Of Rice and Hen

Of Rice and Hen is a 1953 Looney Tunes animated short starring Foghorn Leghorn, Miss Prissy, and The Barnyard Dog. The title is a play on John Steinbeck's 1937 novel Of Mice and Men. Foghorn Leghorn as usual is voiced by Mel Blanc, while an uncredited Bea Benaderet voices all of the female hens.

Plot

The story opens with several hens mothering their chicks in an ideal suburban fashion: taking them on walks and bragging to fellow hens about their exploits. One of the hens jokingly tells Miss Prissy that she is lucky not to have chicks to looks after, then Prissy overhears a group of hens saying that she will "never land a man" because she is "too much of a D-R-I-P." This depresses Prissy, who then climbs up on to the roof of the barn.

Meanwhile, Foghorn is seen preparing to attack the dog by with a board from a picket fence when he sees Prissy jump from the top of the barn. Foghorn dives to catch her, and Prissy sees Foghorn as not only a savior but a potential husband, a notion which Foghorn rejects. Foghorn then goes about his regular routine by picking up the board and going to the doghouse, where he lifts the dog up by the tail and repeatedly slaps his rear end with a board which causes the dog to chase him. Foghorn then closes the gate to the fence just in time for the dog to crash into it head first. Foghorn is then seen trying to slip a lit dynamite stick into the dog house, but the dog is wise to it and the trick backfires. Foghorn is then seen having a picnic with a large amount of food prepared by Prissy, but Foghorn rejects her again.

The dog sees Prissy's attempts to court Foghorn and tells him that she is going about it the wrong way and offers to help out, seeing it as a way to rid himself of Foghorn for good. The dog then disguises himself as a rival rooster who wants to marry Prissy in order to make Foghorn jealous. The ruse works and Foghorn fights with the dog, knocking him out cold and ends up in church exclaiming, "I won, I won!", as he and Prissy are married. When Foghorn realizes what happened, he says to the audience, "Hey, there must have been some way I could have lost." He slaps himself to end the cartoon.

Foghorn's quotes

• She reminds me of Paul Revere's ride. A little light in the belfry.
• Gal reminds me of a highway between Fort Worth and Dallas. No Curves.
• Why, that no good love thief! Get your hands, ah say, get your hands off of her, ya interlopin' snake in the grass! This gal loves me!!
• Come on, gal. Let's go before he wakes up. I'll show him he can't beat my time!

Succession