Two Gophers from Texas

Two Gophers from Texas is a 1948 Merrie Melodies short directed by Arthur Davis.
== Title ==
The title is a pun on Two Guys from Texas, a comedy released earlier that year from Warner Bros., although the short has nothing to do with Texas.
== Plot ==
A dog is reading a book and decides to seek wild game, which happens to come in the form of the the Goofy Gophers. After trying to get them, only to see the Gophers dive into their hole, and then overrun the hole and off a cliff, the dog (upside down, hanging off a tree) discovers four ways to get a gopher:
* The canny hunter would remember that gophers possess an enormous curiosity concerning strange or unfamiliar objects: To this end, the dog places a spring with a punching glove attached to it in a chest. When the Gophers, after deciding to ignore the "Do Not Open until Xmas" sticker, open it, they "see" jewelry in it and take the chest with them. Furious, the dog takes the chest away from the Gophers and opens it, only to be punched below his chin, as he bounces like a pogo stick.
* Gophers are quite fond of fresh vegetables which can therefore be used as bait: Knowing that the Gophers are vegetarians, The dog plants a row of radishes in the ground along with a turnip at the end of the row that is booby-trapped to an overhanging rock tied around a nearby tree, which the dog tests with a ball, triggering the trap successfully. Naturally, the Gophers pick up all of the radishes, and after initial trouble, take the turnip---but the trap is not triggered this time. The dog then holds the string, but triggers the trap and is crushed.
* The gopher is a sentimental little creature whose feelings may be played upon to your advantage: The dog disguises himself as a baby under the alias of "Little Snookie", places himself in a booby-trapped carriage (complete with a letter stating that "Little Snookie" is an abandoned, homeless waif, as pictured on the page below), with his cries quickly noticed by the Gophers. The Gophers initially considered feeding the baby or changing its diaper (since according to them these are the two things that could help stop babies cry) but after discovering the booby trap under the dog (which includes a gun, rifle, bomb, and grenade), the Gophers push the carriage up a hill (disguised as a good deed of taking the baby out for a walk), and then release the carriage with the dog in it down the cliff on the other side, leaving the dog howling as he goes over several hills and vertically down a second cliff, where he crashes. As the dog claims that the Gophers missed his inner strength, the dog then falls down, stiff as a board.
* If all else fails, you must utilize the gophers' love of music: The dog begins playing what amounts to a one-man band of music, drawing the Gophers' attention as they start dancing to the music. The dog unsuccessfully tries to crush them with cymbals and a banjo that also doubles as a gun, but does drag them to the drums using a trumpet. As the dog tries to crush the gophers on the drums, they evade him and the dog and Gophers end up in the piano, where the Gophers have the dog "trapped like a rat in a trap", as the Gophers then hop all over the piano keys. Hammers attached to various keys hit the dog in his rear end with the dog regretting having ever read the book.
== Caricatures ==
* John Barrymore
== Availability ==
Lt ddcffatd.png|(1986) VHS Viddy-Oh! For Kids Cartoon Festivals (only in PAL release)
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes Vol. 4.jpg|(1993) LaserDisc The Golden Age of Looney Tunes Volume 4, Side 4: Cartoon All-Stars
331779_front.jpg|(2023) Blu-ray Looney Tunes Collector's Choice: Volume 1 (restored)
=== Streaming ===
lt boomerang.jpg|Boomerang (2017 - ) (Turner "dubbed version")
Lt hbo max.jpg|HBO Max (2020 - 2023) (restored)
Lt max.jpg|Max (2023 - ) (restored)
== Notes ==
* This short was originally released in Cinecolor, but was re-released as a Blue Ribbon reissue in 3-hue Technicolor.
* This is the first cartoon where the Goofy Gophers have brown and tan fur, as opposed to grey and white fur as in their previous appearance.
* This is the only Goofy Gophers short completely directed by Arthur Davis.
** Whereas their previous short, "The Goofy Gophers", was originally planned by Bob Clampett, but was finished by Davis after Clampett's departure in 1945.
** Their next short, "A Ham in a Role", was started by Davis, but finished by Robert McKimson after Davis' unit was shut down in 1947, when the animation studio was cutting costs.
* The dog in this short is the same one that previously appeared in "The Goofy Gophers" from a year before, he would appear one more time with the Goofy Gophers in "A Ham in a Role" from a year after this short.
** Coincidentally, this is the only appearance of the dog in a Merrie Melodies short, as his two other appearances were part of the Looney Tunes series.
* A prototype Turner "dubbed" version aired in the United Kingdom at some point, which is a Turner print that keeps the reissue end card and audio ending music. Other European countries air the "official" European Turner dubbed print which has the same altered ending music cue (and virtually identical 1947-48 dubbed ending card) as the America Turner dubbed version which has the same altered ending music cue.https://yadi.sk/d/5OoeshdnfwQGF Hence this fact might prove there is two European prints of this short.
* Some airings of this cartoon's USA 1995 dubbed version print on CN/Boomerang USA have the black screens in-between the fade-outs edited out for time (evidence in the video in the infobox here), though the cartoon's USA 1995 dubbed version print does exist without the black screens edited out. The EU dubbed version print of the cartoon however doesn't have the black screens removed.
* The film was copyrighted on 28 December 1947, a month before release.Catalog of Copyright Entries
== Gallery ==
Two Gophers from Texas screenshot.png|The Gophers take the dog (disguised as "Little Snookie") for a ride up the hill...before sending him down a large fall off two cliffs.
2gft trap 1.png|The dog sets his first trap on the gophers.
2gft stiff.png|The dog falls down, stiff as a board after crashing hard on the ground from falling off two cliffs.
2gft letter.png|The letter in the bobby-trapped carriage indicating that "Little Snookie" is an 'abandoned, homeless waif', albeit written with lots of spelling mistakes.
2gft miss.png|The dog unsuccessfully attempts to kill the gophers whom were dancing to the music with booby-trapped musical instruments.
Mm1066.jpeg|Production model sheet
45850230_592034864551682_6154713479770013696_n_(4).jpg|Lobby card
TwoGophersFromTexasPreliminarySketchLobbyCard.jpg|Preliminary sketch lobby card
Two-gophers-from-texas-movie-poster-1947-1020198354.jpg|Lobby card on poster
IMG 2423.png|The BR ending card, taken from the rare proto-dubbed version as seen on Boomerang UK
IMG 2134.png
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Hawkins Dog.jpg
Mwahahahahaha!!!.jpg
TwoGophersfromTexasRestored.jpeg|Cropped screenshot of 2020 restoration
Two Gophers from Texas (1948) - Missed.jpg
Two Gophers from Texas (1948) - Cliff.jpg
==References==
==External links==
*meta.ua
es:Two Gophers from Texas
Category:1948
Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts
Category:Shorts
Category:Cartoons directed by Arthur Davis
Category:Blue Ribbon reissues
Category:Goofy Gophers Cartoons
Category:Cartoons written by Lloyd Turner
Category:Cartoons written by Bill Scott
Category:Cartoons animated by Emery Hawkins
Category:Cartoons animated by Basil Davidovich
Category:Cartoons animated by Bill Melendez
Category:Cartoons animated by Don Williams
Category:Cartoons with layouts by Don Smith
Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Philip DeGuard
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 produced by Eddie Selzer
Category:Cartoons in a.a.p. package
Category:Cartoons originally produced in Cinecolor