The Screwball
| The Screwball | |
|---|---|
| Woody Woodpecker series | |
 | |
| Directed by | Alex Lovy |
| Produced by | Walter Lantz |
| Story by |
Ben Hardaway Milt Schaffer |
| Voices by |
Kent Rogers Harold Peary |
| Music by | Darrell Calker |
| Animation by | LaVerne Harding |
| Studio | Walter Lantz Productions |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) |
|
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 6' 50" |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | The Loan Stranger |
| Followed by | The Dizzy Acrobat |
The Screwball is the seventh animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on February 15, 1943, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures.
Plot
A local crowd gathers at a baseball park for a game between the Droops and the Drips. A lone policeman stands at the park gate discouraging spectators who have not paid to see the game. Woody notices that kids returning baseballs can get in for free, so he tosses the policeman a cannonball and enters the park.
Woody tries to watch the game but the policeman finds him. He escapes by shaking a soda pop bottle and spraying it into his adversary's face, adding "No stopper, Copper!"
Woody joins the game as the pitcher for the Drips. When he is up to bat, he causes so much trouble that the entire team chases him along the baselines while the policeman waits for him at home plate. He escapes by pecking his way through a barrage of baseball bats. However, Woody ends up not getting away with murder, being assaulted with a barrage of baseballs as soon as he pops out of the park's scoreboard.
Production notes
- The Screwball is set at a baseball park. It would also the last onscreen credit for director/animator Alex Lovy on a Woody cartoon for 12 years. He would direct one more entry (The Dizzy Acrobat) before departing the studio.
- This is one of the few Woody Woodpecker cartoons in which Woody loses at the end. The other shorts in which Woody loses include The Cracked Nut, Banquet Busters, Smoked Hams, Real Gone Woody, Woody's Clip Joint, A Fine Feathered Frenzy, Tepee for Two, Well Oiled, Ace in the Hole, Busman's Holiday, Bye Bye Blackboard, The Tenant's Racket, Rough Riding Hood, Chili Con Corny, Ski for Two, Knock Knock, The Dizzy Acrobat, What's Sweepin', Woodpecker in the Rough, Under the Counter Spy, The Coo Coo Bird, The Barber of Seville, Solid Ivory, and The Beach Nut.
Cultural references
"Take Me Out to the Ball Game" can be heard in the background score during the establishing shot of the baseball park. The music is used sporadically throughout the film.
Trivia
This cartoon plays on Andy's TV in the post-credits scene of Curse of Chucky.