The Scarlet Pumpernickel

The Scarlet Pumpernickel is a 1950 Looney Tunes short directed by Charles M. Jones.
== Title ==
Although the title (invoking a type of bread instead of a flower) is a pun on The Scarlet Pimpernel, the Pumpernickel is given a portrayal closer to that of Robin Hood: after Daffy fails to perform a stunt, he mutters that "I'll have to check with Errol," and a costumed appearance more like Zorro, with cape, mask and sword, none of which the Pimpernel used. His alter ego the "Nobleman disguise" is, however, more in line with wealthy English fop Sir Percy Blakeney of the Pimpernel fame.
== Plot ==
The short is a story-within-a-story, set at the Warner Bros. studio. In the office of executive Jack Warner, Daffy Duck (who refers to him as "J.L." like most people did back then) complains to him about how the studio is typecasting him to death in comedic roles, begging J.L. to let him try a more dramatic part. He offers a script, called The Scarlet Pumpernickel, which he wrote himself (under the name "Daffy Dumas Duck."). Daffy reads various scenes of the script to J.L., with the scene alternating between scenes in the story and in J.L.'s office. Each time it comes to the latter, Daffy announces another page number which by the end exceeds at least 1,600 pages.
In this script, the Scarlet Pumpernickel (Daffy), the main protagonist, is a highwayman in "merry old England", who continuously evades the Lord High Chamberlain (Porky Pig) and his men, being "as slippery as an eel and as smart as a fox" in spite of his clumsiness. The Chamberlain's daughter, the Fair Lady Melissa, loves Scarlet, but her happy mood is extinguished in a heartbeat when the Chamberlain angrily orders her to "keep away from that masked stinker".
The Chamberlain soon gets a brilliant plan and decides to forcefully marry Melissa to the Grand Duke (Sylvester) in exchange for killing Scarlet. The Grand Duke agrees to the marriage, mostly because he himself despises Scarlet; he first expresses his happiness over the former before expressing his fury regarding the latter. Until the wedding day, Melissa is kept locked in a tower, where a heartbroken Melissa cries over not being able to marry her true love Scarlet. Meanwhile, the Chamberlain's men take to the streets anticipating Scarlet's arrival. Sure enough, Scarlet himself arrives on the edge of town at an inn, where he stays under the guise of a nobleman.
As J.L. enthusiastically asks Daffy what happened next, he brings out page 192 of his script. Returning to the story, Scarlet, under his nobleman guise, visits the Chamberlain. When he inquires about Melissa, the Chamberlain claims that Melissa wishes to see no one until after the wedding. At that moment, the Grand Duke bursts in demanding to the Chamberlain that the wedding take place as soon as possible that night, due to rumors of Scarlet being among them masquerading as a gentleman. When the Grand Duke turns to Scarlet and asks the "sirrah" about his identity, Scarlet sarcastically implies he might be the highwayman of which they speak, causing both the Grand Duke and Chamberlain to double over with laughter at this apparently ridiculous notion. The pair take their leave, with the Chamberlain informing the Grand Duke that the wedding will take place right away so he will have Melissa make ready for it.
Overhearing this, Scarlet prepares for his rescue of Melissa. After trading his nobleman disguise for his highwayman getup, Scarlet leaps from his room's window but misses his horse altogether; he tells the audience after getting himself up, "That's funny. That never happens to Errol Flynn." After returning to the Chamberlain's castle (and getting thrown into a wall), he spots the chapel high above and makes use of "Ye Little Olympic High Jumper" -a pin to his hindquarters- to storm the chapel. He lands just as Melissa is nearing the end of the aisle, albeit not softly, telling himself "I'd better check with Errol..." Noticing Scarlet, Melissa tears herself from her father's arms and runs toward him, begging Scarlet to save her - ultimately, she ends up rescuing herself dragging Scarlet along with her; he asides, "So what's to save?"
As J.L. continues to ask Daffy what happened next, he brings out page 1,666. Back in the story, Scarlet leaves Melissa at his room at the inn, believing she will be safe there while he makes his escape. This time, after leaping out the window, Scarlet deploys a parachute, telling the audience, "Here's a rig ol' Errol never thought of." Unfortunately, the Grand Duke, in pursuit of Scarlet, stops at the inn so he can get some respite before continuing with the chase. As he calls for the innkeeper, he spots Melissa above the stairs and heads up into Scarlet's room, cornering and bearing down on Melissa as she screams out for help. Outside, Scarlet hears Melissa's pleas and comes to her rescue, albeit missing the window he intended to swing through and crashing through the wall. He and the Grand Duke engage in an intense sword fight duel as Melissa watches on panicking. Before this, Scarlet boasts, "Ha! You ain't got a chance! I'm the hero of this picture and you know what happens to the villain!", with the Grand Duke responding, "So what's to know?". 
