Today’s Almanac-April 17, 2010
On April 17, 1937 Daffy Duck made his first appearance in the Warner Bros. black and white cartoon Porky’s Duck Hunt. The as-yet-unnamed duck torments the hapless Porky’s attempt to bag him. It was one of many hunter-themed shorts, including those later featuring Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, that arose from the imagination Fred “Tex” Avery. In a series of mostly black and white films to follow, the duck would get a name that reflected his anarchic lunacy. He also evolved more anthropomorphically as was given a high pitched, sputtering lisp which Avery and his gang based on the voice of Warner Bros. cartoon boss Leon Schlesinger who never realized the joke was on him. Daffy was soon eclipsing Porky as the star of Merrie Melodies. The transition was even acknowledged in Friz Freleng's 1940 short You Oughtta Be In Pictures, in which the animated duck marches in to the live action Schlesinger’s office and demands Porky’s job. Throughout the ‘40’s Daffy was ascendant and poor Porky reduced to a straight man or and occasional cameo before almost disappearing by 1950. In the ’50 Chuck Jones not only redesigned Daffy’s look, but changed his personality from a gadfly madcap to a frustrated, often angry critter failing time after time to win money, fame, glory or the girl. He was often placed in film genres from hard-boiled detective stories, to westerns, to space operas. And he became a foil for Bugs, who had become an even bigger star, much to Daffy’s sputtering rage. Continual showing of the Warner Bros. classic cartoons broadcast TV and cable have accomplished for Daffy and Bugs what they could not do on the silver screen-supplant Disney’s Mickey Mouse as animations greatest icons. Daffy, a still sprightly 74 years old, lives on.