The Sheepish Wolf

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Airdate:
17 October 1942 Blue Ribbon reissue: 4 March 1950

Series:

Merrie Melodies

MPAA Number:	Production Number:	Vitaphone Number:
8120	MM-1-12 1180 (reissue)	719

Runtime:

7 minutes, 11 seconds (reissue)

Crew

Voice Characterizations:

Mel Blanc
Pinto Colvig^[1] (both uncredited)

Background Artist:

Lenard Kester (uncredited)^[3]

Film Editor:

Treg Brown (uncredited)

Musician:

Carl W. Stalling

The Sheepish Wolf is a 1942 Merrie Melodies short directed by Friz Freleng.

Plot[]

A flock of sheep is being watched by a dopey sheepdog. A pompous wolf has his eye on the flock too.

His first scheme is to disguise himself as a sheep and mingle with the flock. After fooling one of the sheep with his newfound sheepskin disguise and a carrot as bait, he is thwarted by the sheepdog, who thinks the wolf is one of the sheep leaving the flock, scolds him for misbehaving, and sends him back into the flock. A black sheep with a Rochester voice warns the sheepdog, who tries to discern the wolf. To lure out the wolf, he uses a wolf mating call horn, which has the wolf romancing the sheepdog, until he realizes what he is doing.

The wolf flees into his cave and disguises himself as Red Riding Hood's grandma. The sheepdog sees this, and disguises himself as Red Riding Hood. The sheepdog is distracted by the wolf's flattery about his "pretty eyes", and the wolf sneaks away with a note "So long sucker", which the sheepdog then realizes that he's been tricked.

After a scuffle and a chase through a hayfield, in which the sheepdog gets taken into a haybaling machine, the sheepdog catches the wolf and proudly boasts "Look, fellas, the wolf in sheep's clothing! I caught 'im, look! I caught 'im!" to the rest of the flock, who remove their disguises to reveal themselves to all be identical-looking wolves as well. "Well how do you like that?"

Caricatures[]

Eddie "Rochester" Anderson - black sheep

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Censorship[]

The version of this cartoon airing on Cartoon Network and its sister channel Boomerang in the United States (overseas feeds are uncut) omits the part where the black sheep with a Rochester voice warns the sheepdog about a wolf in sheep's clothing. Surprisingly, MeTV has aired this uncut.

Notes[]

The short's premise is a parody of Aesop's Fable "The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing".
- This short, as well as "I Got Plenty of Mutton", are often considered the inspiration for Chuck Jones' Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog series.
- The short was preluded two months earlier by a similar gag (and punchline) in Freleng's "Foney Fables". Co-incidentally, both cartoons are written by Michael Maltese.
Production cels of the original title card and credits card were revealed on Facebook in 2021. They were stored at the University of Wyoming under Michael Maltese.^[4]
This cartoon entered the public domain in 1970 due to United Artists not renewing the copyright.
MeTV aired a previously unreleased restored print of the cartoon on Saturday Morning Cartoons and Toon In With Me.