The Slick Chick

Foghorn Leghorn [Mel Blanc] is idly filing his nails when Widow Hen [Julie Bennett] stops by with a favor to ask. She needs someone reliable to watch over her animatedly troublesome son, Junior, while she goes out. The curmudgeonly old rooster she suggests, Mr. Cackle, instantly protests, labeling Junior as destructive, disrespectful, and incorrigible. “ME babysit with HIM?! You must be joshing!” he squawks, and goes on to call Junior “that Monster of Yourn,” declaring that Junior “makes Dennis the Menace look like an angel” and that he’s “Bad, Bad, BAD!” Foghorn, having overheard the tirade, decides that there’s no such thing as a bad boy and offers to prove it by volunteering to babysit. Junior snickers, pipingly muttering, “Oooh, he don’t know me vewy well, do he?” As Widow Hen leaves, Foghorn promises that the two will become friends, but Junior immediately tests the claim by poking Foghorn’s bottom with a pin. A moment later, Mr. Cackle’s taunt echoes in the barn: “Lotsa luck, Foggy—you’re gonna NEED it!!”

What follows is a cascade of mischief and clever pranks designed by Junior to show that his guardian is completely outmatched. Foghorn first settles down with a box full of toys, hoping for a simple, quiet nap, only to learn that Junior considers those toys “widdle kids’ stuff.” The youngster’s dangerous curiosity soon leads to chaos when he discovers a cement mixer in the barn and triggers a false alarm, pitching Foghorn headfirst into the spinning mixer. Emerging afterward, Foghorn is stunned and temporarily transformed into a posable statue—Rodin’s The Thinker—after Junior quips, “I’m not weawwy a scuwptor. It’s just me mean widdle hobby!”

Despite the scare, Foghorn’s resolve hardens as he threatens to report Junior’s misbehavior to Widow Hen, only to be met with a wry retort from the boy: he’ll simply tell his mother that Foghorn is still “booking the horses.” The reprieve is short, as Junior coolly taunts him with a race-ready line: “And they’re off!” prompting Foghorn to mimic a horse race only to realize he’s been duped once again.

The escapade continues as Junior slips away while Foghorn dozes in a hammock and infiltrates a weather station to seize a weather balloon. With devious joy, Junior ties the balloon’s harness around Foghorn and launches him into a makeshift orbit above the farm. When Foghorn finally awakens, he’s terrified and desperate for help to get down. Junior’s next move is a sharp arrow shot to pop the balloon, sending the once-ornamental rooster plummeting toward earth. He crashes onto a spring mattress—and, not content with that, Junior ups the ante with a landing pad that is, in fact, a hidden landmine.

The aftermath leaves Foghorn battered but unfazed, his feathers ruffled and his outlook hardened. As the dust settles and his blue shorts show through, a stubborn conclusion hardens in his mind: this boy isn’t just mischievous—he’s a true menace. “I still say he ain’t a bad boy. He’s a WORST. WORST, THAT IS!” Foghorn proclaims, recognizing that Junior’s cleverness and relentless pranks push him to the edge and back again.

In the end, the scene closes on a note that blends humor with a touch of caution: a veteran mentor figure discovers that sometimes the greatest challenges come in small, relentlessly cunning packages, and that even the most confident guardians can be outwitted by a determined kid. The dynamic between Foghorn Leghorn and Junior remains a comic clash of wits, with every trick met by a wry, determined counter from the rooster who vowed to prove that goodness can endure, even in the face of a relentless little “monster.”

ME babysit with HIM?! You must be joshing!

And they’re off!

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 14:11