Monday, 10 October 2016

The Pelican and the Turkey

The ending to Roughly Squeaking (1946) is surrealism at its best. Through the whole cartoon, Hubie and Bertie have tried to convince the cat he’s a lion and that a bulldog is a pelican.

Finally comes the moment of truth. “Now, look,” says the dog. “If I was a pelican, I’d have a fish in my mouth, wouldn’t I?” He opens his mouth. There’s the fish. As is typical in a Chuck Jones cartoon, there’s subtle eye moment as the dog’s pupil looks at the fish.



A bluebird watching the curious proceedings through the cartoon goes nuts. Looks like some Ben Washam stretches here.



“Holy smoke! I am a pelican!”



“Yeah. And I’m a Thansgiving turkey. Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble...” And the bluebird/turkey flies away to end the cartoon.



Mike Maltese and Tedd Pierce wrote the story.
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3 comments:

  1. J Lee10 October 2016 at 12:46

    The cartoon was done early enough in Sylvester's career so he apparently didn't 'own' the voice yet that Mel gave to the bluebird for the cartoon's end tag line (Sylvester spoke in his first cartoon and had a few lines in Clampett's "Kitty Cornered", but was a pantomime character in his other efforts up until 1948).

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  2. Kharye Perkins15 October 2016 at 06:42

    Ken Harris animated the whole scene.

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  3. Anonymous6 December 2023 at 23:29

    The ending of this cartoon in a nutshell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12Cg7Flv7Ak

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