Ducking the Devil

Ducking The Devil is a 1957 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated cartoon directed by Robert McKimson. The short was released on August 17, 1957, and stars Daffy Duck and the Tasmanian Devil.

Plot

At a zoo, a cage was reserved for the Tasmanian Devil. He soon escapes and runs amok, scaring away everyone from the zoo in the process. Meanwhile, Daffy is at home in his duck pond, and reads about Taz's escape in a newspaper. Taz soon finds him and gives chase after the black duck. While fleeing from Taz's hungry jaws, Daffy hears a news bulletin posting a $5,000 reward (the equivalent of $45,686.65 in 2022) for the Tasmanian Devil's return which also says Taz becomes docile when exposed to music.

After failing with a radio (the extension cord does not go too far), a trombone (Daffy loses the slide) and bagpipes (apparently the only music Taz does not like), Daffy eventually resorts to using his own voice to calm the devil. Eventually, after serenading him for 10 mi (16 km), Daffy leads Taz to his cage, slamming the door on the beast just as he finishes his song-and his voice gives out. After Taz grabs some of the Duck's reward money, which slipped on the ground, Daffy rushes inside the cage screaming his famous line: "It's mine! Mine, all mine!", and beats up Taz, and reassures the audience that he may be a coward, but he's a "greedy little coward".

Home media

Ducking the Devil is available on the Looney Tunes Superstars DVD. However, it was cropped to widescreen. It was also included in Looney Tunes Platinum Collection Vol. 1, this time in the ratio in which it was originally animated (fullscreen aspect ratio), and in the Taz's Jungle Jams VHS.