The Leghorn Blows at Midnight

The Leghorn Blows at Midnight is a 1949 Foghorn Leghorn cartoon, released by Warner Bros. in 1950, which was directed by Robert McKimson. The cartoon also features Henery Hawk and the Barnyard Dawg. The title is a play upon the 1945 Jack Benny film The Horn Blows at Midnight, a notable flop which Benny often poked rueful fun at on his radio show.

Plot

In the barnyard, Foghorn is playing solitaire when the Dawg approaches from behind with two large clash cymbals, striking them together twice, once over Foghorn's head and the second time with Foghorn's head in between. Foghorn counters by taking a pie from a nearby windowsill, then mashing it into Dawg's face (Foghorn delicately removes a cherry from the pie first). The Dawg, his face covered with cream, chases Foghorn but is strangled by his rope. Foghorn returns, throws a large metal pipe over the Dawg's body and, much like a barber, uses a straight razor to remove the cream from the Dawg's face. Foghorn then gets a scalding hot towel from a pot of boiling water and places in on the Dawg's face.

Henery enters the scene looking for a chicken and approaches the Dawg who is sharpening an ax on a grinder. Thinking the Dawg is a chicken, Henery tries to pull him from behind with the Dawg's neck rope. The Dawg explains that he is not a chicken, and then points to Foghorn prancing on a fence in the distance. Henery starts out after Foghorn but the Dawg stops him and states that Henery has to out-trick Foghorn if he is going to catch him.

Henery piques Foghorn's curiosity by trying to secure a catapult with a large pumpkin on it. Foghorn helps Henery by securing the catapult for him, and as he walks away Henery launches the pumpkin at Foghorn, which hits him in the head. Henery tells Foghorn that he wants to capture him for dinner. Playing along, Foghorn replies that he is too old and tough to be used for dinner.

Foghorn tells Henery that a better choice would be pheasant under glass. Henery, not knowing what pheasant is, asks Foghorn where he can find one. Foghorn, as only he can, points to the Dawg's house, telling Henery that a pheasant lives inside. Foghorn provides Henery with a glass cover and Henery walks into the Dawg's house and places it over him. The Dawg runs out with the glass over him but is again constrained by his rope. With the Dawg temporarily immobile, Foghorn returns with a set of golf clubs, placing a golf ball on the Dawg's nose. Foghorn swings, but hits the Dawg instead of the ball, sending the Dawg (still constrained by his rope) toward a tree.

Foghorn then covers Henery with vanishing cream and Henery is led to believe that he is invisible. Henery, still under the impression that the Dawg is a pheasant, leaves in pursuit. The Dawg uses a mirror to prove to Henery that he is not really invisible and that he has been tricked again by Foghorn. The Dawg runs out of his house but is stopped by the rope again and Foghorn returns with an accordion which he stuffs over the Dawg's head while playing the instrument.

On the verge of giving up his hunt, Foghorn convinces Henery to resume his quest, citing historical episodes. The Dawg finally explains to Henery that as a chicken hawk he should be after chicken and asks Henery to unhook his collar from his rope. The Dawg lures Foghorn from hiding and bang the chicken with a bell. Angered, Foghorn punches the Dawg and they start to fight. The story closes with Henery next to a pot of boiling water, saying to the audience that, pheasant or chicken, he will fricassee the loser.

External links

• The Leghorn Blows at Midnight at the Internet Movie Database