Daffy Duck, animated
cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes
and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. Daffy was
the first of the new breed of "screwball"
characters that emerged in the 1930s and supplanted
traditional "everyman" characters, such
as Goofy, in popularity in the 1940s.
Daffy is also one of the most difficult cartoon characters
to define. Virtually every Warner Bros. animator put
his own spin on the duck; Daffy may be a lunatic vigilante
in one short but a greedy glory hound in the next.
Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones especially made extensive
use of two very different versions of the character.
Origin
Daffy first appeared on April 17, 1937 in "Porky's
Duck Hunt", directed by Tex Avery with Bob Clampett
being an uncredited co-director. The cartoon is a
standard hunter/prey pairing for which the studio
is famous, but Daffy (not more than a bit player in
the short) represented something new to moviegoers:
an assertive, combative protagonist, completely unrestrained
and completely unrestrainable. When audiences left
the theaters, they could not stop talking about (as
Porky Pig puts it) "that crazy, darnfool duck."
This early Daffy is not a handsome creature; he is
short and pudgy, with stubby legs and beak. His voice
(performed by Mel Blanc and patterned after Warners
producer Leon Schlesinger's) is about the only part
of the duck that would stay with him.
By the early 1940s, director Robert McKimson tamed
Daffy a bit, redesigning him yet again to be rounder,
less elastic. The studio also instilled some of
Bugs
Bunny's savvy into the duck, making him as brilliant
with his mouth as he was with his battiness. This
era also saw Daffy teamed up with Porky Pig, the duck's
one-time rival now his straight man. Daffy would also
feature in several war-themed shorts during World
War II. Daffy always stays true to his unbridled nature,
however, attempting, for example, to dodge conscription
in "Draftee Daffy" (1945) and battling a
Nazi goat intent in eating Daffy's scrap metal in
"Scrap Happy Daffy".
Jones's Daffy
As Bugs Bunny supplanted Daffy as the Warners' most
popular character, the directors still found ample
use for the duck. Several cartoons place him in parodies
of popular movies and radio serials. For example,
"Dripalong Daffy" (released in 1951 and
named after the popular Hopalong Cassidy character)
throws Daffy into a Western, while "Robin Hood
Daffy" (1958) casts the duck in the role of the
legendary outlaw. In "Duck Dodgers in the 24th
1/2 Century" (1953) Daffy trades barbs (and bullets)
with Marvin the Martian.
Bugs' ascension to stardom also prompted the Warner
animators to recast Daffy as the rabbit's rival, intensely
jealous and determined to steal back the spotlight.
Chuck Jones would most successfully use the idea.
Jones redesigned the duck once again, making him scrawnier
and scruffier. In Jones' famous "Hunter's Trilogy"
of "Rabbit Fire", "Rabbit Seasoning",
and "Duck! Rabbit! Duck!" (1951-1953) Daffy's
vanity and excitedness provide Bugs Bunny the perfect
opportunity to fool the hapless Elmer Fudd into repeatedly
shooting the poor duck's beak off. Jones' Daffy sees
himself as self-preservationist, not selfish. However,
this Daffy can do nothing right that does not backfire
on him, singeing his tailfeathers as well as his dignity.
In fact, it is in the cartoons of Chuck Jones that
this new, self-centered Daffy becomes fully realized.
Many critics consider Jones' metafictional "Duck
Amuck" (1953) to be Daffy's (and Jones') finest
cartoon. In it, Daffy is plagued by a godlike animator
whose malicious paintbrush alters the setting, soundtrack,
even Daffy himself. When Daffy demands to know who
is responsible, the camera pulls back to reveal none
other than Bugs Bunny. "Duck Amuck" is widely
heralded as a classic of filmmaking for its illustration
that a character's personality can be recognized independently
of appearance, setting, voice, and plot. In 1999,
the short was selected for preservation in the United
States National Film Registry.
Friz Freleng would use the Jones idea for Daffy in
"Show Biz Bugs" (1957) wherein Daffy's trained
pigeon act is played to nothing but crickets chirping
in the audience, while Bugs' song-and-dance numbers
thrill the spectators.
Daffy in the 1960s
After the Warner Bros. animation studio reopened
in the 1960s, Daffy would become a true villain in
several Speedy Gonzalez cartoons. The Warner Bros.
studio was entering its twilight years, and even Daffy
had to stretch for humor in the period. Some fans
consider this the most controversial interpretation
of the duck, who is openly malicious.
Daffy today
Daffy Duck, as seen in an episode of the "Duck
Dodgers" TV series
Enlarge
Daffy Duck, as seen in an episode of the "Duck
Dodgers" TV series
Daffy continues to live on in a number of cameo appearances
and later cartoons such as a piano duel with fellow
fowl Donald Duck in 1988's Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Daffy has also had major roles in films such as Space
Jam in 1996 and Looney Tunes: Back In Action in 2003.
That same year, Warner Bros. cast him in a brand-new
Duck Dodgers series, which some critics saw as a return
to the grand, crazy days of old for the character.
Daffy has also been featured in several webtoons which
can be viewed at http://www.looneytunes.com. In the
TV series Tiny Toon Adventures, Daffy appears as the
mentor of Plucky Duck and a teacher at Acme Looniversity.
On the television show Babylon 5, Daffy appears as
Michael Garibaldi's favorite cartoon character, and
when G'Kar inquires about a poster of Daffy in Garibaldi's
room, Zack Allan tells him the image is of the "Household
God of Frustration."
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