''Daredevil Droopy'' is a 1951 animated cartoon short, one of the few cartoons in which

Droopy Droopy is an animated character from the golden age of American animation. He is an anthropomorphic white Basset Hound with a droopy face; hence his name. He was created in 1943 by Tex Avery for theatrical cartoon shorts produced by the Metro-Go ...

was paired with the dog

Spike Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter F. Hamilto ...

Plot

When a

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclist ...

arrives to town, it features its famous attractions, including "''The Great Barko and His Famous Acrobatic Dogs''". And under the commercial posters, an advertisement stands, titled "''Dare Devil Dog Wanted''", advertising a job for Barko's new dog-acrobats, under the condition "''Must be Fearless!''". This attracts both Droopy and Spike's attention to apply for the job. Satisfied with the reply from the two dogs, Barko decides to put the situation on the competitive basis: "''The one that gives me the best performance in

strength Strength may refer to: Physical strength *Physical strength, as in people or animals *Hysterical strength, extreme strength occurring when people are in life-and-death situations *Superhuman strength, great physical strength far above human ca ...

and daring, gets the job!''", to which the dogs agree. During every tryouts – "''see Simpson the Strong Man''" test of strength, ringing the bell, "''Pop the

Balloon A balloon is a flexible bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, and air. For special tasks, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour or rice), or light so ...

s''" shooting, "''See a Woman Sawed in Half''", "''The Flying Human''" flight test with a propeller on the head, riding a car through a solid brick wall, "'' The Sharp Shooter''",

juggling Juggling is a physical skill, performed by a juggler, involving the manipulation of objects for recreation, entertainment, art or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling. Juggling can be the manipulation of one object o ...

, riding on a motorcycle through a ring of fire, flying on the trapeze,

tightrope-walking Tightrope walking, also called funambulism, is the skill of walking along a thin wire or rope. It has a long tradition in various countries and is commonly associated with the circus. Other skills similar to tightrope walking include slack rope ...

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

and "''

The Human Bullet is a 1968 Japanese satiric anti-war film about a soldier who becomes assigned to a suicide mission against the US Forces during the late stage of World War II. It was written and directed by Kihachi Okamoto. Plot During the last days of the wa ...

''" shooting out of the cannon – Spike tries to outperform Droopy and sabotage his performances. He fails every time, and gets himself injured a couple of times. During Droopy's final act, Spike tries to sabotage his competitor again, by burning his foot with a

matchstick A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matc ...

. But this leads Droopy to perform faster, leaving the audience to applaud. It also gives Droopy a minor burn on the foot. Impressed with Droopy's successful performances, Barko hires him to be one of his Acrobatic Dogs. Outraged, Spike chops one of the trapeze poles to bring it down on both Droopy and Barko, but instead, it lands on Spike ("TIM- *crash* -ber."), leaving him the loser.

References

External links

* 1951 animated films 1951 short films 1950s English-language films Droopy Films directed by Tex Avery Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animated short films 1950s American animated films 1950s animated short films Films scored by Scott Bradley Films produced by Fred Quimby Circus films Films about competitions Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio short films American animated short films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer short films Animated films about dogs {{short-animation-film-stub