Daffy Duck in The Scarlet Pumpernickel

Here's the next entry in the "Top Five Daffy Duck Cartoons;"  The Scarlet Pumpernickel, again directed by Chuck Jones and released in 1950.  The fun part of this one is looking for the cameos by various Warner Bros. cartoon stars as Daffy Duck stars in the role he was born to play, the Scarlet Pumpernickel.  The cartoon is VERY loosely based on the novel, The Scarlet Pimpernel, set during the French Revolution.   It's a shame Pepe Le Pew does not appear, as his faux French accent would have been right at home.   Voted #31 in the "Top 50 Cartoons of All Time", enjoy The Scarlet Pumpernickel.

The Top Five Daffy Duck cartoons

As promised, and in honor of Daffy Duck's 75th birthday, I'm posting my choice for the Top Five Daffy Duck cartoons.  Daffy has always been one of my favorite cartoon characeters, and I felt someone had to do something to honor this milestone. 

I thought choosing the top five would be difficult, but once I set a few rules it became much easier.   For starters, the cartoon had to star Daffy Duck.  This eliminated the cartoons he made co-starring with Bugs Bunny.  As great as those are, they'll go on the Bugs Bunny list once Bugs Bunny turns 75.  It also eliminated a few Porky Pig cartoons if Daffy was not the star.   "Porky Pig's Feat" and "You Ought to Be in Pictures" would have made this list, but since they are technically Porky Pig cartoons, I let them go.   If you'd like to see those cartoon, I posted them in a previous post; just click here or here.

Two of the cartoons I chose have already been posted in my blog.   If you click on those titles you can watch the cartoon at the previous post.  The other three will be posted in the next few days.

Here are my top 5 "Starring Daffy Duck" cartoons, in no particular order: 

• Plane Daffy
• The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
• The Scarlet Pumpernickle
• Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century
• Duck Amuck

We'll start with "Duck Amuck."   The less I say about the cartoon before it begins, the better, in case you are one of the 5 people in America that has never seen it.  In 1999 the film was deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.  It was also voted by the animation critics as number two in the "50 Greatest Cartoons of All-Time."   Here it is, from 1953, directed by the legendary Chuck Jones:

Happy Birthday, Daffy Duck!

Seventy-five years ago today, Warner Bros. released an innocuous little cartoon to theaters:  "Porky's Duck Hunt."  This cartoon was special for a number of reasons:   It was the first real "hunting picture" Warner's had ever released (there would be MANY more to come).   It was also the first time Mel Blanc voiced Porky Pig, the only cartoon star the studio had at that time.   But, most importantly, this cartoon marked the debut of Warner's second big cartoon star:   Daffy Duck.   Yes, Daffy Duck marks his 75th birthday today.   Not that you'd ever know it by reading the Warner Bros. website, or looking for 75th anniversary merchandise.   What's wrong with them?   If Disney owned Daffy, there would be a year-long parade down Main Street.Daffy was an instant hit,  soloing and co-starring with Porky in a number of films the very next year.  He was destined for stardom, but would soon be surpassed by the next big Warner Bros star:  Bugs Bunny, who debuted in 1940.  Bugs soon surpassed Porky and Daffy to become the box office's #1 cartoon star.   No wonder Daffy is so jealous.
Here's the cartoon, released April 17, 1937.   Tex Avery was the director.   He later directed Bugs Bunny's debut, then eventually left for MGM, where he directed some of the funniest cartoons ever made.  


Porky's Duck Hunt (4.17.37) by CarlStallingEnthusiast

In honor of Daffy Duck's 75th anniversary, in the coming weeks I'll present what I think are the very best cartoons Daffy ever made.   Look for the Top Five Daffy Duck Cartoons, coming very soon!

Saturday Morning Cartoon: Easter Yeggs

Happy Easter, one and all!   In keeping with the holiday, I'm posting the 1947 Bugs Bunny cartoon, "Easter Yeggs," directed by Robert McKimson.   The Easter rabbit in this cartoon is based on the "Happy Postman" character that Mel Blanc portrayed on the George Burns and Gracie Allen radio show in the 1940's.  Not the best cartoon, but hey, it was a choice between this and "Funny Little Bunnies."   I'll save that one for next year.   Enjoy!

April Fools!

I've always been a closet fan of April Fool's Day.  It's a chance for all of us to laugh at ourselves for a day...  or better yet, to laugh at someone else for a day.   I can usually take it as well as I can dish it out, but I know which side of the plate I prefer to be on.

I have a friend who I played an April Fool's joke on every year.   Each year they got a little more elaborate...   One of my favorites involved creating a live radio broadcast, where it is announced that a record slot jackpot was hit on the very slot machine she had been playing on a few hours ago...   then playing it on her car radio as we left Vegas.  Yeah, call me names, I know what I am.

This year I was unable to create a joke, so instead, I'll share with you one of the most elaborate jokes ever played on the public, courtesy of the BBC.   On April Fools Day in 1957, the BBC show Panorama  aired a segment documenting the Swiss spaghetti harvest.   Here's a write up about the piece from the Alexandra Palace Television Society (http://www.apts.org.uk/):

On April 1, 1957 the British television programme Panorama broadcast a three-minute segment about a bumper spaghetti harvest in southern Switzerland. The success of the crop was attributed both to an unusually mild winter and to the virtual disappearance of the spaghetti weevil. The audience heard Richard Dimbleby, the shows highly respected anchor, discussing the details of the spaghetti crop as they watched video footage of a Swiss family pulling pasta off spaghetti trees and placing it into baskets. The segment concluded with the assurance that, For those who love this dish, there's nothing like real, home-grown spaghetti.

The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest hoax generated an enormous response. Hundreds of people phoned the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this query the BBC diplomatically replied, Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.

To this day the Panorama broadcast remains one of the most famous and popular April Fools Day hoaxes of all time. It is also believed to be the first time the medium of television was used to stage an April Fools Day hoax.

Since 1955 Panorama had been anchored by Richard Dimbleby, whose authoritative, commanding presence had made him one of the most revered public figures in Britain. If Dimbleby said it, people trusted that it was true. Which is one of the reasons why the spaghetti harvest hoax fooled so many viewers. His participation lent the hoax an air of unimpeachable authority.

Almost no one else at the BBC knew about it. The segment was not mentioned at all in the pre-transmission publicity handouts.

The line-up for that days show included a long segment about Archbishop Makarios, leader of the Greek Cypriots, and a clip of the Duke of Edinburgh attending the premiere of the war film The Yangtse Incident.

The second-to-last segment was about a wine-tasting contest, and then it came time for the spaghetti harvest.

Dimbleby, sitting on the set of Panorama, looked into the camera and without a trace of a smile said: And now from wine to food. We end Panorama tonight with a special report from the Swiss Alps.

The screen cut away to the prepared footage. When it was all over, Dimbleby reappeared and said, Now we say goodnight, on this first day of April. He emphasized the final phrase.


When I was a kid, I remember seeing pictures from this documentary on placemats at The Old Spaghetti Factory restaurants.   I was fooled.   By the way, thanks for being my 10,000th reader.  Happy April Fool's Day!