The Foghorn Leghorn

The Foghorn Leghorn is a 1948 Merrie Melodies cartoon 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. Notably, 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, but 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 literally bumping him in the stomach and kicking him out. (Foghorn uses this technique against a cat several times, two years later in A Fractured Leghorn, because the cat wants the same worm as Foghorn.) 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 is not seen for the rest of the short and walks away with a yellow stripe down his back, signifying that he is a coward due to Foghorn's guarding of the chickens). 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

• VHS - Warner Bros. Cartoons Golden Jubilee 24 Karat Collection: Foghorn Leghorn's Fractured Funnies (with Blue Ribbon Merrie Melodie title card)
• VHS - Special Bumper Collection (Vol. 1) (UK)
• VHS - Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition, Vol. 1: All-Stars
• DVD - Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1, Disc Four (1998 THIS VERSION, without notice, with restored opening title card and credits)
• Blu-ray, DVD - Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2, Disc 1
• Streaming - Boomerang App

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 getting 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).^[1]
• 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.^[1]

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.
• 1998 dubbed versions like the French, Polish, Italian and Dutch ones 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 familiar like this would happen before that in House Hunting Mice.
• The re-issued version of this short plays on Cartoon Network and Boomerang in PAL audio.

Gallery

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References

External links

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