Release Date:

October 6, 1951

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam

Summary:

Yosemite Sam is running for mayor, with one of his promises being rabbit genocide. Outraged, Bugs Bunny decides to compete against him.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1199 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue.

This is a great cartoon to add to your Election Day watchlist along with the Peanuts special, “You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown” (1972; although the title is misleading since in that special it’s Linus, who is running for student body president).

The most memorable gag, the “Those Endearing Young Charms” gag, is reused from the Private Snafu cartoon, “Booby Traps” (1944; directed by Bob Clampett). Freleng would use this gag again in “Show Biz Bugs” (1957), albeit with Bugs playing it on a xylophone instead of a piano. McKimson would also use this gag in one of his two Roadrunner cartoons, “Rushing Roulette” (1965). Speaking of which, the term “Russian roulette” is mentioned for the infamous final gag where Bugs and Sam apparently decide to end it all that way after they both lose to a literal “dark horse” (which usually refers to someone who gets unexpected support as a candidate for the nomination in political conventions).

It could be argued that this is a cartoon where Bugs and Sam both lose in the end, although Bugs still gets the last laugh.

The cartoon was considered for an Academy Award but was not nominated.

A statue seen in the cartoon reads, “Pro Patria 1889: Batchelder (referring to assistant animator Warren Batchelder, who would later become a fully-fledged animator in McKimson’s unit in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s), Champin (referring to Ken Champin), Farren (referring to assistant animator Jack Farren), Julian (referring to Paul Julian), Nicholson (referring to assistant animator Sam Nicholson), Perez (referring to Manuel Perez), Pratt (referring to Hawley Pratt), and Ross” (referring to Virgil Ross).

A few buildings seen include, “Virgil, Ross and Co.” (another reference to Ross), “Frizby” (referring to Freleng), “M. Perez” (another reference to Perez), “P. Julian Yard Tools” (another reference to Julian), and “W. Foster Welding” (referring to Warren Foster).

Clips from this cartoon are shown in one episode of “Ozzy and Drix”.

A box reading, “Moxie” can be seen when Bugs is taking out drinks for his picnic, likely a reference to the soft drink of the same name, although the first time I heard “Moxie” (and paid attention to it) was as the name of a character in the British TV series, “Auf Weidershen, Pet”, which Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends narrator Michael Angelis (who narrated the UK dub of the show for 14 consecutive seasons, seasons 3-16, to be exact. And despite being American, I prefer watching the UK dub since Thomas and Friends is a British show) also appeared in as villain “Mickey Startup” (I only found out about “Auf Weidershen, Pet” when I wanted to find out what else Angelis appeared in).

Favorite Scene:

Sam using some ants to steal all the food from Bugs’ picnic he has set up to buy votes, only for Bugs to booby trap a watermelon with a dynamite stick, causing Sam to get a big explosion after sneaking off.

What Happens in This One:

Sam is giving his campaign speech, also rolling his tongue in a few words, “As I stand on this platform, I stand for Union! Union suits and Union stations! For the LITTLE people! There’s enough fresh air and sunshine in this great country of ours for everybody! And I’ll see to it that you’ll get your share!” Meanwhile, Bugs is in his hole under the podium and has just opened a can of carrot juice to drink as Sam continues, “And I’ll keep my promise to rid this country of every last rabbit!” Bugs does a spit take in shock, “Last rabbit!? Hey! This calls for stragety! I’ll fight fire WITH fire!” (animated by Virgil Ross)

Sam continues, “So remember, vote for Honest Sam! Sam’s the man!” Suddenly, he is interrupted by Bugs dressed as a member of a marching band and playing “It Looks Like a Big Night Tonight” on both the trombone and large drum at the same time with “Vote for Bugs Bunny” written on the drum. Sam shoots at him, which destroys the instruments: “Shut off that judey-box! I can’t hear myself a-speechin’!” (animated by Arthur Davis)

Before Sam can continue with his speech, “Now, where was I? Oh! Oh, yes! Two rabbits in every pot…”, he is interrupted by Bugs with his own smaller podium, “Hurry, hurry, hurry. Get on the Bugs Bunny Bandwagon! (animated by Davis) From the rockbound coast of Maine to the smoggy shores of Califor-nie-a- THAT is a long walk”. He then disguises as Theodore Roosevelt and quotes, “I speak softly, but I carry a BIG stick!”, to which everyone cheers. Sam runs over to Bugs’ podium with a club and shouts, “Oh, yeah!? Well, I speak LOUD and I carry a BIGGER stick! And I use it too!” After hitting Bugs with the club, he starts exclaiming, “And besides I love babies! Show me babies! Lots of babies! Where’s the babies!?” Sam kisses one baby, who immediately spits it off in disgust, “Line up the babies! Where are the darlin’s!?” before he kisses another, “I’m just wild about children!” He encounters Bugs disguised as a baby who kisses Sam first, but then exclaims while faux-wailing, “Yow! He bit my wittle nose! He bit my wittle nose! The bad man bit my wittle nose!” Sam futilely tries to explain, “But… but… but… but”, only to be confronted by four ladies who scold and wallop him with one using an umbrella and another using a handbag (animated by Ross).

