Release Date:

September 15, 1956

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam

Summary:

Jealous of Bugs Bunny’s stardom, movie studio janitor Daffy Duck decides to be an actor himself to upstage him. He ends up becoming Bugs’ stunt double, having everything dangerous happen to him.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1423 and was released as a Looney Tune.

With a new “Bugs Bunny in” title card being developed (the new one would not be used until Bugs’ next cartoon, “Wideo Wabbit”), this cartoon does not have one and just has those words atop the cartoon’s title.

This is the other cartoon besides “This Is a Life” where Bugs, Daffy, Elmer, and Sam all star in the same cartoon (albeit with the latter two not appearing as much as Bugs and Daffy).

The title is a pun for the 1937 film, “A Star is Born”.

The rifle gag is reused from “A Bird in a Guilty Cage”.

The title card image is a clapboard before a pan to the right shows the credits on a wooden backdrop and the director credit is on (what else?) a director’s chair.

This is the first cartoon to use the 1956-1957 orange rings with the green background in the “That’s all, Folks!” end card.

Bugs is again interviewed by Lola Beverly (“Lolly”) like he was in “A Hare Grows in Manhattan”.

Mel Blanc uses his actual voice for the casting director.

The cartoon’s plot would be reworked at DePatie-Freleng for the Roland and Rattfink cartoon, “Say Cheese, Please” (1970).

Favorite Scene:

Daffy turns away to not watch Bugs crash in a plane, only to learn to his horror that he is to substitute for Bugs in the actual crash.

What Happens in This One:

From inside his dressing room, Bugs is talking to Lola Beverly, “I’m so glad you stopped in, Lolly! Is there anything I can do for ya’s?” She answers, “Well, Bugs, the readers of my column would LOVE to hear about your success!” Bugs humbly chuckles, “Aw, why would anyone want to read about little old me?” After Lolly is heard saying, “Oh, Bugs, you’re so modest!”, Daffy enters the scene, sweeping the floor in a disgruntled manner, “What a job for a duck with MY talents! Pushing a broom, while others with absolutely nothing on the ball get all the breaks!” Listening to Bugs chuckle, “Oh, my! It’s so nice of ya, Lolly-”, Daffy groans in disgust about it, “Listen to that ham putting it on!” Then, when Bugs says, “Well, I’m willing to do anything my public demands”, Daffy repeats “Anything my public demands!” two times in a mocking voice before angrily throwing down his hat and deciding as he storms off, “That does it! If a long-eared rabbit can be a star, so can a duck!” (animated by Virgil Ross)

The casting director is in his office on the phone about a dilemma, “Yeah? Uh, y-yeah, I know we need a double on the Bugs Bunny picture! But where can I get anyone stupid enough to take the job?” Having not heard what the casting director was talking about, Daffy walks in, “Okay, boss! Hang up! A star is born, and that star is me!” The casting director talks quietly into the phone, “I’ll call ya right back. I, uh, I think I’ve got a pigeon!” Assuming the casting director mistook him for the wrong bird, Daffy tells him, “Pigeon? I’m not a pigeon! I’m a duck! D-U-K, duck! Loaded with talent! Do card tricks and impersonations, I work at weddings, bar mitzvahs… Have Tux, Will Travel” (animated by Ross).

Having gotten the stunt double job, Daffy walks out of the “Make Up Dept.” wearing a rabbit suit. “Report on Stage 9? Yes, sir!” As he walks toward there, Daffy laughs to himself, “Oh, boy! I could be sent to prison for the scenes I’m gonna steal!” (animated by Ross)

The director, who speaks in a thick German accent, instructs, “Okay, positions, everybody! We’re ready for a take!” A scene of Sam confronting Bugs in a desert setting is being filmed with Bugs asking, “What’s up, doc?” and Sam pointing his guns at him, “Alright, rabbit! Say your prayers! I’m a-gonna blast ya!” The director calls, “Cut! Bring in the double!” Daffy is practicing the next line, “I dare you!” in different tones, before an unseen assistant director announces, “Double on the set!” Hearing this, Daffy becomes excited, “Double!? That’s me! Oh, boy!” Bugs, who’s walking off the set, passes by Daffy and gives him the carrot, to which Daffy remarks, “Can’t cut the mustard, eh?” Once he’s on the set, Daffy informs the crew, “Okay, roll ‘em! I know my lines by heart!” When Sam comes in, Daffy munches on the carrot and asks, “Eh, what’s up, doc?” Sam points his guns at Daffy and gives mostly the same threat, “Alright, rabbit! Say your prayers! I’m gonna blast ya!”. Briefly looking at his script, Daffy eggs him on, “I dare you!”, which gets him shot in the face by Sam. Missing all of his facial and neck feathers, Daffy’s beak then falls off, to which he calls, “Make up!” in annoyance (animated by Gerry Chiniquy).

