The Super Snooper

The Super Snooper
Production company	Warner Bros. Cartoons
Distributor	Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date	November 1, 1952
Starring	Mel Blanc Grace Lenard
Producer(s)	Edward Selzer
Music composed by	Carl Stalling
Story by	Tedd Pierce
Animation	Herman Cohen Rod Scribner Phil DeLara Charles McKimson
Director(s)	Robert McKimson
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Title card

The Super Snooper is the three hundred and eighth Looney Tunes theatrical short. It was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and The Vitaphone Corporation on November 1, 1952. It was written by Tedd Pierce, produced by Edward Selzer, and directed by Robert McKimson.

Daffy Duck plays hard-boiled detective, Duck Drake, who is summoned to the J. Cleaver Axe-Handle Estate where a terrible crime has been committed. But when he gets there, he suspects the Shapely, Shady, Femme Fatale of a female duck to be the prime culprit.

Characters

Legend
Character debut	Speaking debut	Ep. debut	No lines	Mentioned

In order of appearance:

Character	Actor
Daffy Duck	Mel Blanc
Butler Duck	Mel Blanc
Shapely Lady Duck	Grace Lenard

Locations

• Earth
  • United States
    • City
      • Office of Duck Drake: "Private Eye, Ear, Nose, and Throat"
    • Mansion (Presumed to be the J. Cleaver Axe-Handle Estate)

Objects

• Gun pistol
• Hunter's rifle
• Piano

Vehicles

• Train

Music

The music was composed by Carl W. Stalling.

Crew Credits

• Layouts: Robert Givens
• Backgrounds: Richard H. Thomas

Release

Dates are in order of release:

• United States: November 1, 1952 in theatres

The music heard during the opening credits is reused from The Hare-Brained Hypnotist (1942) and Hair-Raising Hare (1946). And it would reused once more in the 1955 Looney Tunes short, Hyde and Hare.

Behind the scenes

• The title is a pun of 'super sleuther'.
• The cartoon's premise is a parody of trench-coat detective film noir films of the 1930s-1950s, most notably the ones involving murder crimes from femme fatales.
• Daffy's detective alias, 'Duck Drake', is obviously a reference to the fact that drakes are male ducks, and Daffy is a male duck.
• The shapely lady duck physically resembles Melissa Duck, but is not the same character.
• In the opening scene, an office with the name 'R. Givens' written on it appears in the background, a reference to Robert Givens.
• The engine on the train is a 4-6-0 engine (four leading wheels, six driving wheels, and no trailing wheels). In the mid-19th century, this wheel arrangement became the second most popular configuration for new steam locomotives in the United States. This type of engine is commonly referred to as a ten-wheeler.
• This is the final original Looney Tunes cartoon still retaining its original titles to use the Daffy Duck opening headshot. It is also the only Daffy Duck short with the blue rings and red backgrounds to have this effect.
  • This is also the last cartoon to have a mugshot of a character other than Bugs Bunny.
• This short reuses a piano gag from Canned Feud (1951).

Errors

• When the shapely lady duck fires the revolver, she holds the trigger but multiple shots are heard, despite the fact that a revolver can only fire repeatedly by releasing and pulling the trigger.

Legacy

• This short was used in the Valentine's Day TV Special, Bugs Bunny's Cupid Capers.

In other languages

Language	Name	Meaning

Home availability

• In the United States:
  • Looney Tunes Collector's Choice: Volume 5