Daffy Duck

Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Brothers

Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. Daffy was the
first of the new breed of "screwball" characters that emerged in the
late 1930s to supplant traditional everyman characters, such as Mickey
Mouse and Popeye, who were more popular earlier in the decade. Daffy
is known as the best friend and occasionally self-imagined rival of Bugs
Bunny.

Virtually every Warner Brothers animator put his own spin on the Daffy
Duck character, who may be a lunatic vigilante in one short but a
greedy gloryhound in another. Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones both made
extensive use of these two very different versions of the character.
Daffy first appeared on April 17, 1937, in Porky's Duck Hunt, directed
by Tex Avery and animated by Bob Clampett. The cartoon is a standard
hunter/prey pairing for which Leon Schlesinger's studio was famous,
but Daffy (barely more than an unnamed bit player in this short)
represented something new to moviegoers: an assertive, combative
protagonist, completely unrestrainable. As Clampett later recalled, "At
that time, audiences weren't accustomed to seeing a cartoon character
do these things. And so, when it hit the theaters it was an explosion.
People would leave the theaters talking about this daffy duck."[1]

This early Daffy is less anthropomorphic and resembles a 'normal'

duck. The Mel Blanc voice characterization, and the white neck ring
contrasting with the black feathers, are about the only aspects of the
character that remained consistent through the years. Blanc's
characterization of Daffy holds the world record for the longest
characterization of one animated character by his or her original actor
— 52 years. Daffy's catchphrase is "you're despicable."

Daffy Duck is a black duck with an orange bill and feet. He occasionally
wears cowboy clothes like blue jeans, a cowboy hat, boots, a bandana,
and a button shirt

The origin of Daffy's voice is a matter of some debate. One oft-

repeated "official" story is that it was patterned after producer
Schlesinger's tendency to lisp. However, in Mel Blanc's autobiography,
That's Not All Folks!, he contradicts that conventional belief, writing "It
seemed to me that such an extended mandible would hinder his
speech, particularly on words containing an s sound. Thus 'despicable'
became 'desthpicable'."

Daffy's slobbery, exaggerated lisp was developed over time, being

barely noticeable in the early cartoons. In Daffy Duck and Egghead,
Daffy does not lisp at all, except in the separately-drawn set-piece of
Daffy singing "The Merry Go Round Broke Down", in which just a slight
lisp can be heard.

Blanc's early version of Daffy was actually closer to his characterization

of Woody Woodpecker than any other voice. In time he developed the
slobbery, lispy sound, supposedly based on Warner cartoon producer
Leon Schlesinger, that was essentially the same voice as Sylvester the
Cat except that it was played back at a faster-than-recorded speed.
(Incidentally, Sylvester's voice was actually Mel Blanc's own voice, plus
the heavily exaggerated, slobbery lisp for which Sylvester and Daffy
are famous for.) In one of the features on the Looney Tunes Golden
Collection DVD set, there is a rare audio of Blanc discussing a set of
recordings he is about to make for the 1960s TV program, The Bugs
Bunny Show. In that audio he states, "We record Daffy separately,
because his voice is sped." In his later years, Mel would claim — and in
personal appearances would even perform — separate voices for the
cat and duck. In the DVD commentary for Scrap Happy Daffy, narrator
Greg Ford reported that Blanc had once told him he sometimes played
Daffy as if he were a Jewish comic, while playing Sylvester as if he
were Gentile.

Different interpretations
Tex Avery and Bob Clampett's Daffy

It was Tex Avery who created the original version of Daffy in 1937.
Daffy established his status by jumping into the water, hopping around,
and yelling, "Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo! Hoo-hoo! Woo-hoo!".
Eventually, animator Bob Clampett immediately seized upon the Daffy
Duck character and cast him in a series of cartoons in the 1930s and
1940s. Clampett's Daffy is a wild and zany screwball, perpetually
bouncing around the screen with cries of "Hoo-hoo! Hoo-hoo!" (In his
autobiography, Mel Blanc stated that the zany demeanor was inspired
by Hugh Herbert's catchphrase, which was taken to a wild extreme for
Daffy). Clampett physically redesigned the character, making him taller
and lankier, and rounding out his feet and bill. He was often paired with
Porky Pig. Daffy would also feature in several war-themed shorts during
World War II. Daffy always stays true to his unbridled nature, however:
for example, attempting to dodge conscription in Draftee Daffy (1945),
and battling a Nazi goat intent on eating Daffy's scrap metal in Scrap
Happy Daffy (1943).

