No, that’s not Daffy Duck. It can’t be. This duck is green, with a red ring around its neck. Any resemblance is, um, coincidental. Just like the hunter isn’t Elmer Fudd.
The cartoon is filled with switches on familiar gags. There’s a log gag (without a cliff, like in All This and Rabbit Stew) which segues into brick building gag (kind of like Bugs Bunny Rides Again).
To speed the pace, director Alex Lovy uses multiple
Cal Howard (formerly of Warner Bros.) provides a story twist. The duck grabs the gun and becomes the hunter.
The character, by the way, wasn’t named Wacky Quacky, if you want to go by a shorts list in Boxoffice magazine in 1947. I don’t know where it got the names. The Sylvester knock-off in several Columbia cartoons is apparently named “Klever Kat.” And the less said about “Mitey Mouse,” the better.
If the score sounds like something from a late-‘40s Woody Woodpecker cartoon, that shouldn’t be surprising as it was composed by Darrell Calker.
Howard was employed by the Fleischer, Screen Gems, Warner Bros., and Lantz studios at the time of their respective closings. Mere coincidence, I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteEither the height of the Phantasies series or it's nadir. I can't really tell.
ReplyDeleteAlso damn those are good looking screencaps! Wish I could view that print of Wacky Quacky for myself (I've seen images of it online but I can't find any video footage of it).