Release Date:

December 1, 1945

Main Character(s):

Daffy Duck

Summary:

A father buys his kindergarten-age daughter, Agnes, a little duckling. This duckling grows up to be Daffy Duck, who begins to get on Father’s nerves. Father attempts to get rid of Daffy, despite Agnes not wanting him to harm Daffy.

That’s Not All, Folks:

Despite the production number being 11-15 (the 11th Looney Tune in the 15th release season), the cartoon was released as a Merrie Melodie.

This is Tashlin’s last Daffy Duck cartoon as well as his penultimate cartoon overall.

As Tashlin left before the cartoon’s release, he is uncredited.

The title is a pun for “nasty cracks”.

The cartoon is in the 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons book.

In one scene, Daffy packs his bags and leaves but returns instantly due to the government not wanting them to do any non-essential traveling. By the time the cartoon was released however, World War II had been over for three months.

What I Like About This One:

“The little duckling grew up quite rapidly”. As each month is torn off a calendar, Daffy grows and grows up to the point where his head hits the top edge of the screen. “You’re goin’ too fast, ya crazy!” (animated by Izzy Ellis)

“Then as most pets do, the little duckling became just like one of the family”, with while at breakfast, Daffy telling a nutty story about a crazy party he had while laughing hysterically: “You would’ve died laughin’! You know, somebody, he cut the hose and there was no water! What an evening! One in the books! Oh, I can’t tell ya! The little guy, he got 30 days for kickin’ a cop! Ain’t that a killer? Oh, brother, I never had so much fun in my life!” (animated by Richard Bickenbach)

Upon seeing Father with an annoyed “I am so done with this guy!” expression on his face, Daffy imitates his expression before Father irritably asks him, “Some coffee, IF you don’t mind!” Daffy pours him some (“Ok, sourpuss!”) before continuing his story (animated by Bickenbach): “We was in the house, and everything was flyin’! The furniture was goin’ in the door and out the window! What a time! One guy was swingin’ from a chandelier! You would’ve thought he was a monkey! Come to think of it, he WAS a monkey!” As he’s telling his story, Daffy is seen putting spoonful after spoonful of sugar in his coffee. Once he takes a sip, he winces, so he puts one more spoonful in and now it’s just right (animated by Arthur Davis).

Daffy and Father fighting over a slice of butter with knives. Father gets it and starts to spread it over his toast. Daffy knocks it out of his hand and declares, “En garde!” before they have a duel with knives that goes up the stairs. Daffy ends up knocking Father’s knife out of his hands and as Father nervously bites his nails, Daffy makes a gesture as if to say, “You may pick up your weapon, sir!” Relieved, Father bends down to pick him up, but Daffy kicks him in the behind (animated by Davis up to here) which sends Father falling down the stairs and sliding nose first into a Dutch door. As Father hits the lower half, Daffy declares, “Touche!” and runs off hoo-hooing. Father then runs into the upper half as Daffy declares, “Touche Number 2!” and again runs off hoo-hooing (animated by Ellis).

Before Father can hit Daffy with a baseball bat (animated by Ellis), Agnes suddenly steps in to Daffy’s defense and scolds Father while talking very fast ending with her wagging her finger and saying, “When you know I love him!” (animated by Bickenbach with Davis animating the closeup shot of Father)

Father drugging Daffy’s glass of water with a Mickey but Daffy switches glasses with him while he’s in the middle of another one of his crazy stories (animated by Ellis). Father declares a toast: “May we never quarrel again! Uh, bottoms up, Daffy!” After both finish their glasses, they stare at each other with determined expressions, until smoke comes out of Father’s ears, making him realize he drank his own booby trap (animated by Bickenbach). Still smoking, Father runs while holding his mouth (animated by Anatolle Kirsanoff), and crashes through the shut bathroom door (animated by Ellis).

Father next tries a duck mating call before spraying a perfume called “Eau Du La Duck”, which lures Daffy in the shape of a female to the tune of “Girlfriend of the Whirling Dervish”. The scent then stops being alluring and forms a pointing thumb to show Daffy that Father is about to decapitate him. Father nearly does, but Daffy’s head has only been pushed down between his shoulders (animated by Ellis).

Deciding he’s not wanted around here, Daffy packs his bags (animated by Ellis) and leaves but instantly returns. Father asks him if he forgot something to which Daffy says he did: “I forgot the government doesn’t want us to do any non-essential traveling!” before hitting his suitcase over Father’s head and hopping off hoo-hooing (animated by Davis).

Father gets into a running position before he gets an “Ah-ha!” look on his face, zooms out of the house and down the road, coming back seconds later with something for Agnes that she is completely enamored with: “Oh, a baby duck! Oh, Daddy, I love him! He’s so cute! I’m gonna keep you forever and ever and ever, you little darling. You can have the little bed that my old duck used to use”. As she’s saying this, Daffy nervously turns towards Father pounding his fist into his hand while sporting an evil smile and fluttering his eyebrows. After Agnes enters her room with the new duck, Father’s evil smile turns into a murderous grin as Daffy, realizing he’s screwed, sweats in fear and puts Father’s cigar that he was smoking on in his front pocket. Desperately calling for Agnes to open her door, Daffy gets more and more frantic as Father approaches him (animated by Davis up to here) but it’s no use as he gets booted out of the house. Crashing beak-first into a telephone pole, Daffy decides to eliminate the competition: “I’ll get him if it’s the last thing I do!” (animated by Ellis)

That night, Daffy sneaks up on the duckling with an ax but can’t bring himself to kill a little guy (animated by Ellis). So he decides to make him grow by feeding him Vitamin B1 (“I’ve got it! I’ll make a BIG duck out of him! One MY size! Then, I’ll kill him!”) . However, it grows into a sexy female duck, which only causes Daffy to shrug in surprise (animated by Bickenbach).

The next morning, Father happily tra-la-las down to breakfast, thinking his house is now a Daffy-free zone, only to see to his horror (animated by Davis) that Daffy and his new wife are at the table with their brood of ducklings causing chaos with Daffy telling another nutty story (animated by Ellis).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