No Mutton fer Nuttin'
About No Mutton fer Nuttin'
Wolfie goes after a flock of white sheep and runs into Blackie, who is reading a book called How to Outsmart a Wolf. Blackie trips him, runs him around a tree, and gives him a hotfoot underwater. He then bets the wolf ten dollars on a pair of loaded dice. The dice blow up and drop Wolfie in a hole. Blackie starts digging what he treats as a grave. Wolfie climbs out behind him and grabs him for dinner. The picture irises in on the wolf's arm, and Blackie has time to carry the carving knife off to the scrap-metal drive.
Cast & crew
More about No Mutton fer Nuttin'
Dan Gordon directed, with Dave Tendlar as animation director. Paramount released it as a Noveltoon on 26 November 1943. Carl Meyer wrote the story. Sammy Timberg wrote the music. Gordon was fired before the release and does not receive an on-screen director credit. Production number 4315. Technicolor, Western Electric sound.
Themes
Background
The last gag sends the carving knife to the wartime scrap-metal drive, a 1943 home-front collection.
Making
Cartoon Research notes that Tendlar, not the credited supervisor on later entries, shaped the Blackie series, and that Gordon's gags lean on Tex Avery's MGM timing. Gordon did not direct another Blackie and Wolfie short.
Music
Sammy Timberg scored the short.
Preservation
Technicolor 35mm. Image Entertainment included it on 300 Cartoon Classics (2011). ClassicFlix later put it in the Famous Studios Champion Collection.
Notes
- The first Noveltoon, and the first cartoon with Blackie the Lamb and Wolfie.
- Blackie wears a red sweater. Wolfie wears a battered top hat.
- Carl Meyer voices Blackie and Wolfie. Cecil Roy voices the lambs. Another credit list assigns both leads to Arnold Stang, marked unverified.
- The title card piles cash and Blackie's dice in the grass instead of using a separate opening.
- The Internet Animation Database times a print at 7 minutes 36 seconds.
- Tendlar animated with Tom Golden. Morey Reden and Gordon Sheehan worked uncredited.
Scenes
- Blackie consults How to Outsmart a Wolf while Wolfie stalks the flock.
- A hotfoot goes off underwater.
- The loaded dice explode and plant the wolf in a hole.
- Blackie walks off with the carving knife for the scrap drive.
Influenced by
- Tex Avery's MGM gag cartoons, which Dan Gordon was following
Also available
- 300 Cartoon Classics (Image Entertainment, 2011)
- Famous Studios Champion Collection (ClassicFlix)
- Wikimedia Commons (Dan Gordon - Noveltoons - No Mutton fer Nuttin' (1943) (with France 5 on-screen variant).webm)
