Release Date:

August 2, 1947

Main Character(s):

Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd

Summary:

A tired businessman comes to the “Gland Hotel” for a peaceful rest and threatens to punch manager Elmer Fudd anytime he is disturbed. With bellhop Daffy Duck on duty, the businessman gets more and more agitated with every disturbance.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1024 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The businessman is voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan (the voice of Elmer) in his real voice. You can especially tell it’s Bryan’s voice when the businessman states his threat: “BECAUSE IF I’M DISTURBED AT ANY TIME, I’M GONNA BUST YOU RIGHT IN THE NOSE!”

The “Gland Hotel” is a pun referencing the 1932 film “Grand Hotel”.

The businessman would later appear as the sleeping announcer in “Space Jam” whose microphone is taken by Hubie and Bertie, who become the announcers for the basketball game instead.

The room number that the businessman stays in is 666, which is a reference to “the number of the Beast” (this is one of many, many Warner cartoons I have watched countless times since first getting into these cartoons in 2013, and I literally didn’t realize this reference until writing this post).

The cartoon is in the 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons book.

In production order, this is the last Jones cartoon to have animation by Basil Davidovich (“A Feather in His Hare”, which wasn’t released until 1948, was the last in release order).

Daffy and Elmer are not necessarily enemies in this one, as Daffy is oblivious to the fact that he’s causing Elmer to get beat up.

“Pop Goes the Weasel” is heard every time Elmer gets punched apart from the scene where he tries to shush Daffy in the middle of telling the seemingly hilarious story about the traveling salesman.

Despite using the red rings with the blue background in the intro, the outro uses the blue rings with the red background. This would also occur with “The Foxy Duckling” and “Slick Hare”.

What I Like About This One:

The opening narration tells us how Daffy got the job as bellhop: “Once upon a time, there was a labor shortage. It became so bad that employers would hire anybody. Or anything”, with the narrator putting an emphasis on “thing”.

The businessman initially appears to be very peaceful: “And just one more thing. I’m a tired man. I gotta have my sleep. Plenty of it. So see to it that I get lots of peace and quiet.” before suddenly revealing to Elmer he is not someone you do not want to anger: “BECAUSE IF I’M DISTURBED AT ANY TIME, I’M GONNA BUST YOU RIGHT IN THE NOSE!” Daffy confides, “Likable chap, isn’t he?” (animated by Basil Davidovich)

Daffy first makes the businessman carry all of his bags while explaining loudly, “IF THERE’S ANYTHING WE’VE GOT PLENTY OF, IT’S GOOD OLD PEACE AND QUIET!” He continues talking about how they’re slopping over with peace and quiet in the elevator and upon reaching Room 666, Daffy takes his time looking for the key by looking at them one by one and describing each aloud, and also wolf whistles at one that is presumably a key to a nightclub (animated by Davidovich).

Daffy next cons the businessman out of his room by giving him a tip. By the time the businessman realizes he’s been tricked, he finds Daffy trying on a large hat and criticizing it as a ridiculous bonnet that never comes back in style. He is more tired than angry however and sighs contently at “Bed”, before rushing to sleep (animated by Lloyd Vaughan).

In tune to a very catchy instrumental of “A Tisket A Tasket”, Daffy loudly hammers a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door before the businessman opens it and Daffy accidentally hammers him a few times. The businessman simply goes down the elevator and gives Elmer his first beating (animated by Vaughan).

Claiming the room to be stuffy, Daffy opens the window to allow in some fresh air, with the businessman being woken up by the noise of heavy traffic. After shutting the window, the businessman is next disturbed by a drunk in the other room singing “How Dry I Am”. Daffy offers to “fix that inebriated canary” and after he apparently does, Daffy instead gets drunk himself and joins in. The businessman rings for Elmer to punch him a second time (animated by Vaughan).

Daffy cleans the window while singing “Time Waits for No One” and notices a tiny speck. His attempts to remove it by scratching his nail against the window cause the businessman to sweat and cringe at the noise. Elmer answers the phone, to which the businessman’s fist appears out of it to punch him a third time (animated by Ben Washam).

Laughing very hard after hearing a story about a traveling salesman who came to a farmhouse, Daffy tells it to the businessman and while he goes into an uncontrollable laughing fit, the businessman gets up to punch Elmer a fourth time. Elmer attempts to put on a knight helmet to avoid this next beating, but the businessman simply lifts it up (animated by Ken Harris).

The businessman returns to his room to find Daffy still in a laughing fit while telling his story. Despite forgetting the punchline, Daffy continues to laugh hysterically before Elmer frantically attempts to shush him before the businessman punches Elmer a fifth time without looking (animated by Harris).

Claiming that it’s freezing, Daffy attempts to turn on the furnace but it’s “on the fritz”. To the tune of “Make It Snappy”, Elmer runs after Daffy to find out what he’s up to, and finds him down in the basement banging the furnace pipes with a wrench (animated by Harris). Elmer quickly runs back up to the room to muffle the furnace’s banging with pillows. However, the furnace’s whistle goes off, forcing Elmer to muffle it with the pillows and sit on them (animated by Washam).

Daffy comes in and blames the disturbances on Elmer with this rant that wakes up the now-enraged businessman: “So! A fine kettle of fish! Here I work myself down to the skin and bones trying to keep this guy to sleep, and what do YOU do? Blow whistles! Just when I got things so quiet you could hear a pin drop, you bust in here and bust out with a whistle, and you snafu the whole works! How in the name of all that’s reasonable do you expect a guy to get his slumber when a goof like you goes around making noises like a one-man Fourth of July celebration? He needs peace and quiet! It’s positively outrageous!” (brilliantly animated by Washam)

In order to avoid getting another beating, Elmer promotes Daffy to manager while he becomes the bellhop. This doesn’t fool the businessman however, and Elmer is punched one final time. Daffy ends the cartoon with, “Noisy little character, isn’t he?” (animated by Washam)

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