Thursday, 17 June 2021

Daffy and the Snow Queen

“Confidentially, folks,” Daffy Duck says to viewers of Daffy’s Southern Exposure, “I ain’t goin’ south this winter. I’m goin’ to stay around and check up on this winter business.” What he has in mind is checking out the Snow Carnival Snow Queen in the newspaper he’s reading. He shows us the picture.



Suddenly, a flock of ducks slide into the scene, and shout, just like on the radio game show Take It or Leave It “You’ll be sorry!” Then the ducks turn and fly away in perspective.



Norm McCabe is the director, with Don Christensen supplying the story. It’s one of McCabe’s most enjoyable efforts. Daffy constantly chats to the audience, he still woo-hoos and jumps around the scene, he changes emotions out of nowhere, and there are parody lyrics to the song “Latin Quarter.” He’s not an insane duck, he clearly knows what he wants, though he gets dealt a few setbacks.

Vive Risto is one of the animators along with Cal Dalton, John Carey and Izzy Ellis.
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6 comments:

  1. Paul Penna17 June 2021 at 08:23

    Daffy's Southern Exposure, 1942.

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  2. Eric O. Costrllo17 June 2021 at 09:05

    (Reposting?) I agree with your analysis; it's one of McCabe's best cartoons for WB, and a strong contender for best.

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  3. EOCostello17 June 2021 at 13:49

    (For some odd reason, Google was playing hob with my comment. That's me, above.)

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  4. Loren Broaddus17 June 2021 at 14:53

    I think McCabe and Clampett were the two best Daffy directors. Although Chuck Jones had some admirable early efforts with him like "My Favorite Duck", and Avery's crazy Daffy is a guilty pleasure of mine.

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  5. Jonathan Wilson17 June 2021 at 16:40

    Both McCabe and Art Davis' Daffys are personal favorites mainly for how well they had a good handle on the character (Daffy is like a sandbox that way, in which you can mold, create, and hone in your directing skills). I would've kill to see McCabe direct Bugs.

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  6. Hans Christian Brando17 June 2021 at 16:51

    "What are you laughing at? I'm really hungry."

    This is one I always think of among those black and white Looney Tunes that were badly colorized (ruining the animation) in the '60s, and Daffy is brown.

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