"Wow! I'll give 'em a real feature! Hoo-hoo!"
"Motion pictures are...your best...entertainment!"
— A lion speaking, from the opening of Daffy Duck's film "Gold Is Where You Find It"
Daffy Duck in Hollywood is a1938 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Tex Avery, and the last of three shorts he would direct with Daffy Duck. The short was his sixth overall appearance, and his third cartoon in color.
The plot is set at Wonder Pictures Studio ("If it's a good picture—it's a WONDER!"), where producer I.M. Stupendous orders one of his directors, Von Hamburger, to rush the latest motion picture through the pipeline. Unfortunately for the portly filmmaker, madcap waterfowl Daffy Duck has decided to pay a visit to the studio, and, for no particular reason, he proceeds to constantly screw up Von Hamburger's attempts to make his movie, which eventually concludes with Daffy stumbling across the studio's film library, prompting him to try his hand at making his own movie by randomly grabbing films out of the cans and splicing them together without any rhyme or reason, and switching out his franken-film with the director's finished product.
Not to be confused with the short "Hollywood Daffy", nor the video game called "Daffy Duck In Hollywood" (which shares only the setting and character with the cartoon).
It is also worth noting that Daffy's oddly assembled "movie" in the cartoon, Gold Is Where You Find It
, is generally considered to be an early precursor to the modern remix video phenomenon that we call YouTube Poop.
Tropes:
- Almost Kiss: Von Hamburger is filming a sappy romance scene between two chickens, and they almost kiss—but Daffy shows up and takes some smooches for himself! And then some more after!Daffy: "What a kiss. Wow! I think I'll do it again!"
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Mr. Stupendous's reaction to Daffy's movie.I.M.: Amazing! Marvelous! Stupendous! Colossal! Tremendous! Gigantic! Astounding! Unbelievable! Spectacular! Phenomenal! And it's good, too.
- Big Eater: For lunch Von Hamburger orders a "tur-r-rkey with all the tr-r-r-r-r-r-r-rimmings."
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Early in the film, I.M. Stupendous tells the audience that he thinks Daffy is screwy. Later, Daffy steals Von Hamburger's cigarette and uses the smoke to form the words Warner Bros., after which Daffy says to the audience:"Just giving my bosses a plug. I've got an option coming up!"
- Butt-Monkey: Von Hamburger is a pompous and haughty director, but he really doesn't do anything to deserve to be on the receiving end of Daffy's antics, which give him no shortage of trouble while he's making his movie. Fortunately, he gets to turn the tables on Daffy in the end.
- The Dog Bites Back: After driving Von Hamburger nuts, Daffy has presumably claimed his position as director. For better or worse, Hamburger gets the last laugh—when Daffy is brought his "turkey with all the trimmings", Von Hamburger is waiting beneath the tin and bites Daffy on the beak before he hops away, laughing mad.
- Driven to Madness: Von Hamburger eventually goes completely screwy due to Daffy's antics. Played for Laughs, of course, especially as Von Hamburger starts giving Daffy a taste of his own medicine.
- Fakeout Opening: "Gold Is Where You Find It" starts off with what appears to be a dramatic live action movie, but the tone and content changes barely 20 seconds in.
- Fight Scene Failure: In-Universe. Daffy edits a boxing match so the fighters never throw a single punch, while the excited announcer describes how brutal it is."Here we are at Madison Round Garden, and there's the bell for the first ring! Whatsizname giving so-and-so a hard right to the jaw — and another hard right! It's too brutal, I can't stand it! I can't stand it!"
- Gag Dub: Most of the stock footage used in "Gold Is Where You Find It" has Mel Blanc providing joke voices and mock narration, while Sara Berner voices the fat lady who wins the beauty pageant.
- Hong Kong Dub: Near the end of Daffy's film, when the stock footage of the fat lady says "I'm happy all over, thank you.", her lips aren't even moving. It works in favor of the cartoon's humor (and how slapdash Daffy's movie is).
- Hourglass Plot: By the end, Daffy and Von Hamburger completely switch roles.
- Improvised Weapon: During his antics, Daffy loads a bullet belt into the spool of a film camera, which automatically turns it into a machine gun upon winding the hand crank.Von Hamburger: (sobs) "This isn't a gangster-r-r pictur-r-r-r-r-r-r-re!"
- Mad Hatter: When I.M. Stupendous mugs to the audience that Daffy is screwy, Daffy pops up through his telephone and joyfully replies that Mr. Stupendous is absolutely correct!
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: The hen female lead speaks like Katharine Hepburn.
- Non-Indicative Name: "Gold Is Where You Find It" has no gold to speak of, unless you count it as comedic gold.note
- Offscreen Teleportation: Daffy pulls this on Von Hamburger when he gives him a present as an apology—Daffy pops up inside the present and bites him on the nose!
- Oh, Crap!: Von Hamburger has this reaction when he realizes someone (Daffy) swapped out his movie for something entirely different altogether.
- Popping Buttons: As the movie begins, Von Hamburger puffs out his chest with pride, popping all the buttons off his shirt.
- The Prankster: Daffy, who decides to completely sabotage Hamburger's movie for no reason other than to be a pest. Von Hamburger ironically becomes this at the end, much to Daffy's surprise.
- Punny Name: Wonder Pictures (Warner Bros. Pictures) and I.M. Stupendous.
- Random Events Plot: Daffy's off-the-cuff movie, "Gold Is Where You Find It", has no plot to speak of—it's a scrambled mashup of stock footage with bait-and-switch gags and absurd humor.
- Running Gag: Daffy biting Von Hamburger on the nose, although Von Hamburger gets to do it to Daffy in the ending.
- Short-Distance Phone Call: I.M. Stupendous calls Von Hamburger on the phone, even though they are sitting next to each other.
- Shout-Out: Von Hamburger's name is a parody of director Josef von Sternberg.
- Gold Is Where You Find It was the name of an actual Warner Bros. film from the same year the cartoon was made. The cartoon contains a brief clip of hydraulic mining taken from the movie.
- The clip of the soldiers marching is from Gold Diggers of 1933.
- The "Jitterbug" scene is a clip from "Madame Du Barry" (1934).
- The burlesque girls in the beauty pageant is a clip from the movie "Bright Lights" (1935).
- The fat lady who wins the beauty pageant in Daffy's movie is taken from Freaks.
- Show Within a Show: The cartoon is centered on Von Hamburger making a movie, and the cartoon climaxes with Daffy Duck's own movie being screened.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: Played for Laughs in Daffy's film, where an upbeat tune of "California, Here I Come" is juxtaposed over a platoon of soldiers walking through a heavy rainstorm. The "Jitterbug" scene features a jazzy, fast paced song playing over a very slow ballroom dance.
- Springtime for Hitler: Despite Daffy's antics and Von Hamburger's fears, "Gold is Where You Find It" completely wins over I.M. Stupendous. Von Hamburger seemed to have gone nuts from the shock, though, as Daffy Duck inherits his position as director, while Von Hamburger becomes as crazy as Daffy!
- Stylistic Suck: Daffy's movie is a nonsensical mess assembled from movie stock footage, and has more in common with a clip show than anything resembling a real movie. The film doesn't even last two minutes of screen time.
- Throw the Book at Them: When Daffy asks I.M. Stupendous if he needs an actor, he yells "No!" and throws a book at Daffy, sending him flying out of his office.
- Trrrilling Rrrs: How Von Hamburger speaks.
- True Art Is Incomprehensible: "Gold IS Where You Find It" is intentionally an incomprehensible mess, but that's enough to win over I.M. Stupendous.
