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His Bitter Half is a 1950 Merrie Melodies short directed by Friz Freleng.

Title[]

The title is a play on the phrase "his better half," referring to one's spouse. In this case, the played title is used ironically.

Plot[]

Daffy Duck reads the newspaper and finds that a rich widow is seeking a single gentleman for marriage. As the impoverished duck thinks that he can live a life of fortune and luxury that way, he marries and tries to relax, but his wife is revealed to be a pushy, abusive, intimating and domineering duck bigger in size than Daffy himself, demanding that Daffy does chores around the house. Daffy refuses, but he gets his beak knocked out by his wife, so Daffy complies and cleans up the entirety of the house.

Exhausted, Daffy thinks he can finally catch a break, but he later finds out that his wife also has a bratty troublemaking son named Wentworth. When Wentworth wants to play with Daffy, Wentworth causes all sorts of trouble for Daffy, such as playing Indians where Daffy gets scalped, sling-shotting rocks at the carnival shooting game owner who thinks Daffy is shooting at him, and exploding 4th of July fireworks on Daffy. After a failed attempt to punish the boy, Daffy finally has enough and leaves the abusive household, but not before his wife manages to pluck nearly every feather off his body.

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Censorship[]

  • The version of this cartoon shown on FOX's The Merrie Melodies Show edited the part where Wentworth plays Army to remove the part where Wentworth fakes getting shot and screams, "They got me!"[3]
  • The version of this cartoon shown on Nickelodeon's Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon edited the part where Wentworth cautiously tries to light a string of fireworks as Nickelodeon censors feared kids will imitate this dangerous act. It should be noted that that scene was left uncut until 1992 and the above scene that FOX edited was shown uncensored on Nickelodeon both before and after 1992.[3]

Notes[]

  • The premise of this cartoon would be later be reused for another cartoon starring Yosemite Sam, "Honey's Money".
  • This cartoon was used in the Thanksgiving special Daffy Duck's Thanks-for-Giving Special.
  • MeTV aired a previously unreleased restored print of the cartoon on Toon In with Me, uncut and uncensored. This was later released on HBO Max in Latin America and Brazil.
  • Wentworth’s name is possibly a reference to Martha Wentworth the actress providing the voice of Mrs. Duck.
  • While Wentworth is painting, a can labeled “Hadley & Pert Flex Lak Thinner” is shown, a reference to layout artist Hawley Pratt.
  • The Native American music that plays when Wentworth chases Daffy Duck while whooping like an American Indian is reused and modified from "A Horse Fly Fleas".
  • According to the What's Cooking Doc section of the July 1949 issue of Warner Club News, Eddie Selzer thought that this was the best Daffy Duck cartoon ever made.[4]
  • Vitaphone release number: 1822[5]

Gallery[]

References[]

Daffy Duck Cartoons
1937 Porky's Duck Hunt
1938 Daffy Duck & EggheadWhat Price PorkyPorky & DaffyThe Daffy DocDaffy Duck in Hollywood
1939 Daffy Duck and the DinosaurScalp TroubleWise Quacks
1940 Porky's Last StandYou Ought to Be in Pictures
1941 A Coy DecoyThe Henpecked Duck
1942 Conrad the SailorDaffy's Southern ExposureThe Impatient PatientThe Daffy DuckarooMy Favorite Duck
1943 To Duck .... or Not to DuckThe Wise Quacking DuckYankee Doodle DaffyPorky Pig's FeatScrap Happy DaffyA Corny ConcertoDaffy - The Commando
1944 Tom Turk and DaffyTick Tock TuckeredDuck Soup to NutsSlightly DaffyPlane DaffyThe Stupid Cupid
1945 Draftee DaffyAin't That DuckyNasty Quacks
1946 Book RevueBaby BottleneckDaffy DoodlesHollywood DaffyThe Great Piggy Bank Robbery
1947 Birth of a NotionAlong Came DaffyA Pest in the HouseMexican Joyride
1948 What Makes Daffy DuckDaffy Duck Slept HereThe Up-Standing SitterYou Were Never DuckierDaffy DillyThe Stupor SalesmanRiff Raffy Daffy
1949 Wise QuackersHoliday for DrumsticksDaffy Duck Hunt
1950 Boobs in the WoodsThe Scarlet PumpernickelHis Bitter HalfGolden YeggsThe Ducksters
1951 Rabbit FireDrip-Along DaffyThe Prize Pest
1952 Thumb FunCracked QuackRabbit SeasoningThe Super SnooperFool Coverage
1953 Duck AmuckMuscle TussleDuck Dodgers in the 24½th CenturyDuck! Rabbit, Duck!
1954 Design for LeavingQuack ShotMy Little Duckaroo
1955 Beanstalk BunnySahara HareStork NakedThis Is a Life?Dime to Retire
1956 The High and the FlightyRocket SquadStupor DuckA Star Is BoredDeduce, You Say
1957 Ali Baba BunnyBoston QuackieDucking the DevilShow Biz Bugs
1958 Don't Axe MeRobin Hood Daffy
1959 China JonesPeople Are BunnyApes of Wrath
1960 Person to Bunny
1961 The Abominable Snow RabbitDaffy's Inn Trouble
1962 Quackodile TearsGood Noose
1963 Fast Buck DuckThe Million HareAqua Duck
1964 The Iceman Ducketh
1965 It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the HouseMoby DuckAssault and PepperedWell Worn DaffySuppressed DuckCorn on the CopTease for TwoChili Corn CornyGo Go Amigo
1966 The AstroduckMucho LocosMexican MousepieceDaffy RentsA-Haunting We Will GoSnow ExcuseA Squeak in the DeepFeather FingerSwing Ding AmigoA Taste of Catnip
1967 Daffy's DinerQuacker TrackerThe Music Mice-TroThe Spy SwatterSpeedy Ghost to TownRodent to StardomGo Away StowawayFiesta Fiasco
1968 Skyscraper CaperSee Ya Later Gladiator
1980 The Yolks on YouThe Chocolate ChaseDaffy Flies NorthDuck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century
1987 The Duxorcist
1988 The Night of the Living Duck
1990 Box Office Bunny
1991 (Blooper) Bunny
1992 Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers
1995 Carrotblanca
1996 Superior Duck
2003 Attack of the Drones
2004 Daffy Duck for President
2012 Daffy's Rhapsody
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