A Pest in the House

A Pest in the House is a 1947 animated short film directed by Chuck Jones starring the characters of Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd. The title is an appropriate play on "a guest in the house." Voices are performed by Mel Blanc The film is notable for featuring a sort of "in-between" interpretation of Daffy. He is not necessarily the zany, impish interpretation used famously by Tex Avery and Bob Clampett, nor is he the greedy, self-centered version that Chuck Jones later popularized in the 1950s. As Paul Dini said 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."^[1]

It was only one of 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.

Synopsis

The cartoon starts with a brief narration (Blanc, in his natural voice) describing a labor shortage that "became so bad" that compels employers to hire "anybody or anything". Daffy (also voiced by Blanc) is a hotel bellboy and Elmer Fudd (voiced by Bryan) is the manager. A tired man (also Bryan, in his natural voice) demands peace and quiet, and threatens violence against the manager if disturbed.

Daffy, in a Jerry Colonna-like, sarcastic aside to the audience, 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 again, the increasingly irritated man trudges to his station, to the tune of "Pop Goes the Weasel", and at the moment where the song would say "pop", he busts him in the face. Here are the following gags that make the man awake:

• 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 opens a window which releases a loud gail which frightens the man to the ceiling, and when Daffy leaves the room, the man comes down, closes it and retuns to his sleep, and a drunken man in the other room sings "How Dry I Am". Just when he was going to beat the drunk, Daffy says that he'll "muzzle that inebriated canary", only for the naive duck to get drunk and sing along.

• Daffy is singing and cleaning a window and finds a small speck and the scratching wakes the man. He calls him by telephone and punches him through the phone!

• Daffy hears a funny story and wakes the man to tell the story and the man nonchalantly walks down with Elmer protecting himself with a knight's helmet only for the man to punch him. Then, it is revealed that Daffy doesn't even remember how his joke ends, but still laughs, and then the manger comes in and orders Daffy to be quiet, only for the manager to be beaten.

When Daffy says it is too cold, he decides to fix the radiator. fearing getting beat up again, chases after Daffy. Daffy makes the heat vibrate to the room. He hears whistling and covers it with several pillows. Daffy, thinking that he is blowing whistles proceeds to rant angrily to him.

His screaming obviously wakes the man, so he hurries downstairs and he and Daffy switch places through a promotion in an effort to fool the man. Unfortunately he gets hurt anyway. Daffy concludes the cartoon with another Jerry Colonna-like aside: "Noisy little character, isn't he!"

Cast

• Mel Blanc as Daffy Duck, The Narrator, and The Drunken Hotel Guest
• Arthur Q. Bryan Elmer Fudd and The Tired Businessman (uncredited)

See also

• Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography (1940–1949)

References

1. ^ Paul Dini. A Pest in the House - DVD audio commentary - Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5.

External links

• A Pest in the House at the Internet Movie Database
• The cartoon