Booby Hatched

In the dead of winter, a frantic mother duck has to track down her missing egg, Robespierre. The unhatched chick, an egg up on two legs, wanders about the snow-covered countrieside in search of warmth. He's captured by a wolf who receives several "fingers" in the eye from a very angry mom.

Robespierre, Mother Duck, Hatchlings (Franklin, Eleanor, Winston, Leon), Bear, Wolf

Remade in 1948 with a turtle theme as "The Shell Shocked Egg."

Two of the hatchlings are named after Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, and Eleanor Roosevelt, the First Lady. Winston is named after Winston Churchill the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Leon was named after Leon Schlesinger, the owner of Leon Schlesinger Studios. Robespierre is named after the Frenchman who was involved in the French Revolution.

In September of 1943, beginning with A Feud There Was, Warner Bros. began re-releasing select color cartoons in their Blue Ribbon program. Typically the Blue Ribbon reissues received new opening sequences with Blue Ribbon title cards and standardized music. Cartoon production credits were also removed. Between ten and fifteen cartoons were released in any given year, with cartoons coming from as far back as 1935. The reissues continued until the close of the studio in the 1960's.

All Blue Ribbon cartoons were released as "Merrie Melodie" cartoons regardless of the original series. The first "Looney Tunes" short to be included in the Blue Ribbon series was The Hep Cat, which was added in 1949. The only current prints of many of these cartoons are the Blue Ribbon releases, although restoration of these cartoons with original elements and titles is always ongoing.