I Wish I Had Wings (1932)

1932-i-wish-i-had-wings-title “I Wish I Had Wings”
Merrie Melodies (cartoon-specific titles)
Released: October 15, 1932
Length: 6:59

Credits:

Supervision by – Rudolf Ising
Drawn by – Rollin HamiltonPaul Smith
Musical Score by – Frank Marsales


Summary:

A baby bird wishes he had wings in order to get some food.

Description:

A rooster crows, marking the beginning of a new day. He has to crow a few more times before the sleeping chickens surrounding him finally wake up. The angry rooster squawks and them and they run off. He then goes over to some ducks, pulls their perches out from under them, and begins commanding them to march (in German, no less!). We next look at a very fat hen, but when dozens of baby chicks run out from under her, we (and she) realize that she’s not fat at all. Next we watch as a hen uses a stethoscope to listen for worms. She drills one out with her beak, but then has to figure out how to feed this one worm to her dozen baby chicks. She solves this problem by putting the worm in a meat grinder, thus creating dozens of little worms. One of the chicks has a particularly hard time catching his worm; when he sticks his head into a hole that the worm jumped into, the wily worm comes out of another hole and whacks the chick in the bottom with a board! Next we come across a hen who is knitting a little sweater, while a hot-water bottle underneath her warms her eggs. When her husband enters the room she quickly hides the sweater, but he becomes suspicious and it’s not long before he discovers that he’s about to become a father. “Whoopee!” he shouts, after which he fetches the doctor (a stork, appropriately) and has him aid in the delivery. The nervous father-to-be paces outside impatiently, but soon the doctor emerges holding a covered basket. “Is it a boy?” asks the rooster? He uncovers the basket, and dozens of little baby chicks jump out. The last chick out of the basket (whose dark feathers immediately mark him as the black sheep of the family), crawls out and shouts “Hi pop!”. The chick tries to join his siblings at the feeding trough, but there’s no room for him. He spots an ear of corn, but before he can get to it more of his siblings surround and devour the food. Discouraged, he walks off to the edge of the coop. Outside the chicken wire he spots a garden of vegetables, but since he has no way of getting to it he sadly begins singing the title song. Above him two birds use a nearby plant to form a makeshift music box. The chick soon spots some potential wings nearby: a lady’s corset! He uses it to soar into the air, as a trio of chicks continue the song. He lands on top of the chicken wire, then grabs some underwear from a nearby clothesline to parachute down. He begins eating several pods of peas from the garden, but a scarecrow suddenly comes to life and starts to chase the bird. The frightened chick comes across a well, where quickly comes up with a plan. He grabs the well’s rope and continues running, thereby spinning the handle which the scarecrow is hit by repeatedly. The chick then grabs a flame and sticks it under the dazed scarecrow, burning him up completely. The charred remains of the once proud garden protector run off into the distance as the cartoon irises out.


Memorable Scenes:


Video Availability:

Laserdisc: Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 5