In this cartoon, Woody Woodpecker can’t escape the obese “Gorgeous Gal,” who wants to snare him in her mansion as a husband. Woody reacts with takes that were as outlandish as anyone ever got in the ‘50s at the Walter Lantz studio.
At Hanna-Barbera, Carlo Vinci used to draw a fear take that consisted of two alternating drawings, one with the character in a jagged outline. The same thing happens throughout this short.
Woody looks in a hand mirror and sees Gorgeous Gal behind him.
Woody tries to get away again.
Happy Homer Brightman borrows a gag from Avery’s Red Hot Riding Hood (1943). Tex’s animators use more panache than Patterson’s.
Patterson handled some of the animation himself, with Ray Abrams and Herman Cohen also assigned to his unit. Soon, hed be replaced in the director’s chair by Tex Avery.
Terrytoons also "borrowed" that "large lipstick mark on the wall" gag multiple times in their shorts, with "The Wolf's Pardon" being the most blatant example.
ReplyDeleteGreat article! Loved this cartoon and love Gorgeous Gal! Voiced by the late Gladys Holland who did not receive credit in the film. Really wish Gorgeous Gal showed up to chase after Woody a few more times. Her voice was so sexy it made up for everything else ha ha! <3
ReplyDeleteI think, Sano, there wasn't much else to do with the character. The comedy comes from Woody's reactions. Doing it again would just be repeating. I think that's why, eventually, Tex got away from that kind of cartoon and used takes judiciously in the '50s.
DeleteYeah that makes sense. Still a shame that they didn't find a way to repurpose Gorgeous Gal in some other way. She's far more interesting than present day Winnie Woodpecker to me. For Looney Tunes, Ma Bear and Millicent Rabbit still show up now and again despite their abhorrent admirer origins.
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