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The Early Worm Gets the Bird is a 1940 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Tex Avery.
The cartoon was reissued twice, once in the 1943-44 season, evident from red background blue rings, and once in the 1952-53 season, evident from red background green rings, with the THE END end title. It fell into the public domain in 1969 when United Artists, successor to Associated Artists Productions, failed to renew the copyright in time.
Plot
Mammy Blackbird is tucking her three children into bed. One little bird named Willie pulls out a copy of a book titled The Early Bird Gets the Worm and starts reading. Mammy scolds him and warns that if he tries to catch that worm that the ol' fox will catch him. Willie isn't frightened by his mother's warning and sets his alarm clock so he can have a worm for breakfast. The next morning, he sneaks out of house and tracks down the worm. The little worm turns out to be quite the smartaleck and leads Willie on a chase. This attracts the attention of the fox who catches Willie and starts to make himself a blackbird sandwich. The worm saves the little bird by siccing an angry bumblebee on the fox. The fox's bottle of ketchup shatters on his head, and the fox runs off thinking he is bleeding to death. The worm and bird make amends and Willie hops back into bed just as Mammy comes in to wake him up. While his brothers both ask for worms for breakfast, Willie replies that he doesn't want any worms. "Neither does I, Mammy!" exclaims the worm.
Availability:
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 3 Laserdisc - Side 10: Politically Incorrect (MGM/UA; 1992)
Various public domain compilations
The original title background and music cue is known to exist, however, the whole cartoon itself has yet to show up on DVD. A dubbed version does exist, however, is rarely seen.
