Daffy's Diner

Daffy's Diner is a 1967 Merrie Melodies short directed by Robert McKimson.

Plot[]

Daffy runs a duplicitous diner near Guadalajara, serving overpriced mouseburgers with rubber mice as substitutes for actual mice, as he has not seen one in ages and wants to save on costs. However, one angry cat named El Supremo, or as Daffy calls him, "a sucker", discovers the trick after choking on the rubber mouse in his mouseburger. Furious, he holds Daffy at gunpoint and demands a real mouseburger or else he will shoot him. At this point, Daffy encounters Speedy, offering to work for food. Daffy rudely turns Speedy away, until he realizes he can catch, cook, and serve Speedy to El Supremo.

The mouse eventually discovers his intentions and escapes to the desert, with Daffy in hot pursuit. Daffy is foiled each time by Speedy running up a cactus, Daffy accidentally knocking a cactus on himself, and being scared by Speedy into a trash can, prompting the waste management official to think he has gone crazy after Daffy tells him to put him down from within the can.

Finally, the cat demands his burger within two minutes, forcing Daffy to dress himself as a mouse and put himself in a bun, much to El Supremo's amusement. He states, "Boy, you never know what you'll do until you have a gun pointed at your head."

Availability[]

Super 8

Notes[]

• This is the last of three DePatie-Freleng Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts to use a few Hanna-Barbera sound effects (most notably the "wind whistle scat" DePatie-Freleng would put to frequent use throughout the 1970s), the other two being "Clippety Clobbered" and "Sugar and Spies".
• This is the final Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies short to be produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, as the next three would be produced by Format Films before Warner Bros.-Seven Arts took over. It is also the only DePatie-Freleng short to be released in 1967.
  • Eventually, as a result of the aforementioned merger with Seven Arts, Warner Bros. gained access to their black and white Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts (excluding the 1931-33 Merrie Melodies shorts, except "Lady, Play Your Mandolin!") once again after selling them to Sunset Productions in 1955.
• This is the final cartoon that Robert McKimson directed until "Bunny and Claude (We Rob Carrot Patches)" in 1968. This is also McKimson's only cartoon that he directed that was released in 1967.
  • This is also the final Daffy and Speedy short directed by McKimson.
  • This is also the final golden age WB short animated by Manuel Perez.
• The last line is also used in "Golden Yeggs".
• Daffy's mouse burger consists of the following:
  • A foam rubber mouse
  • Hot sauce with chili peppers.
  • Old Axle grease.
  • DDT from fresh insecticide to disguise the flavor of the foam rubber mouse.
• MeTV aired a previously unreleased restored print of the cartoon on Toon In With Me.
  • The restored print of this short incorrectly uses the "A VITAGRAPH RELEASE" byline from the Looney Tunes ending cards, whereas the unrestored prints use the "A VITAPHONE RELEASE" byline from the Merrie Melodies ending cards.
• This cartoon was shown in theaters with Hotel during its original release.

Gallery[]

Lobby card

TV Title Cards[]

The Merrie Melodies Show