Joe Glow, the Firefly is a 1941 Looney Tunes short directed by Chuck Jones.
Plot[]
A little blotch of light flitters into an open tent at a campsite. It turns out to be a bug with a fireman's hat and a little glowing lantern. He lands on the head of a sleeping man in the tent and begins exploring the facial features as though they are mountainous formations. He goes down from there, from the head to the nose, and then he goes down on top of the big guy's body. Joe Glow explores the hands, fingers, and is spooked by a wristwatch. He decides he's had enough of this, so he flies up onto a table and starts exploring the various things on it. He checks out a Swiss Army knife, a few bottles, and ultimately gets curious about the big overturned can of table salt. He opens the lid and gets flooded with salt. He nearly knocks a ketchup bottle off the table but quickly grabs a piece of string and lassos it before it hits and wakes the man. He has trouble with a pepper shaker too; he gets stuck inside until he sneezes himself out, shooting him across the tent and getting his little lantern stuck under the lid of the shaker. He decides to check out the man again, and since there's nothing more to see, he gently lands on the guy's ear, and utters a loud "Good night!" Then the ball of light buzzes around outside the tent.
Notes[]
- This cartoon opens with a special opening rendition of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down". However, until 2021, the ending cue for this cartoon remained unknown, as the original ending titles were lost.
- An unreleased restored print aired on MeTV's "Toon In with Me" block, where it was revealed that the cartoon had the 1938-41 ending cue on its ending card. It is the last Looney Tunes short to end with the 1938-41 closing arrangement of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down".
- This cartoon entered the public domain in 1969 due to Warner Bros.-Seven Arts not renewing the copyright.
- This is Chuck Jones' first solo-directorial Looney Tunes short. Before this, all of his solo-directorial shorts were Merrie Melodies, and before that, he was an animator for Looney Tunes shorts in Bob Clampett's unit.
- This is the first black-and-white Looney Tunes cartoon that Chuck Jones directed.
- It was also the only black-and-white Chuck Jones cartoon not to feature Porky Pig.
- Vitaphone release number: 9784
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