The cartoon short is based on the fairy taleThe Elves and the Shoemaker, set 150 years after that story took place (in the early 19th century).[6]Elmer Fudd is the progressive King of industrial Elves. He is doing roll call, only to discover that some of his elves are missing. His elf helper tells him that the elves are helping an outmoded shoemaker, but Elmer points out that it is the 20th century. He tells his elf helper to get the elves back or he will mark them AWOL, just before telling the elf helper that if he is turned into a mouse, he must say "Rumpelstiltskin".
At the shop, the elf helper tells the shoemaker that he must take the elves back, but the shoemaker wants to stay in business. Unfortunately, his pet cat, Sylvester, uses the magic word, "Jehoshaphat" to turn Elmer's elf helper into a mouse and chases him around the shoemaker's shop. Saying "Rumpelstiltskin" changes him back to an elf, much to the disgust of Sylvester, who puts the elf helper down. The shoemaker puts Sylvester up so that he cannot interfere. Elmer comes to the shop and explains the role of capitalism and mass production to the shoemaker, who then agrees to use this knowledge to stay in business; he advises the shoemaker to invest his profits back into the business instead of pocketing them for himself. (At the time, marginal income taxes in the United States were over 90% for those in the highest income tax bracket, strongly discouraging business owners from pocketing their profits.[citation needed])
Four months later, the shoemaker's little shop has literally become a shoe factory. Elmer comes back to see how the shoemaker was "pwogwessing," and the shoemaker says that he has gotten over 500 employees and next month his business will be expanding. This reminds him to come up with a name for his new boot line up, and he comes up with the new name: "Jehoshaphat Boots!" This turns Elmer into a mouse, who forgets that "Rumpelstiltskin" is the magic word, and runs as Sylvester decides to chase him out of the factory and into the distance just as the cartoon ends with Elmer finally saying "Wumpewstiwtskin!"
References
^Beck, Jerry (1991). I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat: Fifty Years of Sylvester and Tweety. New York: Henry Holt and Co. p. 135. ISBN0-8050-1644-9.
^Scott, Keith (2022). Cartoon Voice Of The Golden Age, 1930-70. BearManor Media. p. 93. ISBN979-8-88771-010-5.
^Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 291. ISBN0-8050-0894-2.
