Studio: Leon Schlesinger Productions
Distributor: Warner Bros. / The Vitaphone Corporation
Produced by: Leon Schlesinger
Short Synopsis
Porky Pig prepares for a day's duck hunting, waving his shotgun around so carelessly that his dog backs away in terror, and accidentally shoots through the ceiling into his upstairs neighbour. At the duck pond, the hunters blast away at a single small black duck and miss every time; one hunter with a bent gun brings down a pair of aeroplanes instead. Porky floats decoys and lurks underwater beneath one, but the black duck sees through the disguise. The duck stands on a barrel of liquor; Porky shoots it, the liquor spills into the pond, and a group of drunken fish takes a boat for a joyride, singing as they go. Porky finally hits the duck and sends his dog to fetch it, but the duck knocks out the dog and swims off. When Porky protests that the duck is supposed to be dead, the duck answers that it doesn't follow the script, and bounces away across the water, hooting "woo-hoo!".
Why It Matters
- The duck is the whole show. He doesn't play by the rules of a hunting cartoon, says so out loud, and bounces across the pond like a lunatic, a new kind of anarchic cartoon hero, and Avery's fast, irreverent timing tells you that a different style of comedy has arrived.
- It is the first appearance of Daffy Duck, who became one of Warner Bros.' biggest stars, and the first cartoon in which Mel Blanc voiced Porky Pig, replacing Joe Dougherty, whose genuine stutter had made recording difficult. Blanc voiced both characters for decades.
Notes and Trivia
- It is the 84th Looney Tunes cartoon and Porky's 22nd appearance.
- The duck's "woo-hoo!" was reportedly inspired by the comedian Hugh Herbert's catchphrase.
- The duck was not named Daffy until his second film, Daffy Duck & Egghead (1938).
- See also: I Haven't Got a Hat (1935).