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 (later to become Elmer Fudd), marking the second appearance of Daffy Duck (after Porky's Duck Hunt), his first in color, and first where he is given his current name. It includes a set-piece song-and-dance number by Daffy, doing his own variation of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" (later the theme for Looney Tunes).[1]
The story begins with Egghead (in a voice imitating radio comic Joe Penner) who is annoyed by a silhouetted man in the theater audience who refuses to sit down. After he sits down 2 times, 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 every time, so Daffy puts a blind sign, a cup of pencils, and disguise glasses on Egghead. ("Too bad, too bad," as Daffy says.).
Daffy then walks away and sings his own variation of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" by himself five minutes into the cartoon, 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. Daffy then shakes hands with his reflection from the lake and they both dive back into the water.
Later, Egghead finally manages to capture Daffy by shooting a pair of gloves from his gun, knocking Daffy out and allowing Egghead to place him in a net. Just as Egghead celebrates, a duck from the mental ward comes to claim Daffy. He thanks Egghead for helping to catch Daffy, and tells him that Daffy is 100% nuts. "Yeah?" Egghead asks. "Yeah!" answers the duck warden. At that moment, both he and Daffy beat Egghead up before woohoo-ing out into the distance. Egghead becomes fed up with the antics and decides to join them as the cartoon ends.
DVD - Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3, Disc Four (but with the "dubbed" ending cue instead of the original ending cue because the restored DVD version uses the 2nd USA dubbed version's soundtrack)[2]
Trivia[]
Notes/Errors[]
The cartoon's ending is later reused in the ending of Walter Lantz's Andy Panda cartoon Knock Knock (1940) which marked the debut of Woody Woodpecker (co-incidentally both cartoons from different studios were written by Ben Hardaway).
Only cartoon where Daffy's collar is blue instead of white.
Daffy would sing is own variation of The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down (Looney Tunes theme song) again, albeit with different lyrics, in Boobs in the Woods (1950).
In 1995, Turner made recreated opening titles for this cartoon. The opening was the opening from Wacky Wildlife, followed by a recreated BR Merrie Melodies card, then the original title card fades in. The other cartoon to have recreated Blue Ribbon titles in the Turner "dubbed version" is The Night Watchman.[3]
The second USA and EU dubbed versions use the 1941-55 MM end cue.[4][5]
The 1941-55 rendition replaces the 1937-38 rendition on the DVD release, the second USA dubbed print, and the EU dubbed print for reasons unknown. Dubbed Version 1[6] keeps the end cue while dubbed version 2 does not, meaning that the DVD used dubbed version 2 as their soundtrack source.
Censorship[]
On Cartoon Network (American feed only; overseas Cartoon Network channels have this uncut, though Cartoon Network America has aired this uncut once), Boomerang (American feed only; overseas Boomerang channels have aired this uncut), and The WB, the scene where Egghead shoots an audience member after telling him to sit down was cut.