The Fighting 69½th

The Fighting 69½th
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Airdate:	18 January 1941 Blue Ribbon reissue: 4 December 1943 11 July 1953
Series:	Merrie Melodies
MPAA Number:	6264
Production Number:	1319 (2nd reissue)
Vitaphone Number:	9773
Copyright Renewed:	1 November 1968
Crew
Voice Characterizations:	Mel Blanc The Sportsmen Quartet
Director:	I. Freleng
Written By:	Jack Miller
Producer:	Leon Schlesinger
Animated By:	Gil Turner Ken Champin (uncredited) Gerry Chiniquy (uncredited) Richard Bickenbach (uncredited) Herman Cohen (uncredited) Manuel Perez (uncredited)
Layout Artist:	Owen Fitzgerald (uncredited)
Background Artist:	Lenard Kester (uncredited)
Film Editor:	Treg Brown (uncredited)
Camera Operator:	John W. Burton (uncredited) Ken Moore (uncredited)
Musician:	Carl W. Stalling

The Fighting 69½th is a 1941 Merrie Melodies short directed by I. Freleng.

Title

The title is a reference to the 1940 war film The Fighting 69th.

Plot

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A couple is having a picnic in a peaceful forest. When they leave, red ants and black ants declare war on each other over the picnic basket. This takes the form of trench warfare.

Caricatures

• Groucho Marx - "Of course, you know this means war."
• Eddie "Rochester" Anderson

Availability

(1997) LaserDisc
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Volume 5, Side 3, Freleng Follies (USA 1995 Turner print)

(2007) DVD
The Fighting 69th (USA 1995 Turner print)

(2008) DVD
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 6, Disc 2 (USA 1995 Turner print)

Censorship

• On Cartoon Network and Boomerang in the United States, the scene where, after the black ants head back to the trenches with a hot dog, a blackfaced ant with white lips and a Rochester-esque voice goes above the trenches to get mustard is cut.

Notes

• The cartoon got reissued twice: once in the 1943–44 season, evident from the red background blue color rings, and once in the 1952–53 season, evident from the red background green rings and the "THE END" in Lydian font ending title; as such, the opening and ending title cards from the original 1941 release and the 1944 reissue and the credits from the former are lost.
• The second re-release ending card never got released in any home video format. However, the re-release ending titles exist on the censored a.a.p. print.
• The EU Turner "dubbed" version replaces the original 1938-41 "Merrily We Roll Along" ending cue with the 1941-55 one, while the USA Turner "dubbed" version keeps the original 1938-41 ending cue.
• This was Jack Miller's last cartoon that he wrote for Leon Schlesinger Productions before he left to work as a writer for George Pal's Puppetoon series.
• The film was copyrighted on 23 December 1940, along with "Sniffles Bells the Cat."

Gallery

Lobby card