An Itch In Time
- Studio
- Leon Schlesinger Studios
- Distributor
- Warner Bros.
Synopsis
Elmer and his dog are relaxing by the fire when a passing hobo flea (shouting "T-bone!") decides to make a meal out of the dog. After a furious round of scratching and a dose of flea powder, the dog is warned by Elmer that he'll be given a bath if he scratches just one more time- a fate the dog considers worse than death. The happy flea, preparing a major dig into the dog's "rump roast," continues its excavation of the dog's body, employing various power tools and condiments.
The dog's efforts not to scratch cause him to turn several different colors, but he manages to hold out until the flea resorts to heavy explosives. As the dog goes crazy trying to get rid of his tenant, Elmer comes to drag him off to the bathtub, whereupon the flea attacks him as well. Both dog and master end up in the tub, and are carried off by the flea as a "blue plate special."
The dog's efforts not to scratch cause him to turn several different colors, but he manages to hold out until the flea resorts to heavy explosives. As the dog goes crazy trying to get rid of his tenant, Elmer comes to drag him off to the bathtub, whereupon the flea attacks him as well. Both dog and master end up in the tub, and are carried off by the flea as a "blue plate special."
Characters
Elmer Fudd, Elmer Fudd's Dog, A. Flea, Cat
Credits
Directing
- Director
- Robert Clampett
Producing
- Producer
- Leon Schlesinger
Writing
- Writer
- Warren Foster
Voices
- Voice
- Mel Blanc (Elmer Fudd's Dog, Cat, A. Flea [Screaming]), Arthur Q. Bryan (Elmer Fudd), Sara Berner (A. Flea [Singing])
Music
- Music
- Carl W. Stalling
Animation
- Animator
- Robert McKimson (as Bob McKimson)
- Animators, uncredited
- Rod Scribner, I. (Izzy) Ellis
Production notes
Modern, television copies of this cartoon do not have the end in which the cat shoots himself in the head. The flea returns just weeks later in "A Horsefly Fleas."
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.
Songs include: "Go to Sleep"; "Powerhouse" (Raymond Scott); "Food Around the Corner" [also known as "There's Food Around the Corner"] (Robert Clampett), Performed by A. Flea.
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.
Songs include: "Go to Sleep"; "Powerhouse" (Raymond Scott); "Food Around the Corner" [also known as "There's Food Around the Corner"] (Robert Clampett), Performed by A. Flea.
Pictures
Reviews
'An Itch in Time'
This was such a wonderful cartoon with nice background art and music. I loved the ending with the cat crying "Well now i've seen everything!" and then shotting himeself!
An Itch In Time
Only Clampett could make 20 'dog avoiding the bth' gags work like this...The determination of A.Flea is admirtable-to the point of using a jack hammer! BTW- the 'I better quit this,Im startin' to enjoy this!' gag,was actually SUPPOSED to be an inside joke,to be removed upon release..but 'somehow' it stayed in the final print...Clampett is so devilish!
An Itch In Time
In the early 1940s, Bob Clampett hit a number of home runs for WB, but "An Itch In Time" is a grand slam. It's the story of a flea who's busy breaking ground for a new home, and a dog whose ground is being broken. Because master Elmer will give him a dreaded flea bath if he so much as scratches, the unlucky canine is forced to endure an upward spiral of torment as the homesteading flea uses pick-axes and power tools to clear the "land." Ultimately, the little monster lights the fuse to a small mountain of high explosives he's got parked on his victim's rear end! The worried dog watches the column of smoke rising from his rump, then covers his eyes when his fanny explodes in a blazing Fourth of July display! That really has to hurt, and the yelping pooch takes off dragging his backside on the floor. Yet, even as we’re enjoying his "tail of woe," the dog himself makes an abrupt halt, and wearing a merry smile says, "You guys better cut it out, 'cause I think I'm starting to like it!" For years this kinky confession was censored, presumably to protect young minds, but current prints have restored the clip, so now audiences can enjoy the scene in its original devilish glory. Still cut, however, is the closing gag in which the cat blows his brains out after he laments, "Now I've seen everything!" (This was an oft-used gag at WB, but now it's just "offed" in this cartoon and several others: “Horton Hatches the Egg,” among them.)
An Itch In Time
Rod Scribner did his best animation in this cartoon.
An Itch In Time
Clampett was and still remains the GOD of WB animation. He dared to go where no director ventured and took leaps where others stayed true to the "bosko" line. " An Itch In Time" was the pinnacle of Clampett insanity. Who else would make a dog on the verge of insanity from flea itch whack a cat to get a barrage of scratching??/ PURE GENIUS!