Joseph Barbera and Hanna worked alongside animator Tex Avery, who had created Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny for Warner Bros. and directed "Droopy" cartoons at MGM. In 1940, Hanna and Barbera jointly directed "Puss Gets the Boot", which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best (Cartoon) Short Subject. The studio wanted a diversified cartoon portfolio, so despite the success of "Puss Gets the Boot", Barbera and Hanna's supervisor, Fred Quimby, did not want to produce more cat and mouse cartoons believing that there were already enough cartoons of those in existence. Surprised by the success of "Puss Gets the Boot", Barbera
Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur was first used in "The Phantom Ship" in 1936. The film is in the public domain and is available on several low-budget home video releases in an unrestored form. A restored and remastered version is available on DVD as part of Disc 4 in of the "Looney Tunes Golden Collection". The cartoon opens with a note in white letters on black: Casper (a caveman) and Fido (an apatosaur) go duck hunting and find Daffy. Casper slingshots a rock at Daffy, but Daffy manages to avoid it by disguising himself as a traffic cop. When the rock realizes that it has