by E.O. Costello

Glossary

Alphabetical Listings

A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X / Y / Z

Glossary

Alphabetical Listings

A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X / Y / Z

Glossary

Alphabetical Listings

A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X / Y / Z

Glossary

Alphabetical Listings

A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X / Y / Z

Glossary

Alphabetical Listings

A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X / Y / Z

Glossary

Alphabetical Listings

A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X / Y / Z

DAFFY DUCK

In some respects, Daffy deserves top billing over his arch-rival, Bugs Bunny. To begin with, he has seniority over Bugs -- his first cartoon, Porky’s Duck Hunt (Avery, 1937) predates A Wild Hare (Avery, 1940) by some three years. Equally important, the little black duck has demonstrated an amazing range, thanks to the fact that he has been used by a wide variety of Warner Brothers directors. From the wild “whooo-hoo” hysteria of Bob Clampett in films such as The Daffy Doc (1938), to the shifty-eyed scheming of Chuck Jones best exemplified in the so-called “Hunter’s Trilogy”, ranging through countless superb Freleng, Tashlin and McKimson cartoons in-between, and even through some of Norm McCabe’s better shorts, Daffy has proven to be the most enduring character of the Warner Brothers cartoon studio. Avery may have actually created the character, but it was Clampett who made him unforgettable. Each of Daffy’s subsequent directors has further added to the complexity of the character.

His “thloppy” lisp is said to have been based on that of producer Leon Schlesinger, in an act of unusual daring and defiance by the Termite Terrace staff. Schlesinger, legend has it, not only failed to reconise the source, but actually enthused about “the funny voithe.”

DAFFY PULL

According to Funnyworld #17, this was the working title of Chuck Jones’ classic Duck Amuck (1953).

“DAISY JUNE”

Girlfriend of Red Skelton’s character, Clem Kaddidlehopper.

DALTON, CAL

Long-time animator with the studio through the 1930s and 1940s, Dalton teamed up with Ben “Bugs” Hardaway as a co-director in the late 1930s, during the period when Friz Freleng left Warner Brothers for MGM. Dalton’s best-known cartoon with Hardaway is Hare-Um Scare-Um (1939), which features an early prototype of Bugs Bunny. Dalton also teamed up with Cal Howard to direct two cartoons, Porky’s Phoney Express and A Lad In Bagdad (both 1938). Dalton would continue animating for Tashlin, during his second directorship, and later for Tashlin’s successor, Robert McKimson in cartoons such as Hollywood Canine Canteen (1946). Dalton also received story credit for The Sneezing Weasel (Avery, 1938).

Dalton may be the “Cal” referred to in the list of pigeons on the blackboard in Plane Daffy (Tashlin, 1944). Dalton animated for Tashlin during this era, receiving animating credit for Puss ’n’ Booty (1943). “Dirty Dalton” is one of the dogs listed in Bosko’s Dog Race (Harman/Ising, 1932).

DANDRIDGE, VIVIAN

African-American actress, singer, and dancer -- sister of Dorothy Dandridge. Dandridge provided the voice and may also have been the model for the character So White -- labeled Coal Black on some model sheets -- in Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs (Clampett, 1943). Her mother, Ruby Dandridge, played the role of Queenie in the film. (See next entry.) Prince Chawmin’ was played by Zoot Watson.

DANDRIDGE, RUBY
(1900-1987)

African-American actress, mother of Vivian Dandridge. (See previous entry.) Played the role of Queenie in Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs (Clampett, 1943). She also had notable roles on The Judy Canova Show, Beulah, and also appeared in a number of live-action films.

DAUNCH, BILL

Story writer for Warner Brothers whose sole credit is a co-writing credit with Tedd Pierce for the Gerry Chiniquy cartoon Hawaiian Aye Aye (1964).

DAVID BUTLAIRE

Director of the film being shot in the Pépe le Pew short Past Perfumance (Jones, 1955). Possibly a spoof of David Butler.

DAVIS, ARTHUR
(d. 2000)

Veteran journeyman animator who played a long-running role at Warner Brothers, directing there for a while in the 1940s. Davis originally came to the studio with Frank Tashlin when the latter took over from Norm McCabe. Davis had previously been at Columbia Screen Gems, where he co-directed The Little Match Girl (1937) and worked on the long-running series of cartoons starring Scrappy. Davis’ first work at Schleisinger’s was on a number of Tashlin cartoons. Scrap Happy Daffy (1943) and Brother Brat (1944) are two of the cartoons for which Davis received animation credit.

When Robert Clampett left Warner Brothers in 1945, Davis took over his unit, completing a few cartoons which were already in production -- most notably The Goofy Gophers (1947), for which Clampett had already recorded the dialogue.

