Merrie Melodies The Crackpot Quail
Warner cartoon no. Release date: February 15, 1941. Series: Merrie Melodies. Supervision: Tex Avery. Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
The Crackpot Quail is a 1941 Merrie Melodies short. Plot Looking at a sleek pointer dog on a billboard, goofy Willoughby the Dog dreams of being a great hunting dog. This originated from the book Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. 'The Crackpot Quail'. The quail would constantly make a razzing noise in order to keep his.
Starring: Tex Avery (Dumb Hunting Dog), Mel Blanc (Quail). Story: Rich Hogan. Talisman Bot Hack on this page. Animation: Bob McKimson.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited). Synopsis: A dumb dog is seen hunting after a quail, but finds that the quail outsmarts him too easily. At this point in Tex's career at Warners; he was definitely trying out new material that hadn't been achieved with animated characters, especially with personality. Having already used the street-smart Bugs Bunny in A Wild Hare or the cunning fox in Of Fox and Hounds, Tex has another turn with an alternate and a queer choice for a potential character: a quail.
Combined, he also creates another slow-witted dog character who represents Willoughby in Of Fox and Hounds, though with an alternate design, whereas previously he was designed big to represent Lennie Small. One typical viewer would be balked at how the quail could be another incarnation of Bugs Bunny, by using the word, 'doc' and sharing the same wits.
The Crackpot Quail is a 1941 Merrie Melodies short. Looking at a sleek pointer dog on a billboard, goofy Willoughby the Dog dreams of being a great hunting dog.
In the introduction sequence, when the dog and the quail are introduced: the dog is oblivious to his identity which is echoed from the Elmer/Bugs introduction in A Wild Hare. This causes the quail to remark quietly in the dog's ears, 'You know what doc? YOU'RE RIGHT!'
It is a formula for Bugs Bunnthat has been used over and over again which works well as it creates a very surrealistic and three-dimensional character. Trojan Killer Activation Key. I am curious whether an audience suspected of the sequence echoing from Bugs' 1st appearance, especially considering its popularity. How Tex creates additional personality to the quail (perhaps as a way to not resemble Bugs too much) is he appears to use a lot of creativity as well as personality in giving the quail a continuous problem with the plume above his head. Other parts it pays off from the gags, whilst other times its execution fails. Let's get to the positive side. Tex, being the expert of takes and reactions gives the quail's plume a spiked reaction when cornered by the snarling dog, prior to the stick throwing sequence.
The plume reaction is animated wonderfully as well as beautifully exaggerated that the gag had its own advantage. Another sequence occurs during the pond sequence where the dog accidentally sniffs his way underwater, and is approached by a fish as well as the quail disguised as one. This leads to the dog and the quail's plume communicating with one another.
Stalling creates a funny melody during the plume pattering in rhythm to The Umbrella Man. The communication is gold, as the plume is given life and realism through personality animation. The plume forms to a question mark, curious of whose identity he is communicating before going into a double take. Then this results in the quail's plume wiping his eyes like a windscreen, which again concludes the sequence well.
As to where the gags do not come to advantage, would be for two prime examples. One of the biggest ones off-hand is seen in the introduction where the quail first appears in the screen in full figure. As though Chuck Jones' molasses timing was enough to endure in a Warners short; Tex appears to fall as a victim in this short where he shows some useless piece of character animation of the quail being distracted of his plume, which is seen to be ruining his image. He licks his mouth to straighten it out, but it keeps flopping on his face, and this just goes on again. It would have worked if it was animated subtler, and also, only seen once, and not at roughly 30 seconds. You'll notice that the quail also happens to whistle throughout the short, and tends to whistle in dialogue when he notices his plume is about to collapse. It can be seen as very naturalistic, and gives the quail a three-dimensional bit of personality there, but repeating it over and over again doesn't give him more of an identity other than a Bugs Bunny-esque character.
For reader's sake, it is worth mentioning that Tex's own vision was to have the quail make a razzing noise each time, and it was used when it was released in theatres, but reissue prints replaced it with a whistling noise. Of course, having the razzing noise would've have shown a lot more of Tex's quirky humour in shorts, though personally I believe the whistle is better off as it is, considering how its more subtle than a razz effect, and notice how the breath effects are seen through his beak; which is what you'd expect in a whistle. Why the razzing noise was omitted in later releases, I don't know. In terms of comic timing; Tex indeed starts to experiment with what he would become the master of, rather than relying on radio references, which is similar to what he did.