Daffy Duck

Daffy Duck is a Broadway performer and animated cartoon character created by Tex Avery and Bob Clampett for Leon Schlesinger Productions. In 1990, Duck appeared on Broadway in Bugs Bunny on Broadway.

Designed as an anthropomorphic black duck, Duck made his screen debut in Porky's Duck Hunt, released on April 17, 1937. That cartoon was directed by Avery, who drew on his experiences as a duck hunter at White Rock Lake in Dallas. Clampett served as lead animator on the short and animated Duck's first scene, in which the character crossed his eyes, performed a Stan Laurel jump, executed cartwheels and a ballet pirouette, and bounced on his head. Avery subsequently ordered Clampett to repeat the sequence multiple times throughout the film, including over the closing title card. The character received his official name in his second appearance, Daffy Duck and Egghead, directed by Avery and released on January 1, 1938. The production team had originally favored the name Dizzy Duck, after baseball player Dizzy Dean, but producer Leon Schlesinger rejected it. The character was instead named after Dizzy's brother, Daffy Dean.

Voice actor Mel Blanc provided Duck's distinctive lateral lisp throughout the character's history. Blanc's portrayal once held the world record for the longest characterization of a single animated character by the original actor, spanning 52 years. The only physical traits that remained consistent across Duck's various visual redesigns were his black feathers and white neck ring.

Duck appeared in 130 shorts during the golden age of animation, making him the third most frequently featured character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series, behind Bugs Bunny's 168 appearances and Porky Pig's 153 appearances. Directors including Clampett, Robert McKimson, and Chuck Jones each brought a distinct interpretation to the character. Duck was ranked number 14 on TV Guide's list of the top 50 greatest cartoon characters.

During World War II, Duck appeared in several war-themed shorts. In Scrap Happy Daffy (1943), he battles a Nazi goat attempting to consume his scrap metal. Daffy the Commando (1943) features him striking Adolf Hitler with a giant mallet, and in Plane Daffy (1944) he outwits Hitler, Goebbels, and Goering. In Draftee Daffy (1945), Duck attempts to evade a representative from the draft board.

Duck's personality shifted over the course of his career. His early characterization presented a wild screwball who bounced across the screen and shouted exclamations. McKimson later redesigned the character to be rounder and less elastic, incorporating qualities associated with Bugs Bunny and pairing Duck with Porky Pig as a straight man. Beginning with You Were Never Duckier, Duck's personality evolved away from pure zaniness toward greed. McKimson employed this version of the character from 1946 through 1961, frequently casting Duck as a salesman, including in Fool Coverage (1952) and The High and the Flighty (1956).