Release Date:

August 17, 1957

Main Character(s):

Daffy Duck, Taz

Summary:

Taz has escaped from the zoo. Greedy for the 5,000-dollar reward in capturing Taz, Daffy Duck learns that Taz’s weakness is music and through various music sources, attempts to lure Taz back to the zoo.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1443 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

This is the only Taz cartoon from the Golden Age where he does not go after Bugs (and rather interestingly, while both Taz and Marvin only appeared in five cartoons each during the Golden Age, they both usually faced off against Bugs, but in their respective third cartoons, they were Daffy’s antagonist).

The cartoon was restored for the Looney Tunes Super Stars Daffy Duck Frustrated Fowl DVD set in 2010, but was cropped to widescreen. The corrected full frame version was put out on disc a year later in 2011 on the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection Volume 1 Blu-ray set.

Taz’s weakness of music is based off of the metaphor, “music soothes the savage beast” (something which McKimson also had Bugs do with the gorilla at the end of “Hurdy Gurdy Hare”). However, he seems to hate bagpipes based on his reaction to Daffy dressed as a Scotsman playing said bagpipes (bagpipes being a widely-hated instrument is parodied at the end of the Garfield Show episode, “Not So Sweet Sound of Music”, which mostly revolves around Garfield trying to dispose of Jon’s accordion).

The title is a reference to the 1951 novel “Beat the Devil”. Here, “ducking” refers to avoiding.

Taz would actually take an even longer gap between the releases of “Devil May Hare” and “Bedevilled Rabbit” as he would not appear after this one again until 1962’s “Bill of Hare”.

“Zookeeper Burton” refers to executive John Burton, who would soon replace Eddie Selzer as producer after the latter’s retirement.

Had this cartoon been made in the 2000’s, Daffy’s usage of music would come from far more easier sources (technology, for one).

Unfortunately, the animator draft for the cartoon does not exist anywhere online.

This is one of the very few post-1949 cartoons where Daffy gets a happy ending. This would also happen in 1963’s “Aqua Duck” (also directed by McKimson).

Daffy not only succeeds in getting the 5,000-dollar reward but also manages to keep it by the cartoon’s end.

Favorite Scene:

The ending with Daffy having an offscreen fight with Taz after the latter snatches a dollar bill he accidentally dropped- with Daffy actually winning, for once.

What Happens in This One:

A delivery truck made out of metal drives to the City Zoo where the zookeeper, armed with a large metal fork, is standing in front of a large cage complete with metal door, wire walls, and a sign, “Reserved for Tasmanian Devil”. The offscreen driver of the metal truck deposits Taz’s crate- also made of metal- out of the back and tells the zookeeper, “It’s all yours, mac, and good riddance!” before leaving. The zookeeper jabs his metal fork into the cage to keep the growling and snarling Taz down only for the top part to get damaged by Taz. Taz then manages to open his door, scaring the zookeeper away. After spinning around for a bit, Taz stops where several people see that he’s on the loose and scream in terror before everyone runs away (animated by Warren Batchelder).

Meanwhile, at Daffy’s pond home- complete with mailbox and welcome mat in front of said pond-, Daffy is seen in the middle of the water against a floating cushion and reading the paper aloud, “Tasmanian Devil Escapes From Zoo”. Scratching his head, he wonders, “Now what in the world is a Tasmanian Devil?” Daffy is given his answer when he reads a small warning article about him also aloud, “The Tasmanian Devil is a powerful, vicious, evil-tempered brute. Hungry at all times, it will eat anything but is especially fond of wild duck!?” He groans in disgusted shock about this before dropping the paper and boldly declaring, “Well, he’d just better not come messing around in THIS neck of the woods, brother! Because this little black duck may be small, but I’m not a coward!” (animated by Batchelder)

Taz then approaches, spinning through various items, as Daffy watches. Once Taz stops spinning, he looks around and upon spotting Daffy, points at him and licks his lips hungrily (animated by George Grandpre). Seeing what Taz looks like, Daffy screams in fear and realizes, “Correction! I AM a coward!” before diving down into the water headfirst with his rear end sticking out. Taz takes a dried flower and uses the stem as a straw to suck all the water out, leaving Daffy hiding in nothing and then plopping headfirst into the muddy bottom of the drained pond. Taz enters the empty pond spinning with Daffy repeatedly jumping into the air, presumably from Taz trying to bite at him. As he runs off, Daffy pants, “I AM a coward! A craven, little scared-to-death coward!” (animated by Batchelder)

