Wags to Riches is the sixth Droopy cartoon directed by Tex Avery released in 1949.
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 Spike 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. Spike, pridefully crosses out Droopy and puts him outside of the house, believing that he will inherit the wealth. As Spike shows off the traits stated by the lawyer through the will, he can’t wait to hear his name but instead, it is Droopy's name that is called, meaning he inherits the estate, much to Spike'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 Spike. Hearing this, Spike 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, Spike turns himself into a Skunk and chuckles a mischievous laugh as begins to think of a scheme to get rid of Droopy and win the fortune. Spike went 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 Spike 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 Spike 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 Spike 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, Spike lit the cigar to smoke but the cigar blew up on his face and so did the lighter.
1. Next, Droopy and Spike played the “Pin the Tail on the Donkey” game. So Spike covers Droopy’s eyes with a blindfold. As Droopy draws closer, Spike 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 Spike with the donkey's tail, sending him screaming and falling off the top floor window.
2. Spike arrives at the house dressed up as a cameraman. As he knocks on the door, Droopy opens the door to Spike the Camera-Man to take his picture. Spike took Droopy to the stand to pose and turned Droopy’s head around so that the latter couldn't see Spike 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 Spike pushes the shutter trigger, the camera (which was accidentally turned toward Spike) 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, Spike 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. Spike 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 Spike watches, anticipating seeing his rival fall to his demise. However, Droopy splashes with water as he dives into the "pool". Spike was shocked to see this as he saw Droopy just dive into the water. So out of curiosity and excitement, Spike decides to dive in as well, but when Spike reaches the bottom, it turns out to still be a fake pool and shatters into pieces.
5. Still refusing to give up, Spike 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. Spike is shocked at this revelation and goes to check why his trap didn't go off, but as he opens the bathroom door, the gun went off and shot him right at the face. The greedy dog then grabs a paper board to cover his face.
6. Spike 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. Spike pulls the trigger but it doesn't fire just as Droopy turns behind him and sees Spike with the gun but he manages to pull away while blocking the barrel with his finger so as not to be caught. Curious why id didn't 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, Spike 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. Spike then calls the City Dog Catcher, and just as the Dog Catcher truck arrives, a Dog catcher comes into the house, asking “Where’s that mad dog? Where is he?”. Spike 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 Spike's face and the Dog catcher, thinking of him as the mad dog, catches Spike instead. The Dog catcher catches Spike, throws him inside the tuck, and 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 Spike laughing insanely at his failure, inside the Dog Catcher Truck, following Droopy continuing with“...and he is too!”.
Notes[]
- This is the first film where Spike appears as Droopy’s rival.
- This is the first Droopy short to not feature the Wolf.
- This is the first film to use the Timber falling gag, where Spike 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.
Availability[]
- (1993) LaserDisc - The Compleat Tex Avery, Side 5
- (2007) DVD - Tex Avery's Droopy: The Complete Theatrical Collection, Disc 1 (Warner Bros.)
- (2012) Blu-ray - Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2, Disc 3 (standard-definition; Warner Bros.)
- (2017) Streaming - Boomerang
- (2020) Blu-ray - Tex Avery Screwball Classics: Volume 1 (restored; Warner Bros Archive)
Gallery[]
| Droopy Cartoons | |
|---|---|
| 1943 | Dumb-Hounded |
| 1945 | The Shooting of Dan McGoo • Wild and Woolfy |
| 1946 | Northwest Hounded Police |
| 1949 | Señor Droopy • Wags to Riches • Out-Foxed |
| 1950 | The Chump Champ |
| 1951 | Daredevil Droopy • Droopy's Good Deed • Droopy's Double Trouble |
| 1952 | Caballero Droopy |
| 1953 | The Three Little Pups |
| 1954 | Drag-a-Long Droopy • Homesteader Droopy • Dixieland Droopy |
| 1955 | Deputy Droopy |
| 1956 | Millionaire Droopy |
| 1957 | Grin and Share It • Blackboard Jumble • One Droopy Knight |
| 1958 | Sheep Wrecked • Mutts About Racing • Droopy Leprechaun |