Release Date:

February 28, 1942

Main Character(s):

Daffy Duck, Conrad Cat

Summary:

Conrad Cat is a soldier in the Navy, and is heckled by Daffy Duck.

That’s Not All, Folks:

This is Jones’ first Daffy Duck cartoon, as well as Daffy’s first color cartoon, since “Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur”.

This is the last appearance of Conrad Cat and the only time where he is voiced by Pinto Colvig, who again uses his Goofy voice.

This cartoon is another one where Jones was starting to find his sense of humor before officially finding it a few months later.

This is the first cartoon to give an animation credit to Ben Washam, who would become one of Jones’ best animators as well as one of the mainstays in his unit (fellow animator Ken Harris was another mainstay and also a top animator).

Layout artist John McGrew (who was Jones’ layout artist in the early 1940’s) was heavily inspired by Sergei Eisenstein’s film “The Battleship Potemkin” for this cartoon.

What I Like About This One:

The rendition of “We’re Shoving Right Off for Home Again” sung by the sailors (animated by Ben Washam).

Pinto Colvig, as Conrad, singing the same song in the Goofy voice. In addition, Conrad does some impressive skills while mopping the deck such as tossing his mop into the air and said mop landing in the bucket at the right time (animated by Ken Harris).

After seeing Daffy up near the ship’s top (animated by Washam), Conrad angrily mops up Daffy’s footprints while singing “We’re Shoving Right Off for Home Again” in an agitated tone (animated by Phil Monroe).

Robert Cannon’s animation of Daffy walking back and forth while mocking Conrad’s singing and then commenting, “PU! Is that guy awful? Gee, it makes me sick.”

Daffy replacing Conrad’s water bucket with a bucket of red paint resulting in Conrad obliviously leaving a large trail of red paint across the deck (animated by Monroe).

When Conrad sees the mess he unwittingly made, Daffy comments, “Very sloppy, Roscoe. You’re a slovenly housekeeper!” (animated by Rudy Larriva). Conrad throws the mop at Daffy but Daffy catches it and tosses it into the air where it lands on Conrad’s head. Daffy’s next remark is “Very petite, Betsy. Very very petite” (animated by Harris).

Conrad and Daffy fighting from under the tarp covering the lifeboat (animated by Phil DeLara).

The running gag of Conrad and Daffy stopping the chase to salute the diminutive captain whenever he passes by.

Daffy substituting for Conrad’s spyglass. “Swell view, eh, doc?”; one of the few times Daffy borrows Bugs Bunny’s way of calling someone “doc” (animated by Washam).

Daffy is then shown standing on an artillery gun when Conrad is cleaning it. Conrad obliviously moves Daffy to another spot on the gun before making a realization and putting his hands around Daffy’s neck. Daffy bites Conrad’s nose and twists his arms around (animated by Larriva).

Now cornered, Daffy gets away by playing “Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold” with Conrad and then pulling Conrad’s hat down in front of his face (animated by Cannon).

Daffy taking refuge in an artillery cannon pointing upward to which Conrad loads with an artillery shell. Seeing himself face to face with the large shell, Daffy comments, “Big bullet” before attempting to run away from it (animated by Larriva). After being blasted out, Daffy rides the shell like a dive bomber (animated by Cannon). Both return to the ship where Daffy and Conrad end up being chased by the giant shell. Daffy, Conrad, AND the shell (which vibrates in a saluting position) all stop to salute the captain before the chase resumes and the cartoon ends (animated by Larriva).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