The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos

The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos
Merrie Melodies series
Directed by	Frank Tashlin
Produced by	Leon Schlesinger
Story by	Melvin Millar
Voices by	Mel Blanc
Music by	Carl W. Stalling
Animation by	Robert Bentley
Studio	Warner Bros. Cartoons
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date(s)	December 4, 1937
Color process	Technicolor
Running time	7 min
Language	English
Preceded by	Little Red Walking Hood
Followed by	September in the Rain

The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos is a Merrie Melodie cartoon directed by Frank Tashlin, and released in December 1937. It is a parody/send-up of several different radio programs of the era, particularly the then-popular "community sing" programs. Author and critic Alexander Woollcott is parodied as Owl Kott in the cartoon, a parody that Tashlin would revisit in Have You Got Any Castles? (1938).

Plot

The cartoon starts with an owl named "Owl Kott" (satirizing Woolcott's "Town Crier" radio program) giving an introduction to the festivities. This is followed by a Ben Bernie caricature called "Ben Birdie", feuding with "Walter Finchell". The same spoof was used in the cartoon The Coo-Coo Nut Grove (1936). Walter Winchell had a well-publicized feud with Bernie at the time, which, like Jack Benny's "feud" with Fred Allen, was faked for publicity purposes - Bernie and Winchell were actually good friends.

Next is "Milton Squirrel" (Milton Berle, emcee of Gillette Community Sing) introducing "Wendell Howl" (Wendell Hall) and an audience trying to figure out which page to go to in their songbooks, which results in Wendell getting pelted by the audience's songbooks. Then, "Billy Goat and "Ernie Bear" (Billy Jones and Ernie Hare) and everyone else sings a song with the lyrics:

The Woods are full of cuckoos,

Cuckoos, cuckoos,

The Woods are full of cuckoos

and my heart is full of love.

During the song, a fox (a caricature of Fred Allen) called "Mr. Allen" is told that he's singing "Swanee River" instead of the actual song. Then the song is sung by "Eddie Gander" (Eddie Cantor), "Sophie Turkey" (Sophie Tucker), "W.C. Fieldmouse" (Fields), "Dick Fowl" (Dick Powell), "Fats Swallow" (Waller), "Deanna Terrapin" (Deanna Durbin), "Irvin S. Frog" (Irvin S. Cobb), "Fred McFurry" (Fred MacMurray), "Bing Crowsby" (Crosby), "Al Goatson" (Jolson), "Ruby Squealer" (Ruby Keeler, Jolson's wife at the time), and "Lanny Hoss" (Lanny Ross). Then "Grace Moose" (Grace Moore) and "Lily Swans" (Lily Pons) sing notes, each note higher than the other. Comedian and jazz singer Martha Raye (caricatured here as a mule named "Moutha Bray") makes an appearance in a scatting jazz take. More caricatures appear, including movie critic and gossip columnist "Louella Possums" (Louella Parsons), Raven McQuandry (Haven McQuarrie, emcee of Do You Want To Be An Actor?), Joe Penguin (Joe Penner), Tizzie Fish ("Tizzie Lish", a character on Al Pearce's radio show), Jack Bunny (Benny), Mary Livingstone, and Andy Devine (a regular on Benny's radio program). Finally Owl Kott finishes the cartoon by bidding the audience goodnight, and saying "All is well, all is well..."

Availability

This cartoon is found on The Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3.