| The Early Worm Gets the Bird | |
|---|---|
_-_Title_Card_(second_Blue_Ribbon_reissue_print).jpg) Title card in the 1952Blue Ribbon reissue. | |
| Directed by | Fred Avery |
| Story by | Jack Miller |
| Produced by | Leon Schlesinger |
| Starring | Mel Blanc Sara Berner Margaret Hill-Talbot[2] |
| Animation by | Robert Cannon |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
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Running time | 8:33 |
| Language | English |
The Early Worm Gets the Bird is a 1940Warner Bros.Merrie Melodies cartoon supervised byTex Avery.[3] The short was released on January 6, 1940.[1] The name is a play on the adage "The early bird gets the worm."
The story starts in the house of the Blackbird family. Three youngbirds are seen saying their bedtime prayers. Theirmammy tells them goodnight, and the children get into bed to go to sleep. But, as soon as they are alone, one sits up and begins reading a book called "The Early Bird Gets the Worm". He wakes thebrother next to him and tries to tell him about the story, but he doesn't care. Mammy notices the light coming from the children's room so goes in and, seeing what her son is doing, grabs the book and throws it out the window. Then, she tells the three of them about thefox who eats birds and who surely, if they try to go outside early to catch a worm, will catch them.
The youngsters prepare again to go to sleep; the book-reader tells the other two that he will get up early in the morning and go catch theworm. At five a.m., he sneaks out and begins sniffing out a worm. Meanwhile, a worm has come across the discarded book and reads about the "early bird"; he decides to sniff one out. In this manner, they find each other and, frightened, each run away.
Once the bird realizes he has met the worm, he chases after him. After a few gagsBugs Bunny andElmer Fudd style, the fox appears and holds up two signs for the audience. One says "The Villain" and the other "As if you didn't know". The fox then chases the bird as the bird is chasing the worm. Noticing the fox but not realizing it is indeed this dangerous animal, the bird stops and engages in conversation, actually believing that this creature is also an "early bird" after the worm. He shares his mammy's descriptive warning about the fox, slowly coming to realize that he is face to face with one. The young bird is captured but, as the fox is fixing him up as a sandwich, the worm - with the assistance of an angry bee - rescues him. The bird goes home and gets back into bed with his siblings just as the alarm clock rings and Mammy comes in. She asks her three children what they want for breakfast. The other two say worms, but the "early bird" says he does not want worms. The worm pops up from beneath the sheets and says he doesn't, either, then covers his mouth, followed by the iris out.
Motion Picture Exhibitor (Jan 24, 1940): "The little bird doesn't believe the story, wants to find out for himself, is caught by the bad fox, and then saved by the little worm, all of which is familiar, but made in the better Schlesinger vein. Good."[4]
Motion Picture Herald (Oct 10, 1943): "A sidelight on the old adage, this Leon Schlesinger cartoon suggests that a bird can't be too careful."[4]
The cartoon has never been officially released on DVD or Blu-ray. However, it was included in theGolden Age of Looney Tunes LaserDisc/videocassette series. Additionally, it can often be found on low-quality VHS tapes and DVDs of variouspublic domain cartoons, since the copyright on this film has not been renewed.
