Daffy Duck & Egghead
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| Daffy Duck and Egghead
Merrie Melodies series |
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 Title Card |
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| Directed by | Tex Avery |
| Produced by | Leon Schlesinger |
| Voices by | Mel Blanc Cliff Nazarro |
| Music by | Carl Stalling |
| Animation by | Virgil Ross |
| Distributed by | Warner Brothers Pictures |
| Release date(s) | January 1, 1938 (USA) |
| Color process | Color |
| Running time | 7 min, 37 sec |
| IMDb profile | |
Daffy Duck & Egghead is a 1937-produced, 1938-released Warner Bros. cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series. It features the early, zany version of Daffy Duck, who spends the film harassing Egghead, marking the second appearance of Daffy Duck (after Porky's Duck Hunt, and his first in color. It includes a set-piece song-and-dance number by Daffy (shown with a blue band around his neck, instead of the usual white), doing his own variation of The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down.
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[edit] Plot
The story begans with Egghead (in a voice imitating radio comic Joe Penner) who is annoyed by a (rotoscoped) shadowman in the audience who doesn't sit down. Egghead shoots the audience member and the member falls after going through extended "death throes". Egghead hears a call from the grass, and out comes Daffy Duck biting his nose (just like he did to Porky Pig in Porky's Duck Hunt.) While fighting, a tortoise (with a voice imitating radio comic Parkyakarkus) comes and tries to give Daffy and Egghead new weapons. When the tortoise goes away, Egghead uses his real gun and Daffy tries to make him shoot the apple on his head. Egghead misses all the times, so Daffy puts a blind sign and a cup of pencils and the disguise glasses on Egghead, with Daffy saying: "Too bad." Daffy then walks away and sings a song by himself, in a set-piece drawn in a different style from the rest of the cartoon, and also containing the subdued, early form of Daffy's lisp, which is absent in the rest of the film:
- My name is Daffy Duck,
- I worked on a Merry-Go-Round,
- The job was swell
- I did quite well
- Till the Merry-go-round broke down.
- (Hoo-hoo!)
- The guy that worked with me,
- Was a horse with a lavender eye,
- Around in whirls, we winked at girls
- Till the Merry-go-round broke down.
- Up and down and round we sped,
- That dizzy pace soon went to my head,
- Now you know why I'm dizzy
- And do the things I do
- I am askew [or "a screw"] and you'd be too
- If the Merry-go-round broke down.
- If the Merry-go-round broooooooookkkkkkkkkkkeeeeeeeeeeee (while stretching his neck) down (calmly; not singing)
Daffy then shakes hands with his reflection from the lake and they both dive back into the water.
[edit] Trivia
This was a Blue Ribbon cartoon for many years. [1] For television airings, a Merrie Melodies Blue Ribbon title card, made for the 1995 dubbed version, was shown, much like in television airings of The Night Watchman. Afterwards, the title of the episode was in the older Blue Ribbon title card from the 40's. For DVD release, the original title cards to this episode were shown. Oddly, the 1940's Merrie Melodies end music played over the end title.
[edit] Censorship
- The part where Egghead shoots an audience member (after telling him twice to sit down) was cut when shown on Kids' WB! and Cartoon Network (except on the anthology show ToonHeads).
