Release Date:

January 1, 1949

Main Character(s):

Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd

Summary:

Too tired to fly all the way south, Daffy Duck crash lands on hunter Elmer Fudd’s farm and in order to avoid being shot, offers to be a slave to him. As a “slave”, Daffy uses this as an opportunity to heckle Elmer.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1063 and was released as a Looney Tune.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue.

This is the third Warner cartoon to be released on New Year’s Day, with the first two being “Daffy Duck and Egghead” (1938) and “Little Red Riding Rabbit” (1944). Two more Warner cartoons would also be released on New Year’s Day, with those being “Pizzicato Pussycat” (1955) and “The Astroduck” (1966).

The cartoon no longer airs on television due to being centered around slavery. However, this isn’t a cartoon considered offensive, as there actually aren’t any racial stereotypes in it. It was also restored for the Looney Tunes Super Stars Daffy Duck Frustrated Fowl DVD set in 2010 and as it was released before 1953, it is one of the few cartoons on the first two Looney Tunes Super Stars DVDs to be presented properly (all of the post-1953 cartoons on the Daffy DVD as well as the concurrent Bugs Bunny Hare Extraordinaire DVD were incorrectly cropped to widescreen as a result of misinformation as to how the cartoons were supposed to be presented. Although the affected cartoons would all be released restored in their correct aspect ratio later on, the two DVDs are still worth getting for all of the pre-1954 cartoons. Rarities like this one also make them worth the price of admission alone).

This is the first Freleng cartoon to credit Pete Burness alongside the usual animators in his unit around the time (Manuel Perez, Ken Champin, Virgil Ross, and Gerry Chiniquy).

The cartoon is not to be confused with the similarly titled cartoons “Wise Quacks” and “The Wise Quacking Duck” (all of them have completely different plots, though).

The cartoon was used in the 1982 compilation movie “Bugs Bunny’s 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales”.

For a blink and you’ll miss it second, a barn called “Hadley Pert” is seen as well as a yellow barn at the end of the cartoon. These are yet more variations on Hawley Pratt.

The “hot towel removes face” gag would be reused in McKimson’s “Don’t Axe Me” (1958; coincidentally that is the first cartoon of that year and is also a Daffy and Elmer cartoon taking place on a farm).

The cartoon is referenced in the intro part of the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons as one of the things to pick up when watching these cartoons: “Never let Bugs or Daffy shave you”, with Bugs’ case being a reference to one of the greatest cartoons of all time, Jones’ 1950 masterpiece, “Rabbit of Seville” (I got the Complete Illustrated Guide book for my 11th birthday in 2015, and due to it containing a complete synopsis for every Warner cartoon, that was how I was able to find out what happens in every Warner cartoon I hadn’t seen before then. 2019 was the year where I could finally say I had seen every Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoon at least once. The period where I am doing posts on every cartoon, June 29, 2023 to April 30, 2027, is actually the first time where I am watching every single one in chronological order as I always rewatch the specific cartoon while I write these posts in order to make sure my opinions, everything I have to say about them, and who animated what scene are all 100% accurate).

What I Like About This One:

The absolutely awesome rendition of “You Never Know Where You’re Going Till You Get There” during the opening credits, which starts the year off with a bang and signifies that 1949 is going to be another amazing year for the Looney Tunes.

Struggling to keep up with his fellow ducks, Daffy pants, “It’s no use. I’ll never make it. I’m all out of condition. I can’t go any further” before coming to a stop and falling down from the sky like a plane about to crash (animated by Ken Champin).

Daffy radios like a pilot: “Hello, calling emergency field. Hello, calling emergency field. This is Duck 347. Request landing instructions. Over”. Elmer’s voice is heard on the radio telling him he is clear to land. Daffy comments that he can’t see a thing and is “flyin’ blind”, while he’s wearing dark glasses and holding a cane like a blind person. With an evil smile, Elmer continues talking into the radio, “You’re wight on the beam” before giving an evil snicker (animated by Manuel Perez).

