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Merrie Melodies: The Early Worm Gets the Bird (1940)

Name: The Early Worm Gets the Bird
Genre: Animation
Released: 1940
Duration: 9 min

19409 minAnimationStrong rights evidenceTV episode

Merrie Melodies: The Early Worm Gets the Bird (1940) is a 9-minute animated cartoon that airs free on Starlite TV's Saturday Morning (CH 7) channel. Our rights research indicates it is in the U.S. public domain (evidence below).

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About Merrie Melodies: The Early Worm Gets the Bird (1940)

The Early Worm Gets the Bird is a 1940 American animated comedy short film directed by Fred Avery. The short was released on January 6, 1940.

At the Blackbirds' house, Willie and his brothers say their bedtime prayers. Their mother, a literal mammy, tells them goodnight, and the children get into bed to go to sleep. She catches Willie reading "The Early Bird Gets the Worm" and tells the trio that a fox will hunt them shall they wake up early to catch a worm, which they are oblivious to. The next day, Willie sneaks out to catch the worm at 5 a.m. The worm finds the book which Willie's mother threw out of the window and is curious about the early bird.

Summary adapted from the Wikipedia article The Early Worm Gets the Bird (text available under CC BY-SA 4.0).

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Airs on

Saturday Morning - CH 7, Cartoon TV

Rights & source

Basis: Documented as U.S. public domain (e.g. copyright not renewed / no notice)
Evidence: Listed in Wikipedia "List of animated films in the public domain in the United States" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animated_films_in_the_public_domain_in_the_United_States), which cites Film Superlist / copyright renewal records (not renewed). Character names/designs may remain trademarks; no character art used in site branding.
Music: Film soundtrack falls with the film; separately published songs not individually cleared.
Source: Internet Archive

How we check every title: Content & Rights.

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32 Merrie Melodies episodes on air in this channel.