Foney Fables (1942)

A series of fractured fairy tales vignettes.

Director:

Friz Freleng

Writer:

Michael Maltese (story)

Stars:

Sara Berner, Mel Blanc, Frank Graham

Cast

Uncredited cast:
Sara Berner	...	Mother (voice) (uncredited)
Mel Blanc	...	Prince / Tom Thumb / Giant / Goose / Baby / Grasshopper / Ant / Aladdin / Boy who cried Wolf / Dog (voice) (uncredited)
Frank Graham	...	Narrator / Wolf (voice) (uncredited)

Storyline

A collection of brief vignettes. Within the Book of Fairy Tales, we find much-loved stories like these: Sleeping Beauty (chewed out by Prince Charming for sleeping in), Tom Thumb, the Grasshopper and the Ant (the grasshopper can afford to be lazy because he has war bonds), the Boy Who Cried Wolf, Jack and the Beanstalk, the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing ("the fifth columnist of his day"), Aladdin and His Lamp, the Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs (only they're aluminum for the war effort), Old Mother Hubbard (but her cupboard isn't bare; she's a "food hoarder"!), and This Little Piggy. The Boy Who Cried Wolf gets his comeuppance.

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Plot Keywords:

wolf | fairy tale | grasshopper | ant | sleeping beauty | 

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Genres:

Animation | Short | Comedy | Family | Fantasy

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 August 1942 (USA)

Also Known As:

Merrie Melodies: Foney Fables

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros, Leon Schlesinger Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

8 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

During "This Little Piggy" one of the baby's legs disappears momentarily.

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Soundtracks

"The Old Oaken Bucket"
(uncredited)
Music by G.F. Kiallmark
Played during the shot of "A Book of Fairy Tales" at the beginning

User Reviews

Eat your heart out, Aesop!

While fairy tales and fables are some of the easiest things to use in cartoons, you've never seen it like this before. In "Sleeping Beauty", Prince Charming could easily be Bugs Bunny. A fourth-wall-breaking Tom Thumb becomes a health adviser. The lazy grasshopper and the goose who laid the golden egg both have gotten involved in the war effort (it seems that the Termite Terrace crowd never missed a chance to promote the war effort). But the star turns out to be the boy who cried wolf; I guess that it was a little predictable what ends up happening, but everything leading up to it easily makes the cartoon worth watching. I can definitely see "Foney Fables" as a possible precursor to the "Fractured Fairy Tales" segments on "Rocky & Bullwinkle". Pretty funny, although I do wonder what Cinderella was up to.