Daffy runs toward the City Hamburger Center (which is advertised as “Raw! Raw! Raw!”) 10 miles from the City Center- which is also 10 feet in front of the sign pointing these out-, where a radio is playing a swing version of “Sweet Georgia Brown”. The music stops for an announcer, “We interrupt our program to bring you an important news bulletin. The Tasmanian Devil is still at large”. Daffy responds, “You’re telling me!” Taz spins past the hamburger center as the announcer continues, “An extremely rare and valuable animal, a 5,000-dollar reward has been offered for its capture”. Daffy sits down on one of the center’s seats and asks, “5,000 dollars?”, to which the announcer responds back, “That’s right. 5,000 bucks”. Daffy boasts, “I may be a craven little coward, but I’m a GREEDY craven little coward! I’ve just gotta have that 5 G’s!” The announcer makes another report, “Flash! According to Zookeeper Burton, this brute becomes docile when exposed to music”. When Daffy asks, “Music? Where am I gonna get music?”, the announcer responds as if it heard him, “We now continue our program of dance music”. Delighted, Daffy turns off the radio and walks out with it (animated by Ted Bonnicksen).

Carrying the radio, Daffy calls out, “Tasmanian Devil! Here, Taz boy! Come get your nice little juicy duck dinner! Come, Taz!” Taz hears him from atop a nearby hill and spins down towards him. Daffy encourages, “That’s the boy, Tazzy! Come and hear the pretty music!” Once he turns on the radio and every time he tries to change it, he keeps getting stations of random sound effects as he becomes more and more frantic. He manages to change it to a station playing “It’s Magic” just in time, which calms Taz down, much to Daffy’s relief. Daffy walks with the radio luring Taz as if he’s in a trance, “Just follow Papa, you beautiful (animated by Bonnicksen up to here) 5,000-dollar baggy-eyed slob!” As he passes a sign that reads, “City Zoo 10 Miles”, Daffy snaps his finger as he scoffs, “Ha! What a cinch! 5,000 bucks for a ten-mile hike!” He speaks too soon however as the cord that has the radio plugged in comes out due to Daffy having walked a certain distance, causing the music to abruptly stop and revert Taz back into a growling beast. Daffy shoves the radio in Taz’s hands, lets out a “YIKE!” and runs away. Taz tosses the radio aside and continues after Daffy (animated by Batchelder).

Taz spins by a large mailbox that Daffy was hiding in. Daffy then jumps out and mail-orders something. Pacing back and forth, he says to himself, “Sakes, I wish they’d hurry!” The mailman arrives shortly with a “Package for Daffy Duck!” After Daffy tells him, “Thank you, my good man”, he whistles to get Taz’s attention, “Hey, baggy eyes!” and then taunts him by making a ululating noise. As Taz approaches him, Daffy’s package is revealed to be a trombone that he frantically attempts to put together and once he does, plays a tune on said trombone that gets Taz to again follow him charmed. Unfortunately, the trombone’s slide goes shooting upward and gets stuck on a high tree branch. Daffy combats Taz’s snapping at him by blowing into the remainder of the trombone like a bugle, and yells, “THEY’RE OFF!”, before he runs off himself (animated by Grandpre).

Taz continues after Daffy and soon comes across Daffy walking up to him, playing bagpipes and dressed as a Scotsman. Clearly showing that he absolutely hates bagpipes, Taz steals them and repeatedly jumps on them, rendering them destroyed. Daffy then resorts to singing “L’amour Toujours L’amour”. Seeing that Taz is just as charmed by his voice, Daffy looks at the audience with a “Eureka!” moment expression (animated by Grandpre).

After a while as Daffy is having Taz follow him while he sings “I’m Looking Over a Four-Leafed Clover”, they are six miles away from the zoo. He starts to sound hoarse when singing “Carolina in the Morning” once they’re three miles away. By the time they’re only one mile away, Daffy is also starting to become tired from the long walk as he sings a strained “When Irish Eyes are Smiling”. They finally reach Taz’s cage at the zoo where Daffy’s voice gives out in the middle of “On Moonlight Bay”. He sprays the inside of his mouth with a throat spray, allowing him to finish the song at full vocal strength and successfully getting Taz locked in his cage. Walking away gleefully while counting his reward money, Daffy accidentally drops one of the dollars. Taz sticks his hand out from under the cage and grabs it. Daffy runs into the cage and starts fighting Taz for it as the screen shakes wildly, “Hey, that’s mine! Let go of that money! It’s mine, mine, do you hear me!? Mine, all of mine! And-and what’s mine is mine! And-and nobody’s gonna get it!” After the fight, Daffy comes out thoroughly unscathed- with a dazed Taz sitting in the back of his cage- and having successfully reclaimed this dollar bill, which is slightly torn in half but still acceptable, he pants, “Like I said, I’m a coward, but I’m a GREEDY little coward!” (animated by Bonnicksen)

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