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Holiday for Drumsticks is a 1949 Merrie Melodies short directed by Arthur Davis.

Title[]

The title is a play on the song "Holiday for Strings."

Plot[]

A hillbilly husband brings home a turkey. After shooting back at their feuding neighbor, the wife prepares some food to fatten up the turkey for Thanksgiving. The turkey is thrown into the animal pen. Daffy Duck, who happens to be one of the farm animals, is jealous of all of the food that the turkey is receiving. Once he sees a feast for the turkey, Daffy rushes to the turkey and tells him to stop eating. Daffy explains that the hillbillies want to fatten up the turkey and then eat him, so Daffy says that the turkey should reduce his weight so the hillbillies won't eat the skinny turkey.

In a montage, the turkey exercises day by day, while Daffy eats up the entire feast that was supposed to be for the turkey. On Thanksgiving Day, the turkey is now extremely slim, while Daffy is fat. Pa finds the turkey and states that it's too bony for him to eat. However, the tables turn when Daffy brags that he is a healthy duck himself and that the hillbillies can't eat duck for Thanksgiving. Pa finds Daffy a suitable alternative and attempts to axe and shoot him. Daffy frantically tries to lose his weight, but he nearly gets shot in all attempts. Daffy begs the turkey to save him, and the turkey hides him in various areas before admitting that Daffy can't be saved aside from moving to a country that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving. The turkey tells Daffy to take a boat to Rio de Janeiro, which is a trick to get Daffy into the oven. However, the hillbillies are unable to cook Daffy, as Daffy keeps blowing the matches out.

Music Cues[]

  • Sunny Skylar - "All The Time" - plays during the opening credits.
  • Sandford C. Faulkner - "Arkansas Traveler" - plays throughout the short.
  • Henry Bishop and John Howard Payne - "Home, Sweet Home" - plays when Daffy Duck sees Tom Turk at the pen.
  • Harry M. Woods and Mort Dixon - "I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover" - plays when Daffy eats up the food while Tom Turk exercises.
  • Cliff Friend and Dave Oppenheim - "Freddy the Freshman" - plays during the montage.
  • Joseph Meyer, Al Dubin, and Billy Rose - "A Cup of Coffee, a Sandwich and You" - plays when Daffy Duck brags that he is healthy.
  • Arthur Schwartz and Leo Robin - "A Rainy Night in Rio" - plays when Tom Turk tells Daffy Duck to leave the country.
  • Lili'uokalani - "Aloha 'Oe" - plays when Daffy Duck is about to enter the potbelly stove.

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Censorship[]

  • On ABC's The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show, two scenes involving gun use were cut:[3]
    • Ma and Pa's neighbor firing a rifle at them (with Ma using the bullets to pour the coffee, Pa using the bullets to light the match for his pipe, the bullets hitting Pa's hat when he hangs it up, and Pa firing back at their neighbor, followed by his agonized scream).
    • Daffy trying to lose weight by sweating it off in a sauna machine, only for Pa to shoot the sauna machine and cause it to shrink tightly around Daffy's neck.

Notes[]

  • The original closing titles were presumed to be lost, as the cartoon only existed with the 1957ā€“59 Merrie Melodies closing titles. However, in 2021, a 16mm black and white print sold on eBay had the original closing title intact.
  • MeTV aired this short on 24 November 2021 on Toon In With Me; however, this airing uses the 1997 "THIS VERSION" print, without the disclaimer notice.

Gallery[]

References[]

