Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur

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Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur is a 1939 Merrie Melodies animated cartoon short directed by Chuck Jones and produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions for Warner Bros. Pictures. The cartoon is notable as being the first Daffy Duck cartoon directed by Jones. Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur is set in the Stone Age and features Daffy Duck, a caveman named Casper (a caricature of Jack Benny), and his pet dinosaur, Fido. As usual, Mel Blanc provides the voice of Daffy here, while Casper was performed by Jack Lescoulie.

Contents 1 Overview 1.1 Plot 1.2 Jones' direction 1.3 Movie connection 2 Censorship 3 Links

[edit] Overview

[edit] Plot

Casper and Fido go duck hunting and find Daffy ("my favorite vegetable: duck!"). Casper slingshots a rock at Daffy, but Daffy manages to avoid it. When the rock realizes that it has been tricked, it backtracks towards Daffy but ends up hitting Fido. Fido proceeds to perform a dazed dance.

Following several more attempts to catch Daffy, Casper and Fido come across a giant swan (actually a mannequin getting pumped by Daffy). Daffy walks over to Casper and Fido, and hands Casper a knife. Casper walks over to the swan and shoves the knife into it, causing it to explode.

In the final sequence, all three characters are now in Heaven. Fido plays a harp, while Daffy and Casper sit on clouds, frowns on their faces. Daffy turns to the camera and says, "You know, maybe that wasn't such a hot idea after all." Casper ends the cartoon by telling the audience, "Good night folks."

Iris out.

[edit] Jones' direction

Most of Chuck Jones-directed cartoons from this era (such as the ones featuring Sniffles the Mouse), were very heavily inspired by Walt Disney's cartoon shorts, placing more emphasis on story and animation than gags. Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur shows the faintest hints of deviation from such cartoons, which would eventually lead to the fast-paced Jones cartoons of the 1940s, such as The Dover Boys and The Draft Horse.

This is also an important milestone in the evolution of Daffy Duck's personality. While Tex Avery and Bob Clampett had depicted Daffy as completely insane, irrational, and uncontrollable in their previous cartoons with the character, Jones depicted Daffy here as somewhat more thoughtful and calculating. Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng would continue to develop Daffy's personality in this direction throughout the 1940s and 1950s.

[edit] Movie connection

A scene from this cartoon appeared in the movie Hide and Seek, starring Robert DeNiro and Dakota Fanning. A scene from this short also appeared in a dinosaur educational film.

[edit] Censorship

• On Cartoon Network, there is a fade to black between two scenes near the end.

[edit] Links

• Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur at the Internet Movie Database
• Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur at Big Cartoon Database
• Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur at YouTube