Release Date:

February 28, 1953

Main Character(s):

Daffy Duck

Summary:

Daffy Duck gets tormented by an unseen animator.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1240 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

This is a parody of fourth wall breaking as Daffy is fully aware that he’s in a cartoon, but is unaware of who’s tormenting him.

The cartoon is ranked number 2 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons and is also in the 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons book.

The cartoon was submitted for an Academy Award, but was inexplicably not even nominated (definitely one of the biggest sins of the Academy Awards people).

Jones would rework this cartoon’s premise in “Rabbit Rampage” but with Bugs being the one tormented instead and with Ben Washam being the sole animator on that cartoon.

Speaking of Washam, he was the inspiration behind the line, “Thanks for the sour persimmons, cousin!”, as that was something he’d often say when upset (since he grew up in rural Arkansas, he often said some peculiar outbursts like “Thunder foot over Possum Bridge!”)

The cartoon was used in the 1979 compilation movie, “The Bugs Bunny-Roadrunner Movie”.

During the revelation of who the animator is at the end, a live-action animation desk is used instead of a cartoon background.

The cartoon entered the National Film Registry in 1999.

“The Penguin” plays during the scene where Daffy is redrawn as the hilariously bizarre flower-headed creature.

Jones’ autobiography, “Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist” is named after this cartoon.

Daffy would be seen as the flower-headed creature again in McKimson’s “A Haunting We Will Go” (1966) where he turns into it from drinking a potion. The gag where Daffy’s parachute is replaced with an anvil is also reused in that cartoon.

The framing sequences for the 1980 TV special, “Daffy Duck’s Easter Egg-Citement” (which contains three cartoons specifically made for said special, “The Yolks on You”, “The Chocolate Chase”, and “Daffy Flies North”) are an homage to this cartoon where Daffy is again tormented by an offscreen animator.

The 2016 Looney Tunes comic, “Duckier and Amuckier” reuses the premise of this cartoon as a direct sequel.

The ending to this cartoon is paid homage to in the Looney Tunes Cartoons episode, “Rage Rover” (2021).

Favorite Scene:

Daffy gets turned into a bizarre flower-headed creature and is oblivious to this transformation until the animator draws a mirror for him to take a look at himself. “EEEEEEEE! YOU KNOW BETTER THAN THAT!”

What Happens in This One:

Amidst a medieval setting, Daffy is dressed as a swashbuckling musketeer, swinging his sword, “Stand back, musketeers! They shall sample MY blade! Touche! (grunts four times)” He then notices that the scenery has suddenly disappeared and he is now against nothing but a white background, “Musketeers? Hmm? En garde? Hmm? My blade?”, before sneaking away. Daffy peeks back into the frame and whispers, “Hey. Psst. Whoever’s in charge here. The scenery. Where’s the scenery?” (animated by Ken Harris)

The animator paints a farm landscape, but Daffy returns in his musketeer garb before realizing the change of background, “Stand back, musketeers! They shall sample… my…. blade? Hmm?” Daffy gives the animator a “Seriously?” look but decides to put up with it, “Okay. Have it your way” and dashes off (animated by Harris) before returning dressed as a farmer. As he walks by, the farm scenery changes to one in the Arctic: “Daffy Duck, he had a farm, E,I,E,I,O. And on this farm, he had an igloo. E, I, E, I-O”, saying the “O” in a confused way. Daffy asks the animator in annoyance, “Would it be too much to ask if we could make up our minds? Hmm?” Daffy returns in winter clothes and with skis, before the landscape turns into a tropical paradise: “Dashing through the snow. Ya-ha-ha-ha-ha. Through the fields we go. Laughing all the way-yay-yay….” Now returning dressed in a Hawaiian villager outfit playing a ukelele, Daffy walks across the tropical landscape, singing “Farewell to thee. Farewell to thee. The wind will carry back our sad refrain. One last embrace, before we say-”, but he then comes across another empty white background. Daffy informs the animator, “Buster, it may come as a complete surprise to you to find that this is an animated cartoon. And that in animated cartoons, they have scenery. And in all the years I-”, but he is then erased in the middle of talking. Unseen, Daffy asks, “Alright, wise guy. Where am I?” (animated by Ben Washam)

Daffy is painted back in and dressed as a cowboy. Shrugging, he attempts to play a Western tune on the guitar he has but no noise comes out of it. He holds up a sign, “Sound Please!”, but the only noise that comes out of it is machine gun fire. Daffy attempts to strum it again, but a car horn is heard instead. When smashing the guitar down on the ground in frustration, the noise is a donkey braying. Daffy returns and begins to give the animator a piece of his mind but the only noise that emits from his mouth is a rooster crowing followed by clucking noises. Attempting to speak again, only jungle noises come out. Daffy covers his mouth in embarrassment before taking his hand off of his mouth, and a creaking noise emits from his mouth. Daffy then becomes frustrated with his eyes literally turning red and exclaims in enraged gibberish before he yells, “AND I’VE NEVER BEEN SO HUMILIATED IN ALL MY LIFE!” After his eyes return to normal, Daffy tries to reason, “Look, mac. Just what’s goin’ on around here? Let’s get organized, hmm? How about some scenery?” (animated by Lloyd Vaughan)

