The Early Worm Gets the Bird

Last updated
The Early Worm Gets the Bird
Tex Avery - Merrie Melodies - The Early Worm Gets the Bird (1940) - Title Card (second Blue Ribbon reissue print).jpg
Title card in the 1952 Blue Ribbon reissue.
Directed by Fred Avery
Story byJack Miller
Produced by Leon Schlesinger
Starring Mel Blanc
Sara Berner
Margaret Hill-Talbot [1]
Animation byRobert Cannon
Production
company
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release dates
  • January 13, 1940 (1940-01-13)(original)
  • October 2, 1943 (1943-10-02)(first reissue)
  • November 29, 1952 (1952-11-29)(second reissue)
Running time
8:33
LanguageEnglish

The Early Worm Gets the Bird is a 1940 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon supervised by Tex Avery. [2] The short was released on January 13, 1940. [3] The name is a play on the adage "The early bird gets the worm."

Contents

Plot

The story starts in the house of the Blackbird family. Three young birds are seen saying their bedtime prayers. Their mammy tells them goodnight, and the children get into bed to go to sleep. But, as soon as they are alone, one sits up and begins reading a book called "The Early Bird gets The Worm". He wakes the brother next to him and tries to tell him about the story, but he doesn't care. Mammy notices the light coming from the children's room so goes in and, seeing what her son is doing, grabs the book and throws it out the window. Then, she tells the three of them about the fox who eats birds and who surely, if they try to go outside early to catch a worm, will catch them.

The youngsters prepare again to go to sleep; the book-reader tells the other two that he will get up early in the morning and go catch the worm. At five a.m., he sneaks out and begins sniffing out a worm. Meanwhile, a worm has come across the discarded book and reads about the "early bird"; he decides to sniff one out. In this manner, they find each other and, frightened, each run away.

Once the bird realizes he has met the worm, he chases after him. After a few gags Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd style, the fox appears and holds up two signs for the audience. One says "The Villain" and the other "As if you didn't know". The fox then chases the bird as the bird is chasing the worm. Noticing the fox but not realizing it is indeed this dangerous animal, the bird stops and engages in conversation, actually believing that this creature is also an "early bird" after the worm. He shares his mammy's descriptive warning about the fox, slowly coming to realize that he is face to face with one. The young bird is captured but, as the fox is fixing him up as a sandwich, the worm - with the assistance of an angry bee - rescues him. The bird goes home and gets back into bed with his siblings just as the alarm clock rings and Mammy comes in. She asks her three children what they want for breakfast. The other two say worms, but the "early bird" says he does not want worms. The worm pops up from beneath the sheets and says he doesn't, either, then covers his mouth, followed by the iris out.

Reception

Motion Picture Exhibitor (Jan 24, 1940): "The little bird doesn't believe the story, wants to find out for himself, is caught by the bad fox, and then saved by the little worm, all of which is familiar, but made in the better Schlesinger vein. Good." [4]

Motion Picture Herald (Oct 10, 1943): "A sidelight on the old adage, this Leon Schlesinger cartoon suggests that a bird can't be too careful." [4]

Home media

The cartoon has not been officially released on DVD. However, it was included in the Golden Age of Looney Tunes LaserDisc/videocassette series. Additionally, it can often be found on low-quality VHS tapes and DVDs of various public domain cartoons, since the copyright on this film has not been renewed.

Notes

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Porky in Wackyland</i> 1938 animated short film directed by Bob Clampett

Porky in Wackyland is a 1938 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes animated short film, directed by Bob Clampett. The short was released on September 24, 1938, and stars Porky Pig venturing out to find the last do-do bird, which he finds in Wackyland, a land that makes no sense located in Darkest Africa.

<i>Fresh Hare</i> 1942 Bugs Bunny cartoon

Fresh Hare is a Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Friz Freleng, written by Michael Maltese, and produced by Leon Schlesinger. It was released to theatres on August 22, 1942.

Beans (<i>Looney Tunes</i>) Warner Bros. theatrical cartoon character

Beans the Cat is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Cartoons series of cartoons from 1935–1936. Beans was the third Warner Bros cartoon character star after Bosko and Buddy. He was voiced by Billy Bletcher. He was created by director Friz Freleng. The character was featured in nine cartoons made in 1935 and 1936.

