Witch Crafty

A witch is riding her broom gaily through the night skies when she crashes and breaks the broom handle. She goes to a nearby broom factory and asks Woody (who works there) for a new one. He makes her one, but she refuses to pay the 50-cent check. Woody takes the magic broom back, and the rest of the picture deals with her attempts to gain access to the factory and get the broom without paying for it. Woody is adamant, though, and he insists that she pay for it, or no broom! Every attempt that she makes to get the broom is foiled by Woody, who outsmarts her at every turn. She tries tunneling into the factory. She becomes a hot dog saleslady, peddling firecracker hot dogs, etc. Woody switches brooms on the witch, and they won't fly. Finally, realizing that she's been outsmarted, she consents to pay for the broom. The witch digs deep into her personal belongings (a pair of loaded dice, a spare set of false teeth, a pen pal photo of Frankenstein's monster and a five-cent piece). Woody insists on his full 50 cents. The witch asks to use his powder room. When she does, she finds it full of powder... gunpowder. Woody gets on the magic broom, and we end the picture with Woody flying off.

Woody Woodpecker, Witch

The name of the Broom Factory in which Woody works - Lovin Broom, is a verbal pun on the title of comedian Jack Benny's long time theme song "Love in Bloom".

With arguably the most famous laugh of any cartoon character in history ("ha-ha-ha-HA-ha"), Woody Woodpecker pecked his way into our lives through a 1940 Andy Panda theatrical short entitled Knock Knock. Woody continued to appear in short films throughout the 40's and 50's, and in 1957, the Kellogg's company packaged these theatrical works into the syndicated package The Woody Woodpecker Show.Walter Lantz created the famed bird, and in the show's early days, the animator would host from his office, demonstrating how cartoons were made by showing the viewers at home such essentials as painting cels and drawing storyboards. Woody, an obnoxious mischief-maker, would usually star in the shorts, occasionally taking a backseat to his friends Andy Panda, Wally Walrus, Gabby Gator, Buzz Buzzard, Oswald the Rabbit, and Arctic penguin Chilly Willy.

Woody was by far the most politically incorrect and audacious character of his time. In an era when cartoons were trying to promote a positive message or somehow prove educational, Woody was breaking taboos left and right. The early theatrical shorts were chock full of sexual innuendo, tobacco use, and rampant alcohol consumption. One episode even showed a hotel bill with a charge for "Cocaine" (all of which were later edited out before hitting the airwaves). While other cartoons were trying to do the right thing, Woody was joking, fighting, stealing, and antagonizing.

Another difference between our fine feathered friend and other animated icons is that he didn't always come out on top. Sometimes he'd dig himself too deep into a hole to get out. Perhaps "if Woody had gone to the police, this never would have happened," but then we wouldn't have had so much fun watching him try.

After a three year run from 1957-60, The Woody Woodpecker Show was not seen on network television again until the fall of 1970, when it made its Saturday morning debut. Although his physical appearance was slightly altered and updated, Woody was as big a troublemaker as ever. The immortal show has lived on in syndication ever since leaving network TV in 1977.

In 1999, a brand new Woody Woodpecker Show debuted on the Fox Kids schedule. Woody, Buzz Buzzard, Wally Walrus, Chilly Willy, and Willy's dog pal Smedley were joined by newcomers Winnie Woodpecker, Knothead, Splinter, Dapper Denver Dooley, and Mrs. Meany.