Knock Knock (1940 film)

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1940 film

Knock Knock

Title card

Directed by|

* Walter Lantz[1]
* Alex Lovy
* (both uncredited and disputed)

Story by|

* Ben Hardaway
* L.E. Elliott

Produced by| Walter Lantz
Starring|

* Mel Blanc
* Sara Berner (both uncredited)

Music by| Frank Marsales
Animation by|

* Alex Lovy
* Frank Tipper
* Les Kline (uncredited)
* Laverne Harding (uncredited)

Backgrounds by| Ed Kiechle (uncredited)
Color process| Technicolor

Production
company

Walter Lantz Productions

Distributed by| Universal Pictures

Release date

* November 25, 1940 (1940-11-25)

Running time

| 7 minutes
Language| English

Knock Knock is an animated Andy Panda short film, produced by Walter Lantz.[2] The cartoon is noted for being the first appearance of Woody Woodpecker, and was released by Universal Pictures on November 25, 1940.[3]

## Plot

[edit]

The cartoon ostensibly stars Andy Panda and his father, Papa Panda, but it is Woody Woodpecker who steals the show. Woody constantly pesters Andy Panda and Papa Panda just for the fun of it by pecking at his house roof, tempting him to try to kill the woodpecker with his shotgun. Andy, meanwhile, tries to sprinkle salt on Woody's tail in the belief that this will somehow capture the bird. To Woody's surprise, Andy's attempts prevail (comically, the mound of salt placed on Woody's tail is so heavy that he cannot run away), and in an ending similar to Warner Bros.'s Daffy Duck & Egghead, two other woodpeckers arrive to take Woody to the insane asylum but then prove to be crazier than he is.

## Cast

[edit]

* Sara Berner \- Andy Panda
* Mel Blanc \- Papa Panda / Woody Woodpecker / Woodpeckers From Hospital

## Production notes

[edit]

Like most of the early 1940s Lantz cartoons, Knock Knock carried no director's credit. Lantz himself has claimed to have directed this cartoon, although more recent information has indicated that Alex Lovy was the actual director.[4][5] The cartoon features animation by Lovy and Frank Tipper, a story by Ben Hardaway and Lowell Elliott, and music by Frank Marsales. Knock Knock was Marsales' final score for Lantz, as well as his only score for a short featuring Woody Woodpecker; subsequent shorts for the rest of the 1940s were composed by Darrell Calker.

As the first appearance of Woody Woodpecker, Knock Knock is also the first cartoon to feature Woody's trademark laugh, a gurgling cackle voice artist Mel Blanc had been perfecting since high school. This is also the laugh Blanc used for a predecessor to Bugs Bunny in the 1939 cartoon Hare-um Scare-um. This cartoon is also notable for featuring a crude Woody design, something that was softened by 1942 and later changed into a much more realistic and easier to animate woodpecker by 1944. This first design featured Woody with red "vest feathers" (instead of white), buck teeth in some shots, thick ringed legs, two green tail feathers and a big chin which made him look more like a pelican than a woodpecker. The short almost never saw the light of the day because then distributor Bernie Krieser (representing Universal) thought Woody was the ugliest thing he had ever seen, but Lantz convinced Krieser to include the character in the short.

Woody's first words are his trademark "Guess who?" as he pops through the roof of Andy Panda's house, except the voice is normal-sounding instead of sped-up as Woody's voice normally would be.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Scott, Keith (October 3, 2022). Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, Vol. 2. BearManor Media. p. 417.
2. ^ Cooke, Jon, Komorowski, Thad, Shakarian, Pietro, and Tatay, Jack. "1940". The Walter Lantz Cartoon Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 4, 2007.
3. ^ Stefan Kanfer (2000). Serious business: the art and commerce of animation in America from Betty Boop to Toy story. Da Capo Press. pp. 113. ISBN 978-0-306-80918-7.
4. ^ Barrier, Michael: Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in its Golden Age, p. 376
5. ^ The Lovy Trail Archived 2011-08-27 at the Wayback Machine

## External links

[edit]

* Knock Knock at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Woody Woodpecker

Media|

| Short films|

* Knock Knock (1940)
* Woody Woodpecker (1941)
* Pantry Panic (1941)
* Ace in the Hole (1942)
* The Dizzy Acrobat (1943)
* The Barber of Seville (1944)
* The Beach Nut (1944)
* Ski for Two (1944)
* The Loose Nut (1945)
* Musical Moments from Chopin (1946)
* Wet Blanket Policy (1948)
* Hypnotic Hick (1953)
* Convict Concerto (1954)

|

Feature films|

* Woody Woodpecker (2017)
* Woody Woodpecker Goes to Camp (2024)

Series|

* The Woody Woodpecker Show (1957–1977)
* The New Woody Woodpecker Show (1999–2003)
* Woody Woodpecker (2018–2022)

Characters|

* Woody Woodpecker
* Pooch the Pup
* Andy Panda
* Buzz Buzzard
* Chilly Willy
* Wally Walrus
* Gabby Gator
* Fatso the Bear
* Inspector Willoughby
* Maggie & Sam
* The Beary Family

Video games|

* Férias Frustradas do Pica-Pau (1996)
* Woody Woodpecker Racing (2000)
* Game Boy Color
* Woody Woodpecker: Escape from Buzz Buzzard Park (2001)
* Universal Studios Theme Parks Adventure (2001)
* Woody Woodpecker in Crazy Castle 5 (2003)

Related|

* Filmography
* Merchandise
* The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection
* The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection: Volume 2
* Who Framed Roger Rabbit
* Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster

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