You Were Never Duckier

You Were Never Duckier is a 1948 Merrie Melodies short directed by Charles M. Jones.
== Title ==
The title is a play on the 1942 film You Were Never Lovelier.
== Plot ==
The National Poultry Show is being held, and Daffy looks at the matinee showing the prizes for the judging. The first prize for best rooster is $5000, and the best duck is $5. Daffy is not happy about this, and decides to disguise himself as a rooster (using rubber gloves and the tail feathers of an actual rooster) to get $5000. Meanwhile, Henery is being taught all about roosters by his father. Henery decides to head to the poultry show and catch himself a rooster.
Daffy's plan backfires when Henery decides to take him home. Daffy says he's a special breed of rooster, and thinking that Henery's father is the judge to give him the $5000, he tags along. Daffy then finds out he is in a chickenhawk's house, and tries to escape, but fails. Henery's father then starts to prepare Daffy as a meal. Daffy tries to prove he is really a duck, even trying to take his disguise off (to no avail). When he tries to escape, Henery's father grabs his "head" (the rubber glove), and the glove lands on his head, then he proceeds to chase Daffy, who is finally able to escape because Henery accidentally hits his father with a mallet.
Before the contest begins, Daffy puts on another glove. Then, at the contest, Daffy loses to Henery's father, disguised as a Rhode Island red rooster. Daffy then tries for the best duck prize, but loses that as well - to Henery, wearing a disguise consisting of a clothespin and two flippers.
== Availability ==
CARTOON CAVALCADE DAFFY DUCK.jpg|(1988) VHS Daffy Duck's Madcap Mania
CARTOON CAVALCADE DAFFY DUCK 2.jpg|(1997) VHS Daffy Duck's Madcap Mania (Time-Life edition)
LTCE VOL 12 PORKY AND DAFFY.jpg|(1999) VHS Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition Volume 12: Porky and Daffy
Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 5.jpg|(2007) DVD Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5, Disc 1 (original opening titles restored)
Lt spotlight 5.jpg|(2007) DVD Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 5, Disc 1 (original opening titles restored)
lt spotlight df2.jpg|(2014) DVD Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection Volumes 4-5 Repack (original opening titles restored)
Looney Tunes Bugs Bunny Golden Carrot Collection.png|(2020) DVD Looney Tunes Bugs Bunny Golden Carrot Collection, Disc 5 (original opening titles restored)
=== Streaming ===
Lt boomerang.jpg|Boomerang App (2017 - )
Lt hbo max.jpg|HBO Max (2020 - 2023)
Lt max.jpg|Max (2023 - )
Lt itunes.jpg|iTunes ( - )
== Censorship ==
* When this short was featured on CBS' The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show, the following parts were cut out/edited:http://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/censored-u-z.aspx
** The part where Daffy runs for the door after realizing that Henery Hawk and his father are going to eat him was missing the part where Henery Hawk closes the door on Daffy and Daffy slams face-first into the door (the part afterwards where Daffy's beak can be seen from outside as he cries, "Help!", gets pulled back in, and is seen again when Daffy says, "I distinctly said, 'Help!'" was not edited).
** The part where George K. Chickenhawk chases Daffy in circles in one door and out of another and Henery accidentally hits George instead of Daffy was replaced with a shot of Daffy looking off-screen, but the shot of George on the floor with stars coming out of his head was not cut.
== Notes ==
* This cartoon ushered in a new "era" as the first Warner Bros. cartoon in the post-1948 package to be released. As a result, all cartoons released from this point forward remained available for television distribution under Warner Bros., instead of being outsourced to Associated Artists Productions or Sunset Productions. Likewise, it is the first cartoon directed by Chuck Jones in the post-1948 package.
* This cartoon marks the start of a direction change for Daffy Duck, from a "screwball" character, to a greedy, self-centered one (though, according to commentary by Eric Goldberg on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5 DVD, this cartoon showed Daffy as being both a greedy, self-centered character and a screwball one). This cartoon was also the next-to-last Henery Hawk short to not be directed by Robert McKimson, and one of only three to be directed by creator Chuck Jones (after "The Squawkin' Hawk" and followed by "The Scarlet Pumpernickel"). Two more cartoons would also depict both the "greedy" and "screwball" incarnations of Daffy at once in the same cartoon; "Daffy Dilly" (1948) later in the year, and "Don't Axe Me" (1958) ten years later.
* As Henery arrives at the contest, “C. Jones Shoes” is shown to the left of the entrance, a reference to director Chuck Jones.
* Along with "The Pest That Came to Dinner" and "Hot Cross Bunny", this cartoon was supposed to be in the pre-1948 cartoon package due to production numbers, being before "Haredevil Hare". Since the cartoon was released after July 1948, the cartoon remained in the hands of Warner Bros.
* In the 1954–55 season, the cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue - the first post-1948 cartoon to get one. This was only one of five post-1948 WB cartoons to get a Blue Ribbon reissue prior to 1956, with the original credits cut. The others were "Daffy Dilly", "The Foghorn Leghorn", "Kit for Cat", and "Scaredy Cat". This cartoon is the only one of these not to have been reissued in the 1955–56 season. The original opening and credits have since been restored for its DVD release.
== Gallery ==
YouWereNeverDuckierCredits1.png
YouWereNeverDuckierCredits2.png
YouWereNeverDuckierCredits3.png
File:YOu were never layouter.jpg|Layout drawing
== References ==
Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts
Category:Daffy Duck Cartoons
Category:Henery Hawk Cartoons
Category:Shorts
Category:Cartoons directed by Chuck Jones
Category:Blue Ribbon reissues
Category:Cartoons written by Tedd Pierce
Category:Cartoons with layouts by Robert Gribbroek
Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Peter Alvarado
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons produced by Eddie Selzer
Category:1948
Category:Re-released cartoons whose original titles are known to exist