Release Date:

January 4, 1958

Main Character(s):

Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Barnyard Dawg

Summary:

Daffy Duck and Barnyard Dawg are both residents of Elmer Fudd’s farm and fight each other over food. When Elmer’s wife is having a guest over for dinner, Dawg convinces her to make roast duck, with Elmer planning to behead Daffy for this. Realizing what’s going on, Daffy keeps trying to flatter Elmer out of it.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1469 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

This is the only cartoon where Elmer is married, with Mrs. Fudd having a full head of red hair in a ponytail, being slightly dumber than him, and having a speech impediment exactly like him.

Dawg is named “Rover” in this cartoon and also has a different voice than he does in the Foghorn cartoons.

The title is a pun for “don’t ask me”. Oddly, the British spelling of “ax” is used instead.

This is the first Warner cartoon to feature animation by Tom Ray who would animate for McKimson up until early 1961 before he switched to Jones’ unit and would stay there up until the original studio’s closure in 1964 (he even went with Jones’ unit to MGM when they did their own series of Tom and Jerry cartoons). Here, he is credited alongside Ted Bonnicksen and George Grandpre, although Warren Batchelder still remains uncredited.

While Daffy’s definitely more of a jerk here, hints of his original screwball persona are evident in a few scenes.

The “hot towel removes face” gag is reused from “Wise Quackers”.

The cartoon was going to be on the Looney Tunes Super Stars Daffy Duck Frustrated Fowl DVD set in 2010, before being reconsidered. It was later restored for HBO Max in 2020, and will finally appear on disc in remastered format on the upcoming Looney Tunes Collector’s Vault Volume 3 Blu-ray set (which coincidentally comes out the same day we finish 1958. Ironically, this is the first cartoon of that year).

Part of the animator draft for the cartoon can be viewed here.

Favorite Scene:

Dawg trying to have Mrs. Fudd guess his idea for dinner via charades only for her to give out several wrong answers. When he lies down in a pan like a roast, she initially assumes roast dog, which causes Dawg to finally snap and clarify that he meant “Roast D-U-C-K, duck!”

What Happens in This One:

At sunrise on Elmer’s farm (animated by Warren Batchelder), Elmer comes out with a large dish of food and calls out, “Here, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck. Come and get your bweakfast!” Daffy, wearing a napkin around his neck, immediately runs in and eats the whole dish as well as Elmer’s arm. Elmer pushes him off, “But don’t eat my arm off!” before tsking, “I never saw anyone so gweedy!” Daffy swallows the whole dish and gives an innocent “Quack, quack” before Elmer scolds, “Now you’ve had enough! I never saw such a gweedy pig!” Daffy imitates a pig, which Elmer dismisses as he walks back into the house (animated by Tom Ray).

Disgusted, Daffy sulks, “Cheap punk! Not even a drop in the bucket for MY greedy little stomach!” He then hears Elmer call, “Here, Wover! Here, Wover! Come on, Wover boy, get your bweakfast!” Holding a silver platter, Elmer hears Daffy imitating a dog and then turns around to see him panting like one. “Oh, you again!?” Daffy nods to this before Elmer shoos him away, “Now beat it, you cwazy duck! Scwam!” After Elmer once more calls, “Here, Wover!”, Dawg appears, barking happily for his anticipated meal. Elmer presents it as he takes the lid off, “A special Sunday bweakfast for my faithful old hound dog- a nice big ham bone!” (animated by Ray) Daffy groans in disgust about this, “The way he pampers that flea-bitten apple polisher! Easy, stomach!” (animated by Batchelder)

Elmer walks back into the house, telling Dawg, “Eat hearty!” Just as Dawg is about to eat his meal, Daffy steals the ham bone and eats it himself before putting the platter lid over Dawg’s head and banging it with the bone, provoking Dawg into chasing him while barking angrily. Elmer comes out to see what’s going on and scolds, “Wover, what’s gotten into you? Stop chasing that duck! You come here!” He then sends Dawg back into the house, pointing in that direction, “Now you go in the house and behave yourself!” Elmer ponders to himself, “Gwacious sakes! What’s getting into these animals today?” (animated by George Grandpre)

As Dawg goes into the living room grumbling to himself before lying down, Mrs. Fudd is finishing a conversation with her dinner guest on the phone, “Oh, I’m dewighted, Wevewend Bwown. We’ll expect you for dinner tonight at 6. Goodbye”. She then hangs up and walks toward Dawg as she thinks to herself, “Wet’s see. I had chicken and dumpwings wast time”. Mrs. Fudd asks Dawg, “Mm, Wover? What shall I pwepare for dinner?”, before thinking of ideas, “Ham hocks and bwown-eyed peas” (animated by Ray). Dawg thinks of one in order to get back at Daffy as he gets up, shaking his head and saying “Uh uh” several times. Mrs. Fudd: “No?” He runs off to the closet (animated by Batchelder) and comes out of it wearing flippers and imitating a duck (animated by Ted Bonnicksen).

