Goofy Groceries

Goofy Groceries is a 1941 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short film directed by Bob Clampett.[4] The short was released on March 29, 1941.[5]

Goofy Groceries
Directed byRobert Clampett
Produced byLeon Schlesinger
Story byMelvin Millar
StarringMel Blanc
Sara Berner
Kent Rogers
Jack Lescoulie (all uncredited)[1]
Music byCarl W. Stalling
Animation byVive Risto
I. Ellis (uncredited)
John Carey (uncredited)
Norman McCabe (uncredited)[2][3]
Backgrounds byMicheal Sasanoff (uncredited)
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Release date
  • March 29, 1941 (1941-03-29)
Running time
9:03
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Bearing a similar premise to earlier WB shorts Speaking of the Weather and Have You Got Any Castles? but having a cast inspired by food products instead of magazines or books, the cartoon was written by Melvin Millar and produced by Leon Schlesinger. The animators included Vive Risto, Izzy Ellis, John Carey, and Rod Scribner.[2]

Synopsis

The cartoon takes place one winter night, in a grocery store whose owner has just closed the shop. The mascots on the labels of the food products come to life and perform various song and dance numbers.

First, a cow for "Contented Milk" sings to a "Fulla Bull Tobacco" bull "If I Could Be with You," while two other cows on cans reading "Discontented Milk" ogle and whistle at the bull. Meanwhile, a crab imitating Ned Sparks states "This love stuff makes me sick!", after which a rabbit named Jack Bunny (a parody of Jack Benny and also a same name from I Love to Singa) tells the music maestro (a dish mop caricaturing Leopold Stokowski) to start up, and a label for "Big Top Popcorn" comes to life while a dog barker for "Barker's Dog Food" addresses the crowd and introduces each of the circus's attractions including "Little Egypt Wiggly Gum," "Billy Posie's Aquackade" swimmers (a parody of Footlight Parade's "By a Waterfall"), and the "Tomato Can Can Dancers". Meanwhile, an "Animal Crackers" gorilla (intended to parody King Kong) hears the noise and starts growling, at one point stating to the audience, "Gosh, ain't I repulsive?" This gorilla stares at the female performers and smiles, he then begins his attack attempting to abduct one of the "Can Can Dancers"; Jack Bunny sees this and rides a bottle of "Horse Radish" while an army of "Navy Beans" and "Turtle Soup Turtles" shoots at the gorilla, who defends himself with a Roman candle while at one point destroying the bottle of Horse Radish that Jack is riding. Jack sees a box of "Chocolate-Covered A1 Cherries" and snatches the axe on the label amid cheering from an army of chicks, at which point the gorilla shoots the axe with the candle causing it to shrink. As Jack Bunny dons a sheepish grin and backs into a corner, the image of Superman on a box of "Superguy Soap Chips" comes to life at the sight of the gorilla lighting a stick of dynamite with Bunny's cigar. Superman flies up to the gorilla and shouts at him, "Hey, you big ape!" and the gorilla replies "Yeah?" which scares Superman so much that he turns into a helpless, whining baby. Then, as the gorilla is about to destroy Jack Bunny with the dynamite in his hand, a voice calls out "Henry!" (in reference to the opening of The Aldrich Family), causing him to pause and run towards the direction of the voice, saying in a frightened voice "Coming mother!" (another reference to the opening) while his apparent "mother" drags him away by his ear, chastising him for his naughty behaviors. Jack Bunny breathes a sigh of relief only to realize he's still holding the dynamite, which explodes leaving him in blackface. After being exploded on, he then concludes the cartoon with an Eddie Rochester impression: "My oh my, tattletale grey!"

Availability

The cartoon is available restored, uncut, and uncensored on Disc 2 of the 2005 DVD Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3. It was also released on The Golden Age Of Looney Tunes Volume 2 laserdisc.

References
  1. Hartley, Steven (13 April 2014). "Likely Looney, Mostly Merrie: 322. Goofy Groceries (1941)". Likely Looney, Mostly Merrie. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  2. "Goofy Groceries". www.bcdb.com. Feb 13, 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  3. ""Goofy Groceries" and "Farm Frolics"". Big Cartoon Forum. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  4. Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company. p. 114. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
  5. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 104–106. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
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