Daffy Duck Cartoons
1937 Porky's Duck Hunt
1938 Daffy Duck & Egghead ā€¢ What Price Porky ā€¢ Porky & Daffy ā€¢ The Daffy Doc ā€¢ Daffy Duck in Hollywood
1939 Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur ā€¢ Scalp Trouble ā€¢ Wise Quacks
1940 Porky's Last Stand ā€¢ You Ought to Be in Pictures
1941 A Coy Decoy ā€¢ The Henpecked Duck
1942 Conrad the Sailor ā€¢ Daffy's Southern Exposure ā€¢ The Impatient Patient ā€¢ The Daffy Duckaroo ā€¢ My Favorite Duck
1943 To Duck .... or Not to Duck ā€¢ The Wise Quacking Duck ā€¢ Yankee Doodle Daffy ā€¢ Porky Pig's Feat ā€¢ Scrap Happy Daffy ā€¢ A Corny Concerto ā€¢ Daffy - The Commando
1944 Tom Turk and Daffy ā€¢ Tick Tock Tuckered ā€¢ Duck Soup to Nuts ā€¢ Slightly Daffy ā€¢ Plane Daffy ā€¢ The Stupid Cupid
1945 Draftee Daffy ā€¢ Ain't That Ducky ā€¢ Nasty Quacks
1946 Book Revue ā€¢ Baby Bottleneck ā€¢ Daffy Doodles ā€¢ Hollywood Daffy ā€¢ The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
1947 Birth of a Notion ā€¢ Along Came Daffy ā€¢ A Pest in the House ā€¢ Mexican Joyride
1948 What Makes Daffy Duck ā€¢ Daffy Duck Slept Here ā€¢ The Up-Standing Sitter ā€¢ You Were Never Duckier ā€¢ Daffy Dilly ā€¢ The Stupor Salesman ā€¢ Riff Raffy Daffy
1949 Wise Quackers ā€¢ Holiday for Drumsticks ā€¢ Daffy Duck Hunt
1950 Boobs in the Woods ā€¢ The Scarlet Pumpernickel ā€¢ His Bitter Half ā€¢ Golden Yeggs ā€¢ The Ducksters
1951 Rabbit Fire ā€¢ Drip-Along Daffy ā€¢ The Prize Pest
1952 Thumb Fun ā€¢ Cracked Quack ā€¢ Rabbit Seasoning ā€¢ The Super Snooper ā€¢ Fool Coverage
1953 Duck Amuck ā€¢ Muscle Tussle ā€¢ Duck Dodgers in the 24Ā½th Century ā€¢ Duck! Rabbit, Duck!
1954 Design for Leaving ā€¢ Quack Shot ā€¢ My Little Duckaroo
1955 Beanstalk Bunny ā€¢ Sahara Hare ā€¢ Stork Naked ā€¢ This Is a Life? ā€¢ Dime to Retire
1956 The High and the Flighty ā€¢ Rocket Squad ā€¢ Stupor Duck ā€¢ A Star Is Bored ā€¢ Deduce, You Say
1957 Ali Baba Bunny ā€¢ Boston Quackie ā€¢ Ducking the Devil ā€¢ Show Biz Bugs
1958 Don't Axe Me ā€¢ Robin Hood Daffy
1959 China Jones ā€¢ People Are Bunny ā€¢ Apes of Wrath
1960 Person to Bunny
1961 The Abominable Snow Rabbit ā€¢ Daffy's Inn Trouble
1962 Quackodile Tears ā€¢ Good Noose
1963 Fast Buck Duck ā€¢ The Million Hare ā€¢ Aqua Duck
1964 The Iceman Ducketh
1965 It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House ā€¢ Moby Duck ā€¢ Assault and Peppered ā€¢ Well Worn Daffy ā€¢ Suppressed Duck ā€¢ Corn on the Cop ā€¢ Tease for Two ā€¢ Chili Corn Corny ā€¢ Go Go Amigo
1966 The Astroduck ā€¢ Mucho Locos ā€¢ Mexican Mousepiece ā€¢ Daffy Rents ā€¢ A-Haunting We Will Go ā€¢ Snow Excuse ā€¢ A Squeak in the Deep ā€¢ Feather Finger ā€¢ Swing Ding Amigo ā€¢ A Taste of Catnip
1967 Daffy's Diner ā€¢ Quacker Tracker ā€¢ The Music Mice-Tro ā€¢ The Spy Swatter ā€¢ Speedy Ghost to Town ā€¢ Rodent to Stardom ā€¢ Go Away Stowaway ā€¢ Fiesta Fiasco
1968 Skyscraper Caper ā€¢ See Ya Later Gladiator
1980 The Yolks on You ā€¢ The Chocolate Chase ā€¢ Daffy Flies North ā€¢ Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24Ā½th 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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