''The Ducksters'' is a 1950

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.

'' theatrical cartoon short, directed by

Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He wrote, produ ...

and written by

Michael Maltese Michael Maltese (February 6, 1908 – February 22, 1981) was an American story man for classic animated cartoon shorts. He is best known for working in the 1950s on a series of ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoons with director Chuck Jones, notably "Wha ...

. The cartoon was released on September 2, 1950, and stars

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 ...

and

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 ...

. The title is a pun on the 1947 film ''

The Hucksters ''The Hucksters'' is a 1947 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film directed by Jack Conway starring Clark Gable and Deborah Kerr, her debut in an American film. The supporting cast includes Sydney Greenstreet, Adolphe Menjou, Ava Gardner, Keenan Wynn, and ...

''.

Synopsis

is on a

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

quiz show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, sh ...

called ''Truth or AAAAHHH!!'', a somewhat macabre parody of the popular quiz show ''

Truth or Consequences ''Truth or Consequences'' is an American game show originally hosted on NBC radio by Ralph Edwards (1940–1957) and later on television by Edwards (1950–1954), Jack Bailey (1954–1956), Bob Barker (1956–1975), Steve Dunne (1957–1958), ...

'' (but with potentially lethal consequences) hosted by

, sponsored by "Eagle Hand Laundry" and broadcast by the Ajax Broadcasting Company, in which the object is to answer near-impossible or ridiculously obscure questions. One such question includes: "Who, mind you WHO, was the referee for the New Zealand heavyweight championship fight in 1726?" (Somehow, Porky actually knew it was "Arbuckle Dreen," and even knew that Dreen's second grade teacher was "Abigail Twitch." Daffy turns to the audience, and shouts, "NO COACHING, PLEASE!"). Failing to answer the other questions correctly or in time gets him pounded in the head with a mallet and then requires him to "pay the penalty" (for instance, when Daffy asks who was the father of the country, Porky's stuttering prevents him from answering "

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

" in time). These penalties include Porky being threatened by a

buzz saw A circular saw is a power-saw using a toothed or Abrasive saw, abrasive disk (mathematics), disc or blade to cut different materials using a rotary motion spinning around an Arbor (tool), arbor. A hole saw and ring saw also use a rotary motio ...

, blown up with

dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germa ...

while trying to name all the (then) 48 states in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, being crushed by a safe, and other forms of abuse, while the prizes for some questions are similar, such as being crushed by a safe, then the

Rock of Gibraltar The Rock of Gibraltar (from the Arabic name Jabel-al-Tariq) is a monolithic limestone promontory located in the British territory of Gibraltar, near the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula, and near the entrance to the Mediterr ...

before being rained upon by "genuine" water from

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, ...

. Porky is unable to ask for clues (for example, when asked what Cleopatra's aunt's maiden name was, he tries to ask whether is looking for her "paternal" or "maternal" aunt, but Daffy tells him to "watch orky'slanguage") and tries several times to back out, but each time Daffy manages to reel him back in, even shooting an audience member when he shouts "You'll be sorry!". Eventually, after a particularly snide line from Daffy ("Listen, Mac; You've got 32 teeth, would you like to try for 16?," a play on the then-popular game '' Take it or Leave It''), Porky threatens to retaliate, forcing Daffy to offer his final challenge for a huge jackpot. Porky must guess who Miss Shush is with his only clue being a recording of her brushing her teeth on Wednesdays. Porky fails to answer correctly and Daffy invites him into Miss Shush's dressing room to meet her, but Daffy reveals that Miss Shush is really Mamie, a 600-pound

gorilla Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or fi ...

who appears in Obnoxious Pictures' "

Jungle Jitters ''Jungle Jitters'' is a 1938 Warner Bros. '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on February 19, 1938. Because of the racial stereotypes of black people throughout the short, it prompted United Artists to ...

", and who proceeds to viciously and loudly maul Porky. Porky eventually emerges and advances on Daffy menacingly, and Daffy finally gives in, awarding Porky the jackpot of $26,000,000.03. Using a phone, Porky contacts the president of the Ajax Broadcasting Company, who offers to sell the company for the exact amount of the jackpot. Sensing an opportunity to get back at Daffy, Porky willingly accepts the offer. Now Daffy's boss, Porky takes over the quiz show and then asks a very nervous Daffy: "in what latitude and longitude did

the Wreck of the Hesperus "The Wreck of the Hesperus" is a narrative poem by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, first published in ''Ballads and Other Poems'' in 1842. It is a story that presents the tragic consequences of a skipper's pride. On an ill-fated voyag ...

occur?" Daffy fails to answer correctly in time, and Porky turns the tables, subjecting Daffy to the same "penalties" Porky had endured. The cartoon ends when Daffy is then tied to the same long plank Porky had been tied to at the start of the cartoon, moving toward the same buzz saw. Daffy lifts his head and yells at the studio audience: "Have you got a doctor in the balcony, lady?!" (this line was a takeoff of another radio quiz show, '' Doctor IQ'', where the announcer would note "I have a lady in the balcony, Doctor" to introduce a new contestant).

Cast

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy ra ...

portrays all voices in this short, including

and the audience member.

Production details

The cartoon's title is a play on ''

'', a satirical novel about the advertising business that was made into a 1947 live-action film starring

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...

. "Eagle Hand Laundry", the business supposedly sponsoring Daffy's radio show, was at the time the name of an actual hand laundry in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ducksters, The Looney Tunes shorts 1950 films 1950 animated films 1950 short films Short films directed by Chuck Jones Daffy Duck films Porky Pig films Films scored by Carl Stalling Films based on radio series 1950s parody films Warner Bros. short films Warner Bros. Cartoons animated short films 1950 comedy films 1950s Warner Bros. animated short films Films with screenplays by Michael Maltese 1950s English-language films Films about quizzes and game shows