Daffy Duck's Easter Egg-Citement

Premiered April 1, 1980.

Three Easter/Spring-themed cartoon shorts starring some of your favorite Looney Tunes characters!

With Easter approaching, the pressure is on for hens, since Easter is peak egg producing season. Foghorn Leghorn tells his employees they need to speed up production so they have enough eggs for the holiday. Foghorn puts extra pressure on Miss Prissy, who hasn't laid a good egg in months.  She keeps laying oddly-shaped eggs.

This changes when she lays a golden egg!  She thinks it's bad news and tosses it down a hill.

Nearby, Daffy Duck and Sylvester are hungry and scrounging for food.

When they decide to steal an egg from a chicken coop, they wind up stumbling on the golden egg.

This creates a conflict between Daffy and his feline "pal," because they both have dreams of using the egg to gain riches.

Elsewhere, a chocolate factory in Mexico is producing Easter candy.  The factory's owners hire Daffy to guard the chocolate from the local mice.  The town's mayor collects all the money the people have in an attempt to buy chocolate bunnies for the kids.  Daffy takes the money, but he sends the mayor away without any candy.

When all hope seems lost, Speedy Gonzalez, fastest mouse in all Mexico appears on the scene and is determined to save Easter for the children.

But Daffy takes his duty as security guard seriously and pulls out all stops to defeat Speedy.

In the special's final short, as winter turns to spring, Daffy flies north with a flock of ducks.  But Daffy's tired of the same old routine and decides to try a different method of migration.

He tries hitch hiking and skiing, but gets nowhere.  Daffy eventually finds a horse and decides to ride it up north, but the horse is not on board with this idea.

J.A. Morris says:
Longtime readers of this blog know that we're huge fans of classic Warner Brothers cartoons and that Daffy was a big part of our childhood.  However, this Easter special is a big step down in quality from the earlier Daffy shorts.

It's worth noting that when Daffy Duck's Easter Egg-Citement premiered on NBC, the network also aired The Daffy Duck Show as part of its Saturday morning lineup.  This show mostly consisted of cartoons produced in the 1960s by the Depatie-Freleng company that also featured Speedy Gonzalez, Foghorn Leghorn and Sylvester shorts.  NBC did not have the rights to air Bugs Bunny cartoons, which is why everyone's favorite "Wascally Wabbit" doesn't appear in this special.

The positive part of this is that in Bugs' absence, we get to see Daffy interact with characters like Sylvester and (briefly) Foghorn Leghorn, something rarely seen in the classic shorts.
The show opens with Daffy talking to his animators, a nice (if obvious) call-back to the classic "Duck Amuck" cartoon.  It's a fun bit (Daffy calls the animator a "Van Gogh of vandalism!") but ultimately it just makes you notice that this Easter special is inferior.

The two Easter-themed shorts were entertaining and the Speedy toon made me smile a bit (especially Daffy's encounter with a vat of chocolate), and Mel Blanc does a nice job with all the voices.  The last short deals with duck migration and has nothing to do Easter.  It's the weakest portion of the special.  However, this special isn't a "forgotten classic" by any means.  Daffy Duck's Easter Egg-Citement rarely made me laugh, but it's generally enjoyable and fans of Daffy and the other characters will want to seek it out if they haven't seen it.

This special is available on DVD.  It can be found on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 6.

Daffy Duck's Easter Egg-Citement is mildly entertaining, especially the Speedy short, and nicely animated.  I'm giving it a marginal endorsement for Looney Toons fanatics, but it's not likely to become a part of anyone's annual Easter viewing.

J.A. Morris' rating:

2 and a half Easter Eggs.

RigbyMel says: 

As J.A. Morris, says this special was produced by the Depatie-Freleng company, which also produced things like the classic 1970s Dr. Seuss specials featuring the Lorax and the Cat in the Hat as well as the Pink Panther cartoons.   Unfortunately, their work with Looney Tunes characters is not generally characterized as being classic at all.  In fact, many cartoon historians cite the Depatie-Freleng era as the nadir of Looney Tunes production.    I think I am inclined to agree with that school of thought.

To my eye,  Daffy Duck's Easter Egg-Citement feels like a cheaply animated rehash of things that had been done better previously.  The timing seems off and the music cues are nowhere near as cleverly deployed.  It even sounds like Mel Blanc is phoning in his voice characterizations a bit.  It's not utterly awful, but it really does not stand up well when compared to the classic Looney Tunes shorts.
 

It's nice to see Daffy and pals cutting up Easter-style on screen, I just wish the production values and scripting were up to classic standards.

RigbyMel's rating: 

1 and a half Easter Eggs.

Looney Tunes: "The Stupid Cupid"

Premiered November 25, 1944.

"Say, keep your arrows out of other people's businessesses... buster! You shot me last year, and look what happened. Tied down. No more fun. Now look at me. A has-been. A hen-pecked duck. A canvasback Cassanova. And it's your fault, you bare-backed bandit. So beat it, bub. Take a powder. Scram!"
-Daffy Duck

Cupid (Frank Graham), who bears a striking resemblance to Elmer Fudd, is flying around, shooting his arrows at males of various species.

They all turn into love-struck Romeos.

Cupid eventually tracks down Daffy Duck (Mel Blanc).

