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The Prize Pest

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The Prize Pest
Directed byRobert McKimson
Story byTedd Pierce
Produced byEdward Selzer
StarringMel Blanc
Tedd Pierce[1] (uncredited)
Music byCarl Stalling
Animation byRod Scribner
Phil DeLara
Emery Hawkins
Charles McKimson
John Carey (uncredited)
Layouts byPeter Alvarado
Backgrounds byRichard H. Thomas
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date
  • December 22, 1951 (1951-12-22) (USA)
Running time
7 minutes
LanguageEnglish

The Prize Pest is a 1951 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Robert McKimson, and written by Tedd Pierce.[2] The cartoon was released on December 22, 1951, and stars Daffy Duck and Porky Pig.[3]

Plot

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After winning a prize from a radio show, Porky Pig receives an unexpected house guest — Daffy Duck — who refuses to leave. Daffy claims to have a split personality, turning sweet when treated kindly and monstrous when mistreated. Falling for Daffy's ruse, Porky agrees to serve him, but secretly plans to call the authorities. Daffy, however, outsmarts Porky by impersonating the phone.

When Porky tries to scare Daffy out of the house by dressing up as a monster, Daffy's reaction is so extreme that he flees, hiding back in the gift box he arrived in. In a twist, Porky catches sight of himself in the mirror wearing the monster costume and frightens himself, realizing he is just as cowardly as he accused Daffy of being.

Aftermath

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  • The Prize Pest is considered by some to be one of the last screwball Daffy Duck cartoons, as all of the directors eventually stuck with the greedy, self-centered Daffy that emerged in Rabbit Fire (1951).
  • The cartoon was incerpted in the 1988 compilation film Daffy Duck's Quackbusters in which Daffy hired Porky in his "Paranormalist at Large" company. The cartoon was shortened in the movie, with a mix of new animation.
  • Daffy reprises his "crazy" look from this short in the Looney Tunes Show episode "Devil Dog" when trying to distract some SWAT team guys while Bugs and Taz escape.

References

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  1. ^ "Robert McKimson's "The Prize Pest" (1951)". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  2. ^ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 230. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
  3. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 70–72. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
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