The Foghorn Leghorn

The Foghorn Leghorn
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Airdate:	9 October 1948 Blue Ribbon reissue: 24 December 1955
Series:	Merrie Melodies
Production Number:	1057 1405 (reissue)
Starring:	Foghorn Leghorn Henery Hawk Barnyard Dawg George K. Chickenhawk
Crew
Voice Characterizations:	Mel Blanc
Director:	Robert McKimson
Written By:	Warren Foster
Producer:	Eddie Selzer
Animated By:	Charles McKimson Manny Gould Phil DeLara John Carey Pete Burness Fred Abranz (uncredited)
Layout Artist:	Cornett Wood
Background Artist:	Richard H. Thomas
Film Editor:	Treg Brown (uncredited)
Musician:	Carl Stalling

The Foghorn Leghorn is a 1948 Merrie Melodies short directed by Robert McKimson.

Plot

Henery Hawk is talking with his grandfather about wanting to get a chicken, but the grandfather dissuades him, as he would get in the way. Henery's grandfather lies about what a chicken looks like, leaving Henery in the dark as to what a chicken really is.

Henery's grandfather raids a chicken coop and walks out with a couple of chickens. He is stopped by Foghorn, who doesn't let Henery's grandfather make off with the traumatized chickens or get a word in edgewise before deliberately bumping him in the stomach and kicking him out. When Henery asks his grandfather if that was a chicken, the grandfather claims Foghorn isn't a chicken but a "loud-mouthed shnook." After this, he walks away with a yellow stripe down his back. Henery goes over to Barnyard Dawg's house, and knocks the dog out with a hammer. Foghorn stops them and asks Henery what he thinks Foghorn is — to which Henery replies that Foghorn is a "loud-mouthed shnook." Foghorn isn't helped when the dog wakes up and kicks him, calling him a "shnook."

Foghorn continues to try and convince Henery that "I'm a chicken. Rooster, that is." He tries to crow at "sun-up," pulling up a cardboard cutout of the sun and crowing, but that does not work. Henery brushes off Foghorn and exits before Foghorn can even finish his demonstration, leaving only two signs in his absence. The first read "Shnook!" and the second said "Loud Mouth'd That Is!". When Henery pushes along a trunk, Foghorn again tries to straighten Henery out, but his emphasizing by hitting the trunk winds up hitting the Barnyard Dawg, who chases Foghorn up a ladder and into a watermelon, after which Foghorn mutters "Some days it don't pay to get outta bed!"

When Henery throws a stick of dynamite into the Barnyard Dawg's house, Foghorn tries to stop the explosion, but the dog slams Foghorn (thinking he was responsible) to the ground several times and finally calls him a "good-for-nothing chicken," which is enough for Henery — he suddenly slams a shovel over Foghorn's head and starts dragging him away. Although Foghorn now calls himself a "loudmouthed shnook," Henery says, "Chicken or shnook, in our oven he'll look good!"

Transcript

For a complete transcript, go here.

Availability

(1984) VHS
The Looney Tunes Video Show - Volume 9

(1986) VHS
Foghorn Leghorn's Fractured Funnies (with Blue Ribbon Merrie Melodie title card)

(1986) Beta
Foghorn Leghorn's Fractured Funnies

(1990) VHS
Foghorn Leghorn

(1994) VHS
Special Bumper Collection (Vol. 1) (UK)

(1996) VHS
Looney Tunes Collection - Foghorn Leghorn

(1999) VHS
Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition, Vol. 1: All-Stars (1998 "THIS VERSION" print, without dubbed notice, with original opening and credits)

(2001) VHS
Looney Tunes Special Bumper Collection Volume 9

(2003) DVD
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1, Disc Four (1998 "THIS VERSION" print, without notice, with original opening title card and credits)

(2003) DVD
Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 1, Disc 2

(2004) DVD
Looney Tunes Collection All Stars Volume 2

(2004) DVD
Looney Tunes Collection All Stars Volumes 1 & 2, Disc 2

(2005) Mini-DVD
Looney Tunes Collection Mini Volume 1

(2012) Blu-ray
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2, Disc One (restored, with original opening title card and credits)

(2012) DVD
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2, Disc One (restored, with original opening title card and credits)

(2014) DVD
Looney Tunes Center Stage Volume 2

(2018) DVD
Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection Volumes 1-3 Repack

Streaming

Boomerang App ( - ) (restored, with original opening title card and credits)

HBO Max (2020 - ) (restored, with original opening title card and credits)

Censorship

• The CBS version cut the entire ending where, after Foghorn tries to prove that he's a chicken and Henery dismisses him as a "schnook", Foghorn sees Henery heading to Barnyard Dawg's house with a stick of dynamite and tries to stop him ("Don't do it! I'll get blamed for it!"), only to get caught in the explosion when he slides into Barnyard Dawg's house. Barnyard gets so mad at Foghorn that he slams Foghorn into the ground several times and calls Foghorn a "good-for-nothing chicken", which convinces Henery (and drives him to hit Foghorn over the head with a shovel).
• The ABC version cut the explosion ending like CBS did, but left in a bit more. The ABC version only cut Foghorn sliding into Barnyard Dawg's house to retrieve the dynamite, the ensuing explosion, and some of Barnyard Dawg throwing Foghorn Leghorn into the ground. Also cut was an earlier scene where Foghorn stops Henery from pushing a trunk and wildly gesticulates that Henery doesn't have a chicken, only to realize that he's been slapping around Barnyard Dawg.

Notes

• This was one of only five post-1948 WB cartoons to get a Blue Ribbon reissue prior to 1956 - with the original credits cut. The others were "Daffy Dilly", "Kit for Cat", "Scaredy Cat", and "You Were Never Duckier". In 1998, for the "THIS VERSION" of the short, the original opening and credits were restored. This print was used on the Golden Collection, without the notice at the end.
• The 1998 dubbed versions in French, Polish, Italian and Dutch are low-pitched.
• Despite that fact that this is a Merrie Melodie cartoon, the lobby card erroneously calls it as a Looney Tune. It is possible it was planned to be in that series but was changed. Something similar would happen before that in House Hunting Mice.
• The re-issued version of this short plays on Cartoon Network and Boomerang in PAL audio.
• The working title was "The Fowl Bawls".

Gallery

Part of the Animator Draft along with two other drafts for "Lovelorn Leghorn" and "Leghorn Swoggled"

External Links

• Baxter's Breakdowns animator breakdown at Cartoon Research
• The Foghorn Leghorn at Triluliu.ro
• The Foghorn Leghorn at criticalcommons