Friday 14 April 2017

A Contract With Warner Bros.

“And I am an actor!” proclaims Daffy Duck in Duck Soup to Nuts. Note the expression of thespian superiority.



“I have a contract with Warner Bros.,” he informs Porky Pig. And he whips it out. Note the position of the hands (well, if a duck had hands).



Boxoffice magazine reviewed the cartoon in its issue of May 27, 1944:
Amusing. Erratic Daffy Duck completely confuses Porky Pig when it appears that Daffy will decorate Porky’s table as the result of a duck hunt. Pleading for his life, Daffy exhibits his histrionic talents, but Porky is unimpressed. The story idea and the dialog are the high points in this reel, with modern slang bringing forth much laughter.
Any cartoon with an erratic Daffy Duck is a funny cartoon. Tedd Pierce was responsible for the story, with Dick Bickenbach getting the animation credit (Manny Perez, Gerry Chiniquy, Virgil Ross, Ken Champin and Jack Bradbury were also animating for Friz Freleng around this time).

2 comments:

  1. I've always considered this the middle entry in the 'non-trilogy' trilogy of Daffy and Porky at war outdoors, with Jones' "My Favorite Duck" and McKimson's "Boobs in the Woods" as the bookends to Friz's effort.

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  2. The first time I ever noticed Gerry Chiniquy's name was in the credits of those god-awful 1970's WB compilation TV specials. I often wonder how guys like him and Norm McCabe felt, working on snappy cartoons like these in the '40s and then animating half-hearted work 30 years later.

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