Behind the Meat-Ball

Behind the Meat-Ball is a 1945 Looney Tunes short directed by Frank Tashlin.
== Title ==
The title is a pun on the idiom "behind the eight-ball", which refers to a difficult situation where one is unlikely to escape. It also references Fido's craving for meat, which is played out in the film.
== Plot ==
Fido the dog is desperate for meat, and after daydreaming for one morning, his owner gives him his dinner, only for Fido to find it is just "Bugs Bunny food" of vegetables. Scouring his bowl, he find his leftover dog food only to find that it tastes disgusting due to having no meat. Enraged, he stomps on the can as he throws a tantrum. He begins to hallucinate everything he sees as meat, only to realize his mistake once he bites into them. When a meat delivery truck drops a steak, Fido runs into it, but first has realizations on whether it'll just be another inedible object hallucinated as meat, but is quickly proven otherwise when a terrier dog steals the steak. He tries to steal the steak from the terrier, but the steak gets attached to a telephone pole that eventually breaks and smashes Fido.
With the steak now in possession, Fido almost comes into a bite only for a bulldog to steal the steak as well. A chase pursues in attempt for the two to claim the steak, smashing each other with trash cans, fire hydrants, and fences. However, the terrier dog gets involved in their feud, and ends up being victorious in eating their steak. Accepting his defeat, Fido says "Well, we can dream, can't we?", knocks himself and the bulldog out with a mallet, and the two dogs continue dreaming over succulent meat.
== Caricatures ==
* Jerry Colonna - "Well, we can dream can't we?"
== Availability ==
Golden-Age-of-Looney-Tunes-2-F.jpg|(1992) LaserDisc The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 2, Side 3: Frank Tashlin
346061 front.jpg|(2023) Blu-ray Looney Tunes Collector's Choice: Volume 2 (restored)
=== Streaming ===
Lt hbo max.jpg|HBO Max (2020) (restored, removed)
Lt warner bros discovery ride.png|Warner Bros. Discovery RIDE (2021 - 2023) (restored)
== Notes ==
* The working title was "Chow Hounds". A short with a similar title, "Chow Hound", would be released in 1951.
* This was the final cartoon to use the 1941-45 opening rendition of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down".
** This was also the final cartoon to only credit certain people before the transition to expanded credits. As such, the opening themes would be shortened, but the ending rendition and drum ending still remained unchanged for another year.
** This was also the last cartoon in the a.a.p. package and the last non-Bugs Bunny cartoon to have the WB shield come before the bylines "WARNER BROS. PICTURES INC.", and "Present", as well as the production code and the copyright fade in. This is due to the transition to expanded credits. As such, the future shorts had a shortened rendition and no fade in of the bylines, as they are already present on the screen, though some Bugs Bunny shorts in the 1949–51 seasons had the fade in.
* Frank Tashlin is not credited in the credits due to his departure from Warner Bros. before the short was completed. It was customary at the time to not credit people who had left the studio.
* The title card shows some meat rationing stamps, which is a reference to food stamps during World War II. The cartoon's message that meat is hard to obtain references the wartime scarcity of food commodities, with meat being one of the common food items being rationed at the time. As such, posters asked people to ration their portions weekly and save them for soldiers who were currently fighting in World War II in the Pacific and in Europe; at the time of the cartoon's release, World War II was almost over.
* Bugs Bunny is mentioned by Fido in this cartoon. Fido describes his vegetarian diet (particularly the carrots) as "Bugs Bunny food".
* This cartoon is shown in the third segment, "It's a Good Life," in Twilight Zone: The Movie.
* This cartoon was shown in theaters with God Is My Co-Pilot during its original release.
== Gallery ==
Screenshot 2021-01-11 at 1.49.58 PM.png
== References ==
es:Behind the Meat-Ball
Category:Wartime Shorts
Category:1945
Category:Shorts
Category:Looney Tunes Shorts
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 characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons produced by Eddie Selzer
Category:Dogs
Category:Cartoons in a.a.p. package
Category:One-Shot Cartoons
Category:Cartoons with uncredited directors