Back in the office, Daffy is now almost buried by a huge pile of his script pages as he describes the duel. When J.L. asks him what happened next, Daffy, under pressure (and likely because he has lost the rest of his script under the pile or not even written out an ending at all), overdoes the ending as a convoluted and unlikely series of random and accelerating disasters (ultimately leaving it unknown who won the duel and what happened afterwards):
*"A storm broke in all its fury, and then the dam broke!" - A dam bursting due to a thunderstorm.
*"The cavalry rode to the rescue, but they were a little too late." - A cavalry charge through the flood.
*"The volcano erupted, and flung lava over everything in sight!" - A volcanic eruption.
*"The price of foodstuff... skyrocketed!" - Hyperinflation affecting food prices, shown simply as a still image of an overpriced kreplach (marked at $1000 each).
When J.L. disappointedly asks Daffy "Is that all?", a pressured Daffy then decides to end the story with the Scarlet Pumpernickel committing suicide by blowing his brains out "which he did", demonstrating so by shooting through his cap with a pistol. After that, Daffy comments "It's getting so you have to kill yourself to sell a story around here!" before passing out at iris-out.
== Availability ==
Lt vs11.jpg|(1984) VHS The Looney Tunes Video Show Volume 11
Lt dd tnc.jpg|(1985) VHS Daffy Duck: The Nuttiness Continues...
Lt ddnc beta.jpg|(1985) Beta Daffy Duck: The Nuttiness Continues...
516XKXZN4WL.jpg|(1990) VHS Porky Pig (1990)
LOONEY TUNES CURTAIN CALLS.jpg|(1993) LaserDisc Looney Tunes Curtain Calls: Classic Music and Show Business Cartoons
Lt collection porky pig.jpg|(1996) VHS Looney Tunes Collection - Porky Pig
CARROTBLANCA.jpg|(1996) VHS Carrotblanca
Bumper04.jpg|(1996) VHS Special Bumper Collection (Vol. 4)
51Rir IkqCL.jpg|(1997) VHS Classic Bumper Collection
Bumper08.jpg|(1998) VHS Special Bumper Collection (Vol. 8)
Lt vcdc1.jpg|(1998) VCD Looney Tunes VCD Compilation 1
LTCE VOL 2 RUNNING AMUCK.jpg|(1999) VHS Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition Volume 2: Running Amuck
LT Golden Collection 1.jpg|(2003) DVD Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1, Disc Two (with optional audio commentary by Michael Barrier) (restored without DVNR)
8158quVPv4L. AC SL1500 .jpg|(2003) VHS Daffy Duck (2003)
Lt cbdp.jpg|(2004) DVD Looney Tunes Collection Best of Daffy and Porky
Lt cbdp vcd.jpg|(2004) VCD Looney Tunes Collection Best of Daffy and Porky
lt col mv1.jpg|(2005) Mini-DVD Looney Tunes Collection Mini Volume 1
The Essential Daffy Duck.jpg|(2010) DVD The Essential Daffy Duck, Disc 1 (restored without DVNR) (also Disc 2 as part of Daffy Duck's Thanks-for-Giving Special)
51LA0AzTVqL. SL500 AA300 .jpg|(2011) Blu-ray Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc One (with optional audio commentary by Michael Barrier and archive audio commentary featuring Mel Blanc) (restored with DVNR)
Lt bbot dd.jpg|(2011) DVD Daffy Duck
LTPC VOL 1 DVD.jpg|(2012) DVD Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc One (with optional audio commentary by Michael Barrier and archive audio commentary featuring Mel Blanc) (restored with DVNR)
Looney Tunes Showcase - Volume 1.jpg|(2012) Blu-ray Looney Tunes Showcase: Volume 1
Lt 3fcbo.jpg|(2012) DVD Looney Tunes 3 Feature Collection Best Of
Best of Warner Bros. 50 Cartoon Collection- Looney Tunes.jpg|(2013) DVD Best of Warner Bros. 50 Cartoon Collection: Looney Tunes
=== Streaming ===
Lt boomerang.jpg|Boomerang App (2017 - )
Lt itunes.jpg|iTunes ( - ) (restored)
lt hbo max.jpg|HBO Max Latin America / Brazil (2021 - 2024)
== Censorship ==
The ending of the short after Daffy pitches the scene in which the price of food skyrockets (where Daffy acts out the suicide of The Scarlet Pumpernickel) is almost always edited on American television, but in different ways:
* On ABC and the syndicated run of The Merrie Melodies Show, there is a frozen shot of the outside of the office at the point where Daffy shoots himself in the head so that the viewer doesn't see him actually doing it then cuts back to the interior of the office where Daffy says, "It's getting so you have to kill yourself to sell a story around here" before passing out again.http://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/censored-s.aspx
* On Nickelodeon, the scene is edited similarly to ABC's and the Merrie Melodies Show edit, but superimposed over the suicide gunshot visual is a repeat shot of the outside of the office, shown in reverse (whether or not this was a mistake is unknown).
