Operation Sawdust

Operation Sawdust
Woody Woodpecker series
Directed by	Don Patterson
Produced by	Walter Lantz
Story by	Hugh Harman Homer Brightman
Voices by	Grace Stafford Dal McKennon
Music by	Clarence Wheeler
Animation by	Ray Abrams Fred Brunish Laverne Harding Paul J. Smith
Studio	Walter Lantz Productions
Distributed by	Universal International
Release date(s)	June 15, 1953
Color process	Technicolor
Running time	6' 07"
Language	English
Preceded by	Buccaneer Woodpecker
Followed by	Wrestling Wrecks

Operation Sawdust is the 47th animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on June 15, 1953, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal International.

Plot

Lumber mill workers Woody Woodpecker and Buzz Buzzard are friends when they are sawing trees, but when Wally Walrus (making a brief cameo as the lumber camp chef) rings the dinner bell, they become bitter enemies. Woody and Buzz duke it out over food, with the woods being pecked to death in the process.

Censorship

The scene where Buzz Buzzard is sliced down the center is excised from television prints since the 1990s.

Notes

Operation Sawdust marked Wally Walrus's final appearance in a Woody Woodpecker theatrical "cartune". He had already long since been replaced as Woody's main foil by Buzz Buzzard by this time. Wally would later appear in two Chilly Willy "cartunes", and then had his last appearance in the 1964 Woody TV special Spook-A-Nanny.

References

• Cooke, Jon, Komorowski, Thad, Shakarian, Pietro, and Tatay, Jack. "1953". The Walter Lantz Cartune Encyclopedia