My Mother-in-Law, the Cow

Anonymous Bob Clampett and his anonymous writer put a new spin on the old mother-in-law joke in Bacall to Arms (1946).

A henpecked husband, forewarned “the old battle axe” is on the way, hides his home under farmland occupied by a cow. Clampett called for an exaggerated mouth-movement chewing cycle. A few drawings:



The henpecked guy pops up from the ground. “She’ll never find us now Bessy!” he says to the cow. In a piece of extremely-quick timing, the cow disguise comes off.



The take.



The scene ends with a radio catchphrase as the mother-in-law exclaims “Don’t you believe it!”

Clampett is anonymous because he’d left Warners by the time this cartoon was pieced together. I don’t know about the writer, who is uncredited.