''Meatless Flyday'' is a 1944

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

'' Merrie Melodies'' directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on January 29, 1944. The title is a pun on meatless Friday, a reference to the traditional

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

practice of abstinence from meat on Fridays.

Plot

An overconfident and guffawing

spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

(voiced by

Cy Kendall Cyrus Willard Kendall (March 10, 1898 – July 22, 1953) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 140 films between 1935 and 1950. Kendall's heavy-set, square-jawed appearance and deep voice were perfect for wiseguy roles such ...

) spots his intended prey, a mute fly, on the ceiling, and indulges in various cat-and-mouse schemes to try to catch him for food, including painting a load of

buckshot A shotgun shell, shotshell or simply shell is a type of rimmed, cylindrical (straight-walled) cartridges used specifically in shotguns, and is typically loaded with numerous small, pellet-like spherical sub-projectiles called shot, fired thro ...

with "Kandy Kolor" and luring the fly to eat it and drawing him closer with a

magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nicke ...

, which only succeeds in attracting a set of metal cutlery which the spider has to dodge to save himself. At one point the fly manages to set fire to the spider's feet, and as the spider nose-dives like a plane he exclaims "Look! I'm a Zero, I'm a Zero," referring to the

Mitsubishi Zero The Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" is a long-range carrier-based aircraft, carrier-based fighter aircraft formerly manufactured by Mitsubishi Aircraft Company, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and was operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy from 19 ...

used by the Japanese during World War Two. He sees the fly on a wedding cake as a bride and dresses as the groom only to be blown up by a dynamite stick. Eventually, the spider catches his prey, and, when he is about to carve him up while singing the song "Would You Like to Take a Walk?", the fly points to a wall calendar giving the day as "

Meatless Tuesday ''Meatless Tuesday'' is a 1943 Andy Panda cartoon produced by Walter Lantz Productions. It was directed by James Culhane and was released on October 25, 1943. It is the second and last cartoon to pair Andy with Charlie Chicken. The title is a re ...

", a reference to

food rationing Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The frustrated spider runs to the

United States Capitol The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, which is formally known as the United States Congress. It is located on Capitol Hill ...

and rants to

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

"You can't do this to me! You just can't! You can't! You can't! You can't! You can't!"

Voice cast

* Mel Blanc as Air Raid Warden, Spider's Yell *

as Spider

References

External links

* * Merrie Melodies short films Animated films about insects 1944 films Short films directed by Friz Freleng Films scored by Carl Stalling Films produced by Leon Schlesinger 1944 animated films 1940s Warner Bros. animated short films Films with screenplays by Michael Maltese Films about spiders Films about flies {{MerrieMelodies-stub

Plot

Voice cast

See also

References

External links