Hatch Up Your Troubles

Plot

A mother woodpecker leaves her nest for lunch, but an egg in the nest jumps up and falls to the ground, rolling into Jerry's mouse hole. Jerry wakes up to find himself sitting on the egg. An adorable baby woodpecker hatches and instantly takes to Jerry as his mother, but cannot resist pecking Jerry's furniture.

Jerry returns the woodpecker to his nest, but the little bird follows Jerry back to his hole, at which Jerry orders him out. Dejected, the woodpecker wanders around the garden and comes across an unsuspecting Tom, who is sitting in a deckchair, drinking and reading a magazine. The woodpecker carelessly pecks the deckchair's leg, causing an irritated Tom to pour his drink onto the woodpecker. The woodpecker then pecks through the rest of the deckchair leg, causing the deckchair to fold up onto Tom.

Tom chases after the bird. The baby woodpecker calls for his "mama" (Jerry) Jerry emerges from his mousehole and intervenes by hitting Tom with a rake. Tom gets to his feet and uses the rake to trap Jerry, but the woodpecker pecks the rake, sending Tom hurtling backwards into a mailbox. Tom then hurls the rake at the bird and the mouse, but the bird quickly pecks it down. Tom then chases and swallows the bird, but the bird pecks inside Tom's stomach. Tom drinks a bucket of water, but more pecking causes the water to seep out through his body. Jerry then knocks Tom's tail, allowing the woodpecker to peck out through Tom's teeth.

Jerry flees, but runs straight into an axe and is knocked out cold. Tom attempts to take advantage of the situation, but the woodpecker continually pecks at the cat's head. Tom grabs the woodpecker and corks his beak, rendering its peck useless. Tom then ties the woodpecker to a telegraph pole. However, the woodpecker manages to free himself, and noticing that he has very little time, quickly performs a complex calculation in order to rescue Jerry. He pecks the post just in time and the telegraph pole bounces off Tom's head repeatedly and hammers him into the ground, starting with his feet and ending with his head.

Jerry is thankful for the woodpecker's help, but the mother woodpecker then flies into the scene and the baby woodpecker realizes who his mother is after all. The two fly away, much to Jerry's disappointment, but the baby woodpecker flies back to Jerry and kisses him lovingly before flying away again, as Jerry waves him off happily.

Voice Actor

Shemp Howard as Baby woodpecker
Joseph Barbera as Jerry
Clarence Nash as Tom (Drink)

Production

Availability