Cross Country Detours

Cross Country Detours is a 1940 Merrie Melodies short.

Plot
A Narrator takes us to various destinations across the United States.

It was reissued during Schlesinger's career so the original closing was kept.

Synopsis


The cartoon starts out with a narrator talking about the wonders of nature in Yosemite National Park in California, he talks about how tourists always feeding the wildlife we cut to a man giving a bear a sandwich then the bear pounds the man on the head and says "Listen stupid can't you read!?" pointing to a "Do not feed the bears" sign, we then meet a deer who tells the narrator "Hello big boy!" in a Katherine Hepburn impression, we then see a scout master taking his troops to a wash room at a gas station, the narrator tells of how careless people often forget to put out their cigars which could lead to fires a ranger spots this only to smoke it himself, he then tells us about the natural rock formations one of which looks like a mouth with a gold tooth, he then takes us to Alaska where we meet a polar bear whom the narrator informs us how his thick coat and layer of fat keeps him warm during the harsh winter climates, the polar bear says "I don't care what you say, I'm cold", he then tells us how happy Eskimo dogs are living there except one who wants to go to California.

Back into the United States we see a bobcat prepare to catch and eat a baby quail but he can't bring himself to do it, he then takes us to a local pond where many frog reside he then says "here we have a frog croaking" the frog takes out a gun and commits suicide by shooting itself in the head we are then show an apology for the pun by the theater, he then takes us to New Mexico briefly being interrupted by the Eskimo dog from earlier, we then are treated to a lizard shedding her skin which plays out like a strip tease in which a censor bar appears before her breast are exposed, the narrator then tells us that the next tale is very gruesome and that he will split the screen in two one side for grownups a gilla monster who constantly snarls and growls and for children a little girl who recites Mary Had a Little Lamb, after being interrupted by the gilla monster she growls back at it causing it to run away, he then takes us to the Grand Canyon where a hiker tries to make an echo but nothing happens so finally he shouts at the top of his lungs and a female voice says "I'm sorry they do not answer", we then see the Eskimo dog again and the narrator tells us how determined he must be, he tells us of the Colorado River which is damned by beavers which create a giant man made dam, finally the exhausted dog makes his way to California where he runs into the Red Wood Forest where he declares "Trees, thousands and thousands of trees, and they're mine, all mine!"