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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. Hello,

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Speaker 1: and welcome to This Day in History Class, a show

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Speaker 1: that raises the curtain on everyday history and lets it

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Speaker 1: take a bat. I'm Gabe Lucier and today we're talking

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Speaker 1: about the debut of Daffy Duck, the off the wall

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Speaker 1: character who gave cartoon studios the courage to break from

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Speaker 1: the stuffy Disney mold in favor of pure mad cap comedy.

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Speaker 1: The day was April seventeenth, nineteen thirty seven. Cartoon icon

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Speaker 1: Daffy Duck appeared for the first time in the Warner

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Speaker 1: Brothers animated short Porky's Duck Hunt. The black and white

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Speaker 1: cartoon was directed by legendary animator Tex Avery and featured

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Speaker 1: Porky Pig as a frustrated hunter trying to bag a

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Speaker 1: most peculiar duck. As the shorts title suggests, Porky was

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Speaker 1: the star character, and indeed, the little black duck who

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Speaker 1: taunts him is only on screen for a minute or

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Speaker 1: two of the short's nearly nine minute run time. However,

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Speaker 1: his brief appearance got a big reaction from viewers, and

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Speaker 1: based on that popularity, the studio started adding the Daffy

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Speaker 1: Little Duck to some of their other cartoons. The character

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Speaker 1: wasn't formally named until the nineteen forty short Elmer's Candid Camera,

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Speaker 1: and his early appearance looks a little more generic too.

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Speaker 1: He's got the familiar white collar, but his size and

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Speaker 1: proportions are much closer to a real life duck than

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Speaker 1: to the lankier character we're used to today. Still, there's no

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Speaker 1: denying it's Daffy. The character's familiar voice, big personality, and

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Speaker 1: unhinged laugh were in place from the very beginning. At

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Speaker 1: one point in the nineteen thirty seven short, Porky sends

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Speaker 1: his hunting dog to retrieve the seemingly wounded Daffy, only

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Speaker 1: for the duck to return carrying the dog instead. Porky's

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Speaker 1: stunned reaction sets up a breakout moment for his new

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Speaker 1: co star. Take a listen, Hey, that wasn't script. Oh

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Speaker 1: don't matter.

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Speaker 2: Worry a skipper, I'm just a crazy don't pull dun.

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Speaker 1: The duck later known as Daffy, was created by tex

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Speaker 1: Avery and fellow animator Bob Clampitt specifically for Porky's duck hunt.

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Speaker 1: He was intended as a one time foil for Porky,

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Speaker 1: who had become the first breakout star of the Looney

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Speaker 1: Tune series. But in the end, the Duck stole the

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Speaker 1: show by giving moviegoers something they hadn't seen in other

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Speaker 1: cartoons of the era, a character who was unhinged, combative,

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Speaker 1: and completely unpredictable. As Bob Clampitt once recalled quote, at

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Speaker 1: that time, audiences weren't accustomed to seeing a car cartune

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Speaker 1: character do these things, and so when it hit the theaters,

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Speaker 1: it was an explosion. People would leave the theaters talking

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Speaker 1: about this Daffy Duck. That warm reception convinced the animators

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Speaker 1: to continue developing the character, which they did little by

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Speaker 1: little over the next two decades. Celebrated voice actor Mel

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Speaker 1: Blank provided the voice of Daffy from his very first appearance,

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Speaker 1: but his performance changed along with the character. For example,

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Speaker 1: Daffy's trademark lisp was a later addition, one that was

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Speaker 1: allegedly based on the voice of a producer at Warner Brothers.

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Speaker 1: Blank never confirmed that rumor, though, and claimed instead that

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Speaker 1: he added the lisp to account for Daffy's bill. It

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Speaker 1: seemed to me, he wrote in his autobiography, that such

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Speaker 1: an extended mandible would hinder his speech, particularly on words

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Speaker 1: containing an S sound. Thus, Despicable became despicable he did

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Speaker 1: it better. Director's Robert McKimson, Free Freeling, and Chuck Jones

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Speaker 1: all had a major influence on Daffy's design and personality,

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Speaker 1: but they didn't always agree on the latter. In his

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Speaker 1: early appearances, the character was pretty much just a wild screwball,

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Speaker 1: bouncing around the screen and mugging for the camera, but

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Speaker 1: by the late nineteen forties, Daffy was often portrayed either

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Speaker 1: as a subversive agent of chaos or as a greedy

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Speaker 1: attention seeker. Sometimes Daffy appeared on his own or as

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Speaker 1: the foil for another Looney Tunes hunter, Elmer Fudd, but

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Speaker 1: during his early years of stardom, he was mostly paired

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Speaker 1: with Porky Pig. They started out as adversaries and Porky's

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Speaker 1: duck hunt, but the animators quickly realized they worked better

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Speaker 1: as a classic comedy duo. Daffy's aggressive personality and general

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Speaker 1: wackiness were the perfect compliment to Porky's timid, straight laced demeanor.

