The Screwball

The Screwball is a 1943 Woody Woodpecker cartoon.
==Summary==
It's the day of the big baseball game between the Drips and the Droops and Woody Woodpecker is trying to crash the gate and get in without paying for a ticket. A policeman keeps tossing him out but Woody puts on a baseball uniform---including a baseball-cap, since baseball players do not wear hats---gets inside and soon gets involved with the game. He ends up pinned to the scoreboard by a deluge of baseballs thrown by everybody in the ballpark.
==Plot==
Woody Woodpecker is a knothole spectator at a baseball game ("Droops vs. Drips- guaranteed a good game to the last Drip")- until a cop comes along and covers up the hole. After several futile attempts to gain admittance to the grounds, Woody manages to outsmart the angry policeman and get into the ballpark. As Woody settles down to watch the game, a man in a 50-gallon hat sits down directly in front of him, and Woody can't see a thing. At Woody's request, the man removes his hat, revealing a huge head of hair, which is as obstructive as the hat. Since Woody cannot ask the man to remove his hair, Woody gets a lawnmower and cuts an opening through the hair for him to see through. Indulging in a bottle of pop, Woody's thoroughly enjoying the game when the cop suddenly looms up in front of him. Woody runs away, with the cop in pursuit. The chase leads to the players' dressing room, where Woody, in order to escape the cop, disguises himself as a ball player. The manager comes in and orders Woody to go out and pitch. After retiring the side with the aid of his famous "screwball," Woody takes his place at bat. Unable to hit the ball with his bat, Woody finally hits a home run with a gold club. As he's streaking toward home plate, he runs smack into the cop, reverses his field, and knocks down all the players as he does so. Popping out the scoreboard, Woody starts to laugh, and he's promptly silenced by a shower of baseballs threaded onto his beak.
==Trivia==
"Take Me Out to the Ball Game" can be heard in the background score during the establishing shot of the baseball park. The music is used sporadically throughout the film.
Category:Cartoons
Category:Woody Woodpecker Cartoons
Category:1943 cartoons
Category:Walter Lantz Productions Cartoons
Category:Cartoons written by Milt Schaffer
Category:Cartoons written by Ben Hardaway
Category:Cartoons directed by Alex Lovy
Category:Cartoons with music by Darrell Calker
Category:Cartoons animated by Alex Lovy
Category:Cartoons animated by Laverne Harding
Category:Cartoons animated by Robert Bentley
Category:Cartoons animated by Lester Kline