Although most of his cartoons lack the polished appearance of some of his colleagues’ contemporaneous efforts, Arthur Davis succeeded in turning out a good number of very solidly funny cartoons. He was greatly assisted in this by writers Bill Scott and Lloyd Turner.

The Davis cartoons featuring Daffy Duck were particularly good. The closing gag of What Makes Daffy Duck? (1948) features sign-switching for the changing hunting seasons, and may have inspired the later so-called “Hunter’s Trilogy“ of Chuck Jones. Davis’ sole Bugs Bunny cartoon, Bowery Bugs (1949), takes place in Davis’s home town of New York, and manages to have Bugs come across very nicely as a rascally con-artist, duping Steve Brodie and eventually forcing him to jump from the Brooklyn Bridge. Brodie, who had been a saloon keeper, was a real-life character of gaslight-era New York who supposedly jumped from the Bridge in one of the most vivid legends of that city, a legend with which Davis would certainly have been familiar.

Davis, alas, fell victim to the cost-cutting that wracked Hollywood after the so-called “Paramount Decrees” which broke up the close integration between production, distribution, and exhibition that large studios like Warner Brothers had depended upon. Davis, as the junior man of the four-director rotation, lost his unit, which was broken up. Davis emerged later as one of top animators in the Freleng unit throughout the 1950s, and animated for many of the classic Sylvester-Tweety battles.

With the coming of the 1960s, and the gradual spreading of director jobs to top unit men, Davis got to direct one last cartoon at Warner Brothers, Quackodile Tears (1962). After the closure of the Warner Brothers cartoon studio, Davis did some work with Sid Marcus, with whom he had worked at Screen Gems and Warner Brothers, as well as on some of the later Woody Woodpecker cartoons for the Lantz studio.

Along with Warren Foster, Davis received story credit for Sandy Claws (Freleng, 1955). Solomon, in discussing Bob McKimson, mentions the relative lack of study given to his cartoons, noting that only Davis is studied less. Too bad -- those who do not study the cartoons of Arthur Davis are missing out on some of the most consistently funny and underrated cartoons ever made at the studio.

DAVIS, BETTE
(1908-1989)

The leading lady of Warner Brothers during the thirties and forties (one nickname for her was “The Fifth Warner Brother”) who was noted for having stormy relations with production head Jack Warner. Davis nearly won an Oscar in 1934 on a write-in vote for her role as the nasty waitress in Of Human Bondage, and did win for a less consequential role in the tearjerker Dangerous in 1935. She won another Oscar for her role in Jezebel in 1938, and gave a memorable performance in All About Eve (1950). Davis holds the record for Oscar nominations, according to Katz, with ten. Davis was best known for playing hard-nosed selfish women in a number of tearjerkers.

Davis herself is caricatured wonderfully, reprising her role in The Petrified Forest (1936) with Leslie Howard in She Was An Acrobat’s Daughter (Freleng, 1937), and again quite well in Hollywood Daffy (Freleng, 1936). Davis is caricatured in what appears to be her role opposite Errol Flynn in The Private Life of Elizabeth and Essex in Malibu Beach Party (Freleng, 1940). Bugs does a tearjerker turn in The Big Snooze (Clampett, 1946), attempting to convince Elmer Fudd not to quit cartoons, pausing briefly to comment to the audience that Bette Davis was going to hate him for it. Davis is also seen in The Coo-coo Nut Grove (Freleng, 1936). Daffy attempts to lure Porky away from the cartoon business by dangling the prospect of being leading man opposite Davis in You Ought to Be in Pictures (Freleng, 1940). A table for Davis is reserved at Ciro’s (one of the great Hollywood hotspots of the 30s and 40s) in Hollywood Steps Out (Avery, 1941), next to the one for Kate Smith.

DAWES, WARDEN LEWIS

Note: Some sources refer to him as Lawes, not Dawes.

A well-known law enforcement figure of the 1930s, Dawes was the author of 20,000 Years In Sing Sing, a book that drew extensively on his career as warden of the infamous Sing Sing prison in New York State. The book itself is referred to at the end of Speaking of the Weather (Tashlin, 1937), when it is used to trap the villain.

Warden Paws in Bars and Stripes Forever (Hardaway/Dalton, 1939) is a parody of both Dawes and Hugh Herbert.

