Everything's Ducky

No one has mentioned - or seems to have even noticed - that Joanie Sommers' distinctive gravely voice was dubbed with a high-pitched shrill. It's very odd and disconcerting to see Sommers open her mouth and have another voice come out of it - a voice that sounds like it's coming from the next room. Also, given that audiences were familiar with Sommers' soothing singing voice, there was an added jolt and disconnect. This was not so good for Sommers as this 1961 title was her film debut. It must have been embarrassing for her. She would make only one other film - Jack Arnold's "The Lively Set" three years later in 1961. By the way, there has never been an explanation of why her voice was dubbed. Curiously, the film credits the actor who dubbed the duck but not the actress who dubbed Sommers.

This was a favorite of mine growing up. I watched many times whenever it cropped up on a local TV station, and even went to see it when a local church showed it one Saturday morning. It's plot is about two misfit sailors (Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hackett) who become friends with a talking Duck named Scuttlebutt. The duck was a favorite of a brilliant scientist, he decided to speak just like his scientist friend. Now the Navy after the scientist's death need to find a formula the late scientist had developed and realize that the duck might have the formula in his brain and want to kill him to read his brain. So our two sailor heroes try to save Scuttlebutt from that fate.

Yes, it is as silly as it sounds, but the actors and direction by Don Taylor actually make it somewhat believable. There is a wonderful scene with Rooney alone on a park bench, where two other sailors and their girls are making out on each side of Rooney. Rooney plays the scene well and it's very funny. After watching it again today i can see why I loved it so much as a young boy, and it's still fun for me today. Don't expect a great movie here, but if you are a fan of Rooney's or Hackett's, they are in fine form and show the promise of a great comedic team, just like they did a few years later in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. I wish that they actually made more films together. But as i said it is worth a look, especially if you have small children around.

In order to avoid the draft, Buddy Hackett (as Admiral John Paul Jones) and Mickey Rooney (as Kermit Beetle McKay) have joined the Navy. "Everything's Ducky" for the pair when they're assigned an easy mission; in "Operation Bird Brain", they are to set free a recently dead officer's duck. The sailors become attached to "Scuttlebutt", the duck who can talk. Mr. Hackett and Mr. Rooney take the duck out drinking, and become financially attached to Scuttlebutt. They try to save their feathered friend from Navy officers, who want to cut the bird's brain out.

Contrived lunacy as in the hands of Hackett and Rooney is criminal. This film is both unfunny and unpleasant. Despite Scuttlebutt's boasting he can handle a few martinis, the duck gets roaring drunk. The sight of the drunken, neck-wobbling duck is unsettling. It's also obvious filmmakers have put some irritant in the duck's mouth, in close-ups, to make it appear to be talking. The duck looks very uncomfortable.

Jackie Cooper (as Parmell) makes an impressive re-appearance on film, after a long absence; his appearance is mercifully short, considering the star-billing, and weakness of material. And, singer Joanie Sommers (as Nina) appears, without singing.

** Everything's Ducky (1961) Don Taylor ~ Buddy Hackett, Mickey Rooney, Jackie Cooper

Silly. Silly. Silly. Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hackett are Navy men John Paul Jones (remember your history) and Beetle McKay, stationed somewhere in the desert - looks like Palm Springs to me. Alvy Moore (was the absent minded Hank Kimball on Green Acres) plays Jim Lipscott. Jackie Cooper, as in child actor Jackie Cooper from the oldies, is Lieutenant Parmell. Richard Deacon (Mel Cooley, from Dick Van Dyke Show) is the lab doctor Deckham. The sailors are sent to pick up a duck from a special military lab, and I can't say a whole lot more without giving away plot points.... It's all pretty silly, and I guess now we know why they don't show this very often. This appears to be the first Hollywood film that Don Taylor directed --all his earlier stuff was for TV; guess none of the more seasoned directors would touch it.... I'll just say they couldn't make this with a live duck today - PETA and SPCA would be all over them! Lets give this one a four... it would have been a three, but there are some familiar names in it who went on to be bigger (and better).

For six years (from 1950 to 1955) there was a new entry in the "Francis the Talking Mule" franchise ("Francis Goes To"…."Races.. West Point.. Big Town.. WACS.. Navy"). A few years later "Everything's Ducky" (1961) resurrected this amusing service comedy idea of a talking animal generally smarter than its handlers; substituting a duck for a mule and Mickey Rooney/Buddy Hackett for Donald O'Connor. Instead of a laconic Chill Wills voice-over in decent synch to the movements of a mule's mouth, there is cartoon veteran Walker Edmiston's voice never quite matching the almost spastic movements of the duck's bill. Although in fairness the duck's lines are generally quite funny and if you work a bit to suspend disbelief all these sequences should be entertaining.

Of course I can't be entirely objective about the film, it is one of the first films I saw in a "theater"; and as a grade school age child I found it entertaining enough to buy the Dell comic book, which hit the stores at the time of the film's theatrical release (Dell FC #1251). The movie photo on the cover of the comic is in color, the film itself is in black and white.

Other than the sequences with the duck (Scuttlebutt), Rooney and Hackett are not given much to work with in this film. And the supporting cast has a decided television flavor. Jackie Cooper looks like he just popped in from the set of "Hennessey", going from Navy Doctor to Navy Psychiatrist without the bother of changing uniforms. Elizabeth MacRae plays Hackett's girlfriend, pretty much the same role she would later play with Jim Nabors on "Gomer Pyle". And Richard Deacon does his standard "Leave It to Beaver'-"Dick Van Dyke" wrapped-too-tight persona.

The most notable feature of "Everything's Ducky" is a rare film appearance by singer Joanie Summers. She looks at times like Suzanne Pleshette and at other times like Barbara Eden. Summers unfortunately does not do any singing. She was only 20 and plays the love interest of the 40+ Rooney. While this pairing is a bit disconcerting, Summers deserves considerable credit for successfully selling the idea to the audience. Their best stuff is a reprise of the Lou Costello-Hillary Brooke kissing scene from "Abbott & Costello Meet Captain Kidd" (1952). Seeing her again in the film led me to a U-Tube clip of her singing "Don't Pity Me" on "Hullabaloo".

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.