<i>Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid</i> 1942 Bugs Bunny cartoon

Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid is a 1942 Merrie Melodies cartoon, directed by Bob Clampett, produced by Leon Schlesinger, and released to theatres by Warner Bros. Pictures. It marks the first appearance of Beaky Buzzard in a Warner Bros. short.

The Squawkin' Hawk is a 1942 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on August 8, 1942, and is the first to star the young Henery Hawk. It was animated by Phil Monroe and was written by Michael Maltese, the latter being his first collaboration with Jones.

<i>The Heckling Hare</i> 1941 Bugs Bunny cartoon

The Heckling Hare is a Merrie Melodies cartoon, released on July 5, 1941, and featuring Bugs Bunny and a dopey dog named Willoughby. The cartoon was directed by Tex Avery, written by Michael Maltese, animated by soon-to-be director Robert McKimson, and with musical direction by Carl W. Stalling. In a style that was becoming typical of the Bugs character, he easily outwitted and tormented his antagonist through the short, his only concern being what to do next to the dog.

<i>I Love to Singa</i> 1936 film

I Love to Singa is a 1936 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated cartoon directed by Tex Avery. The short was released on July 18, 1936.

<i>Sunday Go to Meetin Time</i> 1936 film

Sunday Go to Meetin' Time is a 1936 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on August 8, 1936. The name of the short comes from the colloquial adjective "sunday-go-to-meeting", describing something appropriate for church or otherwise presentable.

<i>Hollywood Steps Out</i> 1941 film

Hollywood Steps Out is a 1941 short Merrie Melodies cartoon by Warner Bros., directed by Tex Avery. The short was released on May 24, 1941.

<i>Cheese Chasers</i> 1951 film by Chuck Jones

Cheese Chasers is a 1951 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese. The cartoon was released on August 25, 1951 and stars Hubie and Bertie, with Claude Cat.

<i>A Pest in the House</i> 1947 film by Chuck Jones

A Pest in the House is a Merrie Melodies animated short film released on August 2, 1947. It is directed by Chuck Jones and stars the characters of Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd.

The Fella with a Fiddle is a 1937 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on March 27, 1937.

<i>Porkys Pooch</i> 1941 film

Porky's Pooch is a 1941 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Bob Clampett. The short was released on December 27, 1941, and stars Porky Pig.

The character that would evolve into Bugs Bunny appeared in four cartoon shorts before his first official appearance in Tex Avery's A Wild Hare. While this early version is commonly referred to as "Happy Rabbit", animation historian David Gerstein disputes this, saying that the only usage of the term was from Mel Blanc himself; the name "Bugs Bunny" was used as early as April 1938, from a model sheet made by Charles Thorson which was used for the short Hare-um Scare-um. Bugs was also mentioned by name from an August 1939 review of the short in the Motion Picture Herald.

Fair and Worm-er is a 1946 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on September 28, 1946.

<i>Room and Bird</i> 1951 film

Room and Bird is a 1951 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on June 2, 1951, and stars Tweety and Sylvester.

<i>The Early Bird Dood It!</i> 1942 film

The Early Bird Dood It! is a 1942 MGM cartoon directed by Tex Avery and produced by Fred Quimby. The composer of this cartoon was Scott Bradley.

<i>Birdy and the Beast</i> 1944 American film

Birdy and the Beast is a 1944 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies directed by Bob Clampett. The short was released on August 19, 1944, and stars Tweety.

<i>Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2</i> 2012 American cartoon anthology

Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2 is a Blu-ray and DVD box set by Warner Home Video released on October 16, 2012. It contains 50 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons and numerous supplements. Disc 3 is exclusive to the Blu-ray version of the set. Unlike Volume 1, which was released in a digibook, Volume 2 was released in a standard 1 movie case. This release was followed by Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 3

The Miller's Daughter is a 1934 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on October 13, 1934.

References

  1. ↑ Scott, Keith (3 October 2022). Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, Vol. 2. BearManor Media. p. 78.
  2. ↑ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons (1st ed.). New York: H. Holt. p. 98. ISBN   0805008942.
  3. ↑ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 104–106. ISBN   0-8160-3831-7 . Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  4. 1 2 Sampson, Henry T. (1998). That's Enough, Folks: Black Images in Animated Cartoons, 1900-1960. Scarecrow Press. p. 170. ISBN   978-0810832503.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.