The Iceman Ducketh | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Iceman Ducketh is a 1964 Looney Tunes short directed by Phil Monroe.
Contents
Title
The title refers to the 1939 play The Iceman Cometh written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. The original Broadway production opened at the Martin Beck Theater on October 9, 1946 and ran for 136 performances. The play had revivals in 1973/1974 and 1999.
Plot
At a trading post, Daffy discovers that he can trade in animal furs for cash. He hopes to capture Bugs Bunny for his soft coat, but the winter snow, which falls instantaneously, hinders his effort.
Daffy continuously tries to capture Bugs but is outwitted each time or is attacked by an angry bear. At the end of the day, a frozen-blue Daffy is stuck up a tree surrounded by several bears, who are sleeping, but will wake up soon.
Availability
- (1991) VHS - Christmas Looney Tunes
- (1998) VHS\LaserDisc - Bugs and Daffy: What's Up, Duck? (1997 dubbed version) (only in PAL regions)
- (2010) DVD - Looney Tunes Super Stars' Daffy Duck: Frustrated Fowl (cropped to widescreen)
- (2017) Streaming - Boomerang App
- (2020) Streaming - HBO Max (full frame HD restored)
Notes
- This was the last Warner Bros. theatrical cartoon featuring Bugs and Daffy together until "Box Office Bunny" in 1990, and the last that Chuck Jones worked on, though he was fired at an early stage of production and replaced by Monroe (by the time it was released, Jones had already produced two cartoons at his new studio, Sib-Tower 12).
- Much like "Woolen Under Where", Chuck Jones was fired during production of this cartoon. Although unlike "Woolen Under Where" Jones did not manage to contribute anything to the cartoon (in "Woolen Under Where" Jones contributed as the screenwriter, along with receiving onscreen credit as such).
- The bears' roaring sounds were archival recordings of the monster's roars from the WB live-action film The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.
- Clips from this cartoon were used and commentated on by John Madden and Pat Summerall as the second quarter of the 2001 Cartoon Network special The Big Game XXIX: Bugs Vs. Daffy.
- This is the first of the only two cartoons to depict Daffy as a big game hunter, the other is "Suppressed Duck".
- This cartoon references the Colgate toothpaste TV commercials of the 1960s; Bugs creates an "invisible shield" by throwing out a bucket of water, which freezes into a shield, into which Daffy crashes.
- Daffy is unusually depicted as far more nasty and mean-spirited compared to previous Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck pairings, going so far as to actually kill Bugs himself for fur. After the Warner Bros. cartoon studio has shut down later that year, Daffy's more extremely unlikable side from this cartoon would be exaggerated further during the DePatie-Freleng and the W-7 eras when Daffy became an antagonist to Speedy Gonzales.
Censorship
- On the Fox version of The Merrie Melodies Show, the syndicated version of The Merrie Melodies Show, and the version shown on the now defunct WB, two parts were cut:[1]
- Daffy pulling Bugs' carrot from the gun barrel after Bugs plugs it, along with Daffy getting shot and saying sarcastically, "Oooh, I LOVE him!"
- The part after Daffy gets turned into an ice statue where Daffy climbs out of the statue, tugs on the gun that's still in there, and gets shot.
- While Fox ended the scene with Daffy stuck in his own ice sculpture after Bugs' line "See you after the spring thaw, pal!", the syndicated "Merrie Melodies" show and The WB! ended the scene after Daffy gets out of his own ice sculpture and says "We'll see who gets the last laugh around here!" right before he tugs on the gun. [1]
Gallery
TV Title Cards
References
External Links
- The Iceman Ducketh at Internet Movie Database
- The Iceman Ducketh at SuperCartoons.net
- The Iceman Ducketh at B99.TV
Preceded by Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare |
Bugs Bunny Cartoons 1964 |
Succeeded by False Hare |
Also see
- 1964
- Daffy Duck Cartoons
- Bugs Bunny Cartoons
- Shorts
- Looney Tunes Shorts
- Cartoons directed by Phil Monroe
- Cartoons directed by Maurice Noble
- Cartoons written by John Dunn
- Cartoons with music by Bill Lava
- Cartoons animated by Richard Thompson
- Cartoons animated by Bob Bransford
- Cartoons animated by Bob Matz
- Cartoons produced by David H. DePatie
- Cartoons with effects animated by Harry Love
- Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
- DVD Widescreen Cropped Cartoons
- Cartoons with layouts by Robert Givens