Mrs. Fudd sees this as a game, “Oh, chawades! I WOVE chawades! Quack, quack? Um, cwackers? Cwackers and cheese?” Dawg shakes his head and imitates a duck again. Mrs. Fudd’s next guess is, “Cwackers and milk?”, causing Dawg to slap his face and let out a “Shee!” He then grunts while holding up two fingers. “Two? Oh, two words?” Dawg nods before holding up one finger. “First word?”, Mrs. Fudd guesses, before Dawg imitates rowing a boat. “Oar? Paddle? Whoa? (her pronunciation of “row”)” Dawg becomes excited at her beginning to get it right, “Whoa? Whoa?”, as he begins to pretend pulling something, “Whoa? Whoa boat! (rowboat)” Dawg sighs, “Ay-yi-yi!” before turning Mrs. Fudd around to have her face in the kitchen while he imitates a roast in a pan, complete with an apple in his mouth. She makes another incorrect guess, “Whoa? Woast! Woast? Woast dog!” Horrified at the idea of roast dog, Dawg gets out of the pan and verbally tells her what he meant all this time, “No! Roast D-U-C-K, duck! Shee!” She agrees to his idea, “Woast duck? Oh, that’s a spwendid idea, Wover?” (animated by Bonnicksen)

Mrs. Fudd walks out with an ax and calls for Elmer, much to Daffy’s concern. Taking the ax, Elmer is eager to do the job, “The bwack duck? It’ll be a pweasure, bewieve me!”, before laughing. He then hides the ax behind his back and calls, “Here, duck. Here, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck. Now where is that duck?” (animated by Grandpre Dawg points to where Daffy is hiding beside the house while barking, to which Daffy storms out, “Stool pigeon!” and then mutters, “This is just disgust- (indistinct)!” (animated by Batchelder)

Daffy walks up to Elmer, fully aware of what his intentions are, “Ah, there you are! I’ve been looking all over for you! I just wrote a letter naming you for the Outstandingly Kind to Animals Award!” Elmer: “Oh, why, thank you”. Daffy: “Tut-tut-tut-tut. You deserve it!” As Dawg watches in confusion, Daffy continues, “You’re not like those farmers who raise little chicks and ducks from egghood, fatten ‘em up, then lop off their heads with an ax!”, raising his voice when mentioning that last part. Elmer: “Oh, my gwacious!” Daffy: “You couldn’t do such a despicable thing, could you?” Elmer: “Oh, uh, no. Of course not!” Daffy replies, “Good! Then you won’t need this!”, taking the ax away and throwing it into a nearby well (animated by Bonnicksen).

Daffy then walks off, “Well, so long! I’d better mail that letter!” Wearing an old-fashioned swimsuit, Dawg dives into the well and brings back the ax, holding it in his mouth, to which Elmer replies somewhat awkwardly, “Oh, uh, thank you, Wover!” Daffy lassos the rope away from Dawg’s clutches, causing Dawg to run (animated by Bonnicksen) towards Daffy hiding behind the side of the house and going into a pointer position. Daffy angrily yells, “SNEAKY SLOB!” and clobbers Dawg on the head with the non-sharp end of the blade, giving him a lump (animated by Batchelder).

Elmer takes out an old-fashioned straight razor from the porch’s desk drawer, “I’ll have to do it, but… I just can’t wet him KNOW I’m going to do it!” Putting the razor in his pocket, Elmer remarks, “This’ll be more easier to conceal than an ax”. Walking off to find Daffy, he comments to himself, “That duck and his fwattewy!” Daffy suddenly enters and asks, “Hey, mac! Got a razor on ya?” Without thinking, Elmer takes it out, “Why, yes. Uh, wight here!” When Daffy exclaims, “Ah ha!” while pointing at him, Elmer makes an excuse as to why he has a razor in his possession, “But- but I was just going to shave myself!” Daffy takes the razor and backs Elmer into a nearby rocking chair for him to sit down as if he’s in a salon, “Oh, no! Not while your humble servant can lift a razor! That’s the least I can do for the kind humane way you treat me!” Daffy walks out and returns to put a hot towel on Elmer’s face, “Well, what do you think of the theories? Looks like the market’s due for a rise if stocks don’t go down!” The towel is so hot that it ends up removing Elmer’s face, with it now being on the towel. Daffy puts the towel back on him which gives Elmer his face back. Angry at this, Elmer threatens, “Oh, that’s the wast stwaw! NOW you’re gonna get it!” Daffy nervously leaves, “I’ll- I’ll tear up the letter!” Dawg comes in with the ax, which Elmer grabs and begins chasing Daffy with it (animated by Ray).

After a three-way chase with either Daffy stealing the ax from Elmer, Dawg stealing it from Daffy, and Dawg giving it to Elmer (animated by Ray), Elmer corners Daffy up in a tree and is about to chop it down when Daffy descends the tree, pretending to surrender, “Alright! Alright, I’m pooped! I give up! But the least you could do is use a sharp ax!” Elmer reasons, “Well, it seems like a weasonable wequest!” Daffy takes the ax from him and grinds it down to nothingness on the grinding wheel, “Well, what do you know? No more ax! Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!” Elmer just laughs and calls smugly, “Wover!” Dawg comes in with Elmer’s rifle as the latter laughs, “He who waughs wast!” and aims at Daffy before the scene fades out (animated by Batchelder).

At dinner, Mrs. Fudd informs her unseen guest, “Dinner will be weady in a few minutes, Wevewend Bwown! I hope you wike woast duck!” Reverend Brown reveals, “Oh, I should’ve told you. I’m a vegetarian (animated by Bonnicksen). Never eat duck!” Having not been cooked yet, a completely featherless Daffy silently reacts in shock about this having been a pointless chase, “NOW he tells us! JEEZ!” and walks off in fury (animated by Batchelder).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

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