The Shell Shocked Egg: Difference between revisions

The Shell Shocked Egg
The Shell Shocked Egg
Directed by	Robert McKimson
Story by	Warren Foster
Produced by	Edward Selzer (unc.)
Starring	Mel Blanc; The Sportsmen Quartet; Lloyd Turner
Music by	Carl Stalling
Animation by	Charles McKimson ; Manny Gould; I. Ellis; Anatole Kirsanoff (unc.); Fred Abranz (unc.)
Layouts by	Cornett Wood
Backgrounds by	Richard H. Thomas
Color process	Technicolor
Production; company	Warner Bros. Cartoons
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures ; The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date	July 10, 1948;
Running time	6:45; (Blue Ribbon release)
Language	English

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The Shell Shocked Egg is a 1948 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Robert McKimson.^[1] The short was released on July 10, 1948.^[2]

The plot concerns a baby turtle named Clem who is only partly hatched and looks for a place to finish hatching while running into a dog and rooster who break out into a feud over ownership of the egg while Clem's family looks for him at the beach.

The plot of a partly hatched baby animal experiencing misadventures in completing his hatching is loosely based on Frank Tashlin's Booby Hatched, released in 1944.

Plot

At the beach, a mother turtle brings down her four eggs and finds a good place to hatch them out. Burying each egg in the sand, she sticks out four signs for the baby turtles' names (Tom, Dick, Harry, Clem) before leaving to fetch a sunlamp. While the mother turtle is gone, one of the turtle eggs (Clem) re-emerges from the sand as the sun gets covered by clouds. Unable to hatch without any source of heat, Clem wanders out of the beach to search for a heat source. He first tries to cross a street, nearly being run over by cars. He then comes across a pond before he eventually makes it a nearby farm, continuing his search for a warm spot.

Meanwhile, Clem mother beings back a sunlamp for her baby eggs to hatch. In perfect harmony, Tom, Dick, and Harry hatch singing out their names one by one and together as a group. Clem's mother tells them to come along, but just as they start to leave the beach, she suddenly gets a feeling that something is amiss, when she realizes to her horror that Clem is missing. Going into a blind panic, Clem's mother takes the shovel and starts digging in the spot where Clem's egg was, while Tom, Dick, and Harry join the search with smaller shovels whilst continuing to sing in unison.

Back at the farm, Clem comes across a farmyard dog, believing he has found a warm spot, but leaves after thinking he lost it. The dog, believing he has laid an egg, thinks he would have fame and fortune out of this misconception. So he decides to go after Clem, who runs into a henhouse. Clem hides under a sleeping hen. The dog retrieves the eggs back, only for the hen to panic and cry for help, thinking that the dog is stealing one of her eggs. A large rooster confronts the dog and retrieves Clem from his clutches.

After a contentious back-and-forth struggle between the dog and rooster, Clem is chased back to the beach. Most of the beach has been dug up by Clem's mother and brothers, who at this point are using an excavator. Clem's mother discovers the three and uses her excavator to scoop them up, retrieving Clem whilst whacking the dog and rooster with a mallet. Happy to have her fourth son back, Clem's mother rushes the baby turtle to the sunlamp, finally letting him hatch. However, Clem, realizing something, remarks in a now lower-pitched voice, "Well now wouldn't you just know it? I'm still in a gob-blang shell!" as the cartoon ends.

Voice cast

Mel Blanc - Clem, Mother Turtle, Dog, Hen and Rooster
The Sportsmen Quartet - Clem's siblings
Lloyd Turner - Clem (post-hatching)

Home media

This film is available on the LaserDisc set The Golden Age of Looney Tunes. It is also available on HBO Max as of 2020, restored for the first time.

References

^ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 186. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 104–106. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.

External links

The Shell Shocked Egg at IMDb

[Beck-1] Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 186. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.

[2] Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 104–106. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.

