Yankee Dood It

Yankee Dood It is a Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoon short released in 1956 and directed by Friz Freleng and written by Warren Foster. The title is a pun on Red Skelton's famous "I Dood It" line from the Mean Widdle Kid routine.

Yankee Dood It was the last of three cartoons to be underwritten by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which also underwrote By Word of Mouse and Heir-Conditioned; like the other two, they are all available on Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 6, Disc 2. This cartoon is also one of the rare cartoons where Sylvester has no speaking lines (except for "Ah-ha!" and "Sufferin' Succotash")

Synopsis

This cartoon short is based on the fairy tale The Elves and the Shoemaker, set 150 years after that story took place (in the first of the 19th century).^[1] Elmer Fudd is the progressive King of industrial Elves. He is doing roll call, only to discover that some of his elves are missing. His elf helper tells him that the elves are helping an outmoded shoemaker, but Elmer points out that it's the 20th century. He tells his elf helper to get the elves back or he'll mark them AWOL, just before telling the elf helper that if he is turned into a mouse, he must say "Rumpelstiltskin". At the shop, the elf helper tells the shoemaker that he must take the elves back, but the shoemaker wants to stay in business. Unfortunately, his pet cat, Sylvester, uses the magic word, "Jehoshaphat" to turn Elmer's elf helper into a mouse and chases him around the shoemaker's shop. Saying "Rumpelstiltskin" changes him back to an elf, much to the disgust of Sylvester, who puts the elf helper down. The shoemaker puts Sylvester up so that he cannot interfere. Elmer comes to the shop and explains the role of capitalism and mass production to the shoemaker, who then agrees to use this knowledge to stay in business. Four months later, the shoemaker's little shop has literally become a shoe factory. Elmer comes back to see how the shoemaker was "pwogwessing", and the shoemaker says that he has gotten over 500 orders and next month his business will be expanding. This reminds him to come up with a name for his new boot line up, and he comes up with the new name:"Jehoshaphat Boots!", only this literally turns Elmer into a mouse, who forgets that Rumpelstiltskin is the magic word, and runs as Sylvester decides to chase him out of the factory and into the distance just as the cartoon ends with Elmer finally saying "Wumpewstiwtskin!"

Notes

External links

• Reason Magazine - Elfinomics Discussion of economic content of cartoon
• Yankee Dood It at the Internet Movie Database