One Cab’s Family is a 1952 cartoon short directed by Tex Avery for MGM Studios.
John and Marsha, a pair of taxicabs, have just welcomed their new son- “Junior”- into the world; John is hoping that Junior will become a taxi like himself, but is appalled when Junior expresses an interest in becoming a racecar instead… and even more appalled when Junior takes ten minutes and a hammer to convert himself into a hot rod.
The short has been noted for its similarity to the 1937 short film Streamlined Greta Green. It was featured in the ToonHeads episode “Motorheads”, and in the Toon In With Me episodes “Fan-Tastic Friday #8” and “Amazing Grease”.
One Cab’s Family provides examples of:
- Comedic Spanking: After Junior converts himself into a hot rod, John spanks him; the main comedy value comes from the fact that he does so by opening Junior’s trunk and hitting the oddly humanoid pair of buttocks contained within.
- Heroic Sacrifice: When John runs out of gas on the train tracks, Junior pushes him off… but gets hit by the train in the process. Don’t worry, he’s fine after a little repair work.
- Hold Your Hippogriffs: What does John have to say about Junior?John: Oh, a chip off the ol’ motor block. Just like his dad.
- Instant Roast: When Junior blasts past a pig and a chicken on the road, they’re thrown up into the air and come down as a cut of bacon and a pair of scrambled eggs on a plate.
- Iris Out: The short ends with an iris on Junior smiling after revealing that, even though he decided to return to his taxicab shell, he kept his hot rod engine.
- Medium Blending: The footage of the car race Junior puts on TV is live-action and in black-and-white.
- Oh, Crap! / My God, What Have I Done?: Junior's reaction when he stops to look back to see if his dad is still trying to keep up with him and sees he ran out of gas right on the railroad crossing with the train closing in. Needless to say, Junior is horrified his dad is about to be seriously injured or killed, and It's All My Fault. Cue the Heroic Sacrifice as The Atoner for causing all this in the first place.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: On the radio soap opera “One Man’s Family”.
- Pun: A sign in the car hospital reads “Motor’nity Ward”.
- Racing the Train: This is one of the things Hot Rod!Junior gets up to, using a road that, for some reason, keeps zigzagging back and forth over the tracks; when John tries to chase him down, he runs out of gas right on the tracks.
- Red Ones Go Faster: Junior’s hot rod shell is, of course, bright red.
- Sentient Vehicle: The short stars a family of living taxicabs… the son of which would rather be a hot rod.
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Mary (Junior’s mother) has long eyelashes… and lips, for some reason.
- "Well Done, Dad" Guy: The cartoon has some aspects of this; John wants his son to be a taxi cab just like him, and is dismayed by how he's more interested in becoming a hot rod convertible. Things get set right when his son ultimately chooses to become a taxi as well... with a hot rod's engine hidden under his hood.