Walking Running Gag

A running gag ends with a topper in the fine Tex Avery cartoon Little Red Walking Hood (1937).



A wolf goes after Red Riding Hood (first, romantically, then gastronomically) but stops every time Egghead strolls through a scene, whistling “The Organ Grinder’s Swing.”



In a clever scene, Egghead helps move the plot along.



The speeding wolf ignores the hitchhiking Egghead, who manages to get a ride anyways. How did he get on a car that went past him? Anything can happen in a cartoon!



The wolf can’t open the front door or a closet door, but Egghead can.



In the climax, Red struggles to get away from the-better-to-eat-you-with wolf. Egghead incongruously saunters through yet again.



Finally, the curious wolf stops him. “Now, who the heck are you, anyways?” he asks.



Look how casual Egghead is as he opens his violin case.



Egghead now becomes a little dopey as we discover he’s not carrying a violin.



“I’m the hero in this picture,” he chortles. Iris out. Music ends.

Wait! Tex has fooled us. The cartoon is not over. Iris in for a quick kissing finale as the Carl Stalling-led orchestra blasts out a final note. Iris out again.



There are so many great things in this short. Characters comment to you on the plot as you watch the cartoon. There’s a theatre patron-silhouette gag. There’s a radio reference (the wolf becomes Al Pearce as Elmer Blurt at the front door). Elvia Allman provides a fine satire on Katherine Hepburn’s voice. Tedd Pierce is excellent as the wolf, especially when he does a Ted Lewis-like sing/speak of the tune “Gee, But You’re Swell.” The license plate gag is fun. I love Johnny Johnsen’s coloured-pencil backgrounds; they suit a fairy tale send-up. And there’s fine animation from the creditted Irv Spence, including the final scene (mostly animated on ones).

Mel Blanc is Egghead. Cal Howard gets the rotating writing credit. The cartoon was Blue Ribboned on August 17, 1946 but the version on DVD, fortunately, has the original titles. The cartoon was first released on November 6, 1937.