To Itch His Own

Enjoyable Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese short about a flea called the Mighty Angelo who performs as a strongman in a flea circus. Angelo decides to take a vacation in a rural dog's fur. Unfortunately for Angelo, he finds little rest and relaxation as his dog is harassed by an annoying bulldog. So Angelo takes matters into his own hands and decides to teach the bulldog a lesson. An enjoyable cartoon with the usual Chuck Jones quirks. It's not what I would call one of his classics but it is entertaining with a couple of good gags and a premise that is clever, albeit a little thin. If there's one big negative, it's that it never builds to much before it abruptly ends. The animation is nice and colorful. The music by Carl Stalling is fun. This would be Stalling's last short before retiring. The man was a legend whose music helped make the Looney Tunes cartoons as exceptional as they were. The quality would drop in the 1960s when cartoons became more reliant on cheap stock music. Anyway, check this out if you're a fan of Chuck Jones. It's no "Feed the Kitty" or "One Froggy Evening" but it's alright.

"To Itch His Own" is not like anything that I've ever seen. For the first few minutes, it's sort of unclear what's happening, as Angelo the world's strongest flea decides to take a vacation from the circus (I guess that he "fleas" the circus). But once he settles in on a certain dog and another dog invades the scene, it all takes off.

Was this cartoon a masterpiece? I wouldn't go so far as to say that. But pretty much anything that Chuck Jones created was quite fascinating. This cartoon contains no dialog, unless of course you count yelps of pain. Worth seeing, and a worthy final effort for composer Carl Stalling, who retired after this one.

I wonder why strongmen always have to have names ending in O.