Pantry Panic
Weatherby Groundhog predicts a cold winter and advises all the birds to fly south. But Woody Woodpecker decides to stay, and nearly starves. Animation by Alex Lovy and Lester Kline, story by Ben Hardaway and L.E. Elliott, music by Darrell Calker.
Pantry Panic is the third animated cartoon short in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on November 24, 1941, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures. Woody stays behind to swim while the other birds in the forest migrate south for the winter.
Just after the other birds leave, the cold of winter sets in instantly, to the point that Woody’s swimming hole freezes solid after he jumps in (“Must be hard water”, he remarks). Woody does not worry, because he has stored up plenty of food. However, a snowstorm enters his house and makes off with all of his possessions, food included.
Two weeks later, Woody is delusional and literally staring starvation, personified as something vaguely resembling the Grim Reaper, in the face. A month later, a hungry cat happens upon Woody’s cabin, breaks the 4th wall, and conspires to eat the woodpecker. The famished Woody, however, plans just as quickly to eat the cat, and the two have at it.
Eventually a moose appears at Woody’s open door, and the starving cat and woodpecker chase after it to capture and eat it. Afterwards, however, the meal proves not to be enough to satisfy both Woody (whose voice is suddenly much different) and the cat, who instantly resume their game of trying to eat each other.
Voices:
Danny Webb voiced Woody Woodpecker; the Cat and the Moose, and bird voices were likely done by Sara Berner, Bernice Hansen, Jack Mercer, Pinto Colvig, and Mel Blanc.
Production notes: in case you care
Like most of the early 1940s Lantz cartoons, Pantry Panic carried no director’s credit. Lantz himself has claimed to have directed this cartoon, which features animation by Alex Lovy and LaVerne Harding, a story by Ben Hardaway and Lowell Elliott, and music by Darrell Calker. This is also the only Woody Woodpecker cartoon (not counting Knock Knock) in which Woody’s iconic laugh is not present in the opening credits before the short starts.
Pantry Panic was the third cartoon in the Woody Woodpecker series, featuring an early, garish Woody Woodpecker design. It was the first short with Danny Webb as Woody’s voice.