The Daffy Duckaroo

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = The Daffy Duckaroo
series = Merrie Melodies/Daffy Duck


caption =
director = Norman McCabe
story_artist = Melvin Millar
animator = Cal Dalton
voice_actor = Mel Blanc
musician = Carl W. Stalling
producer = Leon Schlesinger
distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures
release_date = October 24, 1942
color_process = Technicolor
runtime = 7 min
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0034630

The Daffy Duckaroo is a Warner Bros. cartoon released in theatres in 1942, directed by Norman McCabe and features Daffy Duck as a crooning cowboy film star. The film is set in the American West.

Plot Summary

On a donkey and pulling a trailer, Daffy moves from Hollywood to the American West, where he comes upon an Indian encampment. He is about to run away when he is wooed by an Indian girl. He serenades her and follows her into her teepee.

The Indian girl says she would love to be Daffy's girlfriend, but her boyfriend Little Beaver will never allow it. When Little Beaver arrives, Daffy hides in a dresser and emerges disguised as an Indian girl himself. Little Beaver attempts to kiss him until he discovers the disguise.

Little Beaver chases Daffy through the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest until he calls for aid with smoke signals. The Indians surround Daffy's trailer and remove the tires. One Indian promptly returns them saying the tires do not fit his vehicle.

Cultural References

*Daffy Duck's character is based on the archetypal cowboy crooner (i.e., Gene Autry), a common trend in American film at the time.

*"Hooray for Hollywood" is heard in the background score as images of newspapers announce Daffy's retirement from show business.

*While he rides a donkey, Daffy sings "Close Your Sleepy Eyes, My Little Buckaroo," a song written by M.K. Jerome and Jack Scholl and recorded by many artists, including Bing Crosby.

*To serenade the Indian girl, Daffy sings "Would You Like to Take a Walk? (Sump'n Good'll Come From That)", a song by Mort Dixon and Billy Rose with music by Harry Warren.

*When Little Beaver first meets Daffy Duck (in disguise), the popular tune "Playmates" is heard in the background score.

*"California, Here I Come", a song recorded by Al Jolson and common in Warner Bros. cartoons, is heard in the background score when the camera shows a sign reading: Los Angeles City Limits.

*When Daffy first meets Little Beaver, the fate motif from Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 is heard in the background score.

*Little Beaver frequently places a "-um" at the end of his words, i.e. "follow-um car!". This is a common racial stereotype of Native Americans.

ee also

*List of cartoons featuring Daffy Duck

References