Hollywood Daffy
{{distinguish|Daffy Duck in Hollywood}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| image =
| caption =
| director = Hawley Pratt (uncredited)
| story = Michael Maltese
| animator = Ken Champin
Gerry Chiniquy
Manuel Perez
Virgil Ross
| layout_artist = Hawley Pratt
| background_artist = Paul Julian
| starring = Mel Blanc{{cite web|title=Hollywood Daffy (1946): Cast|publisher=IMDb|accessdate=4 June 2021|url=https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0038608/fullcredits/cast?ref_=m_tt_cl_sc}}
| music = Carl W. Stalling
| studio = Warner Bros. Cartoons
| distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures
| released = {{Film date|1946|6|22}}
| color_process = Technicolor
| runtime = 7 minutes
| language = English
}}
Hollywood Daffy is a 1946 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon, starring Daffy Duck.{{cite book|last1=Lenburg|first1=Jeff|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780816038312/page/70/mode/2up|title=The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons|date=1999|publisher=Checkmark Books|isbn=0-8160-3831-7|pages=70–72|access-date=6 June 2020}} The cartoon was written by Michael Maltese{{cite book|last1=Beck|first1=Jerry|title=Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons|last2=Friedwald|first2=Will|date=1989|publisher=Henry Holt and Co|isbn=0-8050-0894-2|page=168}} and was released on June 22, 1946.
Friz Freleng was originally intended to direct the short, but refused to work on it as he was unsatisfied with the story. The feud resulted in Freleng receiving about a month suspension from the studio.{{Cite web |title=Cartoon Logic: Cartoon Logic Episode 08: Friz Freleng (Rabbit Every Monday) |url=https://cartoonlogic.libsyn.com/website/cartoon-logic-episode-08-friz-freleng-rabbit-every-monday |access-date=2023-12-23 |website=cartoonlogic.libsyn.com |language=en}} Hawley Pratt, Freleng's layout artist, would direct the short uncredited.{{Cite web|title=Comics by Hawley Pratt {{!}}|url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/comics-by-hawley-pratt/|access-date=2022-02-24|website=cartoonresearch.com}}
Plot
The film begins with a pack of wolves howling in the center of Hollywood (a reference to Hollywood and Vine) as a spot for men looking to pick up women ("wolves" in the slang of the day). Daffy, having travelled to Hollywood, attempts to get into the "Warmer Bros." studio to see movie stars. However, the abrasive Keystone Cops-like security guard with a Joe Besser-like voice will not let him pass through the gate. After unsuccessfully endeavoring to enter the studio by way of various disguises and being thrown out each time, culminating with Daffy posing as a film director, but ultimately this disguise is exposed as well. Daffy finally declares that he won't leave until he literally "sees (movie) stars." The guard agrees to figuratively show him the stars, then bashes Daffy over the head and throws him out of the studio, where the dazed Daffy can see all the stars he wants...circling his head.
Hollywood celebrities featured in the cartoon
- Daffy says he would love to meet Lauren Bacall.
- The cop allows Bette Davis (voiced by Sara Berner) and Johnny Weissmuller (swinging from a vine dressed as Tarzan) to enter the studio, because they're employees of the studio.
- When trying to enter the studio, Daffy disguises himself as Charlie Chaplin (in his signature outfit), Jimmy Durante, Bing Crosby (voiced by Richard Bickenbach, who imitated Crosby often in Looney Tunes cartoons){{Cite web|url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/b/bickenbach_dick.htm|title = Dick Bickenbach}} and an Academy Award statue. When the cop questions whether Daffy is really an Oscar, Daffy indicates that "J.L." is waiting for him, a reference to Jack L. Warner, head of production at Warner Brothers (see Freleng's "Ain't That Ducky" for another reference to "J.L." by Daffy.)
- When Daffy drives the cop through the studio, he passes the dressing rooms of Abbott and Costello (with the same shape as their bodies), Ann Sheridan (also as shapely as the actress, and surrounded by several bear traps) and Jimmy Durante (whose house has the same shape as his profile, including his famous, large nose), who has a bear trap on his leg.
- Jack Benny is seen trying to get an Oscar statue by playing a claw machine.
- Daffy compares the cop with Errol Flynn.
- When Daffy literally sees stars after being hit on the head, he claims that he recognizes Hedy Lamarr, Alexis Smith, Dorothy Lamour, Baby Snooks and Ann Sheridan.
See also
References
External links
- {{IMDb title|tt0038608}}
{{Daffy Duck in animation|state=collapsed}}
{{Friz Freleng|state=collapsed}}
Category:Merrie Melodies short films
Category:Short films directed by Friz Freleng
Category:Animation based on real people
Category:Cultural depictions of Charlie Chaplin
Category:Cultural depictions of Bing Crosby
Category:Cultural depictions of Johnny Weissmuller
Category:Cultural depictions of Jimmy Durante
Category:Films about Hollywood, Los Angeles
Category:Films scored by Carl Stalling
Category:Animated films set in Los Angeles
Category:Films set in studio lots
Category:1940s Warner Bros. animated short films
Category:Films with screenplays by Michael Maltese
Category:1946 animated short films
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