Destination Meatball

Destination Meatball
Woody Woodpecker series
Directed by	Walter Lantz
Produced by	Walter Lantz
Story by	Warren Foster Tedd Pierce Walter Lantz
Music by	Clarence Wheeler
Animation by	Ray Abrams Fred Brunish Don Patterson Laverne Harding Paul J. Smith
Studio	Walter Lantz Productions
Distributed by	Universal International
Release date(s)	December 24, 1951 (1951-12-24)
Color process	Technicolor
Running time	6 minutes
Language	English
Preceded by	The Woody Woodpecker Polka
Followed by	Born to Peck

Destination Meatball is the 38th animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on December 24, 1951, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal International.

Plot

A line of people (including Woody) drool at the window of the shop of market butcher Buzz Buzzard. A short series of gags ensues about how Buzz dishonestly (and literally) "jacks" up all his prices. Since Woody is broke as usual, he sneaks in and gets thrown out by Buzz. On the way out, Woody collides with a bottle of invisible ink and turns partially invisible. Buzz can only see parts of Woody's body, and, in a somewhat gruesome scene, thinks that he's been dismembered, so he sweeps him into a trap door to get rid of him. When Woody awakes, he realizes what is happening, and he douses himself with the rest of the ink in order to pose as a ghost.

Notes

• There is no director's credit for this film. Lantz himself has claimed to have directed Destination Meatball, but does not receive on-screen credit.
• There is no dialogue in this film. The vocal effects were archived recordings of voice actors Gracie Lantz, Paul Frees, Lionel Stander, Dal McKennon, and former storyman/voice actor Joseph Benson "Ben/Bugs" Hardaway from various earlier Woody films (Woody's spooky laugh was recycled from Who's Cookin' Who?).

References

• Cooke, Jon, Komorowski, Thad, Shakarian, Pietro, and Tatay, Jack. "1951". The Walter Lantz Cartune Encyclopedia.