The Wise Quacking Duck is a 1943 Looney Tunes short directed by Bob Clampett.
Title[]
The title is a play on a "wise cracking" duck.
Plot[]
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A mild-mannered man is sent by his unseen domineering wife Sweetie Puss against his will to go out and roast a duck for dinner or else she'll "cook his goose", which he openly admits to the audience. He picks Daffy as his victim.
Throughout the short, Daffy torments Mr. Meek via all manner of silly gags and tricks while evading his attempts at cooking him for dinner, only for Daffy to lose to Mr. Meek with him blowing his feathers off with a rifle. Mr. Meek catches Daffy and throws him in the oven, but feels guilty upon hearing Daffy's screams of "pain", but upon letting Daffy out of the oven he finds not a wounded or burned Daffy but a giddy and wacky Daffy basting himself, who happily states "Say, now you're cooking with gas!"
Caricatures[]
- Bill Thompson's character Wallace Wimple
- Jerry Colonna - fortune teller
- Red Skelton - "You cwushed my widdle head!"
Availability[]
Viddy-Oh! For Kids Cartoon Festivals: Daffy Duck Cartoon Festival Featuring "Ain’t That Ducky"
Cartoon Moviestars, Just Plain Daffy
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 2, Side 8: The Art of Daffy
Bumper Edition (Woolworths Exclusive)
Further Adventures of Daffy Duck
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5, Disc 3
Watch on the Rhine (1995 Turner dubbed version)
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2, Disc One
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2, Disc One
Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 8 Disc 2
Streaming[]
Censorship[]
- Some TV versions that aired on local affiliate stations in the United States shorten the part where Daffy (as a fortuneteller) hits Mr. Meek on the head with a mallet so he can read the bumps on his head, similar to ABC's censorship on a similar scene from "Bowery Bugs".[2]
- Cartoon Network's Arabia channel cuts the entire part where Daffy stripteases to distract Mr. Meek, since this is considered inappropriate in Islamic countries.[2]
Notes[]
- "The Wise Quacking Duck" is the only known color cartoon of the 1942–43 season to use the black and white fonts of "WARNER BROS." and "Present". It is also the only 1943 Looney Tunes short, as well as the only Daffy Duck short released in 1943 to remain under copyright.
- This is the first cartoon known to have the logo of the Screen Cartoonists' Guild in the credits.
- The gag where Daffy stripteases to distract Mr. Meek is similar to the lizard "shedding its skin" from "Cross Country Detours".
- Mr. Meek would later appear in the 1991 Looney Tunes TV special Bugs Bunny's Overtures to Disaster in the audience, alongside the starving castaways from Wackiki Wabbit, Granny, and Yosemite Sam.
- He would also appear in The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries episode "California's Crusty Bronze" as a health inspector.
- The entire scene near the end where Daffy becomes a fortune teller to Mr. Meek would later serve as an inspiration for the "Daffy Psychic" series of interstitials for Looney Tunes Cartoons.
- Mr. Meek also makes an appearance in the interstitial "New Love".
