Strangled Eggs

Strangled Eggs

Directed By: Robert McKimson Produced By: David H. DePatie Released: March 18, 1961 Series: Merrie Melodies Story: Tedd Pierce Animation: Warren Batchelder Ted Bonnicksen George Grandpré Tom Ray Layouts: Robert Gribbroek Backgrounds: Robert Singer Film Editor: Treg Brown Voiced By: Mel Blanc Julie Bennett Music: Milt Franklyn Starring: Foghorn Leghorn Miss Prissy Henery Hawk Preceded By: The Mouse on 57th Street Succeeded By: Birds of a Father

Strangled Eggs is a 1961 Merrie Melodies short directed by Robert McKimson.

Plot

Foghorn Leghorn finds his cupboards are bare and, with courting a woman as his only hope to get food for the winter, visits Miss Prissy. While trying to court her, there is a knock on the door. It is a baby basket containing Henery Hawk posing as an orphan chick in his latest attempt to infiltrate the barnyard and obtain a chicken to eat. Foggy immediately realizes Henery will bring trouble and wants to eat him, but Miss Prissy decides she wants to adopt the pseudo-chick as her "son." To make peace with Miss Prissy, he consents to help Henery become a "real" chicken.

Several gags then occur as Foggy tries to teach Henery how to be a chicken (actually, thinly disguised attempts to kill off his foe), but such attempts as a hand grenade painted to look like an egg, and pecking for insects in a minefield are unsuccessful.

In the end, Foggy realizes that if Henery is a chicken, then he must be a chicken hawk - so he flies after Henery with the intent of catching him. Henery flees to the safety of Miss Prissy, who slams the door on Foggy once and for all! "My pappy used to say, 'Shoemaker, stick to your last. And this is my last!" a clobbered Foggy says just before the iris out.

Censorship

• On CBS, the part where Foghorn disguises a hand grenade as an egg, which explodes in Foghorn's hand instead of beneath Henery is cut.^[1]
• On the syndicated Merrie Melodies Show, the part where Foghorn teaches Henery how to crow, only to get a noose wrapped around his neck and dropped into a cauldron was cut.^[1]
• The WB network kept in the scene that The Merrie Melodies Show removed, but cut the brief shot of Foghorn Leghorn getting strangled and dangling from a noose.^[1]

Availability

• DVD - Looney Tunes Super Stars' Foghorn Leghorn & Friends: Barnyard Bigmouth
• Streaming - Boomerang App

Notes

• This cartoon marks the final appearances of Henery Hawk and Miss Prissy from the Golden Age of American Animation.
• Much like in "Little Boy Boo" (1954) and "A Broken Leghorn" (1959), Foghorn pursues after Prissy for selfish reasons.

References