DEANNA TERRAPIN

Caricature of Deanna Durbin in The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos (Tashlin, 1937).

deHAVILAND, OLIVIA
(1916 - fl. 1995)

The sister of actress Joan Fontaine, de Havilland is best known for her roles opposite Errol Flynn (Adventures of Robin Hood and others) and her Oscar-nominated roles in Gone With the Wind, Hold Back the Dawn and The Snake Pit. de Havilland was also the actress responsible for the lawsuit that resulted in a landmark decision that set the outside limit of a studio-player contract at seven years, including suspension periods, striking a blow to the old studio system.

de Havilland, or rather, “de Haviwwand”, is one of the three guesses made by Elmer Fudd as to who is covering his eyes in A Wild Hare (Avery, 1940).

DeLARA, PHIL

Animator of the 1940s and 1950s at Warner Brothers, principally in the McKimson unit. DeLara also received story credit for Quack Shot (McKimson, 1954).

DETIEGE, DAVE

Story writer for Warner Brothers starting in the early 1960s. Credits include:

• Birds of A Father (McKimson, 1961)
• Compressed Hare (Jones, 1961)
• Prince Violent (Freleng, 1961)
• Daffy’s Inn Trouble (McKimson, 1961)
• The Last Hungry Cat (with John Dunn for Friz Freleng, 1961)
• Nelly’s Folly (with Chuck Jones for Jones, 1961)
• Wet Hare (McKimson, 1962)
• Good Noose (McKimson, 1962)
• The Million Hare (McKimson, 1963)

DEVINE, ANDY
(1905-1977)

Supporting player on the Jack Benny radio program, especially as the deputy to the Buck Benny sheriff character. Devine was a sidekick to Roy Rogers, and had a popular children’s program of his own in the late 1950s, Andy’s Gang, part of its run on NBC. Devine also played an old marine carpenter in the first season of Flipper in 1964. Devine had a distinctive off-key, off-kilter, raspy voice which was used to advantage is a number of Warner Brothers cartoons, including:

• My Little Buckaroo (Freleng, 1938) has as its star a pig version of Devine as a sheriff, singing in an off-key voice.
• The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos (Tashlin, 1937) as Andy Bovine in a brief sketch with Jack Bunny.
• Malibu Beach Party (Freleng, 1940), walking up the walk of the Benny beach house, after Bette Davis.
• Slap Happy Pappy (Clampett, 1940), as the chicken at the gravel box.

One of the writers for the Benny show, Milt Josefsberg, notes that the Devine greeting of “Hiya, Buck” -- used in the last three cartoons -- became a national catchphrase.

DICK TRACY

Comic strip detective created by Chester Gould who reached the height of his popularity in the thirties and forties, even to the extent of appearing in movie serials. The comic strip was famous for elaborately designed villains, such as Flattop Jones, The Blank, and Pruneface -- referred to by Bugs in The Old Grey Hare (Clampett, 1944) and Daffy in Porky Pig’s Feat (Tashlin, 1943) -- whose physiques matched their monikers. Bugs parodies this when, after causing a little accident to Sir Pantsalot of Dropseat Manor in Knights Must Fall (Freleng, 1949), he refers to him as “Accordian Head”.

The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (Clampett, 1946) is easily the most prominent Warner Brothers spoof, with Daffy Duck starring as “Duck Twacy” opposite a whole series of goony criminals with names and physiques like “Pickle Puss,” “Neon Noodle,” “Jukebox Jaw,” “88 Teeth” (based on 88 Keyes, a murderous pianist in the comic strip), “Double Header,” “Hammerhead,” “Pussycat Puss,” “Wolfman,” “Rubberhead” (the one who threatens to rub Daffy out -- and does so), “Pumpkinhead,” “The Human Fly,” and “Mouseman”. One that apparently got cut from the final film was “The Nostril,” who was supposed to say the line “You mugs stay here, I gotta blow!”. In addition, Flattop Jones from the strip makes an appearance, his head put to punning use as a “flat-top” aircraft carrier.

Other references to Dick Tracy are seen in Easter Yeggs (McKimson, 1947) with Fudd’s Dick Tracy hat, Elmer’s Pet Rabbit (Jones, 1941) with Fudd perusing the comics, and Farm Frolics (Clampett, 1941) with the farm dog also perusing the comics.

DOBERMAN

One of the gags in Dog Tales (McKimson, 1958) involves a Doberman pincher (pun). The Doberman is the character Duane Doberman, played by Maurice Gosfield on The Phil Silvers Show.

DR. CHRISTIAN

Character on a popular radio show of the 1930s through 1950s, played by Jean Hersholt. The character is parodied in Patient Porky (Clampett, 1940) as “Dr. Chris Chun”, a kindly owl.

