Of Rice and Hen

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Of Rice and Hen

Directed By: Robert McKimson Produced By: Eddie Selzer Released: November 14, 1953 Series: Looney Tunes Story: Warren Foster Animation: Herman Cohen Rod Scribner Phil DeLara Charles McKimson Keith Darling Layouts: Robert Givens Backgrounds: Richard H. Thomas Film Editor: Treg Brown Voiced By: Mel Blanc Bea Benaderet Music: Carl Stalling Starring: Foghorn Leghorn Miss Prissy Barnyard Dawg Preceded By: Catty Cornered Succeeded By: Cats A-weigh!

Of Rice and Hen is a 1953 Looney Tunes short directed by Robert McKimson.

Title

The title is a play on John Steinbeck's 1937 novel Of Mice and Men.

Plot

Several hens are mothering their chicks in an ideal suburban fashion, taking them on walks and bragging to fellow hens about their exploits. One of the hens jokingly tells Miss Prissy that she is lucky not to have chicks to looks after, then Prissy overhears a group of hens saying that she will "never land a man" because she is "too much of a D-R-I-P." This depresses Prissy, who then climbs up on to the roof of the barn.

Meanwhile, Foghorn is preparing to attack the dog with a board from a picket fence when he sees Prissy jump from the top of the barn. Foghorn dives to save Prissy, and Prissy sees Foghorn as not only a savior but a potential husband, a notion which Foghorn rejects. Foghorn then goes about his regular routine by picking up the board and going to the doghouse, where he lifts the dog up by the tail and repeatedly slaps his rear end with a board which causes the dog to chase him. Foghorn then closes the gate to the fence just in time for the dog to crash into it head first. Foghorn then tries to slip a lit dynamite stick into the dog house, but the dog is wise to it and the trick backfires. Foghorn then has a picnic with a large amount of food prepared by Prissy, but Foghorn rejects her again.

The dog sees Prissy's attempts to court Foghorn and tells him that she is going about it the wrong way and offers to help out, seeing it as a way to rid himself of Foghorn for good. The dog then disguises himself as a rival rooster who wants to marry Prissy in order to make Foghorn jealous. The ruse works and Foghorn fights with the dog, and ends up in church exclaiming, "I won, I won", as he and Prissy are married. When Foghorn begins realizing what happened, he says, "Hey, there must have been some way I could have lost."

Censorship

• On ABC, the following scenes were cut:
  • Foghorn trying to slip a lit dynamite stick into the doghouse, but Barnyard Dawg getting wise and putting his doghouse on Foghorn (with the dynamite exploding and Foghorn coming out disheveled, defeathered, and dazedly barking).
  • The fight between Foghorn and Barnyard Dawg (dressed as a rooster trying to seduce Prissy) was cut to remove most of the punches and the part where Foghorn steps on Barnyard's stomach as he and Prissy rush to the chapel to get married.
• The Nickelodeon version of this cartoon is also edited, but the only part cut is the Foghorn Leghorn/Barnyard Dawg fight near the end.

Notes

• This is one of the few Foghorn Leghorn and Barnyard Dawg shorts where both win at the end (with Foghorn winning the fight and Dawg finally getting rid of Foghorn when he and Prissy married). This was followed by "The High and the Flighty", "Fox-Terror" and "The Dixie Fryer".
• A small portion of this short would be used in Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island as a part of Miss Prissy's wish, but her wish would mostly use the short, "Lovelorn Leghorn".
• Similar in concept to "Lovelorn Leghorn", this short also centers around Miss Prissy trying to romantically woo Foghorn Leghorn after getting teased by the other hens but with no luck until Barnyard Dawg helps her do so, except that here the song "Camptown Races" (Foghorn Leghorn's signature tune) is not used at all, and the ending is slightly different.
• The short was given a Blue Ribbon Reissue in 1969. Much like other reissues in the said year, the titles were never altered.

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