Boyhood Daze

Plot

The cartoon starts with a baseball going through a window, breaking it, and Ralph exclaiming: "Ohhh nooo!" His mother sends him up to his bedroom until his father gets home.

Up in his room, he broods over his mistake and tries to imagine himself as a hero, first by imagining himself as a famous explorer in Africa to rescue his parents from a native tribe, then tells his father to go to his room for playing in Africa and tells his mother his insurance will cover the window and to buy a catchers mitt with the rest.

He is then seen making paper airplanes, and wishing he was a "jet ace or something". He then is imagining himself as an Air Force pilot who thwarts a Martian invasion and is a national hero.

His third dream occurs after he hears his dad come home and can hear the distant talking of both of his parents. His imagines himself as a convict in a jail cell. A whispering voice repeats: "They're coming to get'cha, Phillips." He steps down, crushes out a cigarette he was apparently smoking, and faces the door like a man. The cell door opens and a silhouetted person with a booming voice says: "You're gonna have to pay for this, Ralph Phillips!"

Back to reality, it turns out to be his rather gentle-demeaning father who informs Ralph that the window repair was coming out of his allowance, then lets him go outside to play.

As he runs back outside with a baseball bat and glove, he stops when he sees a cherry tree in the yard, then notices a hatchet. Next scene he is walking towards the tree with the hatchet, and he turns into a young George Washington as the cartoon irises out.

Availability