I occasionally run across a phrase containing the words 'mad impetuous boy' in a number of movies. Probably most famous is a Pete Lorre lookalike in a Loony Tunes cartoon being slapped by Daffy Duck.

It's such a specific phrase, I wonder if there's an origin, and due to the nature of Loony Tunes cartoons being full of references to the culture of the time, I suspect the origin is not the Loony Tunes cartoon.

I googled it for some time without getting anywhere.


Tried tracking the dialogue but could not find any origin story in english literature. Curiously enough this dialog was first used in the movie "Born Free", released in the year 1966.

You mad, impetuous boy.


  • 1
    "this dialog was first used" Er, no it wasn't. It appeared in the 1947 cartoon Birth of a Notion (see here), like the OP said. OP simply confused Daffy Duck for Donald Duck. – Walt Apr 15 '15 at 7:09

An earlier example of the phrase is found in various episodes of the Alan Young radio show. An example is in this show

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