The Stupor Salesman

{{Infobox film

| image = TheStuporSalesman.jpg

| caption = Title card to The Stupor Salesman

| story = Lloyd Turner
Bill Scott

| animator = Basil Davidovich
Emery Hawkins
Bill Melendez
Don Williams
Herman Cohen{{cite web |title=Warner Cartoon Breakdowns #3: That Darnfool Duck! |url=https://archive.org/details/warnercartoonbreakdowns3 |access-date=19 December 2020}}

| layout_artist = Don Smith

| background_artist = Philip DeGuard

| starring = Mel Blanc

| music = Carl Stalling

| producer = Edward Selzer

| studio = Warner Bros. Cartoons

| distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures

| released = {{Film date|1948|11|20}}

| color_process = Technicolor

| runtime = 7:03

| language = English

}}

The Stupor Salesman is a Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon, directed by Arthur Davis, and written by Lloyd Turner and Bill Scott.{{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=191}} The cartoon was released on November 20, 1948, and stars Daffy Duck.{{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 |url-access=registration |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780816038312/page/70 70]-72}}

Plot

Slug McSlug, a cunning canine criminal, pulls off a successful bank robbery. After eluding the police, he retreats to his rural hideout. However, his peace is disrupted by the persistent Daffy Duck, a relentless salesman peddling various wares.

Despite McSlug's attempts to rid himself of Daffy, the determined duck continues to intrude, employing unconventional methods to gain entry. With each attempt, Daffy's antics frustrate McSlug, leading to a series of comical confrontations.

As tensions escalate, Daffy's saleable items prevail over McSlug's violence, ultimately causing the gangster's downfall in a fiery explosion. With McSlug defeated, Daffy revels in his victory, now knowing what his foe will need - a new house to replace the one that just blew up!

Reception

Animation historian Mike Mallory writes, "There is not a wasted cel in The Stupor Salesman. At first glance, the story of a bank robber who cannot escape the diabolical persistence of door-to-door salesman Daffy Duck (at his stream-of-consciousness best) sounds like a conventional pest-vs.-threat cartoon, but it is not. The short zooms by with the insistent pacing of the early Warner Bros. gangster films it aggressively parodies. Rarely, if ever, has one seven-minute cartoon burst its seams so thoroughly with inventive sight gags, throwaway jokes, and visual details."{{cite book |editor1-last=Beck |editor1-first=Jerry |title=The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons |date=2020 |publisher=Insight Editions |isbn=978-1-64722-137-9 |page=178}}