Steal Wool

It is the start of the workday. Both Ralph the Wolf and Sam the Sheepdog leave their suburban homes to go to work. They punch a clock and set about their work. Sam is guarding a herd of sheep while Ralph tries to steal a sheep. It does not go well for Ralph.

Ralph Wolf looks almost identical to Wile E. Coyote. They are different characters, but in a way, they are very much the same. Both are tasked with the hopeless mission to catch their dinner. Neither are ever going to do it. In Ralph's case, there is something more absurd about his predicament. It is his workaday job and he is a complete failure. He may as well be a character out of The Office. I love all the Ralph and Sam shorts.

Another of Chuck Jones' Sam Sheepdog & Ralph Wolf shorts. The premise for all of these was the same: Sam & Ralph are friends but everyday they punch a clock and become enemies. Ralph tries to steal the sheep under Sam's protection and Sam clobbers him for his efforts. The big joke is that this is all in a day's work and whenever the two are off the clock they are still pals. It's an amusing and clever idea but that's what Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese cartoons were known for. This one has several funny gags, including one where Ralph builds a bridge out of dynamite. The animation is excellent. I particularly liked the look on the face of the sheep in Ralph's first theft attempt. It's a good short in a solid series that deserves more recognition.

This series of shorts was brief (seven in total), but it's one of Chuck Jones' best concepts and, sadly, not a single one appears to be in print at present, which is a pity, because they are hilarious. Sam and Ralph are an interesting combination and the idea that forms the core to these is great! The ending to this one is particularly good. The ending to the last of the shorts (Woolen Under Where) is the best of them all, but this one's is a very close second. Cartoon Network runs the Sam and Ralph shorts fairly often, but they really should be in print. Well worth watching. Recommended.

OK, so people watching the Ralph Wolf-Sam Sheepdog probably will agree that Ralph looks almost exactly like Wile E. Coyote, except of course for his red nose. And, in both series, the canine character has a goal but always gets maimed in his attempts to catch it.

However, there is another aspect to this series: Ralph and Sam's friendship. They check in for work each day, cordially greeting each other. During working hours, they remain enemies. For lunch, they become buddies once again. After lunch, they resume their antagonistic personalities. At the day's end, the two are pals yet again. One might see this as a possible allusion to Cold War* tensions, or even to people's daily lives. Chuck Jones said that sheepdogs only become sheepdogs when they go to work. Don't we all have to change our personalities just a little when we go to work or school? Another aspect is the flip side of the Wile E. Coyote-Road Runner cartoons. Whereas WEC never traps his prey, Ralph often does (only to have Sam clobber him). While RR spends nearly all day running, Sam chooses a spot from which to watch the sheep and almost never moves from it (except to deal with Ralph). Parallel worlds, but different lifestyles.

Of course, the main point is to have fun watching the cartoon, and you most certainly will. I recommend it.

*Speaking of Cold War tensions, yesterday was the 50th anniversary of Sputnik. The USSR sent a satellite around the earth and sent the first man into space, but the USA landed on the moon, so I guess that it balances out.

The Ralph Wolf and Sam the Sheepdog series was short-lived and overlooked, and unjustly so. It was a very good, and at its best brilliant, series of cartoons, and some of the best of Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies later output.

Even the weakest of their cartoons, for me their last cartoon, is still solid, and of the short-lived series in the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies output featuring less famous and less iconic characters the Ralph vs. Sam series is a contender for the best and most consistent. 'Steal Wool' is one of the series' funniest, another treasure in a rare series of cartoons where none of the cartoons are bad.

It is more-of-the-same somewhat plot-wise, but that doesn't really matter because the Ralph vs. Sam cartoons featured one of Chuck Jones' best and most creative concepts, seen at its best in 'Don't Give Up the Sheep'. There is so much good about 'Steal Wool', a cartoon once again filled with gags and laughs that come thick and fast but still paced adeptly.

Animation-wise, 'Steal Wool' is animated beautifully, for a series of cartoons made late in Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies' prolific output the Ralph and Sam cartoons were generally some of the better-looking cartoons from this period, being colourful and inventively detailed with smooth and fluid character designs. The music is lushly and cleverly orchestrated, with lively and energetic rhythms and fits very well indeed.

Jones' trademark visual style and humour is all over the cartoon, and has lost none of its imagination or the clever and razor-sharp wit present throughout his career. The sight gags are unmistakably Jones and there is not a misfire among them, all of them are hilarious, unpredictable, inventive and remarkably for so many in a short space of time never feel incomplete. The ending especially is one of the series' cleverest and most riotous, while the whole stuff with the bridge is the series at its most imaginative perhaps..

Both characters are strong and interact brilliantly together, Ralph being the slightly funnier and more interesting of the two with his facial expressions also providing some of the cartoon's funniest moments. Mel Blanc continues to delight with exuberant vocal characterisations.

In conclusion, another treasure in a great series of cartoons worthy of far more attention than it gets. 10/10 Bethany Cox