The End at The End

An unexpected gag ends an expected situation in the Columbia cartoon Under The Shedding Chestnut Tree (1942).

Petey Pelican is “the village smithy” (though no village is seen) who is picked on throughout the whole cartoon, finally by a keg of TNT which follows him as he runs away, no matter which way he turns.

We know what’s going to happen. He’s not going to be able to escape before the blacksmith shop blows up.



Here’s the end gag. Literally. The camera pans up from the destroyed shop to Petey hanging from the words THE END.



There’s some good animation in parts and some creative layouts but whoever wrote this gives me no reason to care about Petey because we know he’ll get kicked around through the whole cartoon.

Volus Jones is the credited animator with Bob “I Can Work For Less Pay Than Art Davis” Wickersham directing. Frank Tashlin is still overseeing Screen Gems at this point.

Pinto Colvig is recognisable as Petey (the character’s name comes from the Motion Picture Herald’s review of the cartoon). I can’t figure out who the smile-voiced narrator is. More importantly, neither can Keith Scott so we may never know who it is.