Downhearted Duckling
| Downhearted Duckling | |
|---|---|
| Tom and Jerry series | |
 The title card of Downhearted Duckling | |
| Directed by |
William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Produced by | Fred Quimby |
| Story by |
William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Voices by | Red Coffee - Quacker and Female Duckling (unc.) |
| Music by | Scott Bradley |
| Animation by |
Irven Spence Ray Patterson Kenneth Muse Ed Barge |
| Backgrounds by | Robert Gentle |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | November 13, 1954 |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 6:42 |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Neapolitan Mouse |
| Followed by | Pet Peeve |
Downhearted Duckling is the 87th one reel animated Tom and Jerry short. It was created in 1953, directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and produced by Fred Quimby, with music by Scott Bradley. The cartoon was animated by Irven Spence, Ray Patterson, Kenneth Muse and Ed Barge with backgrounds by Robert Gentle. It was released on November 13, 1954 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Plot
Quacker is deeply distraught after reading The Ugly Duckling. The duckling in the illustrated book looks just like Quacker, and he worries that he is so ugly, has thoughts of suicide. Jerry hears him crying and tries to help Quacker look better, but Quacker attempts to behead himself by releasing an axe onto his head. Jerry removes him from the death trap and the axe falls on his tail.
Next, Jerry dresses Quacker up in a bow-tie and hat, but Quacker, looking at himself in a broken mirror, still thinks he is ugly, and starts crying again. Before Jerry runs inside his house and returns with another mirror, an upset Quacker walks off saying that nobody loves him, then he looks into the pond and says "Oh, boy, I'm sure ugly", and wishing he was dead.
He approaches sleeping Tom and wakes him up, asking to be eaten. A puzzled Tom is only too happy to oblige, but is prevented from successfully eating the duckling, owing to Jerry's intervention. Jerry grabs Quacker out of Tom's mouth and flees. Tom searches for the duck and Quacker calls out to Tom while lying in a sandwich. Quacker jumps out of the sandwich as Tom tries to eat it and Tom eats a branch. Quacker apologizes and asks for Tom's tongue. Tom puts it out and Quacker jumps on it, but is saved again by Jerry before falling down Tom's throat.
Jerry and Quacker hide next to a hen, but instead of taking Quacker, Jerry grabs the hen and gets pecked into the ground. Quacker pokes his head out of a pie and asks if Tom wants to eat it. Tom refuses, but Quacker convinces Tom to eat him. Before Tom managed to grab the pie, Jerry suddenly comes, grabs Quacker before throwing the pie onto Tom's face.
Jerry tries to raise Quacker's spirits by giving him a beauty make-over inside Jerry's mousehole. Tom later approaches the mousehole after hearing Quacker's voice, and he blindly manages to grab Quacker from the mousehole, puts him in a bag before running off elsewhere. However, when Tom finally takes Quacker out of the bag, he becomes horrified at the duckling's appearance, as Quacker had mud on his face, was wearing a girdle, and had four big perm curlers on his head (this is from Jerry's work-in-progress make-over earlier) and Quacker even began walking like a Frankenstein's monster. Quacker asks if Tom wants to eat him but Tom runs off as quickly as he can, clawing straight through a brick wall in order to escape.
This worried Quacker once and for all "Oh, boy, am I ugly...", and Quacker is at his lowest ebb, curbing his suicidal tendencies and reducing himself to hiding under a paper bag (angrily scolding Jerry for lifting it up), and saying that he'll never show his face again. A female duckling passes by and sees Quacker sitting in despair on a rock. In curiosity she tries to look at his face, and giggles at his reaction before declaring he is cute. Quacker, no longer thinking himself ugly, tosses the bag away, then clicks his heels in a pleased way and holds her arm. Jerry quickly looks on, the two ducklings waddle off together into the sunset, stopping along the way to share a kiss before continuing their walk.
External links
- Downhearted Duckling at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Downhearted Duckling at the Internet Movie Database
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