Release Date:

May 1, 1943

Main Character(s):

Daffy Duck

Summary:

A wimpy man named Mr. Meek has to catch a duck for dinner to please his offscreen nagging wife, “Sweetie Puss”. He gets more than he bargained for when he attempts to catch Daffy Duck.

That’s Not All, Folks:

This is the fourth Looney Tune in color.

Notably, this is the only Warner cartoon to have animation by ex-Disney animator Art Babbitt. In this case, he animated the scene of Daffy stripteasing.

Mr. Meek would later appear in the audience in the 1991 TV special “Bugs Bunny’s Overtures to Disaster” as well as a health inspector in the Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries episode “California’s Crusty Bronze”.

Porky is featured in the intro, despite not appearing.

When I first watched this one with my brothers when we were young, during the scene where Mr. Meek tells the audience “If I don’t roast a duck for dinner, she’ll (his wife) cook my goose!” Since they were too young to understand figurative language, both assumed that “he loves his goose”.

This is the first cartoon to have animation by Robert McKimson’s older brother, Thomas McKimson, so like with Charles, I am going to refer to the McKimsons by their first names to avoid confusion when talking about their scenes.

This is the first Warner cartoon where a character has their “palm read”, where he gets his hand painted red by the other character.

What I Like About This One:

Daffy tossing food into his mouth while singing “I Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Feathers” as Mr. Meek attempts to behead him with an ax when Daffy happens to be leaning on the chopping block. He suddenly stops to yell, “WATCH IT, BUB!” before saying “You’re liable to hurt somebody with that thing!” Daffy then flicks his beak into Mr. Meek’s chin, causing Mr. Meek’s head to vibrate like a babbling auctioneer (animated by Robert McKimson).

Daffy jumping into a haystack where Mr. Meek attempts to swing at him again after Daffy tauntingly says, “I see you!” Hiding on the other side of the haystack, Daffy fakes crying out in agony before throwing ketchup everywhere (animated by Robert) and pushing his head into his collar (animated by Art Babbitt), acting like a beheaded chicken (animated by Rod Scribner).

Depressed at having apparently killed Daffy (animated by Virgil Ross), Mr. Meek walks into the house and finds Daffy putting sugar lump after sugar lump into a cup of coffee. Daffy asks, “What’s all the hubbub, bub?” Unaware of who he’s talking to, Mr. Meek sadly responds, “Oh, goodness. I’ve just killed a poor defenseless little duck.” Daffy attempts to make him feel better: “Ah, buck up, BB Eyes. Here, have a swig of swamp water” (actually coffee). Upon asking Daffy how many lumps Mr. Meek’s wife gives him, Mr. Meek reveals “well the smart and Sweetie Puss only gave me one lump” to which he takes off his little hat and shows Daffy said lump. Daffy gives him another lump as well as some cream which he pours over Mr. Meek’s head (animated by Robert).

Upon seeing Daffy dance in several pies while nonsensically singing, “Mammy’s little boobie loves shortnin’ shortnin’ Mammy’s little boobie loves shortnin’ bread!” (animated by Phil Monroe), Mr. Meek realizes, “Say that’s that Daffy Duck!” Daffy yells, “You ain’t just whistlin’ Dixie!” and pies Mr. Meek in the face (animated by Ross).

Daffy biting Mr. Meek’s nose when he looks into a curtain (animated by Monroe).

Daffy next tricks Mr. Meek into crashing into a wall after he paints a picture of himself on the wall (animated by Ross).

Zooming up into the air (animated by Monroe), Daffy imitates a plane and drops an egg on Mr. Meek’s head like a bomb (animated by Robert). After Mr. Meek gets yolk all over his head, Daffy imitates an explosion with several loud noises such as yelling the appropriate sound effects and breaking dishes. At one point he gets tired and says “Say, I’m pooped!” before continuing with the noise (animated by Ross). Mr. Meek gets so angry at this that he turns red in the face which causes the egg to fry on top of his head (animated by Robert).

Now coming face to face with Mr. Meek’s rifle (animated by Monroe), Daffy is pinned against the wall (animated by Robert) and sees Mr. Meek opening the oven door and angrily pointing in the direction of the oven as if to say “Get in there!” (animated by Thomas) Realizing, “Well, it looks like Sweetie Puss gets duck for dinner after all, don’t it?” (animated by Robert), Daffy performs a distraction: doing a feminine-like striptease to the tune of “It Had to Be You”. At one point, Daffy kisses Mr. Meek causing him to turn red in the face and giggle, “Oh, gosh” (animated by Babbitt).

The chase then continues with Mr. Meek chasing Daffy up the stairs and then sliding down the banister. And just for good measure, Daffy maneuvers a soldier statue with a “Buy Bonds” shield and a spear to point towards the banister, resulting in Mr. Meek getting stabbed in the behind by the spear, and letting out a yelp of pain that sounds absolutely hilarious (animated by Thomas).

Daffy showing up at the door disguised as a fortune teller and speaking like Jerry Colonna. Seeing that Mr. Meek has no bumps on his head when attempting to read them, he wallops him on the head to create bumps. He also attempts to have his “palm read” by painting Mr. Meek’s palm red (animated by Robert).

Daffy then runs into Mr. Meek’s rifle a second time (animated by Monroe), causing him to complain, “Oh, no! Not twice in the same picture!” This time, Mr. Meek blasts Daffy’s feathers off and sticks him in the oven (animated by Robert), turning the heat all the way up. Hearing Daffy’s pained screams, Mr. Meek feels guilty and opens it, revealing Daffy laughing and basting himself, “Say, now you’re cookin’ with gas!” (animated by Scribner)

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