Robert McKimson, Friz Freleng and Art Davis' Daffy

For Daffy Doodles (his first Looney Tunes cartoon as a director), Robert
McKimson, Sr. tamed Daffy a bit, redesigning him yet again to be
rounder and less elastic. The studio also instilled some of Bugs Bunny's
savvy into the duck, making him as brilliant with his mouth as he was
with his battiness. Daffy was teamed up with Porky Pig; the duck's one-
time rival became his straight man. Art Davis, who directed Warner
Bros. cartoon shorts for a few years in the late 1940s until upper
management decreed there should be only three units (McKimson, Friz
Freleng and Jones), presented a Daffy similar to McKimson's. McKimson
is noted as the last of the three units to make his Daffy uniform with
Jones', with even late shorts such as Don't Axe Me (1958) featuring
traits of the 'screwball' Daffy. While Daffy's looney days were over,
McKimson continued to exploit the duck's versatility and charisma
however, making him as ruthless or benevolent as his various roles
required him to but still contained Looneyness in him, Freleng would
combine this daffy with Chuck Jones' version of Daffy. McKimson would
use this Daffy from 1946 to 1961.

Jones' Daffy

Daffy Duck and Porky Pig in Robin Hood Daffy

As Bugs Bunny supplanted Daffy as Warner Bros.' most popular

character, the directors still found ample use for the duck. Several
cartoons place him in parodies of popular movies and radio serials. For
example, Drip-along Daffy (released in 1951 and named after the
popular Hopalong Cassidy character) throws Daffy into a Western,
while Robin Hood Daffy (1958) casts the duck in the role of the
legendary outlaw Robin Hood. In Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century
(1953) — a parody of Buck Rogers — Daffy trades barbs (and bullets)
with Marvin the Martian, with Porky Pig retaining the role of Daffy's
sidekick. Other parodies were Daffy in The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
(1946) as "Duck Twacy" (Dick Tracy) (by Bob Clampett) and as Stupor
Duck (Superman, now a WB property himself) (by Robert McKimson).

Bugs' ascension to stardom also prompted the Warner animators to

recast Daffy as the rabbit's rival, intensely jealous and determined to
steal back the spotlight, while Bugs either remained indifferent to the
duck's jealousy or used it to his advantage. Daffy's desire to achieve
stardom at any cost was explored as early as 1940, in Freleng's You
Ought to Be in Pictures, but the idea was most successfully used by
Chuck Jones, who redesigned the duck once again, making him
scrawnier and scruffier. In Jones' famous "Hunting Trilogy" (or "Duck
Season/Rabbit Season Trilogy") of Rabbit Fire, Rabbit Seasoning, and
Duck! Rabbit! Duck! (each respectively launched in 1951, 1952 and
1953) Daffy's vanity and excitedness provide Bugs Bunny the perfect
opportunity to fool the hapless Elmer Fudd into repeatedly shooting the
duck's bill off. Jones' Daffy sees himself as self-preservationist, not
selfish. However, this Daffy can do nothing that does not backfire on
him, more likely to singe his tail feathers as well as his dignity than
anything.[2]
Film critic Steve Schneider calls Jones' version of Daffy "a kind of
unleashed id."[3] Jones said that his version of the character "expresses
all of the things we're afraid to express."[4] This is evident in Jones'
Duck Amuck (1953), "one of the few unarguable masterpieces of
American animation," according to Schneider.[5] In the episode, Daffy is
plagued by a godlike animator whose malicious paintbrush alters the
setting, soundtrack, and even Daffy. When Daffy demands to know who
is responsible for the changes, the camera pulls back to reveal none
other than Bugs Bunny. Duck Amuck is widely heralded as a classic of
filmmaking for its illustration that a character's personality can be
recognized independently of appearance, setting, voice and plot.[5] In
1999, the short was selected for preservation in the United States
National Film Registry.

Friz Freleng used the Jones idea for Daffy in Show Biz Bugs (1957)
wherein Daffy's "trained" pigeon act (they all fly away as soon as Daffy
opens their cage) and complicated tap dance number is answered by
nothing but crickets chirping in the audience, whereas Bugs' simple
song-and-dance numbers brings wild applause.

