42. I Wish I Had Wings (1932)

Release date: October 15th, 1932

Series: Merrie Melodies

Director: Rudolf Ising

Starring: Johnny Murray (Chick), Rudy Ising (Scarecrow, Rooster), The Rhythmettes (Chorus)

The “singing chickens” genre of cartoons. Always interesting to explore. Here, the black sheep chick of the family laments his lack of opportunity and wants to spread his wings.

Another morning on the farm. There’s a nice lighting change as the sun rises up. A rooster wakes up and prepares to signal the start of the day, puffing out its chest, which falls flat to the ground. It tries again, but its trademark shriek doesn’t wake the other chickens in the coop. Another insistent squawk sends the chickens scrambling around in a hurry. Elsewhere, the rooster wakes up a flock of sleeping ducks by removing the perches they’re sitting on, causing them to fall to the ground. The ducks march away in a cadence, while there’s a shot of a rather rotund hen deflating as streams of chicks pour out from beneath her.

Outside, we have a chicken using a stethoscope to listen to the ground. Part of the ground bulges, and eagerly the chicken uses its beak (above) to drill into the dirt, plucking out a fat juicy worm. The chicken’s chicks are delighted, cheeping with joy at the prospect of a feast. However, the chicken struggled to find a way to divide one worm amongst all the chicks.

Meat grinder gags come in handy! The chicken pours the worm into the grinder, and in a reused sequence from Ain't Nature Grand! The chicks chase an individual, small worm. I can’t blame them for all the reuses, harp on them as I might. If it saves money, it saves money. It would have been interesting if they could’ve spiced up the reuse somehow, but I digress.

Now we pan to a hen in her coop. She’s singing a lullaby as she knits a sweater for her baby(ies), checking time see how they’re faring and exposing a heating pack. The father of the bunch walks in on her, and immediately the hen hides her sweater. Curious and perturbed that the hen is hiding something, the father sticks out his hand and demands she hand over what ever it is she’s hiding. She refuses, but after awhile gives up and hands it over. The father studies it and quickly comes to realize that he’s a father, giving a celebratory “WHOOPEE!”. Coincidentally, this exact scene is used in Wise Quacks! I had always assumed it was an original scene, so this totally caught me by surprise. Daffy assumes the role of the father, and a duck (voiced by Bob Clampett himself) assumes the role of the mother. Compare and contrast the scene here! Both scenes are great in their own respective ways, but I like Carl Stalling’s score in Wise Quacks and how it gives the scene slightly more flavor (not that Frank Marsales’ version is bland by any means! I’ve come to really enjoy his music!).

Anxious for the well-being of his wife, the rooster drags a doctor stork to the coop and urges him inside. We get a shot of the father rooster pacing nervously outside (here’s where the difference comes in. Daffy paces around too, but decides alcohol is the best thing to calm his nerves, and everything goes downhill from there).

Nevertheless, the stork arrives with a basket of chicks. Tentatively, the rooster asks “Is it a boy?”, but before he can continue, all of the chicks are let loose from the basket, including a little black chick who greets “Hi, Pop!” 

Unfortunately, the chick is the black chick of the family. All of the chicks run to get their fill of seed, blocking off the odd one out. Dejected but still determined, he finds a corn cob and prepares to feast, until all of the chicks swarm in and eat that, too.

Our title song “I Wish I Had Wings” comes into the play as the chick sings it mournfully, wanting time get some food and leave the farm.

Conveniently, a corset lies on the ground, and the chick wastes no time fitting into it while a lovely (more tolerable) chorus of birds sing the remainder of the song. The chick uses the corset as a pair of wings, flying up to a clothesline pole where he uses a pair of underwear as a parachute to land on the opposite side of the fence. The chorus is lovely! I’m such a sucker for those Andrews Sisters-esque songs in the cartoons from the '30s.

Rejuvenated, the chick eats some peas from a garden (with satisfyingly timed animation). However, a scarecrow who comes to life is just as hungry as the chick is. Chase sequence is a go. The chick seeks safety by aid of a wishing well, pulling a string that causes the handle to repeatedly whack the scarecrow in the face. Using the scarecrow’s daze as an opportunity, the chick uses a candle flame beneath a boiler(?) to light the scarecrow on fire, sending him running towards the hills. Iris out.

Not the most memorable of Merrie Melodies, but not at all the blandest. My favorite part was comparing the scene with the hen in the coop with the scene from wise quacks—no idea that was reused! That fascinates me. The title song was an ear worm like always, more so contributed to the underscore and the harmonizing women than the actual chick’s singing (which sounded like an Al Jolson impression?). Animation was just fine and the gags were amusing, but nothing that really stands out to me. It wouldn’t be a crime if you skipped this one, but it makes for a cute watch regardless.