Easy Peckin's

Easy Peckin's is a 1953 Looney Tunes short directed by Robert McKimson.
== Title ==
The title is a pun on "easy pickings".
== Plot ==
A fox attempts to raid a chicken coop. Making his first run, the fox runs down into the pen's fence, digs below, and snatches a chicken. Once he gets home, he realizes that he has captured the watchguard rooster of the pen, George. Realizing his mistake, the fox runs back to place George back into the pen then attempts additional ploys, all of which are in vain:
# The fox tries to enter from the other gates, but is socked in every attempt. On his last attempt, the fox tries to whack George with a mallet, but the rooster protects himself with a helmet. The fox tries to protect himself with a helmet after George steals his mallet, but whacks him down short, making the fox flee while inside the helmet.
# The fox pretends to be Paul Revere and shouts repeatedly that the British are coming while riding a hobby horse. George dresses himself as a redcoat and blasts the fox with a rifle.
# Disguising himself as a haystack, the fox tries to stealthily enter the pen, but he is exposed when George drops a match at him.
# When the fox reaches out of a fence's hole, the rooster fills a rubber chicken with gunpowder and hands it to the fox's outstretched arm. The fox takes the phony back into his home, and when he tries to bake it, the faux chicken blows up in his face as he declares it "a little overly done".
# Seeing the fox about to attack the pen again, George concocts an explosive corn feed from ACME and feeds it to a hen. It lays an explosive egg, which is thrown at the fox's home to preemptively thwart his attempt.
Later that night, the fox attempts to woo a lovesick hen named Clara, the wife of George, using the Romeo and Juliet routine with the fox disguising himself as a rooster. Flattered by the fox's romantic sweet-talk, Clara attempts to pack her bags to leave with him, but her husband George catches both of them in the act, tells Clara off for her immaturity and naivety "Clara, act your age!" and sees through the fox's disguise by removing the fox's rooster disguise right in front of her eyes. George proceeds to give a fox a good thrashing, and gifts Clara a genuine fox coat, literally skinned off from the upper body of the fox, for which Clara is very thankful, and both rooster and hen romantically reconcile. The fox, now battered and beaten with no more fur on his upper body, repeats Clara's lines "You shouldn't have done it, George!" while in a daze from outside the chicken coop.
== Caricatures ==
* Charles Boyer
* Paul Revere
== Availability ==
=== Streaming ===
lt boomerang.jpg|Boomerang App (2018 - )
lt hbo max.jpg|HBO Max (2020 - 2022) (restored)
Lt max.jpg|Max (2024 - ) (restored)
== Censorship ==
* When this cartoon aired on The WB, the scene of the fox as Paul Revere screaming, "Open up! The British are coming!" and George the Rooster dressed as a Redcoat shooting him in the face was cut.http://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/censored-e-f.aspx
== Notes ==
* The name of the poultry farm the fox tries to steal from is named J.C. HENNY, a pun on the long-running store chain JCPenney (back then spelled as J.C. Penney, much like in this cartoon).
== Gallery ==
Screenshot 2020-12-04 192945.png
Screenshot 2020-12-04 193648.png
PeckinsRESTORED.jpeg|Cropped screenshot of 2020 restoration
Easy Peckin's 1.jpg|Paul Revere scene that was cut on The WB
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Easy Peckin's 3.jpg
Easy Peckin's 4.jpg
Easy Peckin's 2.jpg
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TheGirlHen.jpeg
File:Easy Peckins (1953) - Steal.jpg
EasyPeckin'sLeadSheet1.jpg
EasyPeckin'sLeadSheet2.jpg
EasyPeckin'sLeadSheet3.jpg
EasyPeckin'sLeadSheet4.jpg
== References ==
 
Category:Looney Tunes Shorts
Category:Shorts
Category:1953
Category:Blue Ribbon reissues
Category:Re-released cartoons whose original titles are known to exist
Category:Cartoons directed by Robert McKimson
Category:Cartoons written by Tedd Pierce
Category:Cartoons animated by Charles McKimson
Category:Cartoons with layouts by Robert Givens
Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Richard H. Thomas
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Bea Benaderet
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Gladys Holland
Category:Cartoons produced by Eddie Selzer
Category:One-Shot Cartoons