McKimson made more benevolent use of Daffy, in Ducking the Devil for
example his greed becomes a vital tool in subduing the Tasmanian
Devil and collecting a big cash reward. McKimson also played with
Daffy's movie roles however. In 1959, Daffy appeared in China Jones in
which he was an Irish private eye, with an Irish accent, instead of the
usual lisp, in his voice.

Daffy in the 1960s

After the Warner Bros. animation studio reopened in the 1960s, Daffy
Duck became a villain (or inconsistent friend) in several Speedy
Gonzales cartoons, his mean spirit taken to an extreme. For example,
in Well Worn Daffy (1965), Daffy is determined to keep the mice away
from a desperately needed well seemingly for no other motive than
pure maliciousness. Furthermore, when he draws all the water he
wants, Daffy then attempts to destroy the well in spite of the vicious
pointlessness of the act, forcing Speedy to stop him. The Warner Bros.
studio was entering its twilight years, and even Daffy had to stretch for
humor in the period. During this time, Daffy Duck also got married to a
Daphne Duck who appears in a handful 1960s' Looney Tunes shorts.
Like Honey Bunny, she is a female version of Daffy, and is voiced by
Mel Blanc.
Daffy today

Daffy Duck, as seen in the episode of the Duck Dodgers — The Wrath
of Canasta

Daffy lives on in cameo appearances and later cartoons such as a

piano duel with fellow fowl Donald Duck (from the rival Walt Disney
Company) in 1988's Who Framed Roger Rabbit. In 1987, to celebrate
Daffy's 50th Anniversary, Warner Bros. released The Duxorcist. their
first theatrical Looney Tunes short in two decades. Daffy Duck also
appeared in several feature-film compilations, including two films
centering Daffy. The first was released in 1983, Daffy Duck's Fantastic
Island; the second came in 1988, Daffy Duck's Quackbusters, which is
considered one of the Looney Tunes' best compilation films, and
featured another new theatrical short Night of the Living Duck. Daffy
has also had major roles in films such as Space Jam in 1996 and
Looney Tunes: Back in Action in 2003. The latter film does much to
flesh out his character, even going so far as to cast a sympathetic light
on Daffy's glory-seeking ways in one scene, where he complains that
he works tirelessly without achieving what Bugs does without even
trying. That same year, Warner Bros. cast him in a brand-new Duck
Dodgers series. He had a cameo appearance in the Sylvester and
Tweety Mysteries episode, "When Granny Ruled The Earth", first airing
on March 27, 1999. Daffy has also been featured in several webtoons
which can be viewed online.

In the television series Tiny Toon Adventures, Daffy is a teacher at

Acme Looniversity, where he is the hero and mentor of Plucky Duck.
Daffy is shown as a baby in the Baby Looney Tunes show, and made
occasional cameos on Animaniacs and Histeria! In the show Loonatics
Unleashed, his descendant is Danger Duck (voiced by Jason Marsden),
who is also lame and unpopular to his teammates. In the majority of
these appearances, the selfish, neurotic and spotlight-hungry Daffy
characterized by Chuck Jones is the preferred version.
More recently, Daffy has been given larger roles in more recent Looney
Tunes films and series. Following Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Warner
Brothers has slowly moved the spotlight away from Bugs and more
towards Daffy, as shown in the 2006 video release Bah, Humduck! A
Looney Tunes Christmas, where Daffy plays the lead while Bugs Bunny
appears in a very minor role.

Interestingly, more recent merchandise of the duck, as well as that

featured on the official website, seem to incorporate elements of the
zanier, more light hearted Daffy of the 1940s. Producer Larry Doyle
noted that recent theatrical cartoons were planned that would portray
a more diverse Daffy closer to that of Robert McKimson's design;
however, due to the box-office failure of Looney Tunes: Back in Action,
these new films ceased production. [6]

Comics

Dell Comics published several Daffy Duck comic books, beginning in

Four Color Comics #457, #536 and #615, then continuing as Daffy #4-
17 (1956-59), then as Daffy Duck #18-30 (1959-62). The comic book
series was subsequently continued in Gold Key Comics Daffy Duck
#31-127 (1962-79). This run was in turn continued under the Whitman
Comics imprint, until the company completely ceased comic book
publication in 1984. In 1994, corporate cousin DC Comics became the
publisher for comics featuring all the classic Warner Bros. cartoon
characters, and while not getting his own title, Daffy has appeared in
many issues of Looney Tunes.