Elmer's Pet Rabbit
Encyclopedia
Elmer's Pet Rabbit is a 1941 Merrie Melodies
cartoon starring Elmer Fudd
and, ostensibly, Bugs Bunny
. The short was released on January 4, 1941. It is the first cartoon in which the name Bugs Bunny is given (on a title card, slapped onto the end of the opening title sequence when A Wild Hare
hit big), but the rabbit is also somewhat the same as the one seen and heard in Elmer's Candid Camera
and other pre-Bugs shorts. It was directed
by Chuck Jones
, written by Rich Hogan, and animated by Rudy Larriva
. Voices are provided by both uncredited Mel Blanc
and Arthur Q. Bryan
, and the music was directed by Carl Stalling
. It was produced by Leon Schlesinger
and the sound effect
s were by Treg Brown
, who was uncredited.
," arranged by Carl Stalling, performed by Elmer and the rabbit. Elmer, of course, has trouble with many of the words, due to his "rounded L and R" speech impediment.
Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...
cartoon starring Elmer Fudd
Elmer Fudd
Elmer J. Fudd/Egghead is a fictional cartoon character and one of the most famous Looney Tunes characters, and the de facto archenemy of Bugs Bunny. He has one of the more disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon pantheon . His aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring...
and, ostensibly, Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
. The short was released on January 4, 1941. It is the first cartoon in which the name Bugs Bunny is given (on a title card, slapped onto the end of the opening title sequence when A Wild Hare
A Wild Hare
A Wild Hare is a 1940 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short film. It was produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions, directed by Tex Avery, and written by Rich Hogan. It was originally released on July 27, 1940...
hit big), but the rabbit is also somewhat the same as the one seen and heard in Elmer's Candid Camera
Elmer's Candid Camera
Elmer's Candid Camera is a 1940 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones, and first released on March 2, 1940 by Warner Bros.. It marks the first appearance of Elmer Fudd Elmer's Candid Camera is a 1940 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones, and first released on March 2, 1940 by...
and other pre-Bugs shorts. It was directed
Animation director
An animation director is the director in charge of all aspects of the animation process during the production of an animated film or animated segment for a live-action film...
by Chuck Jones
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...
, written by Rich Hogan, and animated by Rudy Larriva
Rudy Larriva
Rudolph "Rudy" Larriva was an American animator and director from the 1940s to the 1980s.Born in El Paso, Texas, Larriva worked at a number of animation studios, including Format Films, Filmation, Walt Disney Productions, but is best known for his work at Warner Bros...
. Voices are provided by both uncredited Mel Blanc
Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
and Arthur Q. Bryan
Arthur Q. Bryan
Arthur Quirk Bryan was a United States comedian and voice actor, remembered best for his longtime recurring role as well-spoken, wisecracking Dr...
, and the music was directed by Carl Stalling
Carl Stalling
Carl W. Stalling was an American composer and arranger for music in animated films. He is most closely associated with the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts produced by Warner Bros., where he averaged one complete score each week, for 22 years.-Biography:Stalling was born to Ernest and...
. It was produced by Leon Schlesinger
Leon Schlesinger
Leon Schlesinger was an American film producer, most noted for founding Leon Schlesinger Productions, which later became the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio, during the golden age of Hollywood animation.-Early life and career:...
and the sound effect
Sound effect
For the album by The Jam, see Sound Affects.Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced sounds, or sound processes used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media...
s were by Treg Brown
Treg Brown
Tregoweth Edmond "Treg" Brown was a motion picture sound editor who was responsible for the sound effects in Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons starting in 1940. He also won the 1965 Academy Award for Sound Effects for his work on the film The Great Race.In the famous Warner...
, who was uncredited.
Plot
In this cartoon, Elmer buys Bugs Bunny in a pet shop, who pesters Elmer mercilessly in his house, accusing Elmer of giving him vegetables for dinner and leaving him out at night in his hutch "starving" in Bugs' words.Evolution of Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny's voice is pitched noticeably lower than in later incarnations of the character. His character is also very different from the more familiar version of himself (and even the earlier prototype versions), having a much more aggressive, arrogant, almost thuggish personality. This short is the only one where Bugs has yellow gloves and no front teeth. It is also the only cartoon where Bugs claims to not eat carrots (yet he eats them and other vegetables while complaining).The song
The music in the cartoon includes a variation on "While Strolling Through the Park One DayThe Fountain in the Park
The Fountain in the Park, also known as While Strolling Through the Park One Day, is a song by Ed Haley , published in 1884 by Willis Woodward & Co. of New York, but dating from about 1880...
