"I'm not crazy, I just don't give a darn!"
February 16, 2015 5:34 AM Subscribe
If you are one of those who only remember Daffy Duck as the frustrated fowl who says to Bugs Bunny "You're deth-picable!", then you need to see how he earned the name "Daffy". So YouTuber ibcf has compiled every "Woo Hoo!" the Looney Tune has laughed/yelled, from his first cartoon, 1937's "Porky's Duck Hunt", to a 1998 appearance in a live action sitcom. That's over 13 minutes of "Woo Hoo!" as he bounces off walls, ceilings and the surfaces of bodies of water (nice trick).
After that, what is an animation aficionado going to do for an encore?
Well, ibcf is doing a series of 5-7 minute compilations of the best work of some of the greatest individual animators (with focus on specific characters they are credited with bringing to life)...
Les Clark, the first of Disney's 'Nine Old Men', who went to work straight out of high school on early Mickey Mouse cartoons and kept working for Walt almost 50 years;
Grim Natwick, who, during the 1930s, went from doing Betty Boop's original 'doggy girl' design for Fleischer Studios to lead animator of Snow White;
Ward Kimball, considered the wildest and most imaginative of Disney's 'Nine Old Men of Animation' (previously here);
Don Patterson, who brought life to Mickey Mouse for Disney, Tom & Jerry for MGM and Woody Woodpecker for Walter Lantz (as well as some interestingly anthropormorphised objects);
Bill Tytla, who became a legend in less than 10 years working on Disney's classic features;
Fred Moore, an extremely influential animator at Disney (who briefly defected to Walter Lantz where he redesigned Woody Woodpecker) whose career and life were cut short in a car accident;
Robert McKimson, one of the best animators at Warner Bros. in the '40s, promoted to Director alongside Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng;
Rob Scribner and Manny Gould, considered two of the looniest of the Looney Tunes animators during their Golden Age;
Bill Littlejohn, who went from classic animation for MGM to abstract work for Hubley Studios but became best known for animating Snoopy in the Peanuts TV specials;
Glen Keane, considered the first of a new generation of Disney Legends, who recently made a short film for Google: "Duet";
and just because it's not ALL Disney and Looney Tunes, examples of the wild animation of the Anime series "Lupin III" by Tatsuo Ryuno and Yuzo Aoki.
After that, what is an animation aficionado going to do for an encore?
Well, ibcf is doing a series of 5-7 minute compilations of the best work of some of the greatest individual animators (with focus on specific characters they are credited with bringing to life)...
Les Clark, the first of Disney's 'Nine Old Men', who went to work straight out of high school on early Mickey Mouse cartoons and kept working for Walt almost 50 years;
Grim Natwick, who, during the 1930s, went from doing Betty Boop's original 'doggy girl' design for Fleischer Studios to lead animator of Snow White;
Ward Kimball, considered the wildest and most imaginative of Disney's 'Nine Old Men of Animation' (previously here);
Don Patterson, who brought life to Mickey Mouse for Disney, Tom & Jerry for MGM and Woody Woodpecker for Walter Lantz (as well as some interestingly anthropormorphised objects);
Bill Tytla, who became a legend in less than 10 years working on Disney's classic features;
Fred Moore, an extremely influential animator at Disney (who briefly defected to Walter Lantz where he redesigned Woody Woodpecker) whose career and life were cut short in a car accident;
Robert McKimson, one of the best animators at Warner Bros. in the '40s, promoted to Director alongside Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng;
Rob Scribner and Manny Gould, considered two of the looniest of the Looney Tunes animators during their Golden Age;
Bill Littlejohn, who went from classic animation for MGM to abstract work for Hubley Studios but became best known for animating Snoopy in the Peanuts TV specials;
Glen Keane, considered the first of a new generation of Disney Legends, who recently made a short film for Google: "Duet";
and just because it's not ALL Disney and Looney Tunes, examples of the wild animation of the Anime series "Lupin III" by Tatsuo Ryuno and Yuzo Aoki.
I would talk about this with my friends when I was a kid: how Daffy Duck went from being the crazy wild guy to a curmudgeon. It was frustrating to me.
posted by tunewell at 6:08 AM on February 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by tunewell at 6:08 AM on February 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
I was the opposite: I grew up with later Daffy Duck, and when I first saw one of the earlier "woohoo!" cartoons, it seemed weird, off-model, and not very funny.
posted by Metroid Baby at 6:19 AM on February 16, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by Metroid Baby at 6:19 AM on February 16, 2015 [7 favorites]
Duck Amuck is the best Warner Brothers cartoon ever made and is still head-explodingly surreal even now. He never got daffier than that. No one did.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:23 AM on February 16, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:23 AM on February 16, 2015 [9 favorites]
I say it's duck season and I say fire!
