Strangled Eggs

Strangled Eggs
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Airdate:	18 March 1961
Series:	Merrie Melodies
MPAA Number:	19531
Production Number:	1546
Vitaphone Number:	2977
Runtime:	6 minutes, 16 seconds
Copyright Renewed:	29 January 1988
Starring:	Foghorn Leghorn Miss Prissy Henery Hawk
Crew
Voice Characterizations:	Mel Blanc Julie Bennett (uncredited)
Director:	Robert McKimson
Written By:	Tedd Pierce
Producer:	David H. DePatie (uncredited)
Animated By:	George Grandpré Ted Bonnicksen Warren Batchelder Tom Ray
Layout Artist:	Robert Gribbroek
Background Artist:	Bob Singer
Film Editor:	Treg Brown
Musician:	Milt Franklyn

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. Foghorn immediately wants to eat Henery after realizing the chickenhawk could possibly eat the two, but Miss Prissy wants to adopt him as her "son." To get him alone, he pretends to help Henery become a "real" chicken.

Foghorn tries to teach Henery how to be a chicken, though his attempts are actually thinly disguised attempts to kill his foe. Foghorn first attempts a noose trap that lands in a cauldron, which Henery is aware and utilizes against Foghorn. Foghorn then paints a hand grenade to look like an egg and tries to make Henery sit atop of it to keep it warm, although when he tries to yank the pin out, the egg flies towards Foghorn and then drops from its pin, detonating on the rooster. Finally, Foghorn sets up a minefield to make Henery peck for insects, but Henery bites Foghorn on the finger, and in a fit, tries to chase after Henery, getting repeatedly blown up in the process.

Foghorn claims that if Henery can be a chicken, then he can 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 Foghorn once and for all. "My pappy used to say, 'Shoemaker, stick to your last.' And this is my last! Sheesh..." a clobbered Foghorn says.

Availability

(2010) DVD
Looney Tunes Super Stars' Foghorn Leghorn & Friends: Barnyard Bigmouth

(2013) DVD
Looney Tunes Super Stars 3-Pack, Disc 2

(2014) DVD
Looney Tunes Super Stars Family Multi-Feature, Disc 2

Streaming

Boomerang App ( - 2024)

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.
• On the syndicated Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny & Friends, 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.
• The WB network kept in the scene that Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny & Friends removed, but cut the brief shot of Foghorn Leghorn getting strangled and dangling from a noose.

Notes

• This cartoon marks the final appearances of Henery Hawk and Miss Prissy from the Golden Age of American Animation.
• This cartoon combines the plots of "Little Boy Boo" (1954), "A Broken Leghorn" (1959) and "Strife with Father" (1950).
  • Much like in "Little Boy Boo" (1954) and "A Broken Leghorn" (1959), Foghorn pursues after Prissy for selfish reasons.
• This is the last cartoon to have Tom Ray in Robert McKimson's unit.
• This is the only cartoon where Henery Hawk receives his comeuppance in the end, where he gets chased by Foghorn Leghorn who pretends to be a chickenhawk, even though Foghorn still ends up losing thanks to Miss Prissy defending Henery.
  • It is the only cartoon where both Foghorn and Henery lose in the end.

Gallery

Animator draft