A Bone for a Bone

A Bone for a Bone is a 1951 Looney Tunes short directed by I. Freleng.
== Plot ==
The Goofy Gophers are playing a gin game in their hole in the ground outside a house, where Tosh loses his fifth game in a row, when Geo R. Dog digs a hole and dumps a bone on the Gophers and then dirt as he fills the hole in. Geo does remove the bone upon Tosh's request, but realizing that it was gophers who asked him to move the bone, he returns to the same hole to dig the bone. This time, Mac goes up, only to be grabbed by Geo. Mac then yells for help, which arrives in the form of Tosh and a hammer, which Tosh uses to knock Geo's head into his collar, allowing the Gophers to return to their hole and escape the dog, but not before the Gophers have an argument over who should enter the hole first.
As Geo then reaches into the hole to try to find the Gophers, the Gophers attach a fake hand to one end of a gray garden hose and a noose around the other end to fasten it to the dog's actual hand. The hose is then brought out of another hole and extended out to the street, where it is quickly run over by a truck, leading the dog to believe he has been hurt until he finds Tosh behind him. After blocking two attempts by Tosh to get back into his hole, the dog challenges Tosh to come up with a trick, which he does: a card with a firecracker that explodes, allowing Tosh to escape.
Furious, Geo then gets a can of TNT and pours it down the Gophers' hole. Mac then emerges from the other one and asks to borrow a match, to which Geo obliges, only to see the match used to light the pouring TNT and ignite it. Finally, Geo chases the Gophers underground and is tricked into believing they went into an open gas main. Soon after Geo enters the main, the Gophers close it, making it pitch black. As the dog attempts to light a match, the gas main explodes, and the dog pops out of the oven in the house and eventually departs the premises. The Gophers then resume their gin game.
== Availability ==
=== Streaming ===
lt boomerang.jpg|Boomerang App (2018 - )
lt hbo max.jpg|HBO Max (2020 - 2022) (restored)
Lt max.jpg|Max (2024 - ) (restored)
== Censorship ==
* On ABC, the following scenes were cut:http://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/censored-b.aspx
** Tosh hitting George P. Dog on the head with a mallet.
** George P. Dog lighting a gunpowder keg.
== Notes ==
* Although the dog in this cartoon is named George P. Dog (which is Barnyard Dawg's real name), they are not the same character.
* As a result of this cartoon being reissued with a Blue Ribbon in the 1960s, both its original opening and closing color rings are presumed to be lost.
** Although the short was re-released into the Blue Ribbon program, unlike other shorts re-released between 1959 and 1964, this one has the Looney Tunes ending titles from the 1959–60 season.
** The original titles were orange color rings with a black background.
* This is the first of four Goofy Gophers cartoons directed by Friz Freleng, and would be the final work by J.B. Hardaway at the Warner Bros. studio, having returned after almost a decade at the Walter Lantz studio.
== Gallery ==
Screenshot 2021-02-10 at 1.51.56 PM.png
Screenshot 2021-02-10 at 1.52.03 PM.png
ABoneforaBoneRestored.jpeg|Cropped screenshot of 2020 restoration
A Bone for a Bone (1951) - Home.jpg
A Bone for a Bone (1951) - Hurt.jpg
=== TV Title Cards ===
lt tbbats a bone for a bone.jpg|The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show
== References ==
Category:1951
Category:Looney Tunes Shorts
Category:Cartoons directed by Friz Freleng
Category:Shorts
Category:Goofy Gophers Cartoons
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons produced by Eddie Selzer
Category:Cartoons with effects animated by Harry Love
Category:Cartoons with layouts by Hawley Pratt
Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Paul Julian
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Blue Ribbon reissues
Category:Re-released cartoons whose original titles are known to exist