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My children don’t watch nearly as much TV as I did at their age. I asked my daughter if she knew any famous ducks. She could only think of The Ugly Duckling! But our pop culture landscape bears the tracks of an entire flock of famous ducks.
Count Duckula
Count Duckula began as a villainous character on the British TV show Danger Mouse. He was spun off into his own show in 1988 and imported to the US (as well as many other countries), where he was sometimes mistaken for a version of Daffy Duck. Count Duckula was a vegetarian vampire duck who could teleport to any part of the world. The show ran until 1993.
You Bet Your Life Duck
You Bet Your Life was a game show hosted by Groucho Marx that aired on NBC from 1950 to 1960. If the contestant said the secret word (which the TV audience knew), a duck would fall from above and the contestant won $100. Why a duck? It was a reminder of the famous line from the 1929 Marx Brothers movie The Cocoanuts.
Groucho: And here is the viaduct leading over to the mainland.
Chico: Why a duck? Why a no chicken?
The Ugly Duckling
The title character of The Ugly Duckling wasn’t even a duck! The story was first published by Hans Christian Anderson in 1843, about a baby bird who is ostracized because he doesn’t look nice like the other ducklings in his family. When he matures, he finds that he is really a beautiful swan. See the Disney cartoon from 1939 on video. The 1931 version inexplicably has the swan hatched from the nest of a chicken.
AFLAC Duck
The AFLAC duck, featuring the voice of Gilbert Gottfried, has been hinting for us to buy a certain brand of insurance since 1999. He inspired a generation of toddlers to say “AFLAC” instead of “quack” when asked what a duck sounds like. AFLAC has a video gallery of the ads.
Ping
The Story About Ping is a children’s book written by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese in 1933 about a duck who lives on a boat on the Yangtze River in China. He falls behind, misses the boat, and has to find his own way home. It’s a charming story for preschoolers and early readers.
Rubber Duckie
The Sesame Street Muppet Ernie loves his Rubber Duckie. The song was sung by Jim Henson in 1970, and reached number 16 on Billboard’s pop music chart in September of that year.
Howard the Duck
The 1986 George Lucas film Howard the Duck was such a spectacular flop that the title became a metaphor for “awful movie”. The jokes weren’t funny and the duck character looked only real enough to make his romantic interest in Lea Thompson overly creepy.
Ferdinand
Ferdinand was the duck in the 1995 movie Babe. He spent his time desperately scheming to make himself so useful that the farm family would never think of eating him. He crowed like a rooster every morning, until Mrs. Hoggett acquired an alarm clock.
Donald Duck
The Disney character Donald Duck made his debut in The Wise Little Hen in 1934. His distinctive voice, which sounds thoroughly ducky but barely intelligible, made him famous. Donald is best known for losing his temper, allowing him to show off the voice without saying much of anything. He looks dapper in his sailor suit, but never wears pants, except when swimming. Donald has girlfriend (Daisy), three nephews (Hewey, Dewey, and Lewey), a rich uncle (Scrooge McDuck), and various other Disney relatives.
Daffy Duck
The Warner Brothers character Daffy Duck is possibly the most popular duck of all. He first appeared in 1937 in the cartoon Porky’s Duck Hunt. The classic Daffy was voiced by Mel Blanc, but interpreted as slightly different by each animator who drew him. He can be manic or neurotic, smart or stupid, but his understandable responses to a world that seems to be lined up against him makes him easy for audiences to relate to. See Daffy in action in the classic Chuck Jones cartoon Duck Amuck.
This is by no means an exhaustive list. I could’ve added Baby Huey, Disco Duck, and quite a few others. Who’s your favorite duck?
Comments (38)
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Can’t forget my favorite animated ducks, Darkwing Duck and Gizmoduck!
Scrooge McDuck was great in “Mickey’s Christmas Carol.”
posted by Neurotictim on 4-15-2008 at 6:50 am
daffy all the way
posted by ithidet on 4-15-2008 at 7:00 am
Wow, thanks for writing this! I discovered how prominent ducks have been in pop culture when I realized that my favorite cartoon characters were generally ducks. The ducks in Duck Tales being my favorite. Daffy and Plucky were so much better than their counterparts Bugs and Buster.
posted by Sarah Crowe on 4-15-2008 at 7:25 am
What about Plucky Duck on Tiny Toon Adventures?
posted by Sarah on 4-15-2008 at 7:26 am
AFLAC used to sponsor a trivia question segment that appeared during each of the NASCAR broadcasts on TNT and NBC. The late Benny Parsons would always introduce the segment with the immortal words: “Cue the Duck!”
Ducks rock!!
posted by Mike on 4-15-2008 at 7:30 am
I’m a Donald Duck fan myself, but I also watched Darkwing Duck much of my young childhood.
posted by nutmeag on 4-15-2008 at 7:32 am
Holy crap, I forgot about Count Duckula! I loved that show.
posted by Ira on 4-15-2008 at 7:32 am
Kudos to you Miss C for mentioning Ping (one of my favorite books as a child) and Rubber Duckie (still think it should have made it to #1 — and I cry when I hear it remembering the late, great Jim Henson).
