Daffy Duck & Egghead

Daffy Duck & Egghead is a 1937-produced, 1938-released Warner Bros. cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series. It features the early, zany version of Daffy Duck, who spends the film harassing Egghead (later becoming Elmer Fudd), marking the second appearance of Daffy Duck (after Porky's Duck Hunt, which this cartoon is basically a reworking of), his first in color, and first where he is given his current name. It includes a set-piece song-and-dance number by Daffy (shown with a blue band around his neck, instead of the usual white), doing his own variation of The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down (the theme for Looney Tunes).

Plot
The story begins with Egghead (in a voice imitating radio comic Joe Penner) who is annoyed by a rotoscoped shadowman in the audience who doesn't sit down. Egghead shoots the audience member and the member falls after going through extended "death throes". Egghead hears a call from the grass, and out comes Daffy Duck biting his nose (just like he did to Porky Pig in Porky's Duck Hunt.) While fighting, a tortoise (with a voice imitating radio comic Parkyakarkus) comes and tries to give Daffy and Egghead new weapons. When the tortoise goes away, Egghead uses his real gun and Daffy tries to make him shoot the apple on his head. Egghead misses all the times, so Daffy puts a blind sign and a cup of pencils and the disguise glasses on Egghead, with Daffy saying: "Too bad." Daffy then walks away and sings a song by himself, in a set-piece drawn in a different style from the rest of the cartoon, and also containing the subdued, early form of Daffy's lisp, which is absent in the rest of the film:

My name is Daffy Duck,

I worked on a Merry-Go-Round,

the job was swell, I did quite well

till the Merry-go-round broke down.

(Hoo-hoo! Hoo-hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo-hoo!)

The guy that worked with me,

Was a horse with a lavender eye,

Around in whirls, we winked at girls

till the Merry-go-round broke down.

(plays flute)

Up and down and round we sped,

That dizzy pace soon went to my head,

Now you know why I'm dizzy, and do the things I do,

I am askew [or "a screw"] and you'd be too

if the Merry-go-round broke down.

(Hoo-hoo! Hoo-hoo! Hoo-hoo-Hoo-hoo-Hoo-hoo-Hoo-hoo!)

If the Merry-go-round broooooooookkkkkkkkkkkeeeeeeeeeeee (while stretching his neck, so far that he got multiple blue lines around his neck instead of just one) down (calmly; not singing)

Daffy then shakes hands with his reflection from the lake and they both dive back into the water.

Later, Egghead finally catches Daffy, using a glove which knocks Daffy on the head. Egghead jumps for joy, until an ambulance comes. A duck comes out and thanks Egghead for catching Daffy. The duck describes Daffy as "Crazy! Looney-tuney! and more importantly 100% nuts!!" However, the two ducks start acting crazy again, and the film ends with Egghead acting crazy himself.

Censorship
On Cartoon Network and The WB, the scene where Egghead shoots an audience member after standing up from his seat numerous times is cut.

Availability
Daffy Duck & Egghead is available, uncensored and restored, on Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3.

Errors
On the ending titles, the 1941-1955 ending rendition of "Merrily We Roll Along" (the Merrie Melodies theme music) is used instead of the 1937-1938 rendition. This only happens on DVD and on TV showings of the Turner "dubbed version".