A Broken Leghorn
Encyclopedia
A Broken Leghorn is a "Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...

" cartoon animated short starring Foghorn Leghorn and Miss Prissy
Miss Prissy
Miss Prissy may refer to:* Miss Prissy , the widowed hen who had a crush on Foghorn Leghorn* Miss Prissy, a dancer who starred in the 2005 documentary, Rize...

. Released September 26, 1959, the cartoon is directed by Robert McKimson
Robert McKimson
Robert "Bob" Porter McKimson, Sr. was an American animator, illustrator, and director best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros., and later DePatie-Freleng Enterprises...

. The voices were performed by Mel Blanc
Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...

.

Plot

Foghorn Leghorn takes pity on Miss Prissy, whom the other hens are ridiculing because of her inability to lay an egg. To give her confidence, Foghorn slips one of the other hen's eggs in Miss Prissy's nest. Before long, the egg hatches a baby rooster
Rooster
A rooster, also known as a cockerel, cock or chanticleer, is a male chicken with the female being called a hen. Immature male chickens of less than a year's age are called cockerels...

. When Foghorn heard this, he is furious ("We don't need no more roosters around here! We've got one! And I'm it!") Foghorn tries to stop them but they stared at him angrily. Foghorn decides to play along.

The rooster chick makes a comment in jest to Foghorn that "You must be the rooster whose job I'm taking over!" Foghorn takes this comment seriously and fearing replacement (particularly after the tyke flawlessly crows), decides to kill off the baby rooster.

Foghorn makes his attempts under the premise of teaching the chick to be a rooster. However, each of these attempts ends with Foghorn getting the worst end of things:
  • Having the baby rooster retrieve a ball by crossing a busy highway, so the youngster can learn why the chicken crossed the road
    Why did the chicken cross the road?
    "Why did the chicken cross the road?" is a common riddle or joke in several languages. The answer or punchline is: "To get to the other side". The riddle is an example of anti-humor, in that the curious setup of the joke leads the listener to expect a traditional punchline, but they are instead...

     ("To have a ball"). The chick returns the ball safely and challenges Foghorn to help him make sure he did it right. Foghorn does, thinks he's gotten the ball safely (when there's a moment of no traffic) and gets run down twice.
  • Teaching him patience by waiting by an downspout
    Rain gutter
    A rain gutter is a narrow channel, or trough, forming the component of a roof system which collects and diverts rainwater shed by the roof....

     at the farmhouse. Foghorn sends down a stick of dynamite, but the chick bats it back ... and it explodes in Foghorn's face.
  • Helping him learn to eat corn on the cob
    Corn on the cob
    Corn on the cob is a culinary term used for a cooked ear of freshly picked maize from a cultivar of sweet corn. The ear is picked while the endosperm is in the "milk stage" so that the kernels are still tender...

    , hoping he won't notice the ear has been tied to the trigger of a shotgun hung on a tree branch, and the barrel pointing at where he is to stand. The chick tugs harder and harder ... enough for the barrel to flip into Foghorn's face and shoot him point-blank.
  • By now frustrated, helping the chick learn to dig for worms. Actually, the "worm" (a piece of string) has been pulled into a mound of dirt concealing a landmine. When the chick digs elsewhere hoping to find the worm, Foghorn shows him how to do things properly and gets blasted.


Foghorn had enough and has it out with the boss ... "I'll just have it out with the boss, it's gotta be that kid or me! One of us is gotta go!" Seconds later, a truck is pulling away from the farm, with Foghorn caged inside the cargo bed. He exclaims,"Well, when yer, I say, when yer gotta go, yer gotta go!"

Censorship

  • On ABC, the "dynamite in the rain gutter" sequence and the "corn cob on the rifle" sequence (mentioned in the Plot section) were cut.
  • On the WB, only the "corn cob on the rifle" sequence was cut.
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