The Wise Quacking Duck

Now that I'm up in my sixties, the world situation being what it is, I can scarcely laugh at anything anymore. Then again, there's "The Wise-Quacking Duck" which can still make me laugh till the tears gush out.

Half my life, I couldn't decide which is the funniest cartoon ever made, this one or the Fleischer Popeye cartoon "Vim, Vigor & Vitaliky", featuring Bluto in drag as a woman, taking full advantage of his newfound ability to pummel Popeye. As of now, the present film is the victor.

Cartoon scholar Greg Ford, in assessing director Bob Clampett's style, said that his "anything-for a laugh temperament prophesied today's sick, or black, humor." You need go no further than the present film, an absolute plethora of gags and funny, funny stuff. Some other critic said that being able to make it through a Clampett cartoon is to risk fainting.

Clampett developed the early, "zany" version of Daffy to its absolute apex--the antithesis of Chuck Jones's more popular version of Daffy as a greedy, jealous jerkface. Jones and Clampett had a legendary rivalry at the Warner Brothers studio, trying to top each other in their "auteur" efforts; Jones absolutely HATED Clampett's versions of both the duck and the rabbit.

Only two characters occupy this cartoon, Daffy, and a wussy little bald guy named "Mr. Meek"--an obvious impersonation of the Wallace Wimple character, voiced by Bill Thompson, in the vintage radio comedy "Fibber McGee & Molly". He's stalking the barnyard with an axe, telling the audience if he doesn't get his wife a duck for dinner, she'll cook his goose.

Mr. Meek makes his first swipe, prompting an IMMEDIATE eye-to-eye confrontation with Daffy: "WATCH IT, BUB!!!!!" His sudden action cut must take merely five or six frames of film to achieve. Then drawing back he says, "Say, you're liable to hurt somebody with that thing!" Daffy then snaps his beak against Meek's nose, making the latter sound like an auctioneer.

Mr. Meek then makes a bunch more swipes as the duck hides in a haystack, until he deals what he's convinced is the final, fatal blow. But unbeknownst to him, Daffy does the screaming, ketchup-spurting routine, as well as the rigor-mortis routine. The little man treads slowly home in a sobbing fit. Therein he dazedly meets Daffy, pouring a cup of coffee for him, then doing the "one lump or two" routine. Then Daffy sings "Mammy's little Poopie likes shortenin' bread" while dancing aound in four pies, before the twerp finally recognizes him and is decked with one of them.

From here on in, I'll leave you to witness the rest of the cartoon; Daffy oversteps his rights on many an occasion here, which might seem rather cruel to you (but remember--he was wanting to KILL Daffy!).

And think of this: Was the final gag supposed to be a reference to (*gasp!*) GASSING people in WWII concentration camps??!??

I'll close with the summary of one more cartoon historian, Jerry Beck: "The duck at his daffiest!"

I have always loved Looney Tunes and Daffy Duck is a big part of why. The Wise Quacking Duck is an example of Looney Tunes and Daffy at their finest. The kissing joke is rather old-fashioned, but that is not enough to spoil the fun. And fun there is. The writing is deliciously fresh and witty, again Daffy has the best of it and as ever Mel Blanc delivers them with relish. The sight gags are just as imaginatively timed and very clever, the striptease especially is genius and the ending is a delight. Daffy is an absolute hoot, deliciously off-the-wall and manic yet instantly likable. I find this persona more appealing than the still effective greedy one he's adopt later. Mr Meek is a good character also and works well with Daffy, if never really coming up to Daffy's level character wise. The animation is colourful and beautiful to look at, especially the panoramic view at the start and the music and pacing crackle with energy. So overall, classic Daffy, a must see. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Once again, a dimwit unsuccessfully tries to do away with Daffy Duck. In this case, soft-spoken Mr. Meek has to cook a duck for dinner or his wife will cook his goose (heh, heh). Some of the gags here have appeared in so many cartoons that I easily predicted them (namely the one about lumps). But the highlight here is Daffy's striptease; it reminded me of what Jane Fonda did at the beginning of "Barbarella". If we in the 21st century find that scene wacky, just imagine how it must have looked to moviegoers in 1943! Anyway, this is a true display of Daffy's talent back when his first name actually described his personality (it was after WWII when he became a sociopath under Chuck Jones's direction). OK, so we could also be cynical and say that Bob Clampett gave Daffy a too vulnerable rival, and so Daffy didn't have to do all that he could. Well, I still say that "The Wise Quacking Duck" is a really funny cartoon. And I don't think that any live-action actor would have dared do that striptease.

The opening shot in this Clampett cartoon is a beautiful panoramic reveal that gives a real dept to the surroundings. It introduces us to the Meek farm where the man of the house has been ordered by his wife Sweety Puss to kill a duck for din-dins (or she'll cook his goose, if you know what I mean). In a scene that seems a bit drawn out (no pun) by today's standards, Meek creeps up on Daffy while his animators take great care animating his shadow. Then they discards it like Peter Pan's once it has served it's purpose (very convenient). How's this for useless trivia: this timid character shares the same voice and wife as the Love Bird from Sylvester's debut 'Life with Feathers' (1945). He does however get to utter that one line that elevates any film to instant greatness: "Wat have I done?" (two conditions: it has to be said earnestly, and variations that are not in the first person don't count).

Daffy shows us how to do a gruesome headless duck routine with the help of a ketchup bottle and a built in turtle neck sweater. Then he takes the fight into the Meek household giving this poor guy the pie, some tongue, the Daffy drawn on the wall bit and finally the big bang boom razzmatazz routine (it was wartime after all). At first we think Meek and his Puss must be quite well off, judging by the size of their furniture. The oven, where a lot of the gags take place, is especially monstrous. But when you realize Mr. Meek is really not much taller than the average duck, it becomes less impressive. Daffy sure had a habit of repeating himself in the early days (he even mentions it himself). In this one he sneaks in the old gag about reading the bumps on your head twice. At that point the meek can't stands no more and goes all Popeye on him. Daffy's last stand involves an uncomfortably long strip-tease. (I am not sure if this was what the G. I.'s were hoping for). Meek sure enough falls for it, but then of course we're glad never to find out what his 'Sweety Puss' looks like.

5 out of 10

A question before discussing this cartoon: why, in cartoons back then, did these characters like Daffy and Bugs Bunny, always kiss their adversaries on the lips then run away? Is that supposed to be funny? Was that a standard gag in those days? It looks stupid and gets annoying. Daffy does it a half dozen times here, and Bugs did it frequently. By the mid 1940s, you stopped seeing it in the cartoons.

I wonder if "Mr. Meek" was a caricature of actor Donald Meek, a good classic-era comedian who looked the part of a small, very timid man. In this early Daffy Duck cartoon, "Mr. Meek" has to go kill a duck or his wife, "Sweety Puss" will cook HIS goose, or so he says.

Of course, who know who first sees first: Daffy, and Daffy is too smart to let this guy chop his head off. Our favorite cartoon duck puts on a funny act, pretending to have his head chopped off and poor Mr. Meek goes away sobbing. He's no killer, and Daffy takes advantage of his compassion by beating the man home (how did he know where the man lived?) and tormenting him further at his residence, trashing part of his house, too. Daffy goes insane, which is what he does best!