If that makes me a "late Daffy" fan then so be it. I remember as a kid thinking that was literally the funniest thing I'd ever seen. We've introduced our daughter to Looney Tunes and she seems most amused by Wile E. Coyote, who she calls "bad wolf." (Bad wolf fall down!)
posted by graymouser at 6:34 AM on February 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
If that makes me a "late Daffy" fan then so be it. I remember as a kid thinking that was literally the funniest thing I'd ever seen. We've introduced our daughter to Looney Tunes and she seems most amused by Wile E. Coyote, who she calls "bad wolf." (Bad wolf fall down!)
posted by graymouser at 6:34 AM on February 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
But Daffy did not "Woo hoo" once during the Duck Amuck cartoon. All the daffiness was being imposed on him by the "animator". But it WAS as daffy as any cartoon ever. (Semi-Spoiler: when I first saw Chuck Jones in person, I saw a genuine resemblance to the "animator" revealed at the end of that cartoon and could imagine him saying "ain't I a stinker?")
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:40 AM on February 16, 2015
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:40 AM on February 16, 2015
For those who appreciate Daffy's surreal side, here's his theme song, sung to the familiar tune of "The Merry-go-round Broke Down", from "Boobs in the Woods":
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:45 AM on February 16, 2015 [6 favorites]
Oh, people call me Daffy, they say that I am gooney.(If one were forced to try to make sense of Daffy's mood swings, consider him as the first bipolar cartoon character.)
Just because I'm happy is no sign I'm looney-tuney.
When they call me nutsy, that sure gives me a pain.
Please pass the ketchup, I think it's going to rain.
Oh, you can't bounce a meatball, though try with all your might.
Turn on the radio, I want to fly a kite!
Good evening, frieeeeeeeends...
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:45 AM on February 16, 2015 [6 favorites]
Rewatching classic animated shorts with my kid, the split between "daffy" Daffy and curmudgeon Daffy was very striking. I was also gobsmacked at what a dangerous sociopath Woody Woodpecker is.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:48 AM on February 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:48 AM on February 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
Agree. Duck Amuck is a masterwork.
There was a Chuck Jones Retrospective at the Museum of the Moving Image in NYC over the summer and fall - it was a treasure trove of beautiful insanity. Not sure if it is traveling anyplace else, but if you have a chance to see it, I can't recommend it enough.
posted by Mchelly at 6:49 AM on February 16, 2015
There was a Chuck Jones Retrospective at the Museum of the Moving Image in NYC over the summer and fall - it was a treasure trove of beautiful insanity. Not sure if it is traveling anyplace else, but if you have a chance to see it, I can't recommend it enough.
posted by Mchelly at 6:49 AM on February 16, 2015
My first reaction to this post was "cool Night Of The Comet reference!"
posted by grumpybear69 at 6:54 AM on February 16, 2015
posted by grumpybear69 at 6:54 AM on February 16, 2015
There is a Chuck Jones show in Fort Worth that just opened, Mchelly, not sure if it's the same one.
(but we are going!)
I like both curmudgeon and "daffy" Daffy. Was also a big fan of Duck Dodgers, which featured Daffy always losing but never quite sure why.
posted by emjaybee at 7:03 AM on February 16, 2015
(but we are going!)
I like both curmudgeon and "daffy" Daffy. Was also a big fan of Duck Dodgers, which featured Daffy always losing but never quite sure why.
posted by emjaybee at 7:03 AM on February 16, 2015
Tangentially related: just now, while I was reading this thread, The Barber of Seville started playing on the radio, and ignignokt and I looked at each other and said, "it's that song!" while doing this with our hands.