* Cartoon Network once edited out the suicide gag by irising out after Daffy asks "Is that all?" when the cartoon aired as part of the channel's "50 Greatest Cartoons of All Time" marathon. Every other print after that edited the scene by freezing on the shot of the kreplach costing $1000 and once Daffy says, "Is that all?", it jumps to Daffy's "It's getting so you have to kill yourself to sell a story around here" line that ends the short, making it obvious to even the most naive viewer that something was edited.
** In a 13 July 2012 installment of Cartoon Network's Looney Tunes Show (not the 2011 animated sitcom, the anthology show of actual Looney Tunes shorts from the 1930s to the 1960s), the cartoon was re-edited. The suicide part was still cut, but it was cut the same way it was on the channel's "50 Greatest Cartoons of All Time" marathon (read: the cartoon ends after Daffy says, "Is that all?!"), only instead of an iris-out, it's a fade-out followed by the "That's All Folks!" card. As of 2014, the July 2012 edit is the version that airs whenever Cartoon Network airs its Looney Tunes block and is also the version that airs on Cartoon Network's sister channel, Boomerang.
** This short has aired in its entirety on international Cartoon Network and Boomerang feeds outside America, as well as MeTV as part of Toon In With Me.
== Transcript ==
== Notes ==
* This short has an unusually large cast of "star" characters (which, in addition to Daffy, Porky, and Sylvester, includes Elmer Fudd, Henery Hawk and Mama Bear from Jones' Three Bears series).
** The only well-known characters, at the time the short is made to not star in this short, (among those that had been in shorts already) were Bugs Bunny, Foghorn Leghorn, Barnyard Dawg, Pepé Le Pew, Marvin the Martian, Tweety and Yosemite Sam (Foghorn and Dawg were exclusive to Robert McKimson, Pepe and Marvin were used mainly by Chuck Jones, while Tweety and Sam were used mainly by Friz Freleng).Barrier, Michael. Audio commentary for "The Scarlet Pumpernickel" on disc two of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1 Two major precedents were "A Corny Concerto" (1943), directed by Tweety's creator Bob Clampett, which featured Bugs, Elmer, Porky, and arguably a younger Daffy in a parody of Disney's Fantasia, the other was "Crowing Pains" (1947), directed by Robert McKimson, which featured Foghorn Leghorn, Barnyard Dawg, Henery Hawk and Sylvester.
* This short is Henery Hawk's second appearance in a Daffy Duck short, after "You Were Never Duckier" (1948) - notable for being the first "transitional" Daffy short (from "screwball" to a greedy, self-centered character), the first short in WB's own TV packages (shorts released 8/1/1948 or later) to be released, and the first such short to be reissued (only one of five without credits).
* This is one of only three shorts that Melissa Duck stars in (the others being "Muscle Tussle" (1953), and "The Duxorcist" (1987)). She is Daffy's girlfriend in both. She has survived, however, and has become a regular on Baby Looney Tunes (2002), that tells about the childhood of the Looney Tunes characters.
* This short was one of the very few times that Mel Blanc voiced Elmer Fudd, who plays the role of an innkeeper here. Elmer was usually voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan, but since the character had only one line of dialogue, Mel Blanc was told to imitate Bryan's voice for the character. According to Michael Barrier's audio commentary for this short on Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1, Blanc did not like imitating, believing it to be stealing from another actor.
* This short is one of the few set on the Warner lot in Burbank, California, and is also one of the few shorts that have numerous references to the Warner Bros. co-founder, Jack Warner, who is called J.L. in this short (as is normally done in the WB cartoons when referring to the studio chief).
* Throughout the short, Daffy constantly makes references to famous movie actor Errol Flynn. This could likely be a reference or spoof of Errol Flynn's role as Robin Hood from the Warner Bros. live-action feature film The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938).
