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
Yankee Doodle Daffy a golf bag, hangs a sign on his office door reading "No casting today" and leaves his office in a hurry to board an airplane. However, Daffy Duck, a talent agent, forces Porky back into his office and attempts to secure an audition for his client, droopy-eyed child performer Sleepy Lagoon (a reference to the 1942 Sleepy Lagoon murder). The pitch, intended to demonstrate Sleepy's allegedly wide and varied repertoire, consists of Daffy himself performing an array of musical and stage acts in his usual, absurd and unoriginal fashion. Sleepy meanwhile stays seated, nonchalantly licking an enormous lollipop and silently