I'm pretty sure most of my education in the humanities came from Looney Tunes.
posted by Metroid Baby at 7:45 AM on February 16, 2015 [6 favorites]
I'm pretty sure most of my education in the humanities came from Looney Tunes.
posted by Metroid Baby at 7:45 AM on February 16, 2015 [6 favorites]
emjaybee - that's it! Make sure you find the audio files - they have clips of Jones directing Mel Blanc as Daffy. There are far more ways to say Dethpicable than I ever thought.
posted by Mchelly at 7:58 AM on February 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Mchelly at 7:58 AM on February 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
Speaking of audio files: whoooooosh-BOING!!! oooWEEEoooWEEEoooWEEE… SPLOP!! VRROOOOM--scrEEEEch!
posted by jim in austin at 8:13 AM on February 16, 2015
posted by jim in austin at 8:13 AM on February 16, 2015
Please pass the ketchup, I think it's going to rain.
posted by bricksNmortar at 8:27 AM on February 16, 2015
posted by bricksNmortar at 8:27 AM on February 16, 2015
My partner owns basically every cartoon ever released from the 30s through the 70s (he's been an avid collector on boards and in conventions and person-to-person, so he has literally just about everything that can be found...hundreds of DVDs in chronological order that he put together painstakingly himself) and we're watching his video compilations for any errors, etc. It's taken months and months of watching cartoon after cartoon for hours every week, and we're only in the mid-40s right now.
The evolution of characters is quite amazing. I forgot that nothing used to bother Daffy at all, and he was a nutball until I saw all the older shorts. Woody Woodpecker is indeed a psychopath, and there are trends that are quite amazing (when you see 20+ cartoons in a row that somehow manage to get at least one Frank Sinatra swooning teenage girls joke, you get how attuned to the zeitgeist these animators were). There's also a ton of casual, horrible racism flowing through these cartoons, which makes a good deal of viewing time really uncomfortable.
I would really encourage anyone who is interested in pop culture history to watch as many cartoons from the same year together as possible. You will know what songs are popular, what's in the news, and how the country is feeling about certain trends.
posted by xingcat at 8:30 AM on February 16, 2015 [6 favorites]
The evolution of characters is quite amazing. I forgot that nothing used to bother Daffy at all, and he was a nutball until I saw all the older shorts. Woody Woodpecker is indeed a psychopath, and there are trends that are quite amazing (when you see 20+ cartoons in a row that somehow manage to get at least one Frank Sinatra swooning teenage girls joke, you get how attuned to the zeitgeist these animators were). There's also a ton of casual, horrible racism flowing through these cartoons, which makes a good deal of viewing time really uncomfortable.
I would really encourage anyone who is interested in pop culture history to watch as many cartoons from the same year together as possible. You will know what songs are popular, what's in the news, and how the country is feeling about certain trends.
posted by xingcat at 8:30 AM on February 16, 2015 [6 favorites]
I'm pretty sure most of my education in the humanities came from Looney Tunes.
You are not alone. I suspect that half of the classical music that people of my generation recognize came to them via Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:31 AM on February 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
You are not alone. I suspect that half of the classical music that people of my generation recognize came to them via Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:31 AM on February 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
"Thanks for the sour persimmons, cousin!"
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 8:44 AM on February 16, 2015
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 8:44 AM on February 16, 2015
Daffy and Bugs arguing in "Rabbit Seasoning" is still one of the best things ever.
"It's fiddler crab season! Shoot me, I'm a fiddler crab!"
Not sure that early insane Daffy could have pulled that off, nor the Robin Hood "Oh, a-ha, guard, turn, parry, dodge, spin, ha, THRUST!" *kaboiing-ing-ing-ing* (Adjusts bill)
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 8:51 AM on February 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
"It's fiddler crab season! Shoot me, I'm a fiddler crab!"
Not sure that early insane Daffy could have pulled that off, nor the Robin Hood "Oh, a-ha, guard, turn, parry, dodge, spin, ha, THRUST!" *kaboiing-ing-ing-ing* (Adjusts bill)
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 8:51 AM on February 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
I suspect that half of the classical music that people of my generation recognize came to them via Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng.
If you can't beat em, join em...
posted by jim in austin at 9:01 AM on February 16, 2015
If you can't beat em, join em...
posted by jim in austin at 9:01 AM on February 16, 2015
According to my partner (who is watching this thing), it was Chuck Jones in the "Duck, Rabbit, Duck" hunting cartoons that paved the way for Daffy going from being "daffy" to the curmudgeon he is today.
posted by xingcat at 9:06 AM on February 16, 2015
posted by xingcat at 9:06 AM on February 16, 2015
Tangentially related: just now, while I was reading this thread, The Barber of Seville started playing on the radio, and ignignokt and I looked at each other and said, "it's that song!" while doing this with our hands.
And you feet, I hope.
I'm a late Daffy guy. Duck Amuck and the Duck Rabbit Duck trilogy are indeed glorious. My other favourite Daffy performance comes in Ali Baba Bunny.
posted by Paul Slade at 9:23 AM on February 16, 2015
And you feet, I hope.
