The Stupid Cupid | |
---|---|
Looney Tunes (Daffy Duck/Elmer Fudd) series | |
Directed by | Frank Tashlin |
Produced by | Edward Selzer (uncredited) |
Story by | Warren Foster |
Voices by | Mel Blanc |
Music by | Carl Stalling |
Animation by |
Arthur Davis I. Ellis (uncredited) Cal Dalton (uncredited) Richard Bickenbach (uncredited) |
Layouts by | Richard H. Thomas |
Studio | Warner Bros. Cartoons |
Distributed by |
Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation |
Release date(s) | November 25, 1944 |
Color process | Technicolor |
Running time | 6 minutes |
Language | English |
The Stupid Cupid is a short Looney Tunes animated cartoon directed by Frank Tashlin and released in 1944.
Elmer Fudd plays a cupid (still wearing his trademark hat) shooting arrows at animals so they fall in love with their female species (even a dog who falls in love with a cat he's chasing, making the cat commit suicide). He tries to shoot Daffy Duck while bathing in a water trough. Daffy complains of the last time he was shot, which ended with him married and the father of many ducklings (including a Siamese Twins), producing photos of them. Daffy stuffs Elmer into his own hat and shoots him away with his own bow.
Determined not to give up, Elmer shoots a giant arrow to Daffy, crashing through several henhouses and Daffy falls in love with a married hen. Her rooster husband furiously confronts Daffy. The duck declares it a mishap, claiming to be a family man himself (briefly appearing with a jalopy full of the previously mentioned ducklings). The rooster lets Daffy go, but Elmer shoots him yet again, starting the whole process over again.
Elmer is ordinarily voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan, but since the character has no dialogue in this cartoon, Mel Blanc was told to go ahead and imitate Bryan's Elmer laugh. However, Blanc did not like to imitate, thinking that it was stealing a voice from another actor.
When this cartoon was reissued, a blue ribbon title card appeared in the credits and an ending scene is believed to have been removed. Theories speculate the cartoon originally had the special ending theme before the Blue Ribbon reissue rather than a fade out. This can only be proven with an original print. [1]
According to historian Greg Ford, the original ending involved Daffy saying "If you haven't tried it, don't knock it." [2]