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Each Dawn I Crow is a 1949 Merrie Melodies short directed by Friz Freleng.

Title[]

The title is a play on the 1939 Warner Bros. film Each Dawn I Die.

Plot[]

John Rooster proudly crows and struts about the farm until a mysterious voice points out that Elmer Fudd is sharpening his axe, and that usually means chicken dinner. The voice continues to taunt John and tells him to get rid of the axe. John buries it in the garden. When Elmer waters the mound, the axe pops up sprouting leaves.

At daybreak the next morning, the rooster paints a moon and stars on Elmer's window so he'll think it's still night. He builds a fence wall higher to keep the sun from creeping over it. He hangs from the clapper to keep the church bell from ringing. It's no use. The voice tells John he must get Elmer before Elmer gets him. He creeps up behind Elmer with an axe, but before he swings it, he sees the newspaper headline "Duck Season Opens Today" and hatches a devilish idea. He returns to the shed and glues a duck decoy to a straw hat, then offers the hat to Elmer who is sweating under the hot sun. When Elmer dons the hat and heads into the field, John blows a duck call, but the hunters shoot at him.

Elmer returns to collect eggs in the henhouse. John paints a hand grenade white, pulls the pin, and sets it in an empty nest. Elmer hears the egg grenade ticking and thinks it's about to hatch so he makes John sit on it. When it "hatches" it blows John to the top of the weathervane.

Elmer grabs his axe and says it's time to do the disagreeable job. John panics and runs smack into a tree. Elmer swings his axe but John ducks and the blade hits the tree. Elmer then shoos John away so he can finish chopping down the tree. Relieved that he's safe, John struts proudly around the yard again, until the tree falls on him. John Rooster now roasts in the oven for dinner, and Elmer invites his (unseen) friend Roscoe over to his house for an unexpected "chicken dinner."

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Censorship[]

When this short aired on CBS' The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show, the following scenes of violence were edited:[3]

  • The scene of John Rooster setting Elmer up to be shot by duck hunters: The CBS-edited version shows John Rooster gluing a duck decoy to Elmer's hat and Elmer walking into tall grass with the decoy visible, then cuts to the next scene. The part missing was John blowing a duck decoy and is himself shot by the hunters.
  • The "egg grenade" scene: In the uncut version, John paints a grenade white to make it look like an egg and plants it in a nest so Elmer can take it and it will kill him when it explodes. Elmer, however, thinks the grenade's ticking means it's going to hatch and Elmer forces John to sit on the egg. The egg explodes, leaving behind a burnt and smoldering nest and John dazedly standing on top of a weather vane. On CBS, the scene of the actual explosion was replaced with an establishing shot of the barn before it cut back to the aftermath of the explosion.

Notes[]

  • MeTV aired this short 12 July 2021 on Toon In with Me; however, this airing appears unrestored.
  • This cartoon was used in both the 1988 opening for Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon and Looney Tunes on Nick at Nite.
  • This was the last WB cartoon to feature Frank Graham’s voice before his suicide a year later.

Gallery[]

References[]

External Links[]

Elmer Fudd Cartoons
1937 Little Red Walking Hood
1938 The Isle of Pingo PongoCinderella Meets FellaA Feud There WasJohnny Smith and Poker-Huntas
1939 Hamateur NightA Day at the ZooBelieve It or Else
1940 Elmer's Candid CameraConfederate HoneyThe Hardship of Miles StandishA Wild HareGood Night Elmer
1941 Elmer's Pet RabbitWabbit Twouble
1942 The Wabbit Who Came to SupperAny Bonds Today?The Wacky WabbitNutty NewsFresh HareThe Hare-Brained Hypnotist
1943 To Duck .... or Not to DuckA Corny ConcertoAn Itch in Time
1944 The Old Grey HareThe Stupid CupidStage Door Cartoon
1945 The Unruly HareHare Tonic
1946 Hare RemoverThe Big Snooze
1947 Easter YeggsA Pest in the HouseSlick Hare
1948 What Makes Daffy DuckBack Alley Op-RoarKit for Cat
1949 Wise QuackersHare DoEach Dawn I Crow
1950 What's Up Doc?The Scarlet PumpernickelRabbit of Seville
1951 Rabbit Fire
1952 Rabbit Seasoning
1953 Upswept HareAnt PastedDuck! Rabbit, Duck!Robot Rabbit
1954 Design for LeavingQuack Shot
1955 Pests for GuestsBeanstalk BunnyHare BrushRabbit RampageThis Is a Life?Heir-Conditioned
1956 Bugs' BonnetsA Star Is BoredYankee Dood ItWideo Wabbit
1957 What's Opera, Doc?Rabbit Romeo
1958 Don't Axe MePre-Hysterical Hare
1959 A Mutt in a Rut
1960 Person to BunnyDog Gone People
1961 What's My Lion?
1962 Crows' Feat
1980 Portrait of the Artist as a Young Bunny
1990 Box Office Bunny
1991 (Blooper) Bunny
1992 Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers
2012 Daffy's Rhapsody




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