But Daffy had enough of Cupid's arrow last year.  He was shot, got married, had a bunch of kids and is "tied down".

But Cupid nails him again, prompting Daffy to fall for a chicken.  She's not interested, but Daffy chases her around the coop.

In the middle of the chase, her husband, a muscle-bound rooster shows up and is out for blood.

J.A. Morris says:
This is a great Looney Tunes short.  I'm a huge fan of the old Warner Brothers cartoons, but this is one I haven't seen many times.

It was directed by Frank Tashlin, who later went on to helm live action films like The Girl Can't Help It and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?  Tashlin was a master of sight-gags, and this cartoon is full of them, as these screen caps indicate.

Check out this sequence below.  A bluebird is shot by Cupid's arrow.

We see him morph into an airplane.

 

Great stuff.

 


There are some aspects of this toon that haven't aged well.  We try not to judge works of the past by today's standards, but these aspects keep me from giving it a higher rating.  My co-blogger goes into this in more detail below.
The animation in The Stupid Cupid is outstanding and Stupid Cupid is must-see for Daffy fans and all fans of classic cartoons.

J.A. Morris' rating:

3 Valentine Hearts.

RigbyMel says:

This is great classic Looney Tunes, as J.A. Morris says.    The animation is top-notch and the gags (mostly) still play well.

Cupid takes aim at Daffy

That being said, I have two issues with it, both of which stem from it having been produced in the 1940s when cultural mores were a little different than they are in the early 21st century.  

Bulldog struck by Cupid's arrow whilst chomping on cat

First, there is a gag involving a dog chasing a cat.   The dog gets shot with one of Cupid's arrows and wishes to be amorous with the cat in a very Pepe Le Pew fashion.   The cat's reaction is to pull out a gun and shoot himself in the head nine times (thus, taking out all nine lives).    This feels very uncomfortable on a number of levels.

Secondly,  I feel kind of bad for Mrs. Daffy and the chicken who is the recipient of Daffy's new amorous attentions.  They didn't do anything wrong.  I guess we can blame that on Cupid's arrows?   Love is strange.

That being said,  this is a fun, silly cartoon and worth checking out if you're a fan of classic Warner Brothers animation.

RigbyMel's rating:

2 1/2 Valentine Hearts.

Looney Tunes: "Tom Turk and Daffy"

Released February 12, 1944.

"The yams did it!  THE YAMS DID IT!"
-Daffy Duck

Daffy Duck (Mel Blanc) is building a snowman and singing "Jingle Bells".  Suddenly, a turkey named Tom (Billy Bletcher) runs into Daffy and asks him to help him hide from a hunter.

Daffy complies, but does so in a rather tortuous manner.

The hunter arrives in the form of Porky Pig (Blanc again) dressed as a Pilgrim.  Daffy hides Tom inside a snowman, and refuses to tell Porky where to find him.  Porky expresses disappointment over the possibilty of a Thanksgiving dinner without a turkey, giving a vivid description of items on the menu.  Daffy still doesn't budge, telling Porky "I ain't no stool pigeon."

 But Daffy gives in when Porky mentions yams.  Tom has other ideas and pins his tail feathers onto Daffy's tail, making Porky think Daffy is the turkey.  A chase through the snow ensues.

Daffy's lips are sealed!

J.A. Morris says:
I'm a huge fan of Warner Brothers' cartoons, but I hadn't seen this one until recently.  It's a great short, it's got some hilarious sight gags, especially one that involves a bucket of water thrown at Porky.

  It's also very fun to see Porky go from docile to furious here, as Daffy drives him into a murderous rage!

And Daffy's rendition of "Jingle Bells" will be stuck in your head for a long time.

Daffy sells out Tom for yams.

Some historical notes on this cartoon:
-Tom calls Daffy a "quisling" when Daffy shows Porky where the turkey is hiding.  During World War II, a quisling was someone who was collaborating with the Axis Powers. 

Tom hides out in a snowman.

-Daffy sings the song "Angel In Disguise" while hiding Tom in a snowman.  This song was introduced in the 1940 film It All Came True where it was performed by Ann Sheridan.

"Tom Turk And Daffy" is available on a dvd called Porky & Friends:Hilarious Ham. 

 If you're a fan of Looney Tunes, you'll want to make it part of your annual Thanksgiving entertainment.

J.A. Morris' rating:
  

4 pumpkin pies!

RigbyMel says:

This is perhaps an underrated/overlooked Looney Tunes short, which is a shame as it features classic, anarchic direction by Chuck Jones.   I was amused to see some gags from more familiar shorts show up in this cartoon.

For example, we see Porky turn into a literal "sucker" when he realizes he's been had and Chuck Jones shorts are always good for comical uses for signage.

Wait, where is the turkey again? ;-) 

In addition to Mel Blanc's sterling voice work as both Porky Pig and Daffy Duck,  we get a vocal appearance by Billy Bletcher as Tom Turkey.

Bletcher is probably best known today for his work as "Peg-Leg Pete" in assorted Disney shorts from the 1930s through the 1950s and he does a great job here.

This short is relatively new to me, and makes me laugh out loud every time I watch it.   It stands up well to repeated viewings.

RigbyMel's rating

4 pumpkin pies!