You Were Never Duckier

You Were Never Duckier
Merrie Melodies (Daffy Duck) series
File:You Were Never Duckier screenshot.png Henery Hawk slams the door shut to prevent Daffy Duck from escaping his father's house, believing that Daffy is a chicken.
Directed by	Charles M. Jones
Produced by	Edward Selzer (uncredited)
Story by	Tedd Pierce
Voices by	Mel Blanc
Music by	Carl Stalling
Animation by	Ben Washam Lloyd Vaughan Ken Harris Phil Monroe
Studio	Warner Bros. Cartoons
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date(s)	August 7, 1948
Color process	Technicolor
Running time	7 minutes 57 seconds
Language	English
Preceded by	The Up-Standing Sitter
Followed by	Daffy Dilly

You Were Never Duckier is an animated cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series from 1948. Starring Daffy Duck and Henery Hawk, this cartoon marked the start of a direction change for Daffy Duck, from a "screwball" character, to a greedy, self-centered one (though, according to commentary by Eric Goldberg on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD [fifth volume], this cartoon showed Daffy as being both a greedy, self-centered character and a screwball one). This cartoon was also the next-to-last Henery Hawk cartoon to not be directed by Robert McKimson, and one of only four to be directed by creator Chuck Jones (after The Squawkin' Hawk, Flop Goes the Weasel, and followed by The Scarlet Pumpernickel).

This marks the new era in Warner Bros. as it was the first to be in the post-1948 package. It was reissued with 1943-56 rules although. This and 4 other cartoons followed this exception and all of them except Daffy Dilly, also directed by Jones, have their original titles restored for a DVD release(with the exception of Kit for Cat, which for unknown reasons the original ending card was never restored for DVD). Also Daffy Dilly is the only one in Cinecolor.

This is one of two post-1948 cartoons to have IN TECHNICOLOR, which means it is one of the early produced cartoons of 1948.

The title is a play on the 1942 musical film You Were Never Lovelier.

Plot

The National Poultry Show is being held, and Daffy Duck looks at the matinee showing the prizes for the judging. The first prize for best rooster is $5000 (equal to $49,245.15 today), and the best duck is $5 (equal to $49.25 today). Daffy, having traveled all the way from Dubuque for the contest, is outraged that ducks rate such a low prize and decides to disguise himself as a rooster (using rubber gloves and the tail feathers of another rooster) to get $5000. Meanwhile, Henery is being taught all about roosters by his father, George K. (or G.K.) Chickenhawk (a reference to G.K. Chesterton. Henery decides to head to the poultry show and catch himself a rooster.

Daffy's plan backfires when Henery decides to take him home. Daffy says he's a special breed of rooster, and thinking that Henery's father, described as "the greatest judge of chicken flesh in the world," is the judge to give him the $5000, he tags along. Daffy then finds out he is in a chickenhawk's house, and tries to escape, but fails. Henery's father then starts to prepare Daffy as a meal. Daffy tries to prove he is really a duck, even trying to take his disguise off (to no avail). When he tries to escape, Henery's father grabs his "head" (the rubber glove), and the glove lands on his head, then he proceeds to chase Daffy, who is finally able to escape when Henery accidentally hits his father with a mallet.

Before the contest begins, Daffy puts on another glove. Then, at the contest, Daffy loses to Henery's father, disguised as a Rhode Island red. Daffy then tries for the best duck prize, but loses that as well - to Henery, wearing a disguise consisting of a clothespin and two flippers.

Edited versions

• When the short aired on CBS, the following two scenes were altered in order to make it appropriate for younger viewers:
  • The part where Daffy runs for the door after realizing that Henery Hawk and his father (George K. Chickenhawk) are going to eat him was missing the part where Henery Hawk closes the door on Daffy and Daffy slams facefirst into the door (the part afterwards where Daffy's beak can be seen from outside as he cries, "Help!", gets pulled back in, and is seen again when Daffy says, "I distinctly said, 'Help!'" wasn't edited).
  • The part where George K. Chickenhawk chases Daffy in circles in one door and out of another and Henery accidentally hits George instead of Daffy was replaced with a shot of Daffy looking off-screen, but the shot of George on the floor with stars coming out of his head was not cut.

Availability

• VHS- Daffy Duck's Madcap Mania
• DVD- Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5

See also

• Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography (1940–1949)
• List of Daffy Duck cartoons

External links

• You Were Never Duckier at IMDb

Preceded by The Up-Standing Sitter

Daffy Duck Cartoons 1948

Succeeded by Daffy Dilly