| Li'l Orphan Happy | Gallery | Transcript |
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"Lil' Orphan Happy" is the seventh segment of the first season of The Mighty B! that aired on May 10, 2008.
Summary[]
On Mother's Day, Bessie and Ben celebrate their mother, Hilary. However, Happy misses his own mother, and doesn't know where she is. Bessie and Ben try to find her by venturing throughout San Francisco.
Plot[]
Hilary Higgenbottom is asleep in her room, when she is suddenly awakened by what seems to be an earthquake. When suddenly Bessie, Ben, and Happy burst into the room with a food cart and they sing out "Happy Mother's Day!"
The three of them happily give Hilary bed in breakfast, and Hilary, very happy with their compassion, give the three of them a hug. But Happy, seeing the heart shaped tattoo on Hilary's arm, sadly slides out of her grip and walks out with only Bessie noticing. Bessie follows her dog into the kitchen, asking what's wrong, but then she sees a picture of Happy as a puppy sleeping against his mother, who had a heart shaped birthmark. Bessie then realizes that Happy hasn't seen his mother ever since he was a puppy. And promises happy that they'll find his mother! Happy, pleased with this, licks Bessie's face in thanks.
Bessie, Ben, and Happy go all over town that afternoon, asking around the city is anyone's seen Happy's mother, a dog with a heart shaped birthmark. Unfortunately, nobody has seen her. Their final stop is at the dog pound, where they accidentally cause quite a ruckus with the dogs. Frightened, the three of them flee the pound.
The three of them return home miserably, Bessie tries to comfort Happy, but she only makes things worse unintentionally. But when they return home, they find the house is filled with dogs all waiting to be checked if they're Happy's mother!
Hours pass by, and none of the dogs were Happy's mother, the kids and their dog sit in the kitchen, when the doorbell rings. Bessie answers it, and behind the door is a dog with a heart shaped birthmark! Bessie eagerly calls Happy, who comes and sees the dog, his eyes filled with tears. And the two dogs, mother and child, share a happy reunion.
Upstairs, in the Hive, the kids and the dogs share tea (Ben, being too young, is drinking grape juice.) This is where Bessie finds out Happy's mother's name turns out to be Rose. Bessie asks how Happy got separated from her, but Rose starts to cry at the memory. Happy quickly comforts his mother.
As time goes by, Happy and Rose do all sorts of things together, including drinking from the toilet and howling at the moon. However, times goes by, and Rose convinces Happy to do all sorts of dirty things, such as stealing food and cheating. Bessie finds them in the basement one day, playing poker with other city dogs. Angered and disgusted, Bessie scolds Happy and sends him upstairs, apologizing to Rose for Happy's behavior. In Hilary's restaurant, Bessie continues scolding Happy, not knowing Rose is behind them. Rose mocks Bessie, which makes Happy laugh. Angered, Bessie grounds Happy and leaves. Rose then comes to Happy and hands him a treat, and whispers something in his ear. Happy becomes worried.
That night, Happy is posing as the owner of Hilary's diner, when a truck driver negotiates with him on the steaks that filled the truck. Meanwhile, Rose, with Happy distracting the driver, begins to steal the steaks, but Bessie and Ben come and expose Rose. Bessie tries to stop Rose and tell her to drop the bag full of steaks but Rose retreats. However, Happy, having enough of Rose using him to obtain the steaks, tried to shoo Rose out by barking at her, but Rose tries to flee inside, with Bessie and Ben following. Then, Rose accidentally smashes into Hilary and a bucket of soapy water. Bessie explains that Happy told her, Ben, and Hilary about Rose's plan. Just then, Rose’s heart shaped birthmark is washed off by the soapy water from the bucket on Rose’s head, revealing that Rose was a fake and not Happy's mother! Rose is kicked out by Hilary and Happy growls sadly. Hilary picked Happy up and comforts him. Bessie then says that Happy does have a mom, Hilary, who is in essence Happy's adoptive mother. Bessie, Ben, Hilary, and Happy then all share a group hug.
Cast[]
| Voice actor | Roles |
|---|---|
| Amy Poehler | Bessie |
| Dee Bradley Baker | Happy, Rose & Truck Driver |
| Andy Richter | Ben |
| Megan Cavanagh | Hilary |
Trivia[]
General[]
- First episode that doesn't focus on the Honeybees in any way, and also the first where someone aside from Bessie is the main character of the story (in this case, Happy).
- Hilary likes her orange juice without pulp.
- According to Bessie, Happy has a good sense of smell.
- This episode reveals there are 25,673 dogs in San Francisco (in the cartoon).
- Happy's middle name (Walter) is also revealed.
- According to the truck driver, Hilary ordered four porterhouse steaks, two pounds of ground sirloin and five t-bones.
- Focusing entirely on the Higgenbottoms, this marks the first time Gwen and Portia are absent.
- The first of three holiday episodes in the series, followed by "Thanksgiving Beenactment" and "Catatonic."
Cultural references[]
- Li'l Orphan Happy's title is a parody of Little Orphan Annie, a comic strip which has since been adapted on stage and screen.
- When Bessie catches Happy and the other dogs playing poker, they are seated in the same way as one Dogs Playing Poker painting.
Production information[]
- First episode animated by Toon City.
- Had 5.4 million viewers tune in when it premiered.[1]
- The first episode where both Sherm Cohen and Louie del Carmen worked as storyboard artists.
- This episode's production code is 108B.[2]
- John Ross Bowie and Jamie Denbo, who wrote this episode, are married in real life.
Goofs[]
- At the end of the episode when Hilary is hugging Happy, his paws are colored the same as her skintone.
- In the end credits, the episode's title is spelled as "Little Orphan Happy."
References[]
- ↑ Turner, Cynthia (May 16, 2008). Cynthia Turner's Cynopsis - Cyn Kids 5/16/08. Cynopsis: Kids!. Retrieved December 23, 2020. Archived via the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Wray, William (August 17, 2008). The B is Green!. BlogSpot.com. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
External links[]
- Storyboards from the episode, courtesy of Louie del Carmen's blog