I'm a late Daffy guy. Duck Amuck and the Duck Rabbit Duck trilogy are indeed glorious. My other favourite Daffy performance comes in Ali Baba Bunny.
posted by Paul Slade at 9:23 AM on February 16, 2015
My all-time absolute favorite Daffy Duck performance was his turn as Robin Hood (with special guest Porky Pig as Friar Tuck).
YOIKS! And away! (slam!)
posted by magstheaxe at 10:26 AM on February 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
YOIKS! And away! (slam!)
posted by magstheaxe at 10:26 AM on February 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
Is "curmudgeon" the accepted term for later Daffy? Because I never thought of him that way.
A curmudgeon is "an ill-tempered (and frequently old) person full of stubborn ideas or opinions". Later Daffy is a man (well, a duck, technically) who has realized that the Gods and the Fates are cruel and toy with our plans and our desires, and he will no longer take the abuse quietly. We cannot undo all our disappointments, but we can give voice to the inner roar of despair they generate. The loud, quacking voice of despair.
posted by benito.strauss at 10:35 AM on February 16, 2015 [5 favorites]
A curmudgeon is "an ill-tempered (and frequently old) person full of stubborn ideas or opinions". Later Daffy is a man (well, a duck, technically) who has realized that the Gods and the Fates are cruel and toy with our plans and our desires, and he will no longer take the abuse quietly. We cannot undo all our disappointments, but we can give voice to the inner roar of despair they generate. The loud, quacking voice of despair.
posted by benito.strauss at 10:35 AM on February 16, 2015 [5 favorites]
"I'm rich! I'm wealthy! I'm independent! I'm socially secure!"
posted by Omission at 10:50 AM on February 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Omission at 10:50 AM on February 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
I'm a happy miser!
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:55 AM on February 16, 2015
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:55 AM on February 16, 2015
The way Chuck Jones described how he saw the characters of Bugs and Daffy was that Bugs was the person everyone wished they could be: charismatic, witty, cool-under-fire, unflappable. And Daffy was what we really are: self-interested, greedy, maniacal.
"Consequences schmonsequences. Long as I'm rich."
posted by Aznable at 10:57 AM on February 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
"Consequences schmonsequences. Long as I'm rich."
posted by Aznable at 10:57 AM on February 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
Late Daffy, for sure. Early Daffy is just kind of irritating. I feel the same way about Bob Clampett Bugs. He's not witty or cool like Jones' Bugs; he's just frenetic and faintly goofy.
posted by holborne at 11:33 AM on February 16, 2015
posted by holborne at 11:33 AM on February 16, 2015
No Daffy Duck thread should go without a mention of his crucial role in the search for the shaving cream atom, and the TV series it spawned 50 years later.
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 11:43 AM on February 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 11:43 AM on February 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
Ah, the sacred chant of the Egyptian God of Frustration!
posted by katya.lysander at 12:22 PM on February 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by katya.lysander at 12:22 PM on February 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
Early Daffy is a bottle rocket of insanity that may go off at any moment. Later Daffy is just frustrated and mad those acting out the same behavior he used to engage in. Now that I think about it it's the most realistic depiction of aging I've encountered.
posted by downtohisturtles at 12:28 PM on February 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by downtohisturtles at 12:28 PM on February 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
Nothing ever goes right for Daffy, and it's partly-to-mostly his fault. Whereas Bugs is always succeeds regardless of the odds (well, not always, but when Daffy is around, he does).
Some of the later pairings (especially TV-cartoon versions) of them were not as good, though, because after a while it gets boringly repetitive, and you frankly feel sorry for Daffy.
And of course Duck Amuck reveals that he is in fact the victim of a cruel deity who will never let him win.
posted by emjaybee at 1:57 PM on February 16, 2015
Some of the later pairings (especially TV-cartoon versions) of them were not as good, though, because after a while it gets boringly repetitive, and you frankly feel sorry for Daffy.
And of course Duck Amuck reveals that he is in fact the victim of a cruel deity who will never let him win.
posted by emjaybee at 1:57 PM on February 16, 2015
"Let's run through that again."
posted by entropicamericana at 5:22 PM on February 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by entropicamericana at 5:22 PM on February 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
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Maybe…intercut it with the Bertie Wooster "What ho!" marathon. Previously.
What ho, mods.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:04 AM on February 16, 2015 [3 favorites]