French Rarebit

French Rarebit
Production company	Warner Bros. Cartoons
Distributor	Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date	June 30, 1951
Starring	Mel Blanc Tedd Pierce
Producer(s)	Edward Selzer
Music composed by	Eugene Poddany Milt Franklyn
Story by	Tedd Pierce
Animation	Rod Scribner Phil DeLara Charles McKimson Emery Hawkins
Director(s)	Robert McKimson
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Title card
Second title card

French Rarebit is the three hundred and thirty-seventh Merrie Melodies theatrical short. It was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and The Vitaphone Corporation on June 30, 1951. It was written by Tedd Pierce, produced by Edward Selzer and directed by Robert McKimson.

While taking a stroll in Paris, France, Bugs winds up in the middle when two Frecnh chefs of two restaurants, Louis and François, want him for their dinner menu. To avoid becoming the special of the day, Bugs comes up with a recipe to outwit the two kooky cooks.

Memorable quotes

Bugs: Eh, personally, I prefer hamburger.

Characters

Legend
Character debut	Speaking debut	Ep. debut	No lines	Mentioned

In order of appearance:

Character	Actor
Bugs Bunny	Mel Blanc
François	Mel Blanc
Louis	Tedd Pierce

Locations

• Earth
  • France
    • Paris
      • Rue de la Paix
      • Eiffel Tower
      • Champs-Élysées
      • Restaurant François
      • Restaurant Louis
  • United States (mentioned)

Objects

• Mallet
• Frying pan
• Ingredients for Louisiana Back-bay Bayou Bunny Bordelaise ala Antoine (mentioned)
  • Wine Barrel
  • Pickle Jar
  • Hot Sauce
  • Chili Peppers
  • Bay Leaves
  • Bay Rum
  • Hot Mustard sauce
  • Horse radish
  • Mule radish
  • Tabasco Sauce
  • Flour Barrel
  • Sliced carrots
  • Sliced parsnips
  • Sliced potatoes
  • Sliced asparaguses
  • Onions (optional)
  • One whole carrot (stuffed with a long-fused stick of dynamite)
• Rolling Pin
• Stew pot
• Oven

Vehicles

• Delivery truck

Music

The music was orchestrated by Milt Franklyn, with the musical score done by Eugene Poddany.

This is the only Bugs Bunny short to have Eugene Poddany provide the music score.

It also contains the following cues:

• "The Latin Quarter"
• "Alouette"

Release

Dates are in order of release:

• United States: June 30, 1951 in theaters

Behind the scenes

• The title is a play on the British dish "Welsh rarebit," which is also known as "Welsh rabbit."
• The working title for this cartoon was, "Hassenpfeffered Hare," which is a pun on the German/Dutch stew Hasenpfeffer.
• This is the final short to have a fade in on the orange color rings before Bugs Bunny's headshot appears in the intro sequence.
• Unlike most cartoons reissued during the time, the original closing title card was kept, although the original Bugs Bunny Introduction card was plastered over by the 1956-64 version.
• This marks the final appearance of Freleng's "hold the onions" gag which debuted in Pigs is Pigs.

Legacy

• Francois would later appear in The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries episode "Yelp!," and later, near the end of the direct-to-video film, Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas as Wile E. Coyote's personal chef which Daffy Duck had hired for him as his Christmas present.
• The scene where Chef François does the "chef's kiss" has become a meme and GIF depicting such in pop culture.

Home availability

• In the United States:
  • November 2, 2004: Warner Home Video releases Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2 on DVD.
  • August 29, 2023: Warner Archive Collection releases Gay Purr-ee on Blu-ray.