A Pest in the House

A Pest in the House is a 1947 Merrie Melodies short directed by Charles M. Jones.
== Title ==
The title is a play on "a guest in the house" and the 1944 film noir Guest in the House.
== Plot ==
A labor shortage "became so bad" that employers are compelled to hire "anybody or anything". Daffy is a hotel bellboy and Elmer is the manager in the Gland Hotel. A tired man demands peace and quiet, and threatens violence against Elmer if disturbed. "Just one more thing. I'm a tired man. I gotta have my sleep, plenty of it. So see to it that I get lots of peace and quiet. BECAUSE IF I'M DISTURBED AT ANYTIME, I'M GONNA BUST YOU RIGHT IN THE NOSE!" Daffy, Jerry Colonna-like, remarks: "Likable chap, isn't he!" Daffy does many stunts that keep the man awake, complete with escorting him to room 666. Every time he is awakened, the increasingly-irritated man trudges to Elmer's station, to the tune of "Pop Goes the Weasel", and at the moment where the song would say "pop", he busts Elmer in the face.
* Daffy pounds a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door and wakes the exhausted man up, and when the man opens the door, Daffy accidentally pounds his face.
* Daffy, in an attempt to get "a little fresh air" into the room, opens a window. However, the noises in the city are so loud that it frightens the man to the point that he literally jumps out of his bed. The man soon closes the window and attempts to fall back asleep...only for a drunken man to sing "How Dry I Am" in the other room. The man, clearly about to beat the drunk up, is stopped by Daffy who tells him that he'll "muzzle that inebriated canary." This seems to work...but Daffy shortly after is intoxicated too, and joins in singing. The man is awoken by Daffy's hiccups and laughter, which gives Elmer another punch in the face.
* Daffy is singing and cleaning a window and finds a small speck. Daffy repeatedly scratches it, with the screeching waking and irritating the man. He calls Elmer by telephone, and somehow punches him through the phone!
* Daffy hears a funny story about a salesman trying to sell something to a farmer when the farmer doesn't want it. Daffy soon after wakes the man to tell the story and the man nonchalantly walks down to Elmer, who is protecting himself with a knight's helmet only for the man to punch him. Then, Daffy doesn't even remember how the joke ends, but still laughs. Elmer comes in and shushes Daffy in an attempt to make him quiet, only to be beaten again.
When Daffy says it is too cold, he decides to fix the radiator. Elmer, fearing getting beat up again, chases after Daffy. Daffy's method of "fixing" the radiator is smashing a tube with a wrench, which produces a loud ringing noise. Knowing that the noise will go up to the man's room, Elmer rushes to cover the heater to prevent the noise from bothering the man. This works, but not before the heater emits a loud whistle. This bothers the man, so Elmer unscrews it and covers it with pillows. Daffy, thinking that Elmer is the source of the whistling, rants to him by saying "So, a fine kettle of fish! Here I work myself down to the skin and bones trying to keep this guy asleep, and what do you do? Blow whistles! Just when I got things so quiet you can hear a pin drop, you bust in here and bust out with a whistle and you snafu the whole works! How in the name of all things reasonable do you expect a guy to get his slumber when a goof like you goes around making noises like a one-man 4th of July celebration?! He needs peace and quiet! It's positively outrageous!" Elmer nervously tries to shush Daffy but Daffy's screaming obviously wakes the now enraged man, who is so mad there are red swirls in his eyes, and he is gritting his teeth. Elmer hurries downstairs so he and Daffy can switch places in an effort to fool the man, but Elmer gets beat up anyway. Daffy, again like Jerry Colonna says, "Noisy little character, isn't he!"
== Music Cues ==
* "Home Sweet Home" (by H.R. Bishop)
** Plays over the opening credits.
* "Gotta Be This or That" (by Sunny Skylar)
** Plays during the opening scene.
* "Wiegenlied (Lullaby) Op. 49 No. 4" (by Johannes Brahms)
** Plays when the Business Man speaks to Elmer.
* "It Looks Like a Big Night Tonight" (by Egbert Van Alstyne)
** Plays when Daffy walks the Business Man to his room.
* "If I Could Be with You" (by James P. Johnson)
** Plays while Daffy shuffles through his keys.
* "It Looks Like a Big Night Tonight" (by Egbert Van Alstyne)
** Plays again when both Daffy and the Business Man go inside the room.
* "Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral" ("That's an Irish Lullaby") (by J.R. Shannon)
** Plays anytime the Business Man sleeps.
* "A-Tisket A-Tasket" (Traditional)
** Plays when Daffy hammers a sign on the room door.
* "Pop Goes the Weasel" (Traditional)
** Plays anytime the Business Man walks to punch Elmer.
* "The Near Future" (by Irving Berlin)
** Performed by Daffy Duck & a drunk man.
* "Time Waits for No One" (by Cliff Friend and Charles Tobias)
** Performed by Daffy Duck and continues while he cleans the window.
* "Laugh, Clown, Laugh" (by Ted Fio Rito)
** Plays when Daffy laughs.
* "Make It Snappy" (by Floyd J. St. Clair) 
** Plays when Daffy and Elmer rush to the basement.
== Availability ==
lt cel elmer.jpg|(1987) VHS Elmer!
