Droolers Delight
6 /10 1 Votes
Duration | Director Dick Lundy Language English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Release date March 25, 1949; 66 years ago (March 25, 1949) (U.S.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Droolers Delight is the 31st animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on March 25, 1949, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by United Artists.
Contents
Plot
On a hot summer day, Woody hears a radio commercial for the latest thirst quencher, a 25-cent ice cream soda called the Droolers Delight. Finding that he has exactly one quarter on him, he heads for the malt shop but draws the attention of the greedy Buzz Buzzard. The two adversaries play a variety of sneaky tricks on each other to steal the quarter back and forth; the contest ends when Woody, disguised as a woman, leads Buzz on a chase that causes him to knock himself out against a wall. When Woody reaches the malt shop and orders his Droolers Delight, he is surprised to find Buzz as the soda jerk, who stuffs Woody into a glass and mixes him up with the ingredients. However, Woody drinks the whole thing down from inside the glass and gets the last laugh on Buzz.
Woody woodpecker the mad hatter
End of an era
Droolers Delight was the last Woody Woodpecker film released before the 1948-1950 shutdown as well as the last from United Artists. It was also the final Woody short Dick Lundy completed as director, although he would direct segments of Puny Express before leaving the studio.
Droolers Delight was also the last short to feature the second Woody design, which featured his top knot styled as a pileated woodpecker. The next short, Puny Express (and those that followed), would feature the third Woody design with a more refined top knot.
Finally, Droolers Delight marked the swan song for Ben Hardaway as Woodys talking voice. Around the time the short was in production, Mel Blanc, who supplied Woodys laugh, filed a lawsuit against producer Walter Lantz. Though Blanc lost, he eventually settled out of court. Wanting to avoid any future retalliation from voice artists wanting to sue him, Lantz opted to find a new voice and definitive version of the laugh for his star woodpecker. As a result, Droolers Delight became the last short that Lantz allowed Hardaway to voice. Ironically, neither Hardaway nor co-writer Heck Allen would work at the studio again (although material they have written was used in some of the 1951 Woody shorts); Hardaway soon retired, while Allen went back to MGM to restart his long collaboration with Tex Avery.
Woodys and Buzzs appearance
In Droolers Delight Woodys top knot is pushed forward for an extended period of time in several scenes (more so than in previous entries), including the title card, thus making him somewhat resemble the characters up-coming third design.
Buzzs appearance has changed too. He has become more streamlined with his "vest feathers" no longer drawn, and he does not have a five oclock shadow on his lower jaw/beak anymore either. (The comics made at the time would follow suit, although Buzzs vest would always still be drawn.) An abridged version of Buzz from this short would be used for The New Woody Woodpecker Show.
Starting with Puny Express both characters would be redesign once again (with the comics following suit again).
Continuity
Woodys size varies wildly in Droolers Delight. In the beginning, he is "normal" height, but at the end he is small enough to be stuffed into an ice-cream glass. A similar discrepancy is seen in Bugsy and Mugsy with Bugs Bunny.