131. I’d Love to Take Orders From You (1936)

Release date: May 16th, 1936

Series: Looney Tunes 

Director: Tex Avery 

Starring: Tommy Bond (Boy), Count Cutelli (Crow)

Another Merrie Melody that would often be reused as an underscore in future cartoons. This time, a little scarecrow longs to follow in the footsteps of his father.

Our story begins in a spacious corn field, surveyed by a hungry crow above. Pan across to meet a scarecrow in the distance. The crow lands right next to the scarecrow and prepares to indulge itself in a spare cob of corn lying on the ground, seemingly unbothered by the scarecrow’s presence. A stupid little dummy frozen in a pose—kid’s stuff for a smart crow. However, the crow quickly realizes that this scarecrow ISN’T just a run of the mill frozen dummy: the scarecrow bares its teeth and bristles at the crow, effectively shooing it away.

The scarecrow admires his work and stretches, cracking his back after a long day of work. His watch (an hour glass) signals it’s quittin’ time. Snagging his lunchbox, the bag of hay happily strolls on home to a jaunty underscore of the titular song. The walk is full of character and the score compliments it very nicely, a happy and endearing atmosphere.

He arrives home, just in time for a tiny scarecrow to peer out of the window expectantly. The father scarecrow opens the gate and winks at the audience knowingly, quite obviously aware of his child’s presence. Predictably, the scarecrow opens the door and pretends to have the straw scared out of him as his son tries to be as intimidating as possible. The father lifts up his son, who asks “Did I scare ya, daddy?” He’s met with an encouraging “Yessir! You sure scared me that time!”

All is well as he marches inside, his son perched on his shoulder. He meets his wife and they exchange a kiss, the son happily ducking beneath them. The mother inquires about the father’s day, who gently places his eager son down. He mentions that he scared 10 crows away—big news to Junior, who couldn’t be prouder of his old man. Ma tells Pa that Junior wants to play scarecrow, and that they should do so together while she whips up a meal. Truth is only added to her statement as the little scarecrow eagerly tugs at his father’s pants.

And now we launch into a spoken version of  the title song as Pa leads his son to a “scare chart”, ready to show him how to be the best scarecrow in all the land. Pa shows off the various poses and the son mimics them (hence the song title, taking orders from his father.) There are some intriguing angles, particularly a lovely shot of the father’s legs in the foreground framing his son in the center. The song is cute and fun, hard to dislike.

On the wall hangs a tin pan. Pa proposes that with each snack to the pan (creating a bell sound), the son must show off what he learned. The bells keep on coming and the son performs his poses in rapid fire succession. While not as exaggerated as other instances, it’s still a fun way of tex incorporating his knack for speed. The father is satisfied, handing off Junior to Ma to put to bed while he fixes himself dinner.

Ma carries her son into his room, undressing him (a silhouette shot from outside, a curtain obstructing our view) and tucking him into bed. She gives him a kiss and turns out the light. Suddenly, Junior’s eyes widen. He jumps out of bed and says his prayers, wishing to be a “biiiig scarecrow, just like my daddy.” He snuggles into bed... and whips out of bed once more to coda with a quick “Amen!”, a gag made funny with Tex’s timing.

Morning arrives, Junior awoken by the crows of a nearby rooster. An idea hatches. Junior gets himself dressed and creeps out of his bedroom—Pa’s still asleep. All according to plan. He tiptoes across the house so as not to wake him, poking his head out the front door and doing the same happy, sneaky, knowing squint-n-point his father had done previously.

Strolling along casually, whistling inconspicuously, Junior slowly approaches the rooster perched on the fence outside. Just as the rooster begins to crow, Junior gives pose #2 (one his father lauded himself), and sure enough the rooster is effectively startled. Success! Junior puffs out his chest and marches along outside, terrorizing every animal in sight with good ol’ #2: a squirrel hammering away at a nut, who runs into a tree and rides an elevator to the top branch to continue his duties, and a rabbit gnawing away at a carrot and diving into a number of rabbit holes. 

Tex Avery and Bob Clampett pose out the scene below.

Now his biggest test yet. Junior stands in the very spot his esteemed father stood the day previously, same lone corn cob strewn on the ground. Yet that’s not the only similarity: the crow from the day prior also returns, ready to feast on his corn. What follows is a very amusing scene of Junior attempting to scare the giant crow with #2, waddling around at every corner and raising his hackles. The crow merely ignores the kid and continues to feast. What makes this scene 10x funnier is knowing that archive footage courtesy of Bob Clampett exists of Tex Avery and Bob acting out the scene for reference, Tex as Junior and Bob as the crow. 

The crow finally finishes his meal, and Junior’s efforts are more futile than ever. Unamused with the scarecrow’s meager attempts to scare him, the crow retaliates by giving the scarecrow a taste of his own medicine. And, of course, Junior is scared shitless. He makes a run for it, scrambling around in place as he only digs himself into the ground.

What’s a cartoon without a chase sequence? The crow gangs up on the scarecrow, who attempts to cut corners by running straight through the cornfield. Following right behind, the crow cuts up the corn with its wings, a fun visual, reminiscent of Country Boy when the corn stalks fall back into place in bundles afterwards to the beat of the music (a hurried rendition of the title song.) While Junior runs, he attempts to scare off the scarecrow with everything he knows, periodically posing, yet to no avail. The crow is too intimidating. Another fun camera angle of an overhead shot from the crow’s point of view.

Desperate, Junior goes back to ol’ reliable, #2. And this time, it works! The crow recoils and all of the color drains, literally turning him white with fear—the first time this gag was ever used! The crow flies away, and we see why Junior is so effective: behind him tower two legs. Pan up to reveal Pa also doing #2, the real perpetrator, unbeknownst to Junior.

Junior is as revitalized as ever, grinning ear to ear as he runs back down the path for good measure, scowling and puffing out his chest. Accomplished with his work, he turns around, marching pridefully straight into a blockade of legs. Everything starts to register (some lovely subtle head movements and animation by Bob Clampett), and Junior laughs sheepishly, sputtering “O-oh, hello daddy!” Pa scoops up his shadow, talking about how his mother’s been looking for him everywhere. Father and son head home, reunited at last.

That night: Pa lounges by the fire, reading while Junior explains in depth the events of his exciting day: “No sir! I wasn’t a mere afraid of that ol’ crow, ma! I just stood there like this, and pretty soon down flew a great, great, great, GREAT big crow! And just then, I did like this—“

A shadow of a crow is projected onto the wall next to Junior  and the all too familiar caw terrifies Junior out of his wits. He cozies up to his mother for protection, and we pan over to see Pa himself making a shadow puppet of the crow with the light from the fireplace—iris out.

For a Tex Avery cartoon, this one certainly felt much more Freleng-esque. Never a bad thing! This cartoon was much more cute than it was funny, but it definitely does cute really well. Junior was very likable and relatable, as was Pa. The scene with Junior attempting to scare off the crow is great, but I think half of that is attributed to the fact that all I can see is Tex himself acting out the scene. The music was lovely as ever, and overall the cartoon was extremely endearing, happy, and cute. I definitely think it’s good for a quick pick me up!

Link!