Just Ducky

Just Ducky
Tom and Jerry series
Title Card
Directed by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Produced by	Fred Quimby
Voices by	Red Coffee
Music by	Scott Bradley
Animation by	Irven Spence Ed Barge Ray Patterson Kenneth Muse Al Grandmain
Backgrounds by	Robert Gentle
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	September 5, 1953
Color process	Technicolor
Running time	7:57
Language	English
Preceded by	That's My Pup!
Followed by	Two Little Indians

Just Ducky is the 77th one reel animated Tom and Jerry short, created in 1951 directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby with music by Scott Bradley. The cartoon was animated by Irven Spence, Ed Barge, Ray Patterson, Kenneth Muse and Al Grandmain with backgrounds by Robert Gentle. It was released on September 5, 1953 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This is the last cartoon in which Tom has a light grey strip between his eyes.

Plot

A mother duck sees all but one of her eggs hatching into little ducklings, and takes them for a swim. After the mother duck and her ducklings have left, the final egg hatches, and out comes Quacker. Rushing behind, trying to catch up, he wades into the water but finds himself unable to swim. He calls for his mother, but she is too far way to help.

A despondent Quacker starts to cry, and Jerry overhears him. He offers to teach Quacker how to swim. Jerry instructs him to grope forward through the water, but all Quacker does is slap the water. Jerry demonstrates a perfect circle and turns it over to Quacker. Quacker turns his arms like fan blades and wades out of the water, then turns around, but still cannot stay afloat. Jerry saves him and instructs Quacker to stay put while he looks for something to help Quacker.

Quacker kicks a rock and walks around, depressed, lamenting his inability to swim, but doesn't notice Tom cooking up some water. Tom hears the duck and slants his spoon such that Quacker walks up it and falls in the water. Tom salt and peppers him making him cry out. Jerry saves him by whacking Tom with a plank.

Jerry carries Quacker away and Tom chases them, but he runs into a spade that they have placed. Jerry hides Quacker and instructs him to keep quiet, but Quacker dives into a hole when Tom approaches and Tom ends up getting pulled instead of Quacker. Tom is pulled through a pipe before Jerry turns to him and realises he has taken Tom. Jerry dives into a lake, breathing through a straw. Tom easily finds him and blows through the straw making Jerry inflate. Jerry grabs the straw and inflates Tom in return. Quacker pops Tom with a safety pin.

Jerry and Quacker flee, but Quacker falls into a bowl with a few drops of water in it and Quacker thinks he's drowning until he spots Jerry. Jerry motions for him to follow, but Tom upends the bowl and sends him back into Tom's water. Tom spoons out Quacker, but Jerry pelts a brick at Tom and shatters the cat into several pieces. Quacker gets out of the spoon and runs off with Jerry, but Jerry is captured in a jug by Tom and Quacker beats it. Tom chases Quacker out to a lake and Quacker hides under the promontory while Tom falls in.

In an ironic twist, Tom is unable to swim, and begins to drown. Quacker is reluctant to save him, as he himself cannot swim. But when Tom goes down for good, he summons the courage to dive in, and miraculously rescues Tom. Tom and Jerry have made up, and Jerry is helping Tom recover from a cold. They watch on as Quacker swims with his family (though Quacker is doing an impressive stroke).

External links

• Just Ducky at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Just Ducky at the Internet Movie Database