Yankee Doodle Daffy
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''Yankee Doodle Daffy'' is a
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
''
Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...
'' theatrical cartoon short released on July 3, 1943, directed by
Friz Freleng Isadore "Friz" Freleng (; August 21, 1905May 26, 1995), credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, Film director, director, Film producer, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons ...
and written by
Tedd Pierce Edward Stacey "Tedd" Pierce III (August 12, 1906 – February 19, 1972) was an American screenwriter and voice actor of animated cartoons, principally from the mid-1930s to the late 1950s. Biography Pierce was the son of a stockbroker, Samuel ...
. The short was the second
Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...
''Looney Tunes'' entry to feature
Porky Pig Porky Pig is a cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his celebrity, star power, and the animators created man ...
and
Daffy Duck Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character created by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett for Leon Schlesinger Productions. Styled as an anthropomorphic black duck, he has appeared in cartoon series such as ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Me ...
(after '' My Favorite Duck''). It is also one of the handfuls of ''Looney Tunes'' and ''
Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animated comedy short film series distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was part of the ''Looney Tunes'' franchise and featured many of the same characters. Originally running from August 2, 1931, to Septem ...
'' to have entered into the public domain. None of the voice actors were credited on screen.
Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908 – July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for come ...
performed most of the voices, while Ken Bennett sang "In the Garden of My Heart" as Sleepy Lagoon.
Richard Bickenbach Richard Frederick Bickenbach (August 9, 1907 – June 28, 1994) was an American animator who worked for Warner Bros. Cartoons and as a layout artist and character designer for MGM and Hanna-Barbera Productions. He worked on animation for many ca ...
received screen credit as animator, but other animators working on the film were
Jack Bradbury John Morin "Jack" Bradbury (December 27, 1914 – May 15, 2004) was an American animator and comic book artist. Bradbury began working for Disney at age 20 and was responsible for key scenes in films like ''Pinocchio'', ''Fantasia'' and ''Bambi' ...
,
Gerry Chiniquy Germain Adolph Chiniquy (pronounced "chin-a-KEE"; June 23, 1912 – November 22, 1989) was an American animator known for his work with Friz Freleng at both Warner Bros. Cartoons and DePatie-Freleng Enterprises. Chiniquy joined Freleng's ani ...
,
Phil Monroe Philip Monroe (October 31, 1916 – July 13, 1988) was an American animator and director best known for working for Warner Bros. Cartoons under the supervision of Chuck Jones. Monroe had also worked for UPA. Career Monroe started working at L ...
and Manuel Perez. Owen Fitzgerald was the layout artist, Paul Julian painted the backgrounds, and Lloyd Turner was the in-between artist. The title and introductory music are inspired by the 1942 film ''
Yankee Doodle Dandy ''Yankee Doodle Dandy'' is a 1942 American biographical musical drama film about George M. Cohan, known as "The Man Who Owned Broadway". It stars James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, and Richard Whorf, and features Irene Manning, Geo ...
'', a major hit and a Warner release. Other than the fact of both films being about show business, they have no plot elements in common. It is one of the few Daffy Duck/Porky Pig cartoons to have entered into the public domain after United Artists failed to renew the copyright by 1971.


