Ducking the Devil is a 1957 Merrie Melodies short directed by Robert McKimson.
Title[]
The title is in reference to the 1951 thriller novel "Beat the Devil" by Claud Cockburn and it's 1953 film adaptation directed by John Huston starring Humphrey Bogart.
Plot[]
At a zoo, a cage was reserved for the Tasmanian Devil. 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, reading about Taz's escape in a newspaper. The latter of which soon finds him and then attacks and gives chase to the black mallard. While fleeing Taz, Daffy hears a news bulletin on a radio posting a five-thousand-dollar reward for the Tasmanian Devil's capture and return, which also says that he becomes surprisingly docile when exposed to music. And so, after using many different kinds of music, (some of which fail miserably), Daffy eventually resorts to using his own voice and singing talent to calm the devil. Eventually, after serenading him for ten miles, Daffy leads Taz back to the zoo, and his cage, and successfully contains 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, before coming back out victoriously and saying that he may be a coward, but that he's a "greedy little coward."
Availability[]
Stars of Space Jam: Tasmanian Devil
Space Jam Double Feature
Special Bumper Collection (Vol. 5)
Japanese Looney Tunes LaserDiscs Tasmanian Devil
Looney Tunes Presents: Taz's Jungle Jams
Looney Tunes Super Stars' Daffy Duck: Frustrated Fowl (cropped to widescreen)
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc Two (original fullscreen format)
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc Two (original fullscreen format)
Best of Warner Bros. 50 Cartoon Collection: Looney Tunes, Disc 1
Looney Tunes Super Stars Family Multi-Feature Vol. 2, Disc 1
Stars of Space Jam: Tasmanian Devil
Stars of Space Jam Collection Volume 1
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".
- Additionally, the sequence where Taz encounters Daffy combines reused animation from "Devil May Hare" and "Bedevilled Rabbit".
- "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 on the metaphorical saying "music soothes the savage beast."
