''A Coy Decoy'' is a 1941

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series ''Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation.

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...

, directed by

Bob Clampett Robert Emerson Clampett Sr. (May 8, 1913 – May 2, 1984) was an American animator, director, producer and puppeteer. He was best known for his work on the '' Looney Tunes'' animated series from Warner Bros. as well as the television shows '' ...

. The cartoon was released on June 7, 1941, and stars

Porky Pig Porky Pig is an animated character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his celebrity, star power, and the animators created ma ...

and

Daffy Duck Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon fictional character, character created for Warner Bros. Cartoons, Leon Schlesinger Productions by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett. Styled as an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic American black duck, black ...

. The film is set in a closed book store at night, when the many characters and elements featured within the books come to life, similar to

Frank Tashlin Frank Tashlin (born Francis Fredrick von Taschlein, February 19, 1913 – May 5, 1972), also known as Tish Tash and Frank Tash, was an American animator, cartoonist, children's writer, illustrator, screenwriter, and film director. He was best kn ...

's own shorts ''

Speaking of the Weather ''Speaking of the Weather'' is an animated cartoon short in the ''Merrie Melodies'' series produced by Leon Schlesinger for Warner Bros. Released to theaters on September 4, 1937, it was directed by Frank Tashlin and animated by Joe D'Igalo and Vo ...

'', '' Have You Got Any Castles?'', and ''

You're an Education ''You're An Education'' is a 1938 Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon supervised by Frank Tashlin Frank Tashlin (born Francis Fredrick von Taschlein, February 19, 1913 – May 5, 1972), also known as Tish Tash and Frank Tash, was an Am ...

''. The idea would later be reworked five years later into ''

Book Revue ''Book Revue'' is a 1946 Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon directed by Bob Clampett. The cartoon was released on January 5, 1946, and features Daffy Duck. The plotline is a mixture of the plots of Frank Tashlin's ''Speaking of the Weather'' ...

'', although only Daffy features in that.

Plot

The film begins with

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

's "

Moonlight Sonata The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, marked ''Quasi una fantasia'', Op. 27, No. 2, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven. It was completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil Countess Giulietta Guicciardi. The popular name ''Mo ...

" playing as the scene descends on a book store. The camera pans across an array of the bestselling books of early 1941 (including Valtin's ''Out of the Night'', Fedorova's ''The Family'', and Nordhoff and Hall's ''No More Gas''), before reaching an older favorite, ''

Uncle Tom's Cabin ''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U. ...

,'' which as a gag has a

Federal Housing Administration The Federal Housing Administration (FHA), also known as the Office of Housing within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is a United States government agency founded by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, created in part ...

sign in front of the cabin. Porky Pig, featured on the cover of ''The Westerner'', comes to life and sings "Ride, Tenderfoot, Ride." Across the way, Daffy Duck, featured on the cover of ''

The Ugly Duckling "The Ugly Duckling" ( da, Den grimme ælling) is a Danish literary fairy tale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875). It was first published on 11 November 1843 in ''New Fairy Tales. First Volume#New Fairy Tales. Fir ...

'', comes to life and sings "

Git Along, Little Dogies "Git Along, Little Dogies" is a traditional cowboy ballad, also performed under the title "Whoopie Ti Yi Yo." It is believed to be a variation of a traditional Irish ballad about an old man rocking a cradle. The cowboy adaptation is first mention ...

." Daffy finds his way to ''

Black Beauty ''Black Beauty: His Grooms and Companions, the Autobiography of a Horse'' is an 1877 novel by English author Anna Sewell. It was composed in the last years of her life, during which she was bedridden and seriously ill.Merriam-Webster (1995). ...

'' and comes out riding not a horse, but a big black woman, whom he rides to ''The Lake''. A wolf emerges from '' The Wolf of Wall Street'' (presumably Blake McVeigh's novelization of the 1929 movie), sneaks behind Zane Grey's ''The Green Bay Tree'' and lures Daffy to him using a female duck

decoy A decoy (derived from the Dutch ''de'' ''kooi'', literally "the cage" or possibly ''ende kooi'', " duck cage") is usually a person, device, or event which resembles what an individual or a group might be looking for, but it is only meant to lu ...

from the book ''Toys''. Daffy is entranced and exclaims (quoting a recent hit record), "Well,

Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar" is a song written in 1940 by Don Raye, Hughie Prince, and Ray McKinley. It follows the American boogie-woogie tradition of syncopated piano music. Background The title adopts 1940s' hipster slang coined by Raye ...

." He follows and woos the decoy, adopting a

Maurice Chevalier Maurice Auguste Chevalier (; 12 September 1888 – 1 January 1972) was a French singer, actor and entertainer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including " Livin' In The Sunlight", " Valentine", "Louise", " Mimi", and "Thank Hea ...

accent at one point, but when he closes his eyes the wolf enters and Daffy mistakenly embraces the wolf's nose. Once he realizes he is in danger, Daffy (recycling some of the dialogue from 1939's ''

Hare-um Scare-um ''Hare-um Scare-um'' is a 1939 Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton. The short was released on August 12, 1939, and is the third short to feature the rabbit that would evolve into Bugs Bunny. The title ...

'') tells the wolf that he is not worth eating (he claims to have so many diseases that even the draft rejected him) and runs away. Daffy runs toward Ethel Vance's novel ''Escape'' but the wolf blocks his way. As the wolf pursues, Daffy turns on him and exclaims the catchphrase form number one radio program

Fibber McGee and Molly ''Fibber McGee and Molly'' (1935–1959) was a longtime highly popular husband-and-wife team radio comedy program. The situation comedy was a staple of the NBC Red Network from 1936 on, after originating on NBC Blue in 1935. One of the most p ...

"You're a hard man, McGee." He then uses the books to defeat the wolf. He opens a copy of Nordhoff and Hall's '' The Hurricane'' to blow the wolf away, and lightning from the book ''Lightning'' strikes the wolf. The wolf surrenders, fittingly under

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...

's recent bestseller ''

For Whom the Bell Tolls ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' is a novel by Ernest Hemingway published in 1940. It tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer attached to a Republican guerrilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. As a dynamiter, he is assigned ...

''. Daffy returns to the decoy. Porky enters the scene addresses in derision of Daffy, saying that Daffy and the decoy could never "mean anything to each other." Daffy sticks up his nose and swims away with the decoy, followed by four tiny decoys that look like Daffy.

Home media

This cartoon is available on many public domain video and DVD compilations (including ''Cartoon Explosion, Volume 2'' released in 2001 by Front Row Entertainment where it is presented in its 1968 redrawn colorized form). The original black and white print fully remastered and uncut was included on the ''Porky Pig 101'' DVD on September 19, 2017, that was officially released by Warner Archive.

References

External links

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A Coy Decoy Soundtrack , Ringostrack.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coy Decoy, A Looney Tunes shorts American comedy short films 1941 animated films 1941 short films Films directed by Bob Clampett 1941 comedy films Daffy Duck films Porky Pig films American black-and-white films 1940s Warner Bros. animated short films 1940s English-language films American animated short films Films about pigs Films about ducks Animated films about birds Animated films about wolves Films set in bookstores