* The short was reissued as a Merrie Melodies "Blue Ribbon" short. The original opening Color Rings were replaced, but like the other later "Blue Ribbon" reissues (1956 onward), the original opening credits were intact. The "Blue Ribbon" opening rings are the ones featured on the DVD release, however, there are still prints with the original opening rings.
* This short and "Kitty Kornered" are the only times Sylvester speaks in a Porky Pig cartoon. 
* This is the only Chuck Jones-directed short in which both Porky and Sylvester appear and the latter speaks. In the shorts where Porky and Sylvester explore spooky settings ("Scaredy Cat" (1948), "Claws for Alarm" (1954), and "Jumpin' Jupiter" (1955)), Sylvester is a mute; additionally like this short, "Scaredy Cat" also features a suicide gag that is often censored on TV.
** This is also the only time Sylvester speaks in a Chuck Jones-directed cartoon.
* In this short, Daffy's middle name is revealed to be Dumas, although in The Looney Tunes Show, Bugs said his middle name is Sheldon.
* This short is one of only two shorts with Porky Pig and Elmer Fudd paired together, unseen. Also, the only cartoon where Sylvester and Elmer Fudd were paired together in a Chuck Jones short, the rest of the four were Friz Freleng.
* Although Sylvester's character designs varied slightly depending on the director, unusually in this short, Sylvester is slightly taller than Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and Porky Pig, while in other cartoons (such as "Kit for Cat", "Scaredy Cat, etc.) he is roughly the same height or slightly shorter.
* This is one the three cartoons to pair Sylvester and Daffy together, the other two are "It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House" and "A Taste of Catnip". It is also the only one of the three where both Daffy and Sylvester speak, in the other two, Sylvester is mute. Daffy and Sylvester would reappear together (with both Daffy and Sylvester given speaking roles) years after the classic era in the made-for-TV short "The Yolks on You", which was originally the first part of the 1980 TV special Daffy Duck's Easter Egg-citement.
* By the short's end, the script has exceeded 2000 pages. Movie scripts exceeding 100 pages were usually rejected as "too long" back in those days; currently, most movie scripts accepted are between 90 and 120 pages. To top it off, reading an entire movie script, as Daffy does here, would be a bit excessive if one were to pitch a movie idea to a producer.
* In 1994 it was voted #31 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field.Beck, Jerry (ed.) (1994). The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals. Atlanta: Turner Publishing.
* The premise of this short and some of its scenes would be used in the 1980 Thanksgiving special, Daffy Duck's Thanks-for-Giving Special, but it does not show any scenes from the Scarlet Pumpernickel story. Instead, Daffy tries to pitch a new film idea to J.L., namely "Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century".
* Despite the fact that the original opening exists, the short was restored with the Blue Ribbon opening instead.
** A 16mm print with the original titles also exists; however, Warner Bros. does not restore 16mm prints.
* The premise of the short was mostly recycled for use in Tiny Toons Adventures episode "Toons Take Over", where Babs Bunny (along with Buster and Plucky) was fed up with the writers typecasting her and her friends in comedy and wanted to do a more serious role.
== Gallery ==
ScarletPumpernickelCredits1.png
ScarletPumpernickelCredits2.png
Looney Tunes opening 1950 rings 16mm 1.png|Original Opening from 16mm print
IMG 3388.jpg|Original Daffy Duck headshot from 16mm print
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The Scarlet Pumpernickel (1950) - Delighted.jpg
ScarletPumpernickelLC.jpg|Lobby card
45959562 1859829210791188 1215574825368551424 n (2).jpg|Lobby card
TheScarletPumpernickelProductionBackground.jpg|Production background
TheScarletPumpernickelProductionBackgroundSc-55-1109.jpg|Production background
TheScarletPumpernickelProductionBackgroundSc-55-1109-1.jpg|Production background
TheScarletPumpernickelProductionBackgroundSc-55-1109CloseUp.jpg
TheScarletPumpernickelScriptFirstPage.jpg|First page of the script
== References ==
== External links ==
* The Scarlet Pumpernickel on the SFX Resource Wiki
es:The Scarlet Pumpernickel
Category:Blue Ribbon reissues
Category:Daffy Duck Cartoons
Category:Shorts
Category:Cartoons directed by Chuck Jones
Category:Looney Tunes Shorts
Category:Sylvester Cartoons
Category:Henery Hawk Cartoons
Category:Porky Pig Cartoons
Category:1950
Category:Cartoons written by Michael Maltese
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 produced by Eddie Selzer
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Bea Benaderet
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Three Bears Cartoons
Category:Elmer Fudd Cartoons
Category:Re-released cartoons whose original titles are known to exist