Plot

At Smeller's Productions, Porky Pig, a producer, loaded down with luggage and a golf bag, hangs a sign on his office door reading "No casting today" and leaves his office in a hurry to board an airplane. However, Daffy Duck, a
talent agent A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds work for actors, authors, broadcast journalists, film directors, musicians, models, professional athletes, screenwriters, writers, dancers, and other professionals in various entertainm ...
, stops Porky from leaving, wanting to secure an
audition An audition is a sample performance by an actor, singer, musician, dancer or other performer. It typically involves the performer displaying their talent through a previously memorized and rehearsed solo piece or by performing a work or piece gi ...
for his client, droopy-eyed child performer Sleepy Lagoon. The pitch, intended to demonstrate Sleepy's allegedly wide and varied repertoire, consists of Daffy himself performing an array of musical and stage acts in his usual, absurd and unoriginal fashion. Sleepy meanwhile stays seated, nonchalantly licking an enormous
lollipop A lollipop is a type of sugar candy usually consisting of hard candy mounted on a stick and intended for sucking or licking. Different informal terms are used in different places, including lolly, sucker and sticky-pop. Lollipops are avail ...
and silently commenting on Daffy's ludicrous behavior using signs bearing
rebus A rebus ( ) is a puzzle device that combines the use of illustrated pictures with individual letters to depict words or phrases. For example: the word "been" might be depicted by a rebus showing an illustrated bumblebee next to a plus sign (+ ...
es, such as "ham" ("excessively theatrical"), "screwball" ("crazy and absurd"), and "corn" ("corny"). The songs Daffy performs include "
I'm Just Wild About Harry "I'm Just Wild About Harry" is a song written in 1921 with lyrics by Noble Sissle and music by Eubie Blake for the Broadway show '' Shuffle Along''. "I'm Just Wild About Harry" was the most popular number of the production, which was the first f ...
", "
William Tell Overture The ''William Tell'' Overture is the overture to the opera '' William Tell'' (original French title ''Guillaume Tell''), composed by Gioachino Rossini. ''William Tell'' premiered in 1829 and was the last of Rossini's 39 operas, after which he w ...
", "
Flight of the Bumblebee "Flight of the Bumblebee" () is an orchestral interlude written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908) for his opera '' The Tale of Tsar Saltan'', composed in 1899–1900. This perpetuum mobile is intended to musically evoke the seemingl ...
", " Chica Chica Boom Chic" (as
Carmen Miranda Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha (9 February 1909 – 5 August 1955), known professionally as Carmen Miranda (), was a Portuguese-born Brazilian singer, dancer, and actress. Nicknamed "The Brazilian Bombshell", she was known for her signature ...
), "Laugh, Clown, Laugh" (as
Enrico Caruso Enrico Caruso (, , ; 25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic first lyric tenor then dramatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles that r ...
as Canio in ''
Pagliacci ''Pagliacci'' (; literal translation, 'Clowns') is an Italian opera in a prologue and two acts, with music and libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo. The opera tells the tale of Canio, actor and leader of a commedia dell'arte theatrical company, who mu ...
''), and " Angel in Disguise" (the same song
Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is a cartoon character created in the late 1930s at Warner Bros. Cartoons (originally Leon Schlesinger, Leon Schlesinger Productions) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the ' ...
and
Sylvester Sylvester or Silvester is a name derived from the Latin adjective ''silvestris'' meaning "wooded" or "wild", which derives from the noun ''silva'' meaning "woodland". Classical Latin spells this with ''i''. In Classical Latin, ''y'' represented a ...
perform in ''
The Wabbit Who Came to Supper ''The Wabbit Who Came to Supper'' is a 1942 ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon featuring Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. It was released on March 28, 1942, and directed by Friz Freleng. Plot Elmer Fudd, initially in pursuit of Bugs Bunny with his hunting do ...
'' and '' Back Alley Oproar'', respectively). Porky, with mounting frustration (as it is his day off), repeatedly tries to escape from the pitch. Daffy handily foils each attempt in increasingly improbable ways, including by turning out to be the pilot of Porky's plane and then turning out to be the parachute Porky uses to escape the plane. After Daffy finally takes it upon himself to harass Porky with an outrageous finale, Porky decides to just get it over with by allowing Sleepy to audition. Sleepy calmly leaves his seat and begins to sing the song, "In the Garden of My Heart" (a WB-owned song by Roma and Ball), in a strong, operatic
baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...
that is not only surprising given his small stature but also substantially more dramatic than any of the acts Daffy used in the pitch. However, during a high note near the end, he erupts into a long coughing fit before weakly croaking the rest of the line.


Analysis

Authors Michael S. Shull and David E. Wilt consider it ambiguous as to whether this cartoon contains a World War II-related reference. When Daffy is revealed as the pilot of the plane, he is wearing an aviator's goggles and helmet. In this guise, Daffy sings Max Steiner's main title march from ''
Dive Bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...
'': "We watch the skyways o'er the land and the sea, ready to fly anywhere the duty calls, ready to fight to be free". This could be a reference to
military aviation Military aviation is the design, development and use of military aircraft and other flying machines for the purposes of conducting or enabling aerial warfare, including national airlift (air cargo) capacity to provide military logistics, logist ...
.Shull, Wilt (2004), p. 216


Home media


United States

''Yankee Doodle Daffy'' is available officially on DVD as part of '' Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1'' by
Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment; formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the American home video distribution ...
.


See also

* ''
Yankee Doodle Dandy ''Yankee Doodle Dandy'' is a 1942 American biographical musical drama film about George M. Cohan, known as "The Man Who Owned Broadway". It stars James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, and Richard Whorf, and features Irene Manning, Geo ...
'', a 1942 American
biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curric ...
musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serv ...
starting
James Cagney James Francis Cagney Jr. (; July 17, 1899March 30, 1986) was an American actor and dancer. On stage and in film, he was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He won acclaim and maj ...
,
Joan Leslie Joan Leslie (born Joan Agnes Theresa Sadie Brodel; January 26, 1925 – October 12, 2015) was an American actress and vaudevillian, who during the Hollywood Golden Age, appeared in films such as '' High Sierra'' (1941), ''Sergeant York'' (1941) ...
,
Walter Huston Walter Thomas Huston ( ; April 6, 1883 or 1884 – April 7, 1950) was a Canadian actor and singer. Huston won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in '' The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'', directed by his son John Huston. He ...
, and
Richard Whorf Richard Whorf (June 4, 1906 – December 14, 1966) was an American actor, writer and film director. Life and acting career Whorf was born in Winthrop, Massachusetts to Harry and Sarah (née Lee) Whorf. His older brother was linguist Benjamin ...
.


Sources

*


References


External links

*
''Yankee Doodle Daffy'' on the Internet Archive

Watch ''Yankee Doodle Daffy'' in fully restored HD at Laugh Bureau Vintage
* in high definition, with closed captions. {{Friz Freleng, state=collapsed Looney Tunes shorts 1943 animated short films 1943 films Short films directed by Friz Freleng 1940s American animated films Films about entertainers Daffy Duck films Porky Pig films American musical comedy films 1943 musical comedy films Films produced by Leon Schlesinger Films scored by Carl Stalling American musical short films