DR. KILDARE

Popular MGM movie series featuring a caring, crusading doctor. A rather nutso cat in Patient Porky (Clampett, 1940) decides to take on this character, posing as “Dr. Chilled Air”, to operate on Porky -- experience, apparently, not being necessary in what passes for his mind.

DODDS HATS

Fifth Avenue hatmaker who made the hat (size 107 1/4) worn by the Giant in Jack-Wabbit and the Beanstalk (Freleng, 1943). Dobbs was a real-life hat store on Fifth Avenue at this time.

DODSWORTH

Even by feline standards, this cat is a lazy, stupid, fat, corrupt slob. He likes to eat, but the notion of work is too much for him, since no one in his lineage has worked for ages. Instead, he relies on a tiny, cross-eyed, airheaded kitten to get either mice or a bird for him, in Kiddin’ the Kitten (McKimson, 1952) and A Peck O’ Trouble (McKimson, 1953). This is usually done by the means of teaching (ha) the kitten how to do it, usually by the experience method. Dodsworth may be antiheroic, but the cartoons are quite funny. Beck and Friedwald note that he sounds like Sheldon Leonard. Other sources indicate that it was, in fact, Leonard who provided the voice.

“DOES YOUR TOBACCO TASTE DIFFERENT LATELY?”

Tobacco advertising tag-line used twice by Friz Freleng, once in Herr Meets Hare (1945) with Bugs dressed as Joseph Stalin and puffing his characteristic pipe, and again in Baseball Bugs (1946), in which the force of a Bugsian line drive smacks a cigar-smoking outfielder into a billboard showing the slogan. A variation is used in the Mr. Sailor Hook cartoon Tokyo Woes as well.

“DON’T EVER DO THAT!”

Catchphrase of Joe Penner, usually quite drawn out. A classic usage in a Warner Brothers cartoons can be seen in Farm Frolics (Clampett, 1941), in which a weasel is startled by the sudden hatching of a clutch of chicks.

“DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL!”

Some sources have reported that this line was supposed to be said by the mother pig to her “son” the baby alligator in Baby Bottleneck (Clampett, 1946) as the critter is about to feed with his siblings. The reference, as well as the reason it was cut, are probably obvious. The cut itself is quite noticeable.

This may have been a play on the well-known opening to the then-current CBS radio program Blondie, which was, in turn, based on the comic strip.

“[I/HE] DOOD IT”

Catch-phrase of Red Skelton’s character Junior, the Mean Widdle Kid. Usually said just before or after some bit of mayhem. Used in such cartoons as Fifth Column Mouse (Freleng, 1943). Used in Skeltonesque situations in Case of the Missing Hare (Jones, 1942) when Bugs, just before pasting Ala Bahma with a pie, says, “If I dood it, I get a whippin -- I dood it!” as well as in The Impatient Patient (McCabe, 1942).

DOOLITTLE, GEN. JAMES
(1896-1993)

Daring aviator who came to great public favor as the leader of a B-25 bomber air raid on Tokyo in April, 1942, immortalized in Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. Porky, while giving directions to outgoing storks in Baby Bottleneck (Clampett, 1946) makes reference to a “Jimmy Do-Quite-a-Little.”

It should also be noted that one gag cut from most prints shown today of The Blitz Wolf (Avery, MGM, 1942) shows Tokyo getting shelled, with a sign reading “Doolittle Dood It”. The cartoon also shows a newspaper with a reference to the “whippin” line.

DOUGHERTY, JOE
(d. 1978)

The original voice of Porky Pig. Schneider notes that Dougherty was replaced by Mel Blanc, partly because Dougherty could not control his stutter. A rare photo of him can be seen in Funnyworld #17. He was also the voice of the stuttering character in Into Your Dance (Freleng, 1935), according to Keith Scott in Animato #37. He appears in a number of minor live-action roles in the Warner Brothers Vitaphone films.

DROWNING

The legend about going down for the third time is used in both Aloha Hooey (Avery/Clampett, 1942) and Fresh Airedale (Jones, 1945). The characters who are going under signal with their fingers the number of times they have come up, and then make a gesture, either waving a would-be rescuer to them or waving good-bye. Cecil Adams, in his book The Straight Dope, indicates that the legend is untrue, and makes a sardonic reference to its use in animation, noting that “cartoons... are not normally regarded as a source of reliable medical insight”.

DUFFY’S TAVERN

Long-running radio show starring Ed Gardner that took place in, naturally, a tavern, where Duffy himself never put in an appearance.

