Yankee Doodle Daffy is a 1943 Looney Tunes short directed by Friz Freleng.
Title[]
The title and introductory music are inspired by the 1942 film Yankee Doodle Dandy, a major hit and another Warner release. Other than both films being about show business, they have no plot elements in common.
Plot[]
Daffy Duck, agent to the stars, complete with business card that flashes like a theater marquis, does everything he can to convince Porky Pig of "Smeller Productions" that his preadolescent client "Sleepy LaGoon" can become a star. This annoys Porky, as it is his day off and he has planned to play golf.
Daffy tells Porky what his client can do, while actually performing various schticks himself in his usual wild and frenetic way. After trying various ways to escape, Porky locks Daffy in a huge vault and takes off in a plane, only to find out that the pilot of the plane was Daffy. Porky jumps out with a parachute while Daffy follows. Porky is chased back to his office. Finally, Porky relents and asks to see what his client can do. "Sleepy", a small and droopy-eyed duck who has whiled away the whole time slurping a huge all-day sucker which he keeps in a banjo case, finally gets to perform. "Sleepy" begins to sing a song in a strong baritone voice. He starts out well, then tries to hit a high note, and goes into a coughing fit.
Caricatures[]
Availability[]
Streaming[]
Parodies[]
- "Yankee Doodle Daffy" is parodied in the South Park episode "The Passion of the Jew", when Stan and Kenny are trying to escape Mel Gibson's house, a reference to Porky trying to escape from Daffy.
- "Yankee Doodle Daffy" is twice referenced in the TV series SpongeBob SquarePants: first in the episode "SpongeBob Meets the Strangler" when the Tattletale Strangler tries to escape SpongeBob by jumping off of a plane and using a parachute, only to find that SpongeBob was the parachute, a gag borrowed from this cartoon, and second in the episode "Rodeo Daze", where Sandy is riding SpongeBob like a horse, a possible reference to Daffy riding Porky like a horse.
Notes[]
- Daffy mentions "the Sweater Girl", Lana Turner.
- Portraits of Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, and Friz Freleng appear on Porky's walls.
- The Warner cartoonists occasionally played jokes on themselves and their audience, sometimes "testing the waters" to see what they could get away with. In this case, during Daffy's Carmen Miranda impersonation, and out of character with the rest of the set-piece, a single frame appears to show Daffy subtly giving "the bird" to the viewer while grinning devilishly. This would have been invisible to the theater audience, but can easily be seen with now-routinely available equipment that allows frame-by-frame study of films. Viewing a cartoon that way can reveal the artistry of the Warner cartoonists, as well as reveal these amusing "easter eggs".
- In the 1988 TV special compilation Bugs vs. Daffy: Battle of the Music Video Stars, Daffy refers to his abrupt transition from banjo playing to Carmen Miranda impersonation as his "crossover hit, 'Banjo Chicky-Boom'."
- The sequence where Daffy performs "I'm Just Wild About Harry", a song more customarily sung by female vocalists, contains an arguable acknowledgement of homosexuality. When Daffy reaches the lyrics "The heavenly blisses / Of his kisses / Fill me with ecsta---" he stops abruptly to make sure Porky knows, "This is just a rough idea, y'understand," before completing the song.
- This cartoon entered the public domain in 1971 due to United Artists not renewing the copyright in time.
- This is the final Looney Tunes short to have the Vitaphone release number appear on screen under the opening titles.
- Vitaphone release number: 1139[4]
Music-Cues[5][]
- Yankee Doodle (traditional)
- Played during the opening credits
- You Oughta Be in Pictures
- Played during the opening scene
- Hang On to Your Lids, Kids (by Harold Arlen)
- Plays when Daffy introduces himself and Sleepy Lagoon
- Puddin’ Head Jones (by Lou Handman)
- Plays when Sleepy Lagoon first appears on screen, sucking a lollipop
- I'm Just Wild About Harry (Music by Eubie Blake & Lyrics by Noble Sissle)
- Sung by Daffy Duck (Mel Blanc)
- Also plays during the following scene
- Hang On to Your Lids, Kids (by Harold Arlen)
- Plays again when Daffy is talking to Porky
- Frat (by John F. Barth)
- Performed by Daffy Duck on the banjo
- Hang On to Your Lids, Kids (by Harold Arlen)
- Plays again when Daffy stops Porky from escaping and carries him back to his seat
- Laugh, Clown, Laugh (Music by Ted Fio Rito & Lyrics by Sam Lewis and Joe Young)
- Sung by Daffy Duck (Mel Blanc)
- Cheyenne (Music by Egbert Van Alstyne)
- Sung by Daffy Duck (Mel Blanc) as "I'm a Cowboy"
- We Watch the Skyways (Music by Max Steiner & Lyrics by Gus Kahn)
- Sung by Daffy Duck (Mel Blanc)
- Angel in Disguise (Music by Paul Mann and Stefan Weiß & Lyrics by Kim Gannon)
- Sung by Daffy Duck (Mel Blanc)
- William Tell Overture (Music by Gioachino Rossini)
- Sung with substitute lyrics by Daffy Duck (Mel Blanc)
- Can-Can (by Jacques Offenbach)
- Plays when there are multiple Daffy's
- Puddin’ Head Jones (by Lou Handman)
- Plays again when Sleepy Lagoon is sucking a lollipop
- In the Garden of My Heart (Music by Ernest Ball & Lyrics by Caro Roma)
- Sung by Sleepy Lagoon (Ken Bennett)
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10165808603900578&set=pb.619090577.-2207520000
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 http://likelylooneymostlymerrie.blogspot.com/2016/07/407-yankee-doodle-daffy-1943.html
- ↑ https://www.bcdb.com/cartoon-characters/5310-Yankee-Doodle-Daffy
- ↑ Liebman, Roy (2003). Vitaphone Films: A Catalogue of the Features and Shorts. McFarland, page 278. ISBN 978-0786412792.
- ↑ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036546/soundtrack/