A Feud There Was

A Feud There Was is a 1938 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Tex Avery.[2] The short was released on September 24, 1938 and features Egghead, an early version of Elmer Fudd.[3]

A Feud There Was
Directed byTex Avery
Produced byLeon Schlesinger
Story byMelvin Millar
StarringArthur Q. Bryan
Mel Blanc
Sara Berner
Tex Avery
Billy Bletcher
Robert C. Bruce
Danny Webb
Roy Rogers
Hugh Farr
Bob Nolan
Tim Spencer[1]
Music byCarl W. Stalling
Edited byTreg Brown (uncredited)
Animation bySid Sutherland
Irven Spence (uncredited)
Virgil Ross (uncredited)
Color processTechnicolor (3-hue)
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
  • September 24, 1938 (1938-09-24)
Running time
7:40
LanguageEnglish

Plot

The short begins with an establishing shot of a family stereotypical hillbillies, the Weavers, whose members are all lazy to the point of absurdity. The only thing that awakens the Weavers from their perpetual sloth is the opportunity to feud with their neighbors, the McCoys. After a musical number (then a staple of Merrie Melodies shorts) accompanied by a radio commercial (ostensibly over KFWB), the two families begin feuding, firing at each other with various semi-automatic weapons. At one point, a McCoy asks if there are any Weavers in the movie audience. One man, shown as a silhouette against the screen, answers in the affirmative and fires a shot at the McCoy.

In the midst of the fray, a yodeling, bulbous-nosed, domestic peace activist who is accompanied by church organ music each time he speaks, enters the feud zone on a motorscooter bearing the words "Elmer Fudd, Peace Maker", and goes to each side preaching peace and an end to the bloodshed, only to get shot in the back (non-fatally) by each family as he departs. When Fudd attempts once more to preach peace to both families from the boundary line, both sides get furious at him and open fire on the would-be peace maker together. When the smoke clears, only Elmer is left standing. He gives a final yodel and says "Good night, all!", and the Weaver in the movie audience yells "Good night!," taking one more shot at the star as the film closes out.

Availability

Notes
  • This cartoon is notable for being the first cartoon in which the name Elmer Fudd was used, seen inscribed on the side of a scooter he is driving. However, the lobby card for The Isle of Pingo Pongo says, "Featuring Elmer!"
  • This cartoon was re-released into the Blue Ribbon Merrie Melodies program on September 11, 1943. On September 13, 1952, the cartoon was re-released again, with new opening and closing title cards. The second re-release is the current re-release seen on television and on The Golden Age of Looney Tunes LaserDisc.
  • Additionally, A Feud There Was is notable for being the first re-release into the Blue Ribbon Merrie Melodies program, a program that would save Warner Bros. a lot of money for the next twenty years by re-releasing cartoons. For the first 13 years, the credits were also scrapped, but later, they were kept. The gap between the keeping and splitting of the credits would determine which cartoons whose copyrights were sold to Associated Artists Productions in 1956, with some exceptions.
  • Elmer's speaking voice was provided on this occasion by Arthur Q. Bryan,[5] although it did not resemble the more familiar "cwazy wabbit" voice which would later be performed for Fudd by Bryan. The character's singing voice was provided by Roy Rogers[6] and additional vocals in the cartoon were done by the Sons of the Pioneers.
  • The original titles have been found in an eBay auction in 2007, but it is unknown if they will be acquired for future releases.[7]
  • The American "dubbed version" uses the 1941-55 end cue and the 1948 dubbed card.
  • The European "dubbed version" uses the 1937-38 end cue and the 1938 dubbed card.
  • First cartoon to be reissued, but replaced with the second and current reissue. A recreated first reissue can be found on Dailymotion, with the EU dubbed ending.[8]
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References
  1. DataBase, The Big Cartoon. "A Feud There Was (A Vitaphone Production)". Big Cartoon DataBase (BCDB). Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  2. Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 77. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
  3. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 77-79. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  4. "LaserDisc Database - Golden Age of Looney Tunes, The: vol.3 1931-1948 [ML102964]". www.lddb.com. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  5. "Feud There Was, A (1938) - Overview - TCM.com". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  6. "Roy Rogers", Wikipedia, 2020-05-15, retrieved 2020-05-30
  7. "WARNER BROS. TITLES". www.cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  8. "Merrie Melodies - A Feud There Was - video dailymotion". Dailymotion. Retrieved 11 June 2020.


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