[1]

[2]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{Infobox Hollywood cartoon
+{{Infobox film
-| cartoon_name = The Shell Shocked Egg
+| name           = The Shell Shocked Egg
+| image          =
-| series = [[Merrie Melodies]]
-| image =
+| caption        =
+| director       = [[Bob McKimson|Robert McKimson]]
-| caption =
+| producer       = [[Edward Selzer]] (unc.)
-| director = [[Bob McKimson|Robert McKimson]]
-| producer = [[Eddie Selzer]] (uncredited)
+| story          = [[Warren Foster]]
+| animator       = [[Charles McKimson ]]<br>[[Manny Gould]]<br>[[Izzy Ellis|I. Ellis]]<br>Anatole Kirsanoff (unc.)<br>Fred Abranz (unc.)
-| story_artist = [[Warren Foster]]
+| layout_artist  = [[Cornett Wood]]
-| animator = [[Izzy Ellis]], [[Charles McKimson]], [[Manny Gould]]
+| background_artist = Richard H. Thomas
-| layout artist = [[Cornett Wood]]
+| starring       = [[Mel Blanc]]<br>The Sportsmen Quartet<br>Lloyd Turner
-| background artist = [[Richard H. Thomas]]
+| music          = [[Carl W. Stalling|Carl Stalling]]
-| voice_actor = [[Mel Blanc]]
+| distributor    = [[Warner Bros. Pictures]] <br> [[The Vitaphone Corporation]]
-| musician = [[Carl Stalling]], [[Milt Franklyn]] (uncredited)
+| studio         = [[Warner Bros. Cartoons]]
-| distributor = [[Warner Bros. Pictures]] <br> [[The Vitaphone Corporation]]
+| released       = {{Film date|1948|07|10}}
-| studio = [[Warner Bros. Cartoons]]
+| color_process  = [[Technicolor]]
-| release_date = July 10, 1948
+| runtime        = 6:45<br>(Blue Ribbon release)
-| color_process = [[Technicolor]]
+| language       = English
-| runtime = 6:45 (blue ribbon) about 7 minutes for the original
-| movie_language = English
 }}
+'''''The Shell Shocked Egg''''' is a 1948 [[Warner Bros.]] ''[[Merrie Melodies]]'' cartoon directed by [[Robert McKimson]].<ref name=Beck>{{cite book |last1=Beck |first1=Jerry |last2=Friedwald |first2=Will |title=Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons |date=1989 |publisher=Henry Holt and Co |isbn=0-8050-0894-2 |page=186}}</ref> The short was released on July 10, 1948.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lenburg |first1=Jeff |title=The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons |date=1999 |publisher=Checkmark Books |isbn=0-8160-3831-7 |accessdate=6 June 2020 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780816038312/page/104/mode/2up |pages=104–106}}</ref>
-The Shell Shocked Egg is a 1948 cartoon directed by Robert McKimson.
+The plot concerns a baby turtle named Clem who is only partly hatched and looks for a place to finish hatching while running into a dog and rooster who break out into a feud over ownership of the egg while Clem's family looks for him at the beach.
-A mother turtle, naming her four eggs Tom, Dick, Harry, and Clem, buries the eggs while she obtains a sunlamp to heat her offspring into hatching, and Clem hatches prematurely and only partially while his mother is away. Unable to see in his search for a warm body to fully hatch him from his eggshell, Clem wanders into a barnyard and briefly cozies with a cow, which "golfs" him into a barn, and a male dog. The dog thinks he has laid an egg and envisions fame and fortune. He chases the partly-hatched Clem and comes into conflict with a chicken and rooster, who believe Clem to be their offspring. Finally, Clem's mother and her three other boy turtles, who sing in perfect coordination, find Clem. Clem is fully hatched by his mother, then complains about still being in a shell.
+The plot of a partly hatched baby animal experiencing misadventures in completing his hatching is loosely based on [[Frank Tashlin]]'s ''[[Booby Hatched]]'', released in 1944.
-==Trivia==
-* This film is available on [[The Golden Age of Looney Tunes]].
+==Plot==
