On this date (April 17) in 1937, a duck later known as Daffy made his debut in a cartoon called Porky’s Duck Hunt. It was animated by Bob Clampett and directed by Tex Avery.
What a team!
Daffy was unnamed in this short, but he was a screwball, combative and unrestrained character. Audiences were buzzing about a ‘daffy’ duck.
Daffy was really the first screwball character in cartoons.
And after being created by Bob and Tex, he’s still one of the most popular Looney Tunes characters today, coming in third after Porky in second place and of course the king, Bugs.
Daffy was finally given a name in his first color cartoon in 1939.
He did a bit of a transition from screwball to sympathetic later thanks to Chuck Jones in excellent shorts such as Duck Dodgers, Rabbit Fire, Duck Amuck, and The Scarlet Pumpernickel.
And then Daffy was later made (hilariously) into a salesman by Robert McKimson and Arthur Davis. These are probably some of my favorite Daffy shorts.
Yankee Doodle Daffy might be my favorite Daffy short of all time.
Friz Freleng worked with Daffy Duck and eventually teamed him up with Speedy Gonzales. Daffy was often put against Porky Pig because the comedic possibilities, their opposing dynamic is such a funny thing to watch. Porky’s uptight nature and Daffy’s total lack of control.
More recently, Daffy is paired more with Bugs, even becoming his roommate on The Looney Tunes Show.
But later this year, Daffy pairs up with Porky yet again for The Day the Earth Blew Up, which I wrote about here – it’s the first fully animated Looney Tunes film ever, and we’re getting it now, in 2024! Super excited for that one.
Long live the duck!
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