Quasi at the Quackadero

Quasi at the Quackadero
Still from 6:49 of "Quasi at the Quackadero", depicting Anita and Quasi at left
Directed by	Sally Cruikshank
Starring	Kim Deitch Sally Cruikshank
Release date	November 9, 1975 (1975-11-09)
Running time	Short
Country	United States
Language	English

Quasi at the Quackadero is a 1975 animated short by Sally Cruikshank. This cartoon follows two anthropomorphic ducks and a pet robot at an amusement park where phenomena such as time travel, telepathy, and reincarnation are exhibited as sideshow attractions. In 2009, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

The short starred Quasi, characterized by one writer as "an infantile duck with buck front teeth, thick glasses and a red cape", voiced by Deitch; Anita, which one writer described as "Betty Boop with a New Wave wardrobe" and whose Mae West-like voice was supplied by Cruikshank, and robot Rollo. They progress through the Quackadero, a Coney Island-esque sideshow with such attractions as the Hall of Time Mirrors, which depict the viewer as he or she will look in "old age" or "100 years from now"; the Roll Back Time Machine, in which Quasi watches a skyscraper's life running backward; the Think-o-Blink Machine, which illustrates one's thoughts; the game show-like act "Your Shining Moment"; Madame Xano's, where the audience can see last night's dreams; and the Time Holes, in which one can lean on a railing and see a live slice of three million years ago unfold.

At the end, it is revealed that if you trip over the rail in the Time Hole attraction, you will fall into the Time Hole and never escape from the prehistoric land three million years ago. Quasi ends up running from a Triceratops.

Animator Sally Cruikshank, while a graduate student at the San Francisco Art Institute, in San Francisco, California, created the animated short Chow Fun (1972), editing it at the city's Snazelle Films, a commercial-film company that also rented space and film equipment. This led to Cruikshank being hired there, and becoming head of animation by the end of summer 1972. While working at Snazelle, Cruikshank developed Quasi at the Quackadero, her best-known work.