Contents

The Prize Pest

This article does not cite any sources. Please help improve this articlebyadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "The Prize Pest" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Film

The Prize Pest is a 1950 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon featuring Porky Pig and Daffy Duck. It was directed by Robert McKimson, and written by Tedd Pierce. It was originally released December 22, 1951.

Plot

After listening to one of his favorite radio programs, Porky Pig receives a grand prize from the station. Out of the gift box pops Daffy Duck, who insists on living in Porky's house. After numerous attempts to throw Daffy out of the house, Daffy devises a plan to stay. He tells Porky that he has a split personality (á la The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) and when people treat him badly he turns into a hideous monster, which he does by messing his hair up and putting in fangs, whereas when treated with kindness he becomes sweet and cuddly. When Porky realizes he's been had, he now has to outsmart a psychotic duck and get him out of the house by dressing up as a monster. When Daffy sees the monster, he becomes so scared, he falls apart (literally) and runs out of the house screaming (putting himself back in the gift box in the process). When Porky accidentally sees himself in the mirror in his monster costume (which he stated that only a craven little coward would be scared of), he scares himself so much that he jumps onto a chandelier (“So I’m a craven little coward.”).

Aftermath

• This is considered by some to be one of the last screwball Daffy Duck cartoon, as all of the directors eventually stuck with the greedy, self-centered Daffy that emerged in Rabbit Fire (1951).
• This cartoon was incerpted in the 1988 compilation film Daffy Duck's Quackbusters in which Daffy hired Porky in his "Paranormalist at Large" company. The cartoon was shortened in the movie, with a mix of new animation.