-* This is the final Merrie Melodies to be sold to [[United Artists]], successor to [[a.a.p.|Associated Artists Productions]] because a.a.p. went defunct a year after buying WB's pre-1944 color cartoons and Selzer's September 2, 1944-July 24, 1948 cartoons  and pre-1950 films. The remaining black and white catalog was sold to [[Guild Films]], later [[Warner Bros.-Seven Arts]] giving WB rights back to the black and white films.
+At the beach, a mother [[turtle]] brings down her four eggs and finds a good place to hatch them out. Burying each egg in the sand, she sticks out four signs for the baby turtles' names (Tom, Dick, Harry, Clem) before leaving to fetch a sunlamp. While the mother turtle is gone, one of the turtle eggs (Clem) re-emerges from the sand as the sun gets covered by clouds. Unable to hatch without any source of heat, Clem wanders out of the beach to search for a heat source. He first tries to cross a street, nearly being run over by cars. He then comes across a pond before he eventually makes it a nearby farm, continuing his search for a warm spot.
+Meanwhile, Clem mother beings back a sunlamp for her baby eggs to hatch. In perfect harmony, Tom, Dick, and Harry hatch singing out their names one by one and together as a group. Clem's mother tells them to come along, but just as they start to leave the beach, she suddenly gets a feeling that something is amiss, when she realizes to her horror that Clem is missing. Going into a blind panic, Clem's mother takes the shovel and starts digging in the spot where Clem's egg was, while Tom, Dick, and Harry join the search with smaller shovels whilst continuing to sing in unison.
+Back at the farm, Clem comes across a farmyard [[dog]], believing he has found a warm spot, but leaves after thinking he lost it. The dog, believing he has laid an egg, thinks he would have fame and fortune out of this misconception. So he decides to go after Clem, who runs into a henhouse. Clem hides under a sleeping [[Hen (chicken)|hen]]. The dog retrieves the eggs back, only for the hen to panic and cry for help, thinking that the dog is stealing one of her eggs. A large [[rooster]] confronts the dog and retrieves Clem from his clutches.
+After a contentious back-and-forth struggle between the dog and rooster, Clem is chased back to the beach. Most of the beach has been dug up by Clem's mother and brothers, who at this point are using an [[excavator]]. Clem's mother discovers the three and uses her excavator to scoop them up, retrieving Clem whilst whacking the dog and rooster with a mallet. Happy to have her fourth son back, Clem's mother rushes the baby turtle to the sunlamp, finally letting him hatch. However, Clem, realizing something, remarks in a now lower-pitched voice, "Well now wouldn't you just know it? I'm still in a gob-blang shell!" as the cartoon ends.
+== Voice cast ==
+* [[Mel Blanc]] - Clem, Mother Turtle, Dog, Hen and Rooster
+* The Sportsmen Quartet - Clem's siblings
+* Lloyd Turner - Clem (post-hatching)
+==Home media==
+This film is available on the LaserDisc set ''[[The Golden Age of Looney Tunes]]''. It is also available on [[HBO Max]] as of 2020, restored for the first time.
+==References==
+{{Reflist}}
+== External links ==
+{{IMDb title|id=0040780|title=The Shell Shocked Egg}}{{Robert McKimson}}
+{{DEFAULTSORT:Shell Shocked Egg}}
+[[Category:1948 films]]
+[[Category:Merrie Melodies short films]]
+[[Category:Films directed by Robert McKimson]]
+[[Category:Films scored by Carl Stalling]]
+[[Category:1940s Warner Bros. animated short films]]
+[[Category:Animated films about turtles]]
+[[Category:Films with screenplays by Warren Foster]]
+[[Category:Films produced by Edward Selzer]]
+[[Category:Animated films set on farms]]
+[[Category:Animated films set on beaches]]
+[[Category:1948 animated short films]]