The Ducktators
About The Ducktators
A black egg in a barnyard hatches a white duckling with a toothbrush mustache, who salutes and shouts. He speechifies at the other birds and picks up a large goose with a Neapolitan accent. A peace conference fails when he shreds the treaty. A Japanese duck arrives, mistakes a sea turtle for an island, and plants a mandate sign on its shell. The three set out to take the farm. A dove of peace, helped by chickens and a rabbit, stops them. In the original ending the dove shows their heads as trophies and tells the audience to buy war bonds.
Cast & crew
More about The Ducktators
Norman McCabe directed the Looney Tunes short for producer Leon Schlesinger. Carl W. Stalling wrote the music. Mel Blanc and Michael Maltese supply voices. Warner Bros. released it on 1 August 1942. The title is a pun on dictator. The three birds caricature Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Hideki Tojo.
Themes
Background
Released on 1 August 1942, the short turns the Axis leaders into farm birds and ends on a pitch for U.S. war bonds.
Making
Schlesinger's unit made it as one of the studio's 1942 wartime cartoons. The original last shot, the dove with three severed heads, is the piece most often removed for television.
Music
Carl W. Stalling scored the cartoon, including a rewritten "Japanese Sandman" for the Tojo duck.
Preservation
Warner Bros. holds the cartoon. Television copies from the Guild Films syndication usually lack the original ending. Because of the wartime caricatures it has rarely been shown on American television, apart from Cartoon Network's ToonHeads.
Notes
- The Hitler duckling's speeches are in a mix of English and German. A chick yells "Duce!" at the goose.
- The Japanese duck sings a rewritten "Japanese Sandman.
- The rabbit who helps the dove is drawn to look like Jerry Colonna.
- Guild Films syndicated an edited version to television in the 1950s that usually dropped the bond-drive ending.
Scenes
- The duckling climbs out of a black egg, mustache first, and salutes.
- The Japanese duck plants a mandate sign on a turtle's shell.
- The dove holds up the three heads and asks for bond purchases.