Daffy comes in “on a wing and a prayer” and crash lands across the land as the camera pans. Unscathed, Daffy laughs that he made a “perfect three-point landing” and finds that he literally did so on a three-tined pitchfork! (animated by Champin)

Seeing Elmer pointing his gun at him and laughing, Daffy realizes, “I’ve been ambushed”. Elmer confirms, “Quite cowwect, Mr. Duck. Your goose is cooked”. Before offering to be his slave, Daffy begs for mercy by acting like a dog (animated by Pete Burness).

The next morning as Elmer is shaving, Daffy comes in and gives a horrified take before yelling, “STOP!” He tells him that no master of his is going to shave himself as it’s a task for his slave. Daffy puts a hot towel on Elmer’s face that is so hot, it removes Elmer’s face. Daffy accidentally puts Elmer’s face back on upside down and asides to the audience, “Say, you know, I think he looks better that way!” Daffy then shaves Elmer by putting shaving cream on his face, using a mixer on his face, and then using the razor like a windshield wiper. Presumably spotting a bad cut, Daffy dresses as a doctor and has Elmer give him specific tools as if he’s performing an operation. When Daffy gets to “sixceps”, Elmer instead pulls out his rifle, showing that he has bandages all over his face, revealing that Daffy cut him badly. Daffy angrily tells him, “No, no, no, I said ‘sixceps’!” to which Elmer fumes, “Ooh, I should’ve known better!” (animated by Virgil Ross)

As Elmer is sharpening his ax and preparing to behead Daffy on the chopping block, Daffy tells him he wouldn’t want to eat him as “beneath all this feathery finery, I’m nothing but skin and bones! And besides, sire, I’ve prepared a simply scrumptious repast for ya!” and comes back with a turkey dinner (animated by Perez).

Elmer does indeed find it very appetizing but Daffy stops him and asks him, “How do you know that stuff isn’t poisoned? It is a slave’s duty to taste his master’s food before it touches his master’s lips!” Daffy eats one of the turkey’s legs and upon finding it delicious, gets the rest of the food onto his own plate, and eats it in tune to Liszt’s Second Hungarian Rhapsody. When Elmer is about to eat another piece of food, Daffy tells him, “Ah, ah. None of that. Why that stuff may just be sloppin’ over with poison!” After finishing, Daffy wonders if his “sensitive palette” has detected “the taint of arsenic and old lace” before going over-dramatic and acting like the food is indeed poisoned. He calms down, however, realizing he was “mistaken” and gives Elmer the greenlight to indulge himself, only for Elmer to find nothing left for him to eat (animated by Champin).

Back outside, Elmer gets his ax and calls for Daffy. Daffy takes the ax from him, and says, “Yes, sire! At once, sire! I’ll chop you enough firewood to last you all winter, sire!” before chopping down a tree and yelling the usual “TIMBER!” The tree ends up crashing atop the house of Elmer’s next-door neighbor, destroying it. The angry neighbor comes out as Daffy puts the ax in Elmer’s hands to make it look like he was responsible. The neighbor politely asks Elmer, “Could I borrow your hammer, please?” Elmer nervously obliges as the neighbor thanks Elmer before pounding him with said hammer (animated by Burness).

Daffy runs off into the distance and realizing, “My swave’s escaped!”, Elmer whistles for his two lookalike but different colored dogs (one brown and one yellow) to track Daffy’s footprints. When the brown dog sniffs one of the footprints, said footprint goes into his nose in the manner of a vacuum. After the dogs make out a complicated plan to get Daffy (which also involves a tic tac toe board being seen in the plan), they give chase only to crash into a tree. They try the plan again, and in tune to a drumroll, start marching towards Daffy (animated by Gerry Chiniquy).

The drumroll continues into the next scene where the dogs are marching Daffy all the way back to Elmer. Daffy instead hands Elmer a whip and starts pleading not to be whipped before going off and returning disguised as Abraham Lincoln asking, “What’s this I hear about you whipping slaves?” Elmer starts to explain, “Well, see I-” Daffy takes it from him, “Well, see that you DON’T, bub!” With Mel Blanc vocal effects in tune to “Battle Hymn of the Republic”, Daffy imitates playing the fife while marching off into the distance (animated by Chiniquy)

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