," arranged by Carl Stalling, performed by Elmer and the rabbit. Elmer, of course, has trouble with many of the words, due to his "rounded L and R" speech impediment.
Production notes
- Accepting the billing at face value, this is the first cartoon in which Bugs quotes the famous Groucho MarxGroucho MarxJulius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born...
line from Duck Soup (1933), "Of course you know this means war!" (not counting Porky's Hare HuntPorky's Hare HuntPorky's Hare Hunt is a 1938 animated short movie directed by Ben "Bugs" Hardaway and Cal Dalton, which starred Porky Pig as a hunter whose prey is an unnamed rabbit - a prototype of Bugs Bunny, Warner's biggest star and the second most popular character at that time behind Disney's Mickey Mouse...
in which his prototype, the early but not officially developed Bugs, quoted it). - The song "While Strolling Through the Park One DayThe Fountain in the ParkThe Fountain in the Park, also known as While Strolling Through the Park One Day, is a song by Ed Haley , published in 1884 by Willis Woodward & Co. of New York, but dating from about 1880...
" is heard at different times in the short. - A sequence of signs at the pet store extol the virtues of having a rabbitRabbitRabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
for a pet. One of them, "Ask the man who owns one", is a famous advertising sloganAdvertising sloganAdvertising slogans are short, often memorable phrases used in advertising campaigns. They are claimed to be the most effective means of drawing attention to one or more aspects of a product. A strapline is a British term used as a secondary sentence attached to a brand name...
for the PackardPackardPackard was an American luxury-type automobile marque built by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, and later by the Studebaker-Packard Corporation of South Bend, Indiana...
.http://www.classicaldrives.com/50226711/ask_the_man_who_owns_one.php - Elmer inexplicably wears his hat in his house, even when going to take a shower.
- The voice and phrasing that Bugs uses sounds similar to some of the movie characters that James StewartJames Stewart (actor)James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
played. In this short Bugs also affects the bent-over walk of Groucho MarxGroucho MarxJulius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born...
. - While Bugs and Elmer are dancing, Bugs says to him, "You dance divinely; really you do" in the style of Katharine HepburnKatharine HepburnKatharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
. - Bugs yells "Turn off that light!" at Elmer like an air raid warden from World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
--twice (This gag was later used in Daffy - The CommandoDaffy - The CommandoDaffy - The Commando is a 1943 Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. Daffy Duck is a commando, dropped behind enemy lines, and causes havoc to the German commander, Von Vulture, who tries to capture him...
, A Tale of Two KittiesA Tale of Two KittiesA Tale of Two Kitties is an American cartoon, released in 1942, notable for the first appearance of A yellow canary, who would come to be known as Tweety. It was directed by Bob Clampett, written by Warren Foster, and features music by Carl W. Stalling. It was also the first appearance of Babbit...
, the AnimaniacsAnimaniacsSteven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
episode "Of Course You Know, This Means Warners", the Ed, Edd n EddyEd, Edd n EddyEd, Edd n Eddy is an original animated television series created by Danny Antonucci and produced by Canadian-based a.k.a. Cartoon. It premiered on Cartoon Network on January 4, 1999. Ed, Edd n Eddy was one of Cartoon Network's longest running and most successful franchises and the longest-running...
episode "Rambling Ed" and the Dexter's LaboratoryDexter's LaboratoryDexter's Laboratory is an American animated television series created by Genndy Tartakovsky and produced by Cartoon Network Studios . The show is about a boy named Dexter who has an enormous secret laboratory filled with an endless collection of his inventions...
episode "The Lab of Tomorrow"). - This is officially the second cartoon with Bugs and the twenty-third cartoon overall that Chuck JonesChuck JonesCharles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...
directed. - This is one of the very few times where Mel BlancMel BlancMelvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
doesn't get screen credit. - The Blue Ribbon reissue ending was used instead of the 1941 ending.
- In this cartoon, Bugs Bunny is wearing yellow gloves instead of his usual white gloves.
External links
- http://www.classicaldrives.com/50226711/ask_the_man_who_owns_one.php
- Elmer's Pet Rabbit Video