Under the Counter Spy (1954)

This cartoon is a parody of the then current TV show, "Dragnet". Police are warned of an escaped criminal, "The Bat", who possesses a super strength tonic. He hides the tonic in Woody's ... See full summary »

Director:

Don Patterson

Writer:

Homer Brightman (story)

Stars:

Daws Butler, Dal McKennon, Grace Stafford

Cast

Uncredited cast:
Daws Butler	...	Hammerer (voice) (uncredited)
Dal McKennon	...	Thursday / Al / TV Announcer / Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Grace Stafford	...	Woody Woodpecker (voice) (uncredited)

Storyline

This cartoon is a parody of the then current TV show, "Dragnet". Police are warned of an escaped criminal, "The Bat", who possesses a super strength tonic. He hides the tonic in Woody's house hoping to retreive it the next day. When the listless Woody awakes, he imbibes the tonic, giving him the strength of twenty men which he immediately tests. Eventually, "The Bat" lures Woody to his hideout in hopes of retrieving his bottle, resulting in a man-to-man (bat?) showdown between Woody and "The Bat".

---

Plot Keywords:

tonic | potion | parody | detective | woody woodpecker | 

---

Genres:

Animation | Family | Short | Comedy

---

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 May 1954 (USA)

Also Known As:

O Espião Espiado

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walter Lantz Productions

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Did You Know?

Trivia

Released to the home movie market by Castle Films as "Secret Agent F.O.B."

---

Quotes

[first title card]
Narrator: [reading the card] The story you are about to see is a big fat lie! No names have been changed to protect anybody!

---

Connections

Spoofs Dragnet (1951)

---

Soundtracks

"Lohengrin - Overture to the 3rd Act"
(uncredited)
Music by Richard Wagner

User Reviews

The story I just saw would have been neat had it happened, whether or not any names were changed.

OK, so "Dragnet" is a very easy show to spoof (and I've heard that it deserved to get spoofed, as it had no other purpose except to glorify the police). Thus, the folks behind the Woody Woodpecker cartoons did so with "Under the Counter Spy". What I really liked in the cartoon was how every time that Woody drank the stuff, it gave him super-strength and he inadvertently went around trashing things; that would be really fun to do!

So, while I don't consider Woody's cartoons as clever as the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies ones, this one's still pretty neat. You can watch it on YouTube.

I wonder why Mel Blanc wasn't doing Woody's voice anymore.