gander" can mean a look at something, or a male goose.
Plot[]
A collection of nursery rhyme and fairy tale spoofs:
- Mary, Mary Quite Contrary, in her best vocal impression of Katharine Hepburn, tells how her garden is really doing.
- Humpty Dumpty falls off the wall, but doesn't completely crack up.
- Jack and Jill go up the hill and are having too much fun to even care to come down.
- Little Miss Muffet frightens the spider off.
- The Three Little Pigs give the Big Bad Wolf a bottle of mouth-wash.
- A parade of wooden soldiers march in perfect formation...from the waist up.
- Starlight, Star Bright: A dog gets his wish.
- Jack be nimble but is not quite nimble enough.
- The old lady in the shoe deals with her many children while the old man in the shoe sits back and does nothing.
- Hiawatha's arrow hits an angry eagle (see "Censorship" below)
- Finally, on the night before Christmas, one stirring mouse in a very loud voice tells the other to be quiet.
Caricatures[]
- Katharine Hepburn
- Mischa Auer - "Confidentially, it stinks"
Censorship[]
Versions of this cartoon shown on the Ted Turner-owned networks in the United States (TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network and Boomerang) cut the entire scene of Little Hiawatha shooting an arrow into the air and being yelled at by the eagle he hit.
Availability[]
(2007) DVD
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5 Disc Two
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5 Disc Two
Streaming[]
Notes[]
- The European Turner "dubbed" version's audio is about a second off sync with the short. The American Turner "dubbed" version does not have this issue.
Gallery[]
_-_Silent_NIght.jpg "A Gander at Mother Goose (1940) - Silent NIght.jpg (314 KB)")
_-_Quiet.jpg "A Gander at Mother Goose (1940) - Quiet.jpg (222 KB)")
References[]
- ā Catalog of Copyright Entries
- ā (3 October 2022) Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, Vol. 2 (in en). BearManor Media, page 82.
- ā https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URBQttZUsV0&ab_channel=JoshH
- ā https://imgur.com/gallery/csRtDtI