Draftee Daffy is a 1945 Looney Tunes short directed by Bob Clampett.
Plot[]
Having read about the U.S. fighting forces pushing the Nazi troops back during World War II ("A thshmathing frontal attack on the enemy rear?"), Daffy is in a patriotic mood. However, his mood quickly changes to fear when he gets a call that "The Little Man from the Draft Board" wants to see him.
Hiding in his house, Daffy looks out, eventually seeing the little man, who attempts to hand him a telegram (presumably with Daffy's conscription order). Daffy continues to try and outrun the little man, who seems to be everywhere that Daffy happens to be at the moment.
Daffy even goes so far as to plant a bomb near the man, finally, Daffy locking him in a safe, bricking the safe up, putting up a wall over the bricks, chortling, "So long, Dracula!", running to the roof and taking off in a rocket. However, the rocket soon plunges back to earth, causing Daffy to crash-land in Hell. Shrugging off this turn, Daffy spots a demon and tells him, "Oh well, at least I put one over on that dope from the draft board!" The demon takes off his mask to reveal he's the man from the draft board, who then replies with the popular catchphrase of the "Richard Q. Peavey" character from The Great Gildersleeve, "Well, now, I wouldn't say that," and proceeds to chase Daffy into the distance, letter still in hand.
Caricatures[]
- Theodore Roosevelt
- Douglas MacArthur
- Richard LeGrand's character Richard Q. Peavey
Availability[]
Cartoon Moviestars: Bugs and Daffy: The Wartime Cartoons
Cartoon Moviestars: Bugs and Daffy: The Wartime Cartoons
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 2, Side 5: Bob Clampett
Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition Volume 7: Welcome To Wackyland (1995 Turner dubbed version)
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3, Disc Four (with optional audio commentary by Eddie Fitzgerald and John Kricfalusi)
Looney Tunes Collection All Stars Volume 4
Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 7, Disc 2
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 3, Disc Two (same version from LTGC volume 3)
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 3, Disc Two (same version from LTGC volume 3)
Looney Tunes Collection Volume 3
Streaming[]
Notes[]
- Despite Daffy trying to avoid being conscripted in this short, Daffy had already been depicted as serving in the armed forces in earlier shorts such as "Daffy - The Commando" and "Plane Daffy".
- The setup of Daffy and The Little Man from the Draft Board in this cartoon is very similar to that of the wolf and Droopy from the Tex Avery cartoons from rival studio MGM (particularly the Droopy cartoon "Dumb Hounded"), as The Little Man from the Draft Board often pops up everywhere Daffy is, causing the duck to flee to escape from him throughout the picture to avoid getting drafted into the army.
- This is the first Looney Tunes to have the black background with red Color Rings, a color scheme that had previously been used in the 1942–43 season. However, the background is smaller than the 1942–43 season.
- Along the bottom of the painting of General MacArthur, Cornett Wood's name can be seen.
- This was the last cartoon that was released during Bob Clampett's time at the Warner Bros. cartoon studio before he left four months later.
- This was the final short within the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies line to have a focus on the still ongoing World War II; released over three months before the declaration of victory in Europe and eight months before the final surrender of Japan ending the conflict. In this case, the cartoon's message is to inform audiences to not avoid conscription.
- The Little Man from the Draft Board's question "Is this trip really necessary, son?" refers to the government's attempt to curb the public's consumption of fuel during the war. It was also used by Bugs in "Baseball Bugs".
