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Ducking the Devil is a 1957 Merrie Melodies short directed by Robert McKimson.

Plot[]

At a zoo, a cage was reserved for Taz. He soon escapes and runs amok, resulting everyone in the zoo (including the zookeeper) to run away in fear. Meanwhile, Daffy is at home in his duck pond, and reads about Taz's escape in a newspaper. Taz soon finds him and gives chase after the black mallard. While fleeing from Taz's hungry jaws, Daffy hears a news bulletin posting a five-thousand-dollar reward for the Tasmanian Devil's return which also says Taz becomes docile when exposed to music. Using different kinds of music (some of which fail miserably) Daffy eventually resorts to using his own voice to calm the devil. Eventually, after serenading him for ten miles, Daffy leads Taz to his cage, slamming the door on the beast just as his voice was about to give out. After Taz grabs a bill which slipped on the ground, Daffy rushes inside the cage screaming "It's mine, mine all mine," and beats him up, and says that he may be a coward, "But I'm a greeeedy little coward."

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Notes[]

  • This short is one of the few times Daffy goes after a large sum of money and not only succeeds in getting it, but keeps it by the cartoon's end.
  • Zookeeper Burton is likely a reference to John W. Burton, who would later take over as the producer of Warner Bros. Cartoons following Eddie Selzer's retirement the following year.
  • The sequence where the patrons run away from the zoo in fear at the beginning of the cartoon is reused animation from "Wild over You".
  • "Ducking the Devil" is notable for being the only pairing of Daffy Duck and Taz in the Golden Age, and the only Taz cartoon in the Golden Age without Bugs Bunny in it.
  • The concept of Taz becoming docile when exposed to music in this short is based all too literally on the metaphorical saying "music soothes the savage beast."
    • Despite Zookeeper Burton stating that Taz becomes docile when exposed to music, Taz seems to not be affected by music that sounds unpleasant to his ears. In this case, Scottish pipe music, resulting in Taz snatching away Scottish pipes from Daffy and smashing it.

Gallery[]


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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