Cracked Quack is a 1952 Merrie Melodies short directed by Friz Freleng.
Plot[]
Daffy is flying south in a blizzard, late in the winter season. Cold and tired, he notices something in front of him; he crashes into the roof of a mansion, falling to a windowsill ("Holy smokes! That building ran right out in front of me!"). When he looks through the window and spots a stuffed duck on the fireplace, he remarks “Well, there's one of our boys that's got this 'flying south' business licked!” and goes inside. Thinking the duck is a living one, he talks to it about spending the winter with it, but does not get any response. After confronting the duck for being "a snob", his prodding of the stuffed duck causes it to fall foward slightly. Thinking it was "pushing" him, he pushes it right back and ends up being hit on the head. Now thinking the stuffed duck is attacking him when he is not looking, he beats it up, literally knocking the stuffings out of it. Now fully realizing it is a stuffed duck, he then decides that "this is where this innocent little black duck gets himself some free room and board."
After putting the stuffed duck in a closet, Daffy heads for the kitchen. He spots Porky, who is going through income tax forms in his study, and Rover, a dog, who walks to the fireplace for a nap. When Daffy rushes onto the fireplace to take the stuffed duck's place, Rover notices and keeps watch of him suspiciously. Hours later, Daffy, getting tired of staying still, realizes Rover’s suspicion of him, saying "I can see where this moron is gonna give me trouble..." He promtply shoves a vase off the fireplace, causing the dog to yelp. Rover's suspicions are fully confirmed when Daffy swats a fly, the latter telling Rover that Daffy is indeed alive ("He's not a stuffed duck at all, he's a live duck!" He put it over on ya, he intends to take over the joint! He has a $2 sign. He's a live duck, I tell ya! [imitating rapid-fire quacking]"), Upon which Rover starts barking at Daffy. An annoyed Porky notices the barking and tells Rover to stop, stating that the duck in the room is stuffed. He demonstrates by bashing Daffy’s head on the floor, leaving Daffy dazed and with lumps on his head.
When Daffy goes into the kitchen for a meal, Rover spots him. Seeing the dog sneaking up on him, Daffy tricks him into going out a window by throwing a bone, leaving him stuck outside, complete with closing the blind on him believing he "can't stand to see a dumb animal suffer". Rover later taps on a window near Porky’s desk, alarming him. After getting Rover back into the mansion, Porky threatens to send him outside if he causes any more trouble.
Daffy takes the stuffed duck and makes it waddle across the hall. When Rover notices it, he chases after it thinking it is Daffy and proceeds to tear it up. Porky angrily makes him stop and makes good on his promise of dragging Rover outside, threatening to put his tail in a pencil sharpener if he does it again. As Daffy proceeds to sneak away, Porky grabs him, thinking he is the stuffed duck, and stuffs cotton into him.
When a flock of ducks approach Porky’s mansion, they spot the stuffed Daffy inside, with one of them making a similar observation as Daffy did earlier. Porky, still working on his taxes, states that "This darn income tax would come out alright if I had a few dependents". Daffy asks "Did you say dependents?" and opens a door, adding "You've got 'em, brother!" To Porky's shock, the flock of ducks from earlier have invaded his home and are having a party.
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Notes[]
- This is the last Porky Pig short to be directed by Friz Freleng.
- This cartoon was used in Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales, but with some changes to it:
- Daffy's line, "We'll just put it away in the storage for the winter", is replaced with, "Thermopolis will just have to wait."
- The ending, instead of Daffy winning, had Porky shoot all of the ducks out of his house.
- The short was later loosely remade as the Pink Panther short "Slink Pink" in 1969.
- This short plays in PAL audio on Cartoon Network and Boomerang.
- The stuffed duck replaced by Daffy is mounted on a stand containing the common name “BLACK DUCK” and the species name “ILEX OPACA”. The Ilex Opaca is not a duck, or even a bird. It is actually a type of evergreen tree known as the American Holly.