Downhearted Duckling is a 1954 Tom and Jerry cartoon.
Plot[]
Quacker is deeply upset after reading The Ugly Duckling. The duckling in the illustrated book looks just like Quacker. He worries that he is also ugly, and has multiple thoughts of suicide. Jerry hears his cries and tries to help Quacker look better, but Quacker attempts to behead himself by releasing an axe onto his head. Jerry removes him from the death trap and the axe falls on his tail.
Next, Jerry dresses Quacker up in a bow-tie and hat, but finds that Quacker, looking at himself in a broken mirror, still thinks he is ugly, and starts throwing a tantrum again. Before Jerry runs inside his house and returns with another mirror, an upset Quacker walks off saying that nobody loves him, then he looks into the pond and says "Oh, boy, I'm sure ugly", and wishing he was dead.
Quacker approaches Tom while he is sleeping and then wakes him up, asking to be eaten. A puzzled Tom is only too happy to oblige, but is prevented from successfully eating the duckling, owing to Jerry's intervention. Jerry grabs Quacker out of Tom's mouth and flees. Tom searches for the duck and Quacker calls out to Tom while lying in a sandwich. Quacker jumps out of the sandwich as Tom tries to eat it and eats a branch. Quacker apologizes and asks for Tom's tongue. Tom puts it out, and as Quacker jumps on it, but is saved again by Jerry, Quacker ends up falling down Tom's throat.
Jerry and Quacker hide next to a hen, but instead of taking Quacker, who leaves, Jerry inadvertently grabs the hen and gets pecked into the ground. "Stupid Rat!" Quacker pokes his head out of a pie and asks if Tom wants to eat it. Tom refuses to eat Quacker, who convinces him to eat him. Before Tom manages to grab the pie, Jerry suddenly comes, grabs Quacker before throwing the pie onto Tom's face.
Jerry tries to raise Quacker's spirits by giving him a beauty make-over inside Jerry's mousehole, while a demotivated Quacker laments that it's no use. Tom later approaches the mousehole after hearing Quacker's voice, and blindly manages to grab Quacker from the mousehole, but puts him in a bag before running off elsewhere. However, when Tom finally takes Quacker out of the bag, he becomes horrified at the duckling's appearance and squeals in alarm and backs away, as Quacker has mud on his face, is wearing a girdle, has exaggerated lipstick, and has four big perm curlers on his head just as Quacker, who has even begun walking like Frankenstein Quacker, asks if Tom wants to eat him, but fails when Tom runs off as quickly as he can, clawing straight through a brick wall in order to escape.
This worries Quacker once and for all, making him say "Oh, boy, am I ugly...", and know that is at his lowest ebb, curbing his suicidal tendencies and reducing himself to hiding under a paper bag, and saying that he'll never show his face again. Jerry finds Quacker and tries to remove the bag, but Quacker angrily admonishes him. Just then, Fifi passes by and sees Quacker sitting in despair on a rock. In curiosity, she tries to look at his face, but is shouted too when he thinks it's Jerry. He then realizes that it is the female duckling, who giggles at his reaction before declaring he is cute. Quacker, no longer thinking himself ugly, tosses the bag away, then clicks his heels happily, does a loop-de-loop on a tree twig, and holds her arm. When Jerry looks on without delay, both ducklings waddle off into the sunset together, stopping along the way to share a kiss before the rest of the walk.
Characters[]
- Quacker
- Jerry Mouse
- Tom Cat
- Fifi (debut)
- Hen (minor)
Notes[]
- Unlike the controversial Blue Cat Blues, this was never pulled from television, despite its references to suicide. This may be due to the lack of depictions of alcoholism in this short. Another possible reason is that this cartoon's plot is not as depressing to the networks' younger target audience compared to Blue Cat Blues. However, the short was removed from HBO Max, alongside Designs on Jerry.
- Quacker later falls in love with the female duckling in The Tom and Jerry Show (2014) episode "Wing Nuts".
- This is the first cartoon where Quacker attempts suicide. That's My Mommy is the second cartoon episode where Quacker attempts suicide, only for Tom to intervene.
- In 2020, the cartoon was restored along with Designs on Jerry on Amazon Prime Video.
- A hen, who Quacker has replaced himself with, looks similar to the one in Fine Feathered Friend. Similarly, the hen pecks down on Jerry, just like how she pecks down at Tom in the other short.
- This is one of the only two cartoons featuring Quacker where Tom loses. The other is Little Quacker.
Errors[]
- After Tom destroys the wall after seeing Quacker, Quacker is on the left side of the wall. When he is approaching it, in one frame, Quacker is suddenly on the right side of the wall.
- Quacker sits in a rock, but when Fifi says that he is cute, Quacker climbs over the tree around and the rock is missing.
- Fifi's hat and bumbershoot are blue instead of purple when she and Quacker walk into the sunset together and stop to share a kiss.
Gallery[]
Main article: Downhearted Duckling/Gallery