Ballyhooey

Ballyhooey
File:Ballyhooey-title.jpg
Directed by	Alex Lovy
Story by	Homer Brightman
Produced by	Walter Lantz
Starring	Grace Stafford Dal McKennon Paul Frees
Music by	Clarence Wheeler
Animation by	Laverne Harding Lester Kline Ray Abrams Raymond Jacobs Art Landy
Color process	Technicolor
Production company	Walter Lantz Productions
Distributed by	Universal International
Release date	April 20, 1960
Country	United States
Language	English

Ballyhooey is the 100th animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on April 20, 1960, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal International.

Synopsis

After a short history of television, the high towers of a TV station transmit waves.

Woody turns on his TV set to watch his favorite quiz show, “Win the Whole Wide World.” He waits for a question, the prize for which is “The Whole Wide World.” But the program keeps being interrupted by endless annoying (yet amusing) commercials promoting such products as hair restorer (Hair Goop Hair Oil with Chicken fat) which turns a bald man into a hairy gorilla, small cars, cigarette products for the thinking man, toothpaste (Polka-Dot Toothpaste), curlers, Scat-Fat tablets which reduce an obese man until he's as thin as a sheet of paper, and sleep-inducers (Cork-Off, the drugless sleep-inducer).

Finally, the question is broadcast: “Who is buried in Grant’s Tomb?” Woody rushes to the station with his answer, Napoleon, only to discover it is incorrect (George Washington is the correct answer). Although it's wrong, he earns a consolation prize: he'll be sent south for the winter, all expenses paid.

Woody ends up on the South Pole, only to watch more TV, freezing, inside an igloo. When the announcer says, “First a word from our sponsor,” Woody shoots his TV set and stops the show.

Notes

Ballyhooey was Alex Lovy's final effort as director on a Woody Woodpecker short, as he would later leave Lantz for Hanna Barbera. He was replaced by Jack Hannah, a former Disney veteran behind the Donald Duck & Chip 'n' Dale cartoons.

References

• Cooke, Jon, Komorowski, Thad, Shakarian, Pietro, and Tatay, Jack. "1960". The Walter Lantz Cartune Encyclopedia.