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Speaker 1: That odd couple dynamic proved a hit with audiences, but

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Speaker 1: in the early nineteen fifties, the producers began experimenting with

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Speaker 1: a much more volatile pairing Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny.

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Speaker 1: Daffy's first appearance predated Bugs by a little over a year,

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Speaker 1: but the cool headed rabbit eventually eclipsed him in popularity.

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Speaker 1: By the nineteen fifties, Bugs had become the undisputed star

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Speaker 1: of the Looney Tune series, and other characters received less

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Speaker 1: and less of the spotlight. Chuck Jones decided to address

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Speaker 1: that trend in the shorts themselves by recasting Daffy as

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Speaker 1: Bug's jealous rival. To make him a better match for

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Speaker 1: the rascally rabbit, Daffy became less manic and more cunning.

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Speaker 1: Of course, he still rarely got the best of Bugs,

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Speaker 1: and often had his own pride and impatience used against him.

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Speaker 1: That new dynamic was on full display in the beloved

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Speaker 1: Hunting Trilogy of the nineteen fifties, a series of three

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Speaker 1: cartoons directed by Jones, in which Bugs and Daffy tried

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Speaker 1: to alternately persuade Elmer Fudd that its duck season or

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Speaker 1: rabbit season. In an early example of their frenemy status,

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Speaker 1: the duo eventually call a truce and declare it Elmer season. Instead,

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Speaker 1: here's a clip. Okay, Wabbit, I see who had disguise?

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Speaker 1: Say a players, you too.

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Speaker 3: Duck Webbason Duck Season, Webbitason Duck Season, Leason Duck Season.

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Speaker 3: Oh the newy newy Qwiant, we are hunting Elma's.

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Speaker 1: Bugs and Daffy's love hate relationship became a defining feature

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Speaker 1: of the characters, but Daffy also re teemed with his

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Speaker 1: original co star Porky throughout the nineteen fifties and sixties.

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Speaker 1: During this era, they often appeared together in parody versions

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Speaker 1: of popular movies and TV shows. There was nineteen fifty

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Speaker 1: one's Rip Along Daffy, a parody of Hopolong Cassidy and

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Speaker 1: Westerns in general. Then there was nineteen fifty eight's Robin

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Speaker 1: Hood Daffy. You can probably figure that one out on

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Speaker 1: your own, and of course nineteen sixty one's Duck Dodgers

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Speaker 1: in the twenty fourth and a half century, a parody

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Speaker 1: of sci fi hero Buck Rogers. No matter which role

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Speaker 1: Daffy took on, and no matter who he was paired with,

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Speaker 1: Jones's darker take continued to inform the character. After a

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Speaker 1: long developmental journey, Daffy had finally settled into the wise, cracking,

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Speaker 1: self glorifying, and easily outraged persona that audiences know and love.

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Speaker 1: It's a formula that's since been repeated in dozens of

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Speaker 1: Looney Tunes animated TV shows, movies, and video games. But

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Speaker 1: in recent years, Warner Brothers chose to go back to

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Speaker 1: the character's wackier roots in a series of brand new

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Speaker 1: shorts simply called Looney Tunes Cartoons. The series style and

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Speaker 1: tone pays loving homage to the look and feel of

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Speaker 1: the original, complete with a version of Daffy who feels

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Speaker 1: a lot less, beholden to bugs and acts a lot

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Speaker 1: more like his old screwball self. And I guess that's

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Speaker 1: one of the benefits of having characters as long running

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Speaker 1: and adaptable as the Looney Tunes. They can be reinvented

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Speaker 1: again and again for new audiences, sometimes with a modern

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Speaker 1: spin and sometimes as a classic throwback. Every incarnation has

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Speaker 1: its fans and detractors, but with a nearly century long

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Speaker 1: body of work to choose from, the series really has

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Speaker 1: something for everyone, provided, of course, that you're willing to

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Speaker 1: get a little loony. I'm Gabe Lucier and hopefully you

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Speaker 1: now know a little more about history today than you

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Speaker 1: did yesterday. If you enjoyed today's show, consider keeping up

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Speaker 1: with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You can find

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Speaker 1: us the TDI HC Show. You can also rate and

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Speaker 1: review the show on Apple Podcasts, or you can write

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Speaker 1: to us directly at this day at iHeartMedia dot com.

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Speaker 1: Thanks to Chandler Mays and Ben Hackett for producing the show,

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Speaker 1: and thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back

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Speaker 1: here again tomorrow for another day in History class.

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Speaker 2: My name is Daffy Duck. I worked on America Round

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Speaker 2: the Jumbles. Well, I did quite well. To America rout brodown.

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Speaker 2: Guys haven't work with me. Was a hospital lavender eye,

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Speaker 2: a round the world with wicked girls. Tell America round Broaddown,

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Speaker 2: down and rounded. We smid that he taste sooner to

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Speaker 2: my head. Now you know why I'm diving and to

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Speaker 2: these things I do. I am a stum when you

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Speaker 2: take toll of American round Broaddown