Woody Woodpecker and Friends
Season 1943
TV-PG
With arguably the most famous laugh of any cartoon character in history ("ha-ha-ha-HA-ha"), Woody Woodpecker pecked his way into our lives through a 1940 Andy Panda theatrical short entitled Knock Knock. Woody continued to appear in short films throughout the 40's and 50's, and in 1957, the Kellogg's company packaged these theatrical works into the syndicated package The Woody Woodpecker Show. Walter Lantz created the famed bird, and in the show's early days, the animator would host from his office, demonstrating how cartoons were made by showing the viewers at home such essentials as painting cels and drawing storyboards. Woody, an obnoxious mischief-maker, would usually star in the shorts, occasionally taking a backseat to his friends Andy Panda, Wally Walrus, Gabby Gator, Buzz Buzzard, Oswald the Rabbit, The Beary Family and Arctic penguin Chilly Willy.
Where to Watch Season 1943
10 Episodes
- Cow-Cow Boogie
E1Cow-Cow BoogieHilarious film of a herd of Herefords on a cattle ranch. The cattle on the "Lazy S Ranch" are slow-moving until an outrageous Stepin Fetchit-style black boogie-woogie musician arrives and sings the boogie-woogie, bringing sweet syncopation to the bored white cowpokes back home on the range. They literally rope him up like a lynch mob- but they just want to hear him play the piano! He lures the cattlemen's doomed steer into the boxcars to slaughter with the swinging title tune. The herd's "lead singer" has animated lips and sings the boogie as she rambles along the inside of a wooden fence. She's backed up by the rest of the herd. - The Screwball
E2The ScrewballWoody Woodpecker is a knothole spectator at a baseball game ("Droops vs. Drips- guaranteed a good game to the last Drip")- until a cop comes along and covers up the hole. After several futile attempts to gain admittance to the grounds, Woody manages to outsmart the angry policeman and get into the ballpark. As Woody settles down to watch the game, a man in a 50-gallon hat sits down directly in front of him, and Woody can't see a thing. At Woody's request, the man removes his hat, revealing a huge head of hair, which is as obstructive as the hat. Since Woody cannot ask the man to remove his hair, Woody gets a lawnmower and cuts an opening through the hair for him to see through. Indulging in a bottle of pop, Woody's thoroughly enjoying the game when the cop suddenly looms up in front of him. - Swing Your Partner
E4Swing Your PartnerA horse (with a Jack Benny attitude and voice) is treated like a horse and doesn't like it, so he gets even with his owner. Homer Pigeon incurs the animosity of his horse Hank, first by routing him out of bed to go to the barn dance, then by cracking him repeatedly on the back of the head with his buggy whip. Insult is added to injury when the halter weight drags him into a deep mud hole. Throughout the hectic gaiety of the barn dance, Hank, still in the mud hole, dreams up dire bodily harm for Homer. All of the barnyard animals, except Hank, are having a smell time. Finally, Hank can stand it no longer. He stalks into the barn and promptly, but effectively, breaks up the dance. The last we see of Homer is his trotting home pulling the buggy while Hank, sitting beside Homer's girl, cracks the buggy whip and sings, "The ol' grey mare, she's smarter than she used to be, smarter than she used to be..." - The Dizzy Acrobat
E5The Dizzy AcrobatUnimpressed by the sideshow barkers' astounding claims, Woody goes to the circus without a ticket, and the circus cop kicks him out. Woody comes back, and the cop tells him that he'll have to work watering an elephant if he stays. A little thing like that doesn't detain Woody for long. Woody connects the elephant's trunk to the fire hydrant and blows up the elephant. The cop isn't pleased with Woody's work and tries to get tough with him, but he doesn't know Woody very well! The circus performance struggles on while Woody, with the hel of a few lions, tigers, elephants and unscheduled acrobatics, that trying to keep him from seeing the circus is unethical, ungentlemanly, and very unlikely to succeed! Woody runs hrough circus tents, gets the animals in an uproar (making the lion bite off his own tail), and leads cops to the high wire on a bicycle. Chased by the cops, Woody makes the crowd roar as he does wild trapeze stunts. - Pass the Biscuits Mirandy!
E8Pass the Biscuits Mirandy!Mirandy's biscuits are legendary. A hillbilly family fights at the dinner table to get some, but Mirandy's biscuits are hard as rocks. We are treated to scenes of teeth breaking when they bite in. What to do with Mirandy's biscuits? "We'll use her biscuits for bullets- We'll fight the Axis 'till they're dead." - Boogie Woogie Man (Will Get You If You Don't Watch Out)
E9Boogie Woogie Man (Will Get You If You Don't Watch Out)The Spook of the Month Club Swing Convention (consisting of black ghosts) convenes to add some hot jumpin' jive to their scary retinue! Sexy ghost gals and zoot suited jitterboo-ers strut their stuff and show that there's a lot of life in those no longer among us. Brother, can they sing and dance! Some politically incorrect caricatures will certainly keep this one off TV, but who can be offended once Spook Jones and His Creepy Crooners (a parody of Spike Jones) start boppin' to raise the dead?
