The Shell Shocked Egg

The Shell Shocked Egg
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Airdate:	10 July 1948 Blue Ribbon reissue: 27 November 1954
Series:	Merrie Melodies
MPAA Number:	11818
Production Number:	1045 1368 (reissue)
Copyright Renewed:	19 September 1975
Crew
Voice Characterizations:	Mel Blanc (uncredited) Lloyd Turner (uncredited) The Sportsmen Quartet (uncredited)
Director:	Robert McKimson
Written By:	Warren Foster
Producer:	Eddie Selzer (uncredited)
Animated By:	Charles McKimson Manny Gould I. Ellis Anatole Kirsanoff (uncredited) Fred Abranz (uncredited)
Layout Artist:	Cornett Wood
Background Artist:	Richard H. Thomas
Film Editor:	Treg Brown (uncredited)
Musician:	Carl W. Stalling

The Shell Shocked Egg is a 1948 Merrie Melodies short directed by Robert McKimson.

Plot

A mother turtle, naming her four eggs Tom, Dick, Harry, and Clem, buries the eggs while she obtains a sunlamp to heat them into hatching, since the clouds covered the sun. Clem hatches prematurely and only partially while his mother is away and before the sun got covered up. Unable to see in his search for a warm body to fully hatch him from his eggshell, Clem wanders into a barnyard and briefly cozies with a cow, which "golfs" him into a barn, and a male dog. The dog thinks he has laid an egg and envisions fame and fortune. He chases the partly-hatched Clem and comes into conflict with a rooster after taking Clem from a chicken, who believe Clem to be their offspring. Finally, Clem's mother and her three other boy turtles, who sing in perfect coordination, find Clem after stopping the two chasers. Clem is fully hatched by his mother, then complains about still being in a shell.

Availability

8mm
(Associated Artists Productions print)

(1993) LaserDisc
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes Volume 4, Side 6

Streaming

HBO Max (2020 - 2023)

Max (2023 - )

Notes

• Like most Merrie Melodies cartoons reissued at the time, the original closing title was kept.
• The original ending is present in The Golden Age of Looney Tunes.
• The turtles resemble Cecil Turtle.
• This is the latest-released cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series whose copyrights were sold to Associated Artists Productions in 1956 for television distribution. "Haredevil Hare" is the latest-released cartoon in the Looney Tunes series that was sold to Associated Artists Productions. Additionally, it is the latest short directed by Robert McKimson in the a.a.p. package.
• The storyline is similar to Frank Tashlin's "Booby Hatched" (1944).
• According to Cartoon Research, the original titles had the song "Rip Van Winkle" playing over them.
• The restored HBO Max print has digitally removed a quotation from the "That's all Folks!" ending card. This gaffe also occurs in "The Bug Parade" (1941) and "Hop, Skip and a Chump" (1942).
• This is the latest cartoon to be given a Blue Ribbon reissue that's been restored and still has its original titles lost.
  • "Daffy Dilly" was released later than this cartoon, but the titles for that short have been found but haven't been restored yet.

Gallery

Title card (unrestored)

Title card (1995 dubbed version)

Cropped screenshot of 2020 restoration