Bugs is later seen handing out free cigars, but Sam forces to take over at gunpoint. “Get outta here, rabbit! If there’s any givin’ away cee-gars, Yosemite Sam will give ‘em!” Bugs lets him offer the free cigars, but replaces the “Smell-O Cigars” with “Atom Explosive” cigars (“You Will Get a Bang Out of This”) without Sam knowing. Sam gives it to a random man who thanks him for it, as Sam offers to light it for him. After the explosion, the man’s head seemingly turns to ash as Sam blows them away. It turns out the explosion only caused the man’s head to become darkened as his head comes out of his shirt. He angrily assumes, “Oh, a wise guy, huh!?” and punches Sam (animated by Manuel Perez).

“This free feed ought to get me a lot of votes!”, Bugs figures as he sets up a free picnic. Sam takes out a box of “assorted picnic ants” whose leader plays a bugle and yells “CHARGE!” before they start going off in tune to a sped-up version of the William Tell Overture. Bugs notices his food seemingly moving away on its own after he’s taken out the drinks. He then notices it’s actually the ants carrying them off when he sees the leader ant operating a “train” of hot dogs as if he’s whipping a horse. Sam is also shown stealing the food once the ants pass by him and his large bag. Bugs takes a watermelon off of the unfortunate ant who has to carry it, cuts it open, and puts a dynamite stick in there before giving it back to the oblivious ant. After Sam has taken everything, he sneaks behind a statue, where a big explosion from the booby-trapped water occurs. He comes out from behind the statue, blown up and stomping, “Oooooooh, I HATE that rabbit!” (animated by Perez)

Sam rigs a cannon at the front door of Bugs’ headquarters: “Nobody’ll vote for a flattened-out rabbit skin! (chuckles fiendishly) I always say!” He then goes up to his back door, knocking on it. Not expecting to see him, Bugs asks, “Oh. You?” Sam pretends to be friendly, “Yes, rabbit. I’ve come to extend my hand in friendship” (animated by Davis) before walking in, “I like you, rabbit. You’re a good Joe!”, while distracting him with a hug and then imitating someone knocking on the door by tapping his foot on the ground rapidly. Sam tells him someone’s at the front door, to which Bugs responds he’ll be right back. “In little bitty pieces”, Sam sneers to himself. Bugs come back and tells Sam it was intended for him. “ That was someone for YOU, Sam. She said to mention St. Louis!” Sam immediately falls for it as he believes it to be presumably someone who he’s been crushing on, “St. Louis!? Emma! Yahoo! Emma! Here’s your Sammy-boy!”, running up to the front door, excited. After getting blasted by his own cannon, Sam comes back blown up, “Yeah! Same old Emma! Full of laughs!” as he chuckles weakly and collapses (animated by Ken Champin).

Back on Sam’s podium, Bugs claims he can do anything Sam does, only better. After an argument of “No, ya can’t!”, “Yes, I can!”, Sam asks if he can play a “pi-anna”. Bugs asks him, “Have you got a pi-anna?” Sam answers that he does, “Wait right here, varmint, and I’ll get ya one in a jiffy!” He runs off to a shed labeled “Pianos Repaired” and rigs a piano with TNT. Bringing it to Bugs (animated by Davis), Sam has him play “Those Endearing Young Charms”, with the TNT rigged to explode when a certain key is pressed. Bugs ends up missing the booby-trapped note twice, and Sam’s impatience gets the better of him, “Ooooh, ya stupid rabbit! Like this!” He demonstrates the correct way and ends up getting the explosion (animated by Champin).

Sam is seen chasing Bugs with his gun before they both stop upon seeing a parade going on and see that they have both lost the election as a horse is seen as “our new mare”. Both are flabbergasted, Bugs: “Dark horse?” Sam: “Mayor!?” Bugs pulls out a gun and decides, “Well, anyone for Russian roulette?” Sam takes it and attempts to fire it at his head but he only fires on an empty cylinder. The iris out closes as Bugs is about to take the shot, with a gunshot being heard over a black screen. The iris out on Bugs’ side opens back up to reveal that Bugs actually ducked the shot, “Ha! I missed!”, and the iris out on Sam’s side opens back up to reveal that Bugs also shot Sam in the process. After Sam states, “I hate that rabbit!”, the iris out closes for real (animated by Ross).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