Junior Scarecrow is a character from the Merrie Melodies short, "I'd Love to Take Orders from You". He is the son of Pa Scarecrow and Ma Scarecrow.
About Junior Scarecrow[]
Junior Scarecrow meets his father, Pa Scarecrow, at the door of his family's home and gives him a scaring pose. With a giggle, he asks if he scared him and Pa says he sure did. Inside, Pa meets his wife, Ma Scarecrow, and they greet each other with a kiss, as Junior is between his parents. As Junior is let down on the floor, Ma asks him if he had a good day. Pa tells her he did and that he "scared ten crows today". Then, each of the family members sings part of the song, "I'd Love to Take Orders from You", as Junior practices his scaring poses while his dad acts as the major and bangs on a pot, using that as a ringing bell or gong each time Junior gets a scaring pose wrong. And as Junior gets several of them wrong, his dad bangs on the pot many times. Junior's mom claps as she watches. Pa tells Junior that's enough and hands him over to Ma so he can get fed while Junior is put off to bed. Seen in silhouette through a window shade, Ma changes Junior out of his clothes into a nightgown. After she leaves his room, Junior says a prayer that includes his desire to be a great scarer like his dad.
The next morning, a rooster's crow wakes up Junior and he gets up out of bed, preparing to go outside the house. As he passes by a hallway, snoring is heard in his parents' room and the bedroom door is pushed in and out with each snore. As Junior exits the house, he gives a knowing look to the viewers. He tries scaring a few animals. The first one he scares is a rooster who crows and flies away. Junior puffs out his chest and struts as he finds, and approaches the second animal, a squirrel. He scares the squirrel, who scampers to a tree with a built-in elevator, enters it, goes up the tree, and exits from the top as he scurries on a tree limb. Junior continues with his scaring poses, frightening the third animal, a rabbit who hops in and out of holes in the ground. Entering a cornfield, Junior poses once again there. It's not long before a crow flys into it, finds a corn cob on the ground, and begins eating it. Junior keeps trying to look fierce a few times and get the crow's attention, but this doesn't faze the bird. As the crow finishes munching on the corn cob, he caws at him and it's the crow scaring the younger scarecrow rather than it being the other way around. Junior is chased by the scarecrow, who tears through part of the field, creating a path and a line of a few haystacks fall on it. Junior tries to scare the crow some more, but the crow just keeps swooping down towards him as he avoids the crow. The crow suddenly comes to a skidding halt and his feathery body turns white with fright before he turn-tails, and flies away. Junior is oblivious to his dad being behind him and doesn't realize he was the real one who finally frightened away the crow. Junior still thinking he did a good job, he begins to turn and walk off before bumping into his dad. With a nervous giggle, greets Pa and Pa tells him that his mother has been searching for him and that they've got to return home. Junior is given a piggyback ride. Later that night, Junior tells his mom all about how he managed to get rid of the crow with his scares. But when he sees a large shadow of what he thinks is a real crow, he gets jumpy and goes into his mom's arms for comfort. It's actually just the shadow of Pa's hands making a crow-shaped head as a prank.
Physical Appearance[]
Junior is a live, anthropomorphic, beige scarecrow and is a mini-version of his dad. He is slender, bald, and has black eyes. He wears a flaxen yellow straw hat with the conical part being raggedy; he wears a black, long-sleeved shirt with a raggedy hemline; a flaxon yellow waistband; white gloves; and slate gray pants with a red patch on the left pant leg. His nightwear is a simple, white nightgown.
Personality[]
Junior is determined to be a successfully scary scarecrow and he's persistent at carrying out his purpose. He can be overconfident and acts brave, but deep down, he's still frightened of crows and hasn't quite conquered his fear.