How about the great children’s book Make Way For Ducklings? (of course that’s more than just one duck).
posted by beth on 4-15-2008 at 8:27 am
Thanks, beth! These are not supposed to be ranked in order, since opinions vary. I just tried to make the order aesthetically pleasing, although I would’ve had Daffy at #1 if I did.
posted by Miss Cellania on 4-15-2008 at 8:33 am
Near as I can tell, none of the ducks mentioned here was as powerful as the one used to determine witch-hood in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” After all, no one was burned at the stake for not buying a certain brand of insurance.
posted by Paul on 4-15-2008 at 8:41 am
Count Duckula was my favorite! It was also one of my husband’s favorites too, which is pretty cool because he’s from the Netherlands and I’m from the US; there aren’t a lot of things from our childhoods that we have in common.
posted by Clodia on 4-15-2008 at 9:16 am
I don’t know about my favorite, but I was wondering about Darkwing Duck as well.
posted by Fruppi on 4-15-2008 at 10:07 am
I *loved* the little duck in the Tom & Jerry episode “The Vanishing Duck.” You can click my name for a link to the video. I still love it.
And holy crap! Count Duckula! I had completely forgotten about that cartoon! Thanks for the memories!
posted by nikki on 4-15-2008 at 10:17 am
that was bad linkage. i apologize.
new link is there.
posted by nikki on 4-15-2008 at 10:24 am
Last year about this time, the blog carnival, Grand Rounds, was hosted by three psychiatrists at the blog, Shrink Rap. They are fond of ducks and requested medical blogging submissions with a duck theme. My Duck Soup post (link at my name) was the result of having too much blogorrheic fun finding eccentric duck facts, links and literary references. Enjoy.
posted by Annie on 4-15-2008 at 10:32 am
Mr. and Mrs. Mallard, plus their eight little ones: Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack.
posted by Rosebud on 4-15-2008 at 10:38 am
Neat post, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one! I like Darkwing Duck too but seeing how I live in Orange County and am a big hockey fan, I’m going to have to go with WildWing (of Anaheim Ducks fame). =)
posted by Christine on 4-15-2008 at 11:53 am
Launchpad, followed by Darkwing Duck.
posted by Melissa on 4-15-2008 at 12:17 pm
I have a stuffed duck (toy) that’s about 3′ long that I sleep with. I named him Howard but the only thing creepy about it is my affection for an inanimate object.
posted by Diana on 4-15-2008 at 12:21 pm
Darkwing and Daffy are my personal favorites.
posted by David on 4-15-2008 at 12:39 pm
What about Duckman? A hilarious show with the voice of Jason Alexander as Duckman.
posted by Lobotomy Jones on 4-15-2008 at 12:42 pm
Howard the Duck (the movie) falls into the category of “bad comic book to movie adaptation”. The original Howard the Duck by Marvel Comics was pretty good.
posted by Blaise Pascal on 4-15-2008 at 12:45 pm
launchpad mcquack!
posted by Steve on 4-15-2008 at 12:46 pm
I am disappointed not to see Quackers the sh*t eating duck, from the conan o’brien show on this list.
posted by kai on 4-15-2008 at 1:24 pm
Darkwing Duck!! I was sad to see him not on the list. Many an afternoon was spent (much to the chagrin of my mother) with the antics of that superhero duck…
posted by Kathryn on 4-15-2008 at 6:40 pm
The financial disaster that was Howard the Duck forced Lucasfilm to sell what would become Pixar to Apple.
Awful (though classic) movie begets some of the best movies in the last decade.
posted by Sarah on 4-15-2008 at 6:56 pm
What, no love for Yacky Doodle?
posted by kitsana_d on 4-15-2008 at 7:21 pm
Would you believe I’ve never heard of Darkwing Duck until today?
posted by Miss Cellania on 4-15-2008 at 9:38 pm
You left out why Ping gets separated: He doesn’t want to get WHIPPED by the ducks’ master for being the last one in line. I skip that detail at preschool storytime.
posted by Miss Kiki on 4-15-2008 at 9:40 pm
The list is worthless, as Duckman is absent from it.
“You Bet Your Life Duck”? WTF – I’m a geezer and I don’t remember him. “Ping”? Come on.
posted by That Guy on 4-16-2008 at 2:16 am
Howard only mentioned as a movie? That’s a shame. Steve Gerber’s comic book was terrific, funny stuff.
posted by Anthony Strand on 4-16-2008 at 9:02 am
Anaheim Ducks Mascot – Wild Wing.
The University of Oregon used to have Donald Duck as their mascot – now it is Generic Duck.
Duck Dodgers was always a fave, even if it was only Daffy by another name (Same with Robin Hood Daffy).
posted by Scotty on 4-16-2008 at 11:52 am
LAUNCHPAD McQUACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!
sorry, gotta give my guy some love…. he was not in one but 2 shows (Duck Tales and Darkwing)
i also had a pet duck (popeye)… til i tragically ran over him on my bigwheel….
yeah, the therapy is going great though.
posted by adam allen on 4-16-2008 at 11:59 am
I have 4 pet ducks all mallards; two drakes and 2 hens; none named Popeye but I do have 1 named Jumper. They are a lot of fun and easy to raise. Come see the photo gallery and learn about raising pet ducks at http://www.mypetducks.com
posted by Dave Rudrud on 8-26-2008 at 5:57 am
Yaky Doodle, Rubber Ducky,(rubber ducks period)Donald Duck,Count Duckula.
posted by Sara in AL on 7-28-2009 at 1:37 pm
Miss Kiki,
I always remember that he doesn’t want to get SPANKED. That’s a lot less violent.
posted by Sara in AL on 7-28-2009 at 1:40 pm
Annie
Too bad it’s been removed. I like trivia, and I like (rubbr) ducks.
posted by Sara in AL on 7-28-2009 at 1:44 pm
ping! i had that book when i was little and no one else seems to have heard of it.
posted by m on 7-29-2009 at 3:09 pm