The animator draws a poorly-drawn town setting with a pencil and also doesn’t color it in. Daffy sarcastically comments, “That’s dandy. Ho ho. That’s rich, I’ll say”, before rudely asking, “Now how about some color, stupid?” The animator complies by painting a bunch of random colors and patterns on Daffy himself (who exclaims “Hey!” when the animator does this). Daffy yells, “NOT ME, YOU SLOP-ARTIST!”, before the animator erases his painted body while he breathes in fury, leaving only his eyes and beak. Daffy asks, “Well? Where’s the rest of me?” The animator redraws him as a hilariously bizarre four-legged creature with a flower for a head and a flagpole for a tail with the flag on it being a picture of a screw and a baseball to signify “screwball”. Oblivious to his new body, Daffy walks off while talking to himself, “It isn’t as though I haven’t lived up to my contract, goodness knows. And, goodness knows, it isn’t as though I haven’t kept myself trim, goodness knows, I-I’ve done that. That’s strange. All of a sudden, I don’t quite feel like myself. Well, I feel alright. And yet I, I, uh….”, but then sees what he now looks like in a mirror the animator has painted next to him, “EEEEEEE! YOU KNOW BETTER THAN THAT!” Daffy and the mirror are erased before an unseen Daffy asks, “Well?” (animated by Vaughan)

Redrawn back in his normal body, Daffy sees the animator has dressed him up in a sailor outfit, “Hmm, sea picture, eh? I’ve always wanted to do a sea epic. Now, Mr. Rembrandt. If you’ll kindly oblige with a little appropriate scenery”. As Daffy begins singing “Song of the Marines”, the animator paints an ocean landscape around him where Daffy ends up standing right above the water and only plops in when he realizes this: “Over the sea, let’s go men. We’ve shoving right off, we’re shoving right off… again?” After falling into the water, Daffy comes out on an island in the distance. He shouts, “Hey! Come here! Come here! Give me a close-up! A close-up!” The entire screen just crops out everything except for where Daffy is. “This is a close-up!?” Daffy yells, “A close-up, ya jerk! A CLOSE-UP!” The screen then zooms right into Daffy’s angry bloodshot eyes (animated by Vaughan).

Daffy walks away from the camera and retorts, “Thanks for the sour persimmons, cousin!” He tries to reason again, “Now, look, buster. Let’s have an understanding!” A black blob from atop the screen begins to slump onto his head. “Now what?” When a stick is drawn next to him to hold it up, he remarks, “Brother! What a way to run a railroad!” as he props it up to hold the black blob. “Now then, as I was saying-”, but the blob proves too heavy for the stick to hold up as it breaks and the blob then falls on Daffy, who strains from holding it up himself to keep it from engulfing him. He finally screams and tears the blob to shreds before requesting, “Alright. Now let’s get this picture started”, but the iris out closes and a “The End” card appears. Daffy pushes it off to the side while shouting, “No! No!” (animated by Washam)

Daffy once more tries to reason, “Listen, pal. Let’s discuss this thing sanely, huh? Look, I tell you what. You go your way and I’ll go mine. Live and let live. Right? Right”. He then tells the audience, “Ladies and gentlemen. There will be no further delays, so I shall attempt to entertain you in my own inim-m-mitable fashion”, before beginning to dance to “The Old Folks at Home”. The camera’s projector then moves and leaves Daffy on the bottom of the screen, “Now what!?”, and a Daffy clone from above him who asks, “What are you doing down there?” Daffy is bewildered, “Down here? What are you doing up THERE!? ‘Down here’”. The Daffy clone pulls Daffy up to him as Daffy threatens, “Listen, bud, if you wasn’t me, I’d smack you right in the puss!” The Daffy clone sneers, “Don’t let that bother ya, Jack!” Daffy attempts to land a punch on him, “Okay, buddy, you asked for it!”, but the animator erases the Daffy clone, causing Daffy to spin around and get dizzy (animated by Washam).

The animator then paints a sky backdrop and has Daffy dressed like a pilot and seated in a plane. “Oh, brother! I’m a buzzboy!”, Daffy says ecstatically. Daffy flies the plane without any trouble at first, but then the animator paints a mountain in the way that Daffy crashes into offscreen. Seeing he’s flying in the air with just the wheel and cockpit and nothing under him, Daffy realizes, “Uh oh. Time to hit that old silk!” and jumps out while shouting, “Geronimo!” before opening his parachute. The animator replaces it with an anvil that sends Daffy zooming down to the ground and crashing on the ground offscreen (animated by Washam).

Dazed from the crash, Daffy starts groggily reciting “The Village Smithy” while pounding the anvil with a metal mallet. The animator replaces it with an artillery shell that explodes after a few hits. Coming to his senses, Daffy has had enough, “Alright. Enough is enough! This is the final! The- the very, very last straw! Who is responsible for this!? This- I DEMAND that you show yourself! Who are you!? Huh!?” The animator draws a door frame and then a door before shutting it on Daffy, so he doesn’t see who it is (animated by Harris). The animator is revealed to be none other than Bugs Bunny, who chuckles, “Ain’t I a stinker?” (animated by Washam)

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