Release Date:

February 12, 1955

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd

Summary:

Daffy Duck, as Jack, is joined in going up the beanstalk by Bugs Bunny, whose bed had been carried upwards by said beanstalk sprouting out of his hole after Daffy threw them in there in disgust and Daffy kicking the bed off. They get pursued by Elmer Fudd as the giant and attempt to persuade him that the other is Jack.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1332 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The cartoon wasn’t restored for HBO Max but Warner Archive did restore it for the Looney Tunes Collector’s Choice Volume 1 Blu-ray set in 2023.

Speaking of which, this one has a rather interesting history regarding restoration. Despite this one generally being considered among Jones’ masterpieces, the cartoon had not been restored up until 2023 due to the original negatives having sustained some damage. For many years, it was very high on several fans’ (me included) wishlists of “cartoons I want to see restored”. Showing they had listened to the numerous fan requests when they were finally allowed to start putting the Warner cartoons on Blu-ray, this one was not only one of two specifically restored by Warner Archive for Collector’s Choice Volume 1 (with the other being “Catch as Cats Can”), it was also the first cartoon presented on the set and of the whole four-volume Collector’s Choice series. So right away, they began with a bang.

This is the first and only time that Jones and Michael Maltese have Bugs, Daffy, and Elmer all in the same cartoon since the Hunting Trilogy. Maltese would write another cartoon with the trio for Freleng (before Maltese left for Hanna-Barbera in the early 1960’s, he rotated between Freleng and Jones’ units, but still wrote mostly for Jones), with that being 1960’s “Person to Bunny”.

The cartoon is similar to “Jack Wabbit and the Beanstalk” from twelve years prior in a few ways as both cartoons parody Jack and the Beanstalk, Bugs appears in both, both were written by Maltese, and both feature a gag involving a glass cutter.

Carl Stalling scored this one.

Robert Givens and Richard H. Thomas did the layouts and backgrounds for this one rather than Maurice Noble and Philip DeGuard.

This is the first cartoon where Keith Darling is credited and the first time since Jones’ directorial debut all the way back in 1938 with “The Night Watchman”, that he animated for Jones.

Like with “Muscle Tussle”, Daffy gets swindled by a salesman instead of himself being the salesman. This time, though, Daffy is fully aware that he has been conned.

I love the majestic-sounding rendition of “For You” over the opening credits.

Favorite Scene:

The pantomime sequence under the glass platter with Daffy acting very hysterical and Bugs not doing anything other than make a bored leaning expression. Daffy eventually gives up and does the same, only for Bugs to then pull out an ACME Glass Cutter, causing Daffy to give Bugs a smooch of relief.

What Happens in This One:

A salesman is seen walking off with a cow while happily humming to himself. It turns out he had just traded Daffy with the magic beans as Daffy observes, “Now there goes a salesman. He trades me out of a perfectly good grade-A homogenized Holstein cow, and for what? Three stupid beans”. Disgruntled, Daffy sulks to himself, “Jack, you’re a jerk” and tosses the beans aside. They land in Bugs’ hole (with his mailbox inscribed, “B. Bunny Esq.”), with the beanstalk growing out of it shortly. Daffy comments, “Odds my bodkins! A beanstalk! And all the way up to the sky too!”, before deciding, “Well, I’d better get to work climbing that thing or we won’t have any picture” (animated by Abe Levitow).

As he makes his way up the beanstalk, Daffy tells us, “You know, this must be the story of where Jack climbs up to the sky and gets all those solid gold goodies. And I’m Jack!” He then bumps into something headfirst, which turns out to be Bugs’ bed having been carried upwards by the beanstalk. When Daffy goes up to look, Bugs sleepily asks, “Eh, what’s up, doc?” Daffy assumes he has competition, “Ah ha! I thought so! You know very well what’s up! It’s gold and jewels, that’s what’s up! But there just ain’t enough for the two of us, so… off you go!”, before kicking Bugs’ bed off and continuing to ascend the beanstalk. After his bed lands with a crash offscreen, Bugs is seen hanging onto one of the beanstalk’s leaves and decides, “I don’t remember any rabbit in Jack and the Beanstalk. But there’s gonna be one in THIS one!” as he climbs up it too (animated by Ken Harris).

