Stage Door Cartoon
Encyclopedia
Stage Door Cartoon is a 1944 Warner Bros.
cartoon in the Merrie Melodies
series, directed by Friz Freleng
and featuring Bugs Bunny
, Elmer Fudd
, and a predecessor to Yosemite Sam
. Voices are by Mel Blanc
.
The cartoon's title is a parody of the 1943 musical film Stage Door Canteen
.
theater. Bugs gets a chance to do his tap-dance routine, one of his recurring schticks. When Elmer tries to ambush Bugs with the piano, Bugs ends up playing the piano up to the point where Elmer is launched from the piano.
He then tricks the shy Elmer onto the stage, forcing him into performing a high-diving act. This ends up being a high-diving act into a glass of water.
Then, he prompts Elmer in a Shakespearean outfit through some classic acting emotive poses, seguéing into face-making, which draws a ripe tomato in the face from the jeering crowd. Then he tricks Elmer into doing a "striptease
" down to his boxers.
Finally, Bugs disguises himself as a southern sheriff (a primordial Yosemite Sam, with the same raucous drawl as the similar-sounding Foghorn Leghorn), just as a real one (as revealed by later events) arrests Elmer for indecent southern exposure. Before leaving the theater, a Bugs Bunny cartoon begins on the movie screen and the sheriff decides to stay and watch it. Elmer appears to get wise when the cartoon shows the scene where Bugs disguises himself as the sheriff. Elmer, thinking the sheriff really is Bugs, calls the sheriff an "impostor" and pulls off his clothes, but to Elmer's surprise, finds out he was really sitting next to the real sheriff. The sheriff proceeds to lead Elmer out of the theater with his shotgun ("You'll swing for this, suh!"). The last scene shows Bugs conducting the orchestra into a big finale.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
cartoon in the Merrie Melodies
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,...
series, directed by Friz Freleng
Friz Freleng
Isadore "Friz" Freleng was an animator, cartoonist, director, and producer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros....
and featuring 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...
, 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 a predecessor to Yosemite Sam
Yosemite Sam
Yosemite Sam is an American animated cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The name is somewhat alliterative and is inspired by Yosemite National Park...
. Voices are by 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...
.
The cartoon's title is a parody of the 1943 musical film Stage Door Canteen
Stage Door Canteen
Stage Door Canteen is a musical film produced by Sol Lesser Productions and distributed by United Artists. It was directed by Frank Borzage and features many cameo appearances by celebrities, and the majority of the film is essentially a filmed concert although there is also a storyline to the...
.
Plot synopsis
The film starts as a typical Elmer-hunting-rabbits cartoon; he hooks a carrot to his fishing hook in an attempt to catch Bugs, who turns the tables on Elmer by attaching the hook to his pants and "reeling" him in. Elmer responds with invective that puts his speech impediment to good use: "You dubbah-cwossing wabbit! You tweachwous miscweant!" Bugs then throws Elmer back for being too small and ends up getting chased to a VaudevilleVaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
theater. Bugs gets a chance to do his tap-dance routine, one of his recurring schticks. When Elmer tries to ambush Bugs with the piano, Bugs ends up playing the piano up to the point where Elmer is launched from the piano.
He then tricks the shy Elmer onto the stage, forcing him into performing a high-diving act. This ends up being a high-diving act into a glass of water.
Then, he prompts Elmer in a Shakespearean outfit through some classic acting emotive poses, seguéing into face-making, which draws a ripe tomato in the face from the jeering crowd. Then he tricks Elmer into doing a "striptease
Striptease
A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner...
" down to his boxers.
Cultural references
- Bugs' goofy yell to Elmer, "Here I ya-um!" was a catchphrase used by radio star Red SkeltonRed SkeltonRichard Bernard "Red" Skelton was an American comedian who is best known as a top radio and television star from 1937 to 1971. Skelton's show business career began in his teens as a circus clown and went on to vaudeville, Broadway, films, radio, TV, night clubs and casinos, all while pursuing...
's country bumpkin character "Clem Kadiddlehopper". - Bugs' final line, "I got a million of 'em!" was a Jimmy DuranteJimmy DuranteJames Francis "Jimmy" Durante was an American singer, pianist, comedian and actor. His distinctive clipped gravelly speech, comic language butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and large nose helped make him one of America's most familiar and popular personalities of the 1920s through the 1970s...
catchphrase; Bugs also mimics Durante's standard body language while saying it. - The basic plotline would be re-used in the 1950 Bugs-and-Elmer cartoon, Rabbit of SevilleRabbit of SevilleRabbit of Seville is a 1949 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon short released in 1950. It was directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese....
. Also, the same high-dive gag would be re-used and expanded for the 1949 Bugs Bunny cartoon High Diving HareHigh Diving HareHigh Diving Hare is a 1948-produced Warner Brothers Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon short starring Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam. Released to theaters on April 30, 1949, the short is an expansion of a gag from Stage Door Cartoon, which was also directed by Friz Freleng...
, in which Yosemite SamYosemite SamYosemite Sam is an American animated cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The name is somewhat alliterative and is inspired by Yosemite National Park...
(who, as previously noted, appears in prototypical form in this cartoon near the end) would play a large part as Bugs's antagonist (in contrast, the sheriff in this cartoon says he is a fan of Bugs's cartoons). - A modified version of the high dive is used at the end of the 19491949 in filmThe year 1949 in film involved some significant events.-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:*Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello...
cartoon Hare DoHare DoHare Do is a 1948 Merrie Melodies Cartoon starring Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd which was released in 1949. It is one of the few Bugs Bunny/ Elmer Fudd pairings directed by Friz Freleng that was released after Hare Trigger, the debut of Yosemite Sam...
where Bugs tricks a blindfolded Elmer into riding a unicycle from a wire high above a stage into the jaws of a man-eating lion. - When a Bugs Bunny cartoon began playing in the middle of the cartoon, this breaks the fourth wallFourth wallThe fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...
.
See also
- Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography (1940–1949)
- List of Bugs Bunny cartoons