Rodent to Stardom

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

{{Infobox film

| image =

| caption =

| director = Alex Lovy

| producer = William L. Hendricks

| writer =

| story = Cal Howard

| editing = Hal Geer

| animator = Volus Jones
Ted Bonnicksen
Laverne Harding
Ed Solomon

| background_artist = Bob Abrams

| starring = Mel Blanc

| music = William Lava

| cinematography =

| studio = Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Animation

| distributor = Warner Bros.-Seven Arts
Vitagraph Company of America

| released = {{Film date|1967|09|23}}

| color_process = Technicolor

| runtime = 6 minutes

| country =

| language = English

| budget =

| gross =

}}

Rodent to Stardom is a 1967 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Alex Lovy.{{cite book |last1=Beck |first1=Jerry |last2=Friedwald |first2=Will |title=Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons |date=1989 |publisher=Henry Holt and Co |isbn=0-8050-0894-2 |page=362}} The short was released on September 23, 1967, and stars Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales.{{cite book |last1=Lenburg |first1=Jeff |title=The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons |date=1999 |publisher=Checkmark Books |isbn=0-8160-3831-7 |accessdate=6 June 2020 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780816038312/page/60/mode/2up |pages=60–62}} It is the first cartoon to credit Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, but still uses the "Abstract WB" titles.

Plot

Daffy is plucked for stardom by director Harvey Hassenpfeffer of Colossal Studios — or so he thinks. However, as he was in A Star Is Bored (1956), Daffy's real fate is to be the stuntman for the star, in this case Speedy Gonzales. The picture is The Nursery Rhyme Review. First, "the sky is falling"; next, the "rockabye baby" cradle falls from a treetop. Daffy realizes he needs to get rid of Speedy, so he asks for an autograph and traps Speedy in a book, which he deposits in a library. Daffy gets the love scene with Ducky Lamour, but after a number of stunts and just before the kiss, his stand-in, Speedy, takes over, and tells the duck, "There's no business like show business, eh, Señores Daffy?" Disgusted, Daffy replies, "Boy, you can say that again!" as he watches Speedy kissing Ducky on the cheek.

References