The Bashful Buzzard

The Bashful Buzzard
Looney Tunes series

"Blue Ribbon" reissue title card for The Bashful Buzzard
Directed by Robert Clampett
Produced by Edward Selzer
Story by Michael Sasanoff
Voices by Mel Blanc
Kent Rogers (uncredited)
Sara Berner (uncredited)
Music by Carl W. Stalling
Animation by Bob McKimson
Rod Scribner
Manny Gould
J.C.Melendez
Studio Warner Bros. Cartoons
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date(s) September 15, 1945
Color process Technicolor
Language English

The Bashful Buzzard is a 1945 7-minute animated cartoon directed by Robert Clampett. Beaky Buzzard is featured in this cartoon.

Plot

Beaky Buzzard is sent to bring home something to eat. While his brothers fetch a milk cow (with farmer attached), a string of circus elephants (including a baby one brandishing a banner reading "I am NOT Dumbo", a reference to the Disney film of the same name) and a dog attached to a fire hydrant, Beaky manages to capture a baby bumble bee. The bee's mother then comes and stings Beaky, who falls down near a lake. There he sees the small head of what turns out to be a large dragon. Beaky starts running from the dragon, and the scene changes to the mother buzzard worrying about her son not returning home until late at night. When he comes, she is both glad that he came and angry that he brought nothing for dinner. However, when the camera moves down, it is revealed that he has eventually caught the dragon, who dismisses the mother's claim by saying "Well now, I wouldn't say that!" (a la Mr. Peavey of The Great Gildersleeve).

Status of original titles

The original titles to this cartoon are believed to be lost; however there are re-created titles with the original opening music cue as a bonus feature on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5. Also, it can be noted that the re-created titles do not look like the originals, as the originals had the credits superimposed over the first shot of the buzzards, and after a few seconds, the camera would zoom in on the buzzards like the "Blue Ribbon" cartoon.

The Blue Ribbon reissue is one of several reissues from the 1952-53 season that feature a static Merrie Melodies end card with green rings and the phrase "THE END" written in the Lydian typeface. It is the first such cartoon to be seen on DVD.

External links