. . . for the first time in their local Chinese eatery remark, "It tastes like chicken." After gnawing off Evander Holyfield's ear in their heavyweight boxing bout, Michael Tyson observed, "It tasted like chicken." Asked what kind of taste eating crow left in his mouth as he watched Middle Tennessee cut down the nets after triumphing over his Michigan State Spartan Hoopsters, a squad he was touting as the sure national champs in the run-up to March Madness 2016, MSU star Denzel Valentine croaked, "Sort of like chicken." Whenever humans bite into fowl-tasting things, their initial thought is that "This tastes just like chicken!" That's why Col. Sanders' 57 secret ingredients are carefully selected to insure that KFC's namesake dish NEVER tastes like chicken! WALKY TALKY HAWKY's title character, Henery Hawk, decides that the tail of the dog that bit him--or even horse meat--are more desirable fates than tasting chicken. It's small wonder that the term "chicken" is one of Western Civilization's most derisive insults, as it originated as an epithet directed at folks afraid to taste chicken!

After telling his pop that he has a craving for something and can't figure out what it is, little "Henery" hears the facts of life from his dad. No, nothing to do with the birds and bees, just telling his boy that they are "hated and hunted down" because they are chicken hawks and chicken hawks eat chickens. That's what they do!"Hey, that's for me," says the little bird. Henery doesn't even know what a chicken looks like, so he goes out looking. Just his luck - the first one he encounters is the huge "Foghorn Leghorn." From that point, this is Foghorn's cartoon, not Henery's. He's loud, he's abrasive, he's obnoxious, but who doesn't love Foghorn?Along the way, as Foghorn puts on the little guy by telling him the nearby dog is a chicken, we get parody of a cigarette commercial from those days ("round, firm and fully-packed"), but overall I didn't find this a very funny cartoon. I doubt others did either which is probably why Henery never became a star. Foghorn wasn't either, but at least many of us have heard of him.Henery sounds a little like Bugs. I guess Mel Blanc couldn't disguise his Brooklyn accent enough to make Henery sound different, although he did fine with Foghorn.

In Foghorn Leghorn's debut, he tries to get Henery Hawk to to go after Barnyard Dog, with unexpected consequences. One thing that I noticed was that Henery Hawk's father called the family "chicken hawks", meaning that they hunt chickens. That phrase now refers to politicians who never served in the armed forces but send other people to fight in wars (often for lies). The connection that I see - however loose - is that Foghorn lies to Henery about Barnyard being a chicken. So he sends Henery off to do something for a lie. On the other hand, Foghorn had tortured Barnyard many times, so he wasn't being as much of a hypocrite as George W. Bush.But anyway, it's a really fun cartoon, a sign of the later Foghorn Leghorn shorts. Cool.

This Foghorn Leghorn short offers a twist on the usual Tom and Jerry/Sylvester and Tweety/Roadrunner and Wil E. Coyote model. Like those classics, we are offered a conflict between scavenger and prey. Unlike them, the scavenger is a sweet little cutie, while his victim is a bloated, blustery sneak. The film begins with lachrymose melodrama, as the hero's father tragically tells toddler Henery Hawk that he is a chicken hawk, that he must hunt chickens. With innocent bravado, he sets out to fulfil his duty, but his ominous first act is to fail to fly, falling and thudding from a great height.Meanwhile Foghorn Leghorn is having his usual self-imposed troubles with Barnyard Dog, taunting the latter because safe in the knowledge of his being tied up. Foghorn is lovably unsympathetic, a windy, Burl Ives-type, full of cod-military guff; he'll turn any trick to save his own hide. This mixture of malice and cowardice makes him a true cousin of Bugs.He sees in the chickenhawk an opportunity to further exasperate Barnyard, and, persuading the little fellow that he is a horse, and Barnyard a chicken, urges Henery to root out his meal. Much sadistic lunacy ensues, wonderfully brutal, with the scheming Foghorn not always coming out best.This energetic short plays havoc with sentimental ideals of the pastoral, especially prominent just after the war - its celebration of metamorphosis, duplicity and cunning is heartening in that oppressive All American social atmosphere. There is also some bracing philosophy about the struggle between free-will and genetic destiny. A Tex Avery would have made this a classic, but a funny script and peerlessly protean Mel Blanc voicing make this a rare treat.