Hay, That's Not Funny

Ben Hardaway was really a hit-and-miss writer at the Walter Lantz studio, sometimes within one cartoon.

Here’s a miss from “The Screwdriver,” a 1941 Woody Woodpecker cartoon helped to a good start by the acting (and singing) of Mel Blanc and some attractive animation. Woody is a driver who does whatever he feels like on the road. But in one scene, he runs into a simply-drawn rube on a hay wagon. The perspective artwork of Woody’s car is a nice choice, either from Hardaway’s storyboard or whoever handled layouts.



But when the dust clears, the gag is the farmer is suspended in mid-air between the hay. That’s supposed to be funny?! Yipe.



Hardaway ends yet another cartoon with someone driven insane.

Ralph Somerville and Alex Lovy receive the animation credits on screen.