The High and the Flighty is a 1956 Merrie Melodies short directed by Robert McKimson.
Title[]
The title is a play on the 1953 novel The High and the Mighty by Ernest K Gann, which was adapted into a feature film starring and produced by John Wayne and released by Warner Bros. the following year.
Plot[]
Foghorn emerges from his coop and emits a yell like Tarzan, ending with a coughing fit. He dribbles a beach ball to a line marked "rope limit", then swaps the ball for a board. He marches to the doghouse, lifts Dawg by the tail and slaps his rear with the board so that the dog will chase him. The dog is in pursuit but reaches the end of his leash and is jerked to a stop. Foghorn then takes the beach ball, stuffs it in the dog's mouth, and punctures it, causing the dog to fly away. As Foghorn leaves, he walks past a wooden tower with a sign that reads "Don't Look Up". Foghorn naturally looks up just in time to see the dog drop a watermelon on Foghorn's head. Foghorn contemplates "massive retaliation" against his nemesis. Daffy, a traveling salesman for the Ace Novelty Company of Walla Walla, Washington, has been watching their antics and seizes his opportunity. He enters with his traveling salesman suitcase of novelty joke items and offers to help Foghorn prank the dog by selling him a trick bone that is spring-loaded.
The prank works and Daffy then intervenes to help the dog get back at Foghorn with a gift-wrapped corn-on-the-cob that is connected to an electrical wire, defeathering the rooster. Naturally, Foghorn wants to get back at the dog with an even bigger prank and Daffy sells him something called the Chattanooga Choo-Choo which ends up backfiring on Foghorn. To make up for the Chattanooga Choo-Choo, Daffy offers to sell Foghorn an elaborate prank called the Pipe Full O'Fun Kit Number 7, which Foghorn purchases. As Foghorn is setting up the trap, he sees the dog setting up the same trap to use against him, and they both realize that Daffy has been playing them against each other (and enriching himself in the process). Daffy overhears Foghorn and the dog as they join forces to teach him a lesson. Taking a hint that he has pushed his luck, Daffy attempts to flee but is instead victimized by the Pipe Full O'Fun Kit, as Foghorn remarks "You know, there might, I say, there just might be a market for bottled duck."
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Availability[]
Streaming[]
Notes[]
- This is one of the few shorts in which Barnyard Dawg gets along with Foghorn Leghorn.
- This is the only pairing with Daffy and Foghorn Leghorn in the Golden Age of American Animation.
- Daffy Duck's role as a traveling salesman is similar to his roles in "Daffy Dilly" (1948), "The Stupor Salesman" (1948), "Fool Coverage" (1952), and "Design for Leaving" (1954).
- This cartoon was re-released on the Blue Ribbon program on April 1964.
- Despite the original color rings being found, the cartoon has yet to be restored with those rings.
- This is one of the few shorts in which Foghorn Leghorn "wins" out on another character, Daffy is the "loser" in this case.
- In "Crowing Pains", Foghorn Leghorn won out against Sylvester. In "Raw! Raw! Rooster!", he got the best of the obnoxious Rhode Island Red.
- This cartoon marks the second featherless scene of Foghorn Leghorn, after "Little Boy Boo" and before "Crockett-Doodle-Do".
- Daffy would later use a similar "market" line in "Boston Quackie", also referring to an unusual product packaged in a bottle.
Gallery[]
TV Title Cards[]
References[]
Preceded by Weasel Stop |
Foghorn Leghorn cartoons 1956 |
Succeeded by Raw! Raw! Rooster! |
Foghorn Leghorn Cartoons | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
1946 | Walky Talky Hawky | |||
1947 | Crowing Pains | |||
1948 | The Foghorn Leghorn | |||
1949 | Henhouse Henery | |||
1950 | The Leghorn Blows at Midnight • A Fractured Leghorn | |||
1951 | Leghorn Swoggled • Lovelorn Leghorn | |||
1952 | Sock a Doodle Do • The EGGcited Rooster | |||
1953 | Plop Goes the Weasel! • Of Rice and Hen | |||
1954 | Little Boy Boo | |||
1955 | Feather Dusted • All Fowled Up | |||
1956 | Weasel Stop • The High and the Flighty • Raw! Raw! Rooster! | |||
1957 | Fox-Terror | |||
1958 | Feather Bluster • Weasel While You Work | |||
1959 | A Broken Leghorn | |||
1960 | Crockett-Doodle-Do • The Dixie Fryer | |||
1961 | Strangled Eggs | |||
1962 | The Slick Chick • Mother Was a Rooster | |||
1963 | Banty Raids | |||
1964 | False Hare | |||
1980 | The Yolks on You | |||
1996 | Superior Duck | |||
1997 | Pullet Surprise | |||
2004 | Cock-a-Doodle Duel |