Cartoon Moviestars 8.jpg|(1988) VHS Cartoon Moviestars: Elmer!
LT Laserdisc 1.jpg|(1988) LaserDisc Cartoon Moviestars: Bugs! and Elmer!
Golden-Age-of-Looney-Tunes-2-F.jpg|(1992) LaserDisc The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Volume 2, Side 10, Variations on a Theme
Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 5.jpg|(2007) DVD Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5, Disc One
Lt spotlight 5.jpg|(2007) DVD Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 5, Disc 1
51LA0AzTVqL. SL500 AA300 .jpg|(2011) Blu-ray Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc 1
LTPC VOL 1 DVD.jpg|(2012) DVD Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc 1
Looney Tunes Showcase - Volume 1.jpg|(2012) Blu-ray Looney Tunes Showcase: Volume 1
Best of Warner Bros. 50 Cartoon Collection- Looney Tunes.jpg|(2013) DVD Best of Warner Bros. 50 Cartoon Collection: Looney Tunes
lt spotlight df2.jpg|(2014) DVD Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection Volumes 4-5 Repack
Looney Tunes Bugs Bunny Golden Carrot Collection.png|(2020) DVD Looney Tunes Bugs Bunny Golden Carrot Collection, Disc 5
=== Streaming ===
Lt boomerang.jpg|Boomerang App ( - )
Lt itunes.jpg|iTunes ( - ) (restored)
== Censorship ==
* The version that aired on Kids' WB! edited out the part where the man is kept awake by a drunk man in the next room singing "How Dry I Am" and Daffy tells the man that he will "muzzle that inebriated canary" only to drink up with the drunk man and sing along in harmony.http://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/censored-p.aspx
== Goofs ==
* Towards the end of the cartoon, when Elmer rings for Daffy and Daffy runs up to the front desk and says, "Yes, sir!", his beak does not move.
* When Daffy sings "Time Waits for No One" while cleaning the window, his beak doesn't move when he sings the last line of the song.
== Notes ==
* The film is notable for featuring a sort of "in-between" interpretation of Daffy Duck. He is not necessarily the zany, impish interpretation used famously by Tex Avery and Bob Clampett, nor is he the greedy, self-preservationist version that Chuck Jones later popularized in the 1950s. As Paul Dini says in the DVD audio commentary for this cartoon, "[In this cartoon, Daffy] is really kind of almost like a sprite. He's just a little, almost elfin creature who's not really out to hurt anybody or has any ill will or malice toward anybody. He's just completely out of his mind."
* The Business Man is voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan, who also voices Elmer Fudd, albeit without Elmer's L and R speech impediments. He would later make a cameo appearance as the sleepy announcer whose job gets taken over by Hubie and Bertie and in the bleachers in the 1996 movie Space Jam, cheering for Michael Jordan after Michael wins.Paul Dini. "A Pest in the House" - DVD audio commentary - Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5.
* This is one of the only three non-Bugs Bunny cartoons from 1947 not to be reissued. The others were "Catch as Cats Can" and "Mexican Joyride".
* The cartoon was followed up in 1948 by "Daffy Duck Slept Here", wherein Daffy (this time as a fellow guest) again doesn't let a hotel patron sleep - in this case, Porky Pig.
* The name of the "Gland Hotel" is a pun on the title establishment in the 1932 drama film Grand Hotel.
* The businessman's room number is 666, which is a reference to "the number of the Beast."
* This is the last cartoon that Basil Davidovich animated in Chuck Jones' unit. 
* The lobby card identifies the short as a Looney Tune but it was released as a Merrie Melody. 
== Gallery ==
(1947-8-2) A Pest in the House @.mkv 20240404 152903.482.png
(1947-8-2) A Pest in the House @.mkv 20240404 152904.351.png
The Tired Businessman.jpg|The Tired Businessman
51Mb-Y9iEqL.jpg|Lobby card
PS72.jpg|Lobby card
== References ==
fr:Un bruit qui court
Category:Daffy Duck Cartoons
Category:Elmer Fudd Cartoons
Category:Cartoons directed by Chuck Jones
Category:Shorts
Category:1947
Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan
Category:Cartoons written by Tedd Pierce
Category:Cartoons written by Michael Maltese
Category:Cartoons produced by Eddie Selzer
Category:Cartoons animated by Basil Davidovich
Category:Cartoons animated by Abe Levitow
Category:Cartoons with layouts by Richard Morley
Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Richard Morley
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons in a.a.p. package