Wags to Riches

Wags to Riches
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Released:	August 13, 1949
Runtime:	7 min. 11 sec.
Series:	Droopy
MPAA Number:	13193
Production Number:	196
Copyright Renewed:	July 9, 1976
Starring:	Droopy Butch
Crew
Voice Characterizations:	Don Messick Tex Avery William Hanna Sara Berner Patrick McGeehan (all uncredited)
Director:	Tex Avery
Written By:	Jack Cosgriff Rich Hogan
Producer:	Fred Quimby
Animated By:	Michael Lah Grant Simmons Walter Clinton Bob Cannon
Character Design:	Louie Schmitt (uncredited)
Layout Artist:	Gene Hazelton (uncredited)
Background Artist:	John Didrik Johnsen (uncredited)
Film Editor:	Fred McAlpin (uncredited)
Sound Effects:	Fred McAlpin (uncredited)
Musician:	Scott Bradley

Wags to Riches is a 1949 Droopy cartoon directed by Tex Avery.

Plot

The Newspaper reads "Millionaire Leaves Fortune to Pet" and then the camera scrolls to "Which will be the Lucky dog?" if it's either Butch (named Spike in this short) or Droopy.

The scene cuts to the mansion where the lawyer does the speech on who will be the lucky dog to inherit the fortune. Butch, pridefully crosses out Droopy and puts him outside of the house, believing that he will inherit the wealth. As Butch shows off the traits stated by the lawyer through the will, he cannot wait to hear his name but instead, it is Droopy's name that is called, meaning he inherits the estate, much to Butch's horror as his jaw drops and fainted. However, before the hearing is finished, the lawyer states that in the event of Droopy's death, the state will then be reverted to Butch. Hearing this, Butch springs to life and becomes happy again. As he double-checks the will and realizes the term about "Droopy's death", he looks outside at Droopy changing to a grave reading "Here Lies Droopy", Seeing an opportunity, Butch transforms into a Dirty Skunk and chuckles a mischievous laugh as begins to think of a scheme to get rid of Droopy and win the fortune. Butch goes outside and told Droopy that he had inherited the fortune. So Spike, pretending to be a butler, took him inside the house as if to say "Welcome Home!" Droopy walks in and says "You know what? I'm happy Hooray", as he holds a purple flag for his success. Droopy continues walking where Butch leads Droopy onto his chair, gives Droopy a cigar in his mouth, and turns around momentarily as he sneakily turns on all the gas pipes and returns to Droopy with a lighter for him to smoke. As soon as Butch handed the lighter, he quickly ran outside waiting for the explosion, however, he looked from the keyhole and saw Droopy trying to turn on the lighter which was not working. So Butch rushes inside, takes the cigar and a lighter, and successfully lightens it, but he discovers that Droopy has left the chair and the room explodes. Feeling frustrated, Butch lit the cigar to smoke but the cigar blew up on his face and so did the lighter.

1. Next, Droopy and Butch play a game of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" game. Butch covers Droopy's eyes with a blindfold and as Droopy draws closer, Butch unfolds the poster revealing an opened window and drops Droopy off the house. However, Droopy somehow comes back to the top floor room, where he accidentally pins Butch with the donkey's tail, sending him screaming and falling off the top floor window.

2. Butch arrives at the house dressed up as a cameraman. As he knocks on the door, Droopy opens the door to Butch so he can take his picture. Butch takes Droopy to the stand to pose and turns Droopy's head around so that the latter could not see Butch open the camera box, loading it with a large bullet from his case. He turns Droopy's head back to the front for a picture, but it inadvertently causes the camera to turn around to the rear. As Butch pushes the shutter trigger, the camera (which was accidentally turned toward Butch) explodes. He packs up his camera while his head is still covered by the sheat and salutes Droopy as he makes his way out, revealing a big hole through the sheat behind his head as he walks away.

3. While Droopy is taking a nap outside with a book covering his face, Butch chops down the tree in hopes that it will land on Droopy. He runs away and screams "Timber!", but the tree falls on him instead.

4. Butch builds a high diving board and paints the tennis court to make a fake swimming pool while adding chairs and umbrellas beside it. He then paints a sign saying "Dive at your own risk", daring Droopy to try it. Droopy climbs up the high diving board and proceeds to dive while Butch watches, anticipating seeing his rival fall to his demise. However, Droopy splashes with water as he dives into the "pool". Butch was shocked to see this as he saw Droopy just dive into the water. So out of curiosity and excitement, Butch decides to dive in as well, but when he reaches the bottom, it turns out to still be a fake pool and shatters into pieces.

5. Still refusing to give up, Butch sets up a gun in the bathroom with the rope tied to the trigger and door knob. Once his trap is set, he closes the door and watches from the corner. Droopy walks into the bathroom opens then shuts the door, and then leaves the bathroom as if nothing happened. Butch is shocked at this revelation and goes to check why his trap did not go off, but as he opens the bathroom door, the gun went off and shot him right at the face. He then then grabs a paper board to cover his face.

6. Butch then resorts to taking matters into his own. He crawls towards Droopy and plans to shoot the beagle himself, while the latter is reading the newspaper. Butch pulls the trigger but it does not fire just as Droopy turns behind him and sees Butch with the gun but he manages to pull away while blocking the barrel with his finger so as not to be caught. Curious why it did not fire, he pulls out his finger from the barrel and inspects inside, only for the gun to suddenly fire in front of his face.

7. Finally, as Droopy is sleeping on the chair after dozing off from reading a book on his lap, Butch puts shaving foam on Droopy's face and sticks a sign reading "Mad Dog" followed by an arrow pointing down at him on Droopy's chair atop of him. He then calls the City Pound, and just as the dog catcher truck arrives, a dog catcher comes into the house, asking "Where's that mad dog? Where is he?". Butch points at Droopy, but as Droopy wakes up, and sees the dog catcher, surprised and confused. But the fan next to him blows the foam to Butch's face and the dog catcher, thinking of him as the mad dog, catches Butch instead. Butch is then thrown inside the tuck, and the dog catcher drives away. Droopy stands outside in front of the house and says in front of the audience "You know what? They think he's a mad dog", with the camera shows Butch laughing insanely at his failure, inside the dog catcher Truck, following Droopy continuing with"...and he is too!"

Voice cast

• Patrick McGeehan as Lawyer/City dog catcher
• Don Messick as Droopy
• Tex Avery as Butch
  • William Hanna as Butch's screaming (re-used audio from the Tom and Jerry series)

Availability

• (1992) LaserDisc - All This and Tex Avery Too!
• (1993) LaserDisc - The Compleat Tex Avery, Side 5
• (2003) DVD - La Collection Tex Avery (The Tex Avery Collection), Disc 3 (1995 USA Turner Print)
• (2007) DVD - Tex Avery's Droopy: The Complete Theatrical Collection, Disc 1 (1995 USA Turner Print)
• (2012) Blu-ray - Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2, Disc 3 (1995 USA Turner Print)
• (2017) Streaming - Boomerang
• (2020) Blu-ray, DVD - Tex Avery Screwball Classics: Volume 1 (restored)

Notes

• The title of the short is a play on the phrase "Rags to Riches".
• This is the first film where Butch and Droopy are paired together. From this point onward, Butch would become Droopy's main nemesis all the way until the studio's shutdown in 1957.
• This is the first Droopy short to not feature the Wolf.
• This is the first film to use the Timber falling gag, where Butch chops down a tree to have it fall on his target and shouts "Timber" before it falls back to him.
• This film has been awarded for Academy Award Shortlist.
• Droopy speaks only two lines in this short.

Gallery

Original release poster