A Feud There Was

A Feud There Was is a 1938 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Tex Avery.[2] The short was released on September 24, 1938, and features the fourth appearance of an early version of Elmer Fudd.[3]

The short begins with an establishing shot of a family of hillbillies, the Weavers, whose members are all lazy to the point of absurdity. The only thing that awakens the Weavers from their perpetual sloth is the opportunity to feud with their neighbors, the McCoys. After a musical number (then a staple of Merrie Melodies shorts) accompanied by a radio commercial (ostensibly over KFWB; the ad is read by Gil Warren, who was an actual KFWB announcer), the two families begin feuding, firing at each other with various semi-automatic weapons. At one point, a McCoy asks if there are any Weavers in the movie audience. One man, shown as a silhouette against the screen, answers in the affirmative and fires a shot at the McCoy.

In the midst of the fray, a yodeling, bulbous-nosed, domestic peace activist who is accompanied by church organ music each time he speaks, enters the feud zone on a motorscooter bearing the words "Elmer Fudd, Peace Maker", and goes to each side preaching peace and an end to the bloodshed, only to get shot in the back (non-fatally) by each family as he departs, unimpressed by his attempts to broker a ceasefire. When Fudd attempts once more to preach peace to both families from the boundary line, both sides get furious at him, storm down to the boundary line, and try to beat up the would-be peace maker together. When the smoke clears, only Elmer is left standing as everyone else has been knocked out cold, thus fulfilling Elmer's original intention to broker peace between the two families. He gives a final yodel and says "Good night, all!", and the Weaver in the movie audience yells "Good night!," taking one more shot at the star as the film closes out.