Elmer's Pet Rabbit
| Elmer's Pet Rabbit | |
|---|---|
| File:Elmer's Pet Rabbit lobby card.png Lobby card. | |
| Production company | Leon Schlesinger Productions |
| Distributor | Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation |
| Release date | January 4, 1941 |
| Run time | 7:45 |
| Starring | Mel Blanc Arthur Q. Bryan |
| Music composed by | Carl W. Stalling |
| Story by | Rich Hogan |
| Animation | Rudy Larriva Ken Harris Bob Cannon Ben Washam Phil Monroe |
| Director(s) | Charles M. Jones |
| Series navigation | |
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| Title card | |
| File:Elmer's Pet Rabbit title card.png | |
Elmer's Pet Rabbit is the hundred and sixty-fith Merrie Melodies theatrical short. It was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and The Vitaphone Corporation on January 4, 1941. It was written by Rich Hogan, produced by Leon Schlesinger, and directed by Chuck Jones.
Elmer purchases a rabbit from a pet store, but is unaware that he is much more cunning than he realizes.
Detailed summary
Memorable quotes
Elmer: This is your new home. Isn't it wovewy?
Bugs: Frankly, my old man, I don't like it. It stinks... When I think where I might've been; dead. Makes my blood boil. Me, a potential Easter Bunny, hmph... Fort walls. Oh, the irony of it all! What's this?
Elmer: Your dinner.
Bugs: My what? My dinner?! What do you think I am, a rabbit? I'll starve before I eat this stuff! (eats with mouth full) That's what I'll do; I'll starve! You'll be sorry! Sorry for a grey rabbit! You oughta be ashamed for yourself! This is TERRIBLE! Me eating this stuff! It's disgraceful! That's what it is! How'd you expect me to feed me this stuff?!
Bugs: You dance divinely. Really, you do.
Elmer: My goodness gwacious! What have done? He's dead. The poor wittle wabbit has drowned! Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho...
Bugs: My hero! (to audience) How do you like this guy? He saved my life, and after all the things I done to him in this picture.
Bugs: TURN OFF THAT LIGHT!
Characters
In order of appearance: | ||||||||||
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Locations
- Earth
- United States
- Pet shop
- Fudd residence
- United States
Objects
- Carrot
- Vegetables
- Radio
Production
Development
Although the short came out a year after Bugs' official debut in A Wild Hare, his visual design and personality were significantly different from his previous short; he wears yellow gloves and lacks visible buck teeth, in addition to having a more aggressive and arrogant deposition. While Wild Hare had solidified Bugs' nasally voice and New York dialect performed by Mel Blanc, the short chose to instead portray it in a deeper tone, and with little to no hint of a Brooklyn-like dialect.
Afterwards, Bugs' portrayal in Wild Hare would immediately return in Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt from the same year.
Music
The music was composed by Carl W. Stalling.
Elmer sings a variation of "While Strolling Through the Park One Day" at the beginning of the short, complete with his "rounded L and R" speech impediment.
Release
Dates are in order of release:
- United States: January 4, 1941 in theatres
Behind the scenes
- This is the first cartoon in which Bugs Bunny's name is officially adressed on-screen, during one of the title cards ("featuring Bugs Bunny").
- Bugs does an impression of Katharine Hepburn when he dances with Elmer.
- This marks the first time Bugs uses the phrase, "Of course you know, this means war!" It was derieved from a repeated phrase in the 1933 Marx Brothers film Duck Soup, and famously attributed to Groucho Marx.
Errors
Everlasting Influence
- Bugs' yellow gloves from this short would later appear as part of his visual appearance in Looney Tunes Cartoons
Home availability
- In the United States:
- March 12, 2024: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment releases Looney Tunes Collector's Choice: Volume 3 on Blu-Ray.
