My Little Duckaroo
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| My Little Duckaroo
Looney Tunes/Daffy Duck series |
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 The title card of "My Little Duckaroo". |
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| Directed by | Charles M. Jones |
| Produced by | Edward Selzer |
| Story by | Michael Maltese |
| Voices by | Mel Blanc |
| Music by | Milt Franklyn |
| Animation by | Philip DeGuard Ken Harris Abe Levitow Maurice Noble Richard Thompson Lloyd Vaughan Ben Washam |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures Vitaphone Corporation |
| Release date(s) | November 27, 1954 (USA) |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 6:40 min. |
| IMDb profile | |
My Little Duckaroo is a 1954 Warner Bros. theatrical cartoon short produced by Edward Selzer. It was directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese.
This cartoon in many ways resembles the 1951 short directed by Chuck Jones entitled Drip-Along Daffy. In this animated piece, upon seeing a wanted poster with a reward of $10,000.00 for the dead or alive capture of Nasty Canasta, Daffy sets out alongside his companion Porky, and his trusted stead to retrieve the villain and collect on the money.
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[edit] Summary
Much like Drip-Along Daffy, this Jones directed cartoon parody's the widely popular Westerns of the time. Daffy, billed as the Masked Avenger, and his sidekick Porky (tagged as the comedy relief) ride along the desert until they come across the reward poster of Nasty Canasta. Wanted 'Dead or Alive', a reward of $10,000.00 dollars is offered for his crimes, which include but aren't limited to horse stealing, candy stealing, gag stealing, and square dancing in a round house. After reading the poster, Daffy proclaims his desire to chase down, capture, and bring the villain in (shouting 'This looks like a job for the Masked Avenger'). He then admits the real reason why he wishes to find Nasty Canasta, proclaiming, "And besides, it isn't the principle of the thing, it's the money." The 'righter of wrongs, and doer of heroic deeds' follows up by riding off on his trusted stead Tinsfoil, with Porky following shortly behind on his small mule.
Upon finding Canasta's hide-out (in which large signs posted on canyon walls lead Daffy and Porky to Canasta's hide away reading 'Canasta's Hide-Out', 'This Way In', and 'Here It Is'), Daffy tells Porky to wait outside 'whilist I go in and fix his little red wagon'. Daffy busts into the hide-out, only to find Canasta sitting peacefully at a table playing cards. Upon proclaiming himself the Masked Avenger, Daffy fails to grab the attention of Canasta (stating "Didn't you hear me, I said I was the Masked Avenger. Look, see my mask? It's a very nice mask."), who still sits peacefully at his table dealing cards. Daffy then vies for the attention of Canasta, leaving the scene and returning first as the whip-wielding (and stereotypically Mexican) "Frisco Kid", then in a suit reminiscent of Superman's as "Superguy." Again failing to grab his attention, Daffy suggests other identities he could take, names parodying heroes of the time ("Captain Hideo? The Green Fathom? Mark of Zero?"), but none interest Canasta. He finally grabs the attention of Canasta after offering a helpful suggestion to his card game ("Say, why don't you play your red jack on the black queen?"). Challenged to play cards, Daffy departs and returns in new cowboy garb (but sans mask), confident of victory.
What follows is the humiliation of Daffy again and again through different gags and challenges. First Daffy is asked if he plays cards, to which the game is ended abruptly when Canasta cuts the deck with a meat cleaver. Canasta then sends Daffy through the table in response to Daffy's challenge to an arm wrestling match, to which Daffy responds, 'I think you're pretty tough, don't I?'. Porky then suggests to Daffy that he should just arrest him, to which Daffy agrees ('well, you may have something there comedy relief'). But when Daffy puts Canasta in irons and tries to take him away, he finds that he can't move Canasta from the spot he is standing. Daffy then gets annoyed and angry, to which he responds by telling Canasta that he is going to give him a fist beating. Porky's encouragement of Daffy ('telling him to fix Canasta's little red wagon') only ends badly for Daffy, as we see Canasta rip his shirt right off just by flexing his muscles before beating up Daffy. We then see the house shaking as Porky sits out side whittling with a knife and a stick. Daffy then emerges from the house after a few seconds dazed and confused with slurred speech, proclaiming that he indeed fixed Canasta's little red wagon. Followed by which we see Daffy walk outside the house with a shiny new looking red wagon ('I told you I'd fix his little red wagon. You should've seen it. The wheels were busted, The axle was all bent, and it needed a new coat of paint. Now I'm going home to mother.')
[edit] Lyrics[citation needed]
Oh I've got a horse Lazy Will Lazy Will
When I want a ride he just stands still
He won't go up or go down hill
Giddy up giddy up Lazy Willy
Giddy up giddy up giddy up up up
Giddy up giddy up Lazy Willy
We rode into town one bright sunny day
In a cloud of dust we galloped away
He was on my back yelling yippie yi ay
That no good horse Lazy Willy
Giddy up giddy up giddy up up up
Giddy up giddy up Lazy Willy
[edit] Trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- My Little Duckaroo, parallels Chuck Jones previously made western-parody Drip-Along Daffy. In each, Daffy is a western type hero riding his trusty stead Tinsfoil, and Porky is his comedy relief. Nasty Canasta is the villain whom is wanted and eventually pursued by Daffy. Each wanted poster also has a joke entailing square dancing, in which in Drip-Along Daffy, Canasta is wanted for square dance calling, and in My Little Duckaroo, Canasta is wanted for square dancing in a round room. This is a 'inside joke' to the square dancing that use to take place between the workers of the Looney Tunes animation shorts. Each cartoon also has its own original song which is sung by Porky Pig at the opening of each cartoon, which is to parody sentimental cowboy style songs of the time. Both songs were written by Michael Maltese.
- At one point in the cartoon short, Canasta is reading a book called 'Gravediggers Joke Book' by Burke and Hare. This is a joke to the real life William Burke and William Hare, who would rob graves in order to supply cadavers for research at Edinburgh Medical School.
- The unique wall paper in Canasta's hideout appears to consist of pages from the New Yorker.
[edit] Censorship
- The following scenes were cut when this cartoon aired on ABC:
- Nasty Canasta rolling a cigarette with his tongue.
- Daffy disguising himself as "The Freesco Kid" and getting tangled in his whip.
- Nasty Canasta shoving his gun in Daffy's mouth as they play cards.
- Daffy twirling his gun, which aims at his own head, and ends up shooting himself.
- Nasty Canasta punching Daffy in the face when Daffy challenges Canasta to a bare-knuckled fight.
[edit] See also
List of cartoons featuring Daffy Duck
List of cartoons featuring Porky Pig
