My Little Duckaroo

My Little Duckaroo is a 1954 Merrie Melodies short directed by Chuck Jones.
== Title ==
The title is based on the song "My Little Buckaroo"; the song was previously sung in the 1937 short "Dog Daze" and used as the title for a 1938 Friz Freleng short.
== Plot ==
The Masked Avenger (Daffy) and his sidekick Comedy Relief (Porky) ride along in the desert until they come across a poster offering a ten-thousand-dollar reward for Nasty Canasta, wanted dead or alive for crimes including horse stealing, candy stealing, gag stealing, and square dancing in a round house. "This looks like a job for the Masked Avenger," he shouts. "And besides, it isn't the principle of the thing, it's the money."
Following large conspicuous signs to Canasta's hide-out, Daffy tells Porky to wait outside 'whilst I go in and fix his little red wagon'. Daffy bursts into the hide-out, to find Canasta sitting peacefully at a table playing cards. He announces himself as the Masked Avenger but Canasta pays no attention until Daffy offers advice on his card game. Challenged to play cards, Daffy departs and returns in new cowboy garb, confident of victory.
Daffy is humiliated again and again through different challenges. First, the game is ended abruptly when Canasta cuts the deck with a meat cleaver. Canasta then sends Daffy through the table in response to Daffy's challenge to an arm wrestling match, to which Daffy responds, "I think you're pretty tough, don't I?" Porky suggests Daffy should just arrest him. When Daffy puts Canasta in irons and tries to take him away, he finds that he can't move Canasta from the spot he is standing. Daffy becomes annoyed and angry, and tells Canasta that he is going to give him a fist beating. Porky's encouragement of Daffy, telling him to fix Canasta's little red wagon, only ends badly for Daffy, as Canasta rips his shirt right off just by flexing his muscles before beating up Daffy. The house shakes as Porky sits out side whittling with a knife and a stick. Daffy then emerges from the house after a few seconds, dazed and confused with slurred speech, proclaiming that he indeed fixed Canasta's little red wagon. Daffy walks outside the house with a shiny new looking red wagon. "I told you I'd fix his little red wagon. You should've seen it. The wheels were busted, The axle was all bent, and it needed a new coat of paint. Now I'm going home to mother."
== Lyrics ==
Oh I've got a horse Lazy Will Lazy Will
When I want a ride he just stands still
He won't go up or go down hill
Giddy up giddy up Lazy Willy
Giddy up giddy up giddy up up up
Giddy up giddy up Lazy Willy
We rode into town one bright sunny day
In a cloud of dust we galloped away
He was on my back yelling yippie yi ay
That no good horse Lazy Willy
Giddy up giddy up giddy up up up
Giddy up giddy up Lazy Willy
== Censorship ==
When this cartoon aired on ABC's The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show, the following scenes were cut:http://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/censored-m.aspx
* Nasty Canasta putting rolling papers, tobacco, and a lit match in his mouth and rolling a cigarette.
* The part immediately after that with Daffy as The Freesco Keed (mostly due to his stereotypical Mexican Spanish accent [which, coincidentally, sounds like Speedy Gonzales] and his misuse of a whip)
* Nasty Canasta shoving a gun in Daffy's mouth during their poker game. The ABC edited version fades out after Daffy says, "Nice cut" following Nasty Canasta slicing the side of Daffy's hand after being told to "Cut the cards"
* Daffy spinning his gun and accidentally shooting himself in the head (a similar gag would also be cut on "Daffy's Inn Trouble") had the scene of Daffy actually shooting himself in the head replaced with a still shot of Porky at the door while the audio played normally.
* Daffy's POV shot of Nasty Canasta drawing back his fist and punching Daffy in the face, though the scene where the house shakes from the beatings as Porky is whittling outside and Porky telling the audience, "Oh, he'll m-m-murder him" wasn't censored. This part used to run uncut until 1994.
== Availability ==
lt dial.jpg|(1982) VHS Dial M for Murder
W UK10553 LooneyTunesVideoShowNo18The.jpg|(1984) VHS The Looney Tunes Video Show Volume 18
CARTOON CAVALCADE PORKY PIG.jpg|(1988) VHS Porky Pig Tales
516XKXZN4WL.jpg|(1990) VHS Porky Pig (1990)
GUFFAW AND ORDER.jpg|(1994) LaserDisc Guffaw and Order: Looney Tunes Fight Crime
Bumper03.jpg|(1996) VHS Special Bumper Collection (Vol. 3)
CARTOON CAVALCADE PORKY PIG 2.jpg|(1997) VHS Porky Pig Tales Time-Life edition
Lt collection porky pig.jpg|(1996) VHS Looney Tunes Collection - Porky Pig
lt sbc9a.jpg|(2001) VHS Looney Tunes Special Bumper Collection Volume 9
Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 6.jpg|(2008) DVD Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 6, Disc One
lt spotlight 6.jpg|(2008) DVD Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection Volume 6, Disc 1
The Essential Daffy Duck.jpg|(2011) DVD The Essential Daffy Duck, Disc 1
LTPC VOL 2 Blu Ray.jpg|(2012) Blu-ray Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2, Disc Two
LTPC VOL 2 DVD.jpg|(2012) DVD Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2, Disc Two
=== Streaming ===
lt hbo max.jpg|HBO Max (2020 - 2022)
== Notes ==
* This cartoon in many ways resembles the 1951 short directed by Chuck Jones entitled "Drip-Along Daffy". In that animated piece, upon seeing a wanted poster with a reward of $10,000.00 for the dead or alive capture of Nasty Canasta, Daffy sets out alongside his companion Porky, and his trusty steed to retrieve the villain and collect on the money.
* This is the first Warner Bros. cartoon in the 1954–55 season, and the first to use the newer-style "bullet" sequences on the closing titles.
* A coloring error occurs in this cartoon. While Porky's being bounced around while the house is shaking from Daffy getting punched, Porky's blue shirt briefly turns purple before reverting to blue.
* Many of the characters that Daffy becomes during his initial confrontation with Nasty Canasta are based on various television action shows of the era:
** The Masked Avenger is based on The Lone Ranger
** The Freesco Kid is based on "The Cisco Kid"
** Super Guy is based on Superman (this is the second time Daffy has played a Superman homage; he briefly was one in 1943's "Scrap Happy Daffy" and will be a more notable the next year in "Stupor Duck".)
== Gallery ==
MyLittleDuckarooCredits1.png
MyLittleDuckarooCredits2.png
MyLittleDuckarooLobbyCard.jpg|Lobby card
MyLittleDuckarooLobbyCard2.jpg|Lobby card
File:My LIttle Duckaroo (1954) - Reward.jpg
File:My LIttle Duckaroo (1954) - Laughing.jpg
== References ==
== External links ==
* "My Little Duckaroo" at the SFX Resource
Category:Daffy Duck Cartoons
Category:Cartoons directed by Chuck Jones
Category:Porky Pig Cartoons
Category:Shorts
Category:1954
Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts
Category:Cartoons written by Michael Maltese
Category:Cartoons animated by Abe Levitow
Category:Cartoons animated by Richard Thompson
Category:Cartoons with music by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Philip DeGuard
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