Red-Headed Baby is a 1931 one-reel short animated film, part of the Merrie Melodies series. It was released on December 26, 1931, and is directed by Rudolf Ising. The short is notable for being the first Merrie Melodie to not feature recurring characters such as Foxy or Piggy, and also for being the first Warner Brothers cartoon to feature one-off characters. (All shorts released prior to this one featured recurring characters such as Bosko, Foxy or Piggy).Synopsis
Around Christmas Eve, a toymaker creates a red-haired doll, who, after he (the toymaker) departs, comes to life along with the other toys; she subsequently breaks into singing the titular song, in the process meeting a toy soldier (given the name 'Napoleon') who instantly falls for her; however, a massive and thuggish spider also has fallen for the doll. He kidnaps her, beating the sawdust out of Napoleon, but he fills his body up again and defeats the spider using a toy train, leading to all the toys rejoicing and the doll and Napoleon reuniting as the titular song reprises, ending the cartoon.