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The Screwdriver

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The Screwdriver
File:Screwdriver TITLE.jpg
Title card
Directed byWalter Lantz
Story byBen Hardaway
Jack Cosgriff
Produced byWalter Lantz
StarringMel Blanc
Music byDarrell Calker
Animation byAlex Lovy
R. Somerville
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • August 11, 1941 (1941-08-11)
Running time
6:44
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Screwdriver is the second animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on August 11, 1941, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures.[1]

Plot

Woody Woodpecker is driving through the countryside with no respect for the rules of the road. He confronts a traffic cop who explains he is looking for speeders. Woody reveals himself to be a speeder by driving to Alaska and back in less than a minute. The cop tries to arrest him but Woody states, "I bet ya wouldn't be so tough without that uniform." The officer undresses but Woody attacks him with a boxing glove camera. Woody also gets his goat by dressing as a farmer on horse-and-buggy and as a Chinaboy with rickshaw. Finally, the cop flips out and is sent to a mental hospital with Woody as his caretaker.

Notes

  • Like most of the early 1940s Lantz "cartunes", The Screwdriver carried no director's credit. Lantz himself has claimed to have directed this film, which features animation by Alex Lovy and Ralph Somerville, a story by Ben Hardaway and Jack Cosgriff, and music by Darrell Calker.
  • The song, performed by Mel Blanc at the beginning of the film, would make a reappearance in Hot Rod Huckster, performed by Grace Stafford.
Everybody thinks I'm screwy!
Screwy as a loon, that's me!
When I go on the driving spree,
The coppers all get panicky!
Honk my horn!
HONK! HONK! HONK!
Strip my gears!
SCREECH! SCREECH! SCREECH!
So I'm screwy, what, what, what can I do?
I ask you!
  • The Screwdriver marks the last time Mel Blanc provided the voice for Woody. However, Woody's famous laugh (provided by Blanc) would continue to be recycled in the succeeding shorts until 1951, when Grace Stafford recorded a softer version, while Woody's "Guess Who?!" signature line (also provided by Blanc) would continue to be recycled for the opening titles until the end of the series in 1972.
  • The TV airing of this short from The Woody Woodpecker Show was re-titled as "Woody's Jalopy."

References

  1. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 157–158. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.
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