Bugs is seen sitting on a tree branch and urging, “Come on, let’s get going! I’m getting blisters on my cottontail!” Below, the director is informing Elmer of what he’s supposed to do, “Now, in the next scene, Elmer, you saw off the branch Bugs is sitting on”. From behind the tree, Daffy peeks out and gets an idea, “Saw him down, eh? Hmm”. He gets Elmer’s attention, “Psst! Elmer!” and has him walk over to him behind the tree before clouting him offscreen with a mallet (animated by Ross). The director announces, “Okay, roll ‘em!” Upon seeing “Elmer” climb up the tree to saw off the branch, Bugs reminds, “Remember, Elmer, you’re not supposed to cut the limb all the way through!” It turns out Daffy has stolen Elmer’s clothes and is substituting for him as he laughs, “Ha! Goodbye, rabbit! You’re gonna be a FALLING star!” After sawing the branch, the tree itself falls instead, causing Daffy’s laughing to become meeker as he goes down with it. During the offscreen crash, the next shot reveals the “branch” to actually be a wooden pole held up by a platform. Satisfied, the director instructs, “Okay, print it!” (animated by Chiniquy)

Next, the director is planning a scene with Bugs fishing, “All you have to do here is sit on the dock and fish!” Daffy, back to wearing the rabbit suit, runs up, “Oh, no ya don’t! Taking all the soft jobs and leaving the tough ones for me to do, huh!?” He snatches the fishing pole as he continues, “I’LL do this one!” Bugs tells him, “But, eh, Daffy, I really think I ought to do this scene”. Daffy sneers, “Ah ha! Afraid I’ll show up your acting ability, eh?” before walking off to do the scene (animated by Ross). Reeling in the fishing line on the dock set, Daffy scoffs, “Huh! What a cinch this scene is!” The second his line goes under the water, a huge fish jumps out and swallows Daffy whole. Daffy wrestles around in the water and jumps out with the rabbit suit in shreds. He again yells, “Make up!” (animated by Arthur Davis)

The next scene filmed is Elmer chasing Bugs with his rifle, with Daffy cheering on the former, “Get him! Get him!” Bugs jumps into a hollow tree with Elmer declaring, “I got you cornered, you scwewy wabbit!” Elmer sticks his rifle into the tree, only for another rifle to appear out of the hole in the ground behind him, pointed to his rear end. It also moves in the exact same ways Elmer moves his rifle. Becoming impatient, Daffy runs onto the set and has Elmer leave, “Ooh! Give me that gun!” With Elmer out of the way, Daffy sticks the rifle into the tree, but he too gets the rifle from the hole pointed at him and moving in the exact same ways as the original rifle. He then gets a devious idea when he gives an evil smile and lets out an audible “Hmm!” Daffy ties a red bow around the rifle barrel and sticks it into the tree once more. The rifle from the hole is revealed to have a white bow with pink polka dots, causing Daffy to exclaim “HA!” and then fire. At the same time, the other rifle blasts him in the rear. When he pulls the rifle out of the tree, it has the white bow with pink polka dots! Throwing the rifle down, Daffy storms off and calls for “Make up!” a third time (animated by Davis).

Bugs is flying a plane with the director giving him instructions through a microphone, “Take it up to twenty thousand feet, Bugs! Then go into a dive!” Inside the plane, Bugs is reading “How to Fly”, “Be sure and check the altimeter with a tachometer. The mechanical horizon will indicate your position”. He then wonders, “Where is that mechanical horizon?” The plane then goes into the dive and is about to crash as Daffy, wearing the rabbit suit again, turns around in anticipation covering his eyes. “Boy! I can’t bear watching this!” Just as the plane is a few feet from hitting the ground, the director yells, “Cut!”, causing the plane to come to a complete stop. The director then announces, “Bring in the double!”, causing Daffy to stammer in horror upon hearing this, “D-d-d-double?” (animated by Chiniquy up to here) Daffy goes up to Bugs in a helicopter and they switch vehicles by climbing through the open cockpits. After Bugs departs in the helicopter, Daffy crashes with the plane. Storming furiously out of the wreckage, Daffy yells at the top of his voice, “MAKE UP!” (animated by Ross)

Back in the casting director’s office, Daffy angrily shouts at him, “I’m through playing stooge to a rabbit! I wanna star in my OWN picture!” The casting director informs him, “Oh, you’re in luck! We’ve just finished for a script that calls for a duck” as he pulls out a binder labeled “The Duck”. Elated, Daffy walks out with it, “Oh, boy! ‘The Duck’ starring Daffy Duck! Boy!” (animated by Ross)

Sitting in the water in a pond setting, Daffy pulls his script out of the water and reads over his lines, “I wonder where all the hunters are today”. Once the director calls, “Camera! Action!”, Daffy gives it all out with a hammy “I wonder where all the hunters are today!” Several hunters appear out of nowhere and repeatedly blast him. Livid, Daffy pulls out his ruined script from the water and yells, “I demand to know WHO WROTE THIS SCRIPT!?” Bugs gives us a very clear idea as to who the writer was, “I’d like to tell him but uh…(chuckles), modesty forbids!” (animated by Davis)

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