The characters from Duffy’s Tavern were spoofed in Hush My Mouse (Jones, 1945), in one of the many examples of borrowing from radio in cartoons. Archie, the Manager, is accurately spoofed down to the malapropisms, as is the character of the half-wit Clifton Finnegan, played by Charlie Cantor on radio. One of the motifs of the program was a visit from a star playing himself, hence the appearance by the Edward G. Robinson-type character. “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” was the theme song of the show, and it is used here too, as is the famous opening with Archie speaking on the phone.

DUMBO

Flying elephant in the 1941 Disney feature of the same name. Clampett makes sure that the little elephant who is being carried off by one of the buzzards in The Bashful Buzzard (1945) will not be confused with Dumbo by placing a large sign on the elephant indicating that he is NOT Dumbo.

DUNN, JOHN

Story writer for Warner Brothers starting in the early 1960s. Credits include:

• The Pied Piper of Guadalupe (Freleng, 1961)
• Beep Prepared (Jones, 1961)
• The Last Hungry Cat (with Dave Detiege for Friz Freleng, 1961)
• Quackodile Tears (with Carl Kohler for Davis, 1962)
• Bill of Hare (McKimson, 1962)
• Shishkabugs (Freleng, 1962)
• I Was A Teenage Thumb (Jones, 1963)
• To Beep or Not To Beep (Jones, 1963)
• Now Hear This (Jones, 1963)
• The Unmentionables (Freleng, 1963)
• Transylvania 6-5000 (Jones, 1963)
• False Hare (McKimson, 1964)
• Senorella and the Glass Huarache (Pratt, 1964)

Prior to his work at Warner Brothers, Dunn had been a writer at the Disney studio. After the Warner Brothers studio shut down, Dunn worked for DePatie-Freleng, where he wrote The Pink Phink (1964), which won an Academy Award.

DURANTE, JIMMY
(1893-1980)

Affectionately known as “Schnozzola”, Durante had a long career in Vaudeville, then on Broadway, in radio, and on film. Durante delighted in twisting words into silly malapropisms, and signing in a raspy, gravelly voice. His trademark line was “Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are!”. “Umbriago” was another well-known catchphrase of his.

Durante is caricatured on the cover of “So Big” in Book Revue (Clampett, 1945) with the nonpareil nose that trips the villainous wolf. He is shown as one of the roosters auditioning for a job in The Swooner Crooner (Tashlin, 1944) singing “Lullabye of Broadway”. He also appears as “Schnauzer Durante” in Hollywood Canine Canteen (McKimson, 1946).

He appears twice in Hollywood Daffy (Freleng, 1946): once poking out of a dressing room built to accommodate his nose. He ruefully points to a bear trap on his foot, which he indicates he has acquired in an unsuccessful attempt to get into Ann Sheridan’s dressing room next door, remarking to the audience that “those are the conditions that prevail.” He is also impersonated by Daffy in an attempt to get past the studio cop at the gate.

In Little Red Rodent Hood (Freleng, 1952), Sylvester gives a Durante-ish “Everybody wants to get into the act” in a gag reprised from Little Red Riding Rabbit (Freleng, 1944), with the ersatz Grandmas under the pillow.

Characters based on Durante can be seen in The Gruesome Twosome (Clampett, 1945) as the big-nosed cat, and as a drunken stork in Baby Bottleneck (Clampett, 1946). In the latter cartoon, the stork gives out with an “Umbriago,” which is also used in Goldilocks and the Jivin’ Bears (Freleng, 1944). The boxing coach cat in Hoppy Daze (McKimson, 1961) is a Durante take-off, too, since Hoppy closes the cartoon with a Durante “hot-cha-cha-cha!”.

DURBIN, DEANNA
(1921-fl. 1995)

Youthful singer given credit for saving Universal Studios from bankruptcy in the 1930s with musicals based on her marvelous singing voice and her wholesome sweetness. Durbin is caricatured as “Deanna Terrapin” in The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos (Tashlin, 1937), and again, singing a soprano solo, in Malibu Beach Party (Freleng, 1940). The same solo would be used in Back Alley Oproar (Freleng, 1948).

DUVALL, EARL

One of the handful of people brought in to direct cartoons subsequent to the departure of Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising, yet before the rise of Avery, Tashlin, Clampett, Jones, and others of their generation. His work for the studio is rather undistinguished, and has largely been forgotten. He directed only four cartoons.

Filmography:

• Buddy’s Beer Garden (1933)
• Buddy’s Show Boat (1933)
• Sittin’ on a Backyard Fence (1933)
• Honeymoon Hotel (1934)

Honeymoon Hotel does have the distinction of being the studio’s first color cartoon. Duvall has one other major distinction, though it predates his work at Schlesinger’s studio: namely that when he worked for Disney, he produced the first Mickey Mouse Sunday comic strip page.