Once Daffy reaches the top and starts walking across the giant countryside, he says to himself, “Boy! This is the kind of story I like! I can just TASTE all those pieces of eight, and doubloons, and triploons…”. He then encounters giant Elmer as he talks slower, “…and uh,…. quadrooploons, and uh, uh, quintooploons!” Daffy looks up to see Elmer declaring, “Fee Fi Fo Fum! I smell the bwood of an Engwishman!” Daffy’s hat droops as he says meekly, “After all (chuckles nervously), money isn’t, uh, everything” before running off. Bugs gets to the top in time to see a screaming Daffy running away from Elmer. Bugs holds Daffy by the tail feathers as the latter frantically demands, “Let me go! Let me go! In the name of humanity!” Bugs slaps him around a few times as Elmer approaches while laughing evilly. Bugs assures, “Let me handle this” before Elmer now declares, “I smell the bwood of an Engwish wabbit!” (animated by Harris)

With Daffy hiding behind him, Bugs begins to set Elmer straight, “Look, mac. Let’s get this straightened out. You’re the giant in the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, aren’t ya?” Elmer: “Well… yes”. Bugs: “And the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk wasn’t after no wabbit now, was he? (Elmer shakes head) He was after Jack, right?” Elmer: “Well, I guess maybe that is wight”. Bugs steps away from Daffy and points to him, “Alright, then. HE is Jack”. Daffy attempts to contradict this as he jumps up and down before pointing to Bugs, “It’s a lie! It’s a lie! Uh, my name is, uh… Aloysius! His name is Jack! Jack Rabbit!” Bugs shakes his head, “Oh no. You’re Jack, all right”. Daffy shouts, “I am not! You’re Jack!”, to which Bugs retorts, “You are Jack and you know it because it is a fact”. Elmer decides, “I guess I’ll just have to open up with a pair of Jack’s”. He picks them both up and tells them, “I’ll gwind your bones to make me bwead!” before running back with them towards his castle as he laughs evilly (animated by Harris).

In his castle, Elmer takes out a pepper grinder and decides, “This ought to gwind their bones vewy nicewy!” As he tests it, Daffy and Bugs are both revealed to be trapped under a glass platter with Daffy looking on in horror and Bugs looking on with a bored expression, complete with hand on his cheek. Becoming hysterical and with nothing he’s saying being heard due to being under the glass, Daffy explains to Bugs what’s going to happen to them by imitating Elmer cranking the grinder and the remains of their bones being sprinkled into his hand. He then points to Bugs and then to himself, clearly saying, “You and me…”. Seeing that Bugs isn’t paying any attention, Daffy waves his hand in front of Bugs’ face and then screams in Bugs’ ear to no avail. Daffy gives a sigh of defeat and does the same bored expression as Bugs. Bugs then pulls out an ACME Glass Cutter, causing Daffy to give him a smooch of relief. Having set up his stuff to make his bread out of their bones, Elmer says, “There. I think evewything’s weady.” but then lets out a “What?” upon seeing two holes in the glass shaped like Bugs and Daffy respectively instead of Bugs and Daffy themselves (animated by Levitow).

Elmer chases after them, “Come back here, you wittle stinkers!” Bugs attempts to go into a round red object to hide only for Daffy to selfishly take it for himself, “Oh, no ya don’t! (pants heavily) That’s MY hiding place!” He pulls Bugs out of there and goes into it, but it turns out this is actually a large red mousetrap! After Bugs sits up, Daffy walks up to him with his body partially bent from being snapped, “You could’ve stood up for your rights, you know. You milksop!” With Elmer shouting, “Fee Fi Fo Fum!”, the chase continues (animated by Keith Darling).

Bugs and Daffy then ride the corks of two respective champagne bottles. Bugs takes the first and says, “Fire 1!”, with Daffy taking the second and saying, “Fire 2!” They both land in the pocket of Elmer’s pink raincoat. Realizing they’re in there, Elmer reaches into the pocket for them and pulls out a box of snuff. Bugs is revealed to be inside said box when he is heard and then shown sneezing when the box is opened. Having remained in the pocket, Daffy gives himself away when he replies, “Gesundheit!” Elmer pulls out a switchblade knife from the pocket and instead of the blade, Daffy appears out of the knife instead as he literally says the sound effect, “Click” (animated by Richard Thompson).

They then run up Elmer’s sleeves, around his face, and enter his head through his ears. After a crash is heard from inside Elmer, it turns out that Bugs mistakenly bumped into Daffy, evidenced by Daffy yelling to him, “You stupid ape! Why don’t ya watch where you’re going!” Elmer’s eyes narrow from the outside as he warns, “Alwight! You wittle wascals!”, before he is seen putting corks in his ears, “Come on out of there! Or I’ll smoke you out!” After putting the cigarette in his mouth, all of his matches are blown out by either Bugs or Daffy popping out of the cigarette. Elmer then pushes them out of the cigarette until they pop out of it into view. With both sporting sheepish grins, Daffy meekly points to Bugs, “He’s Jack” (animated by Thompson).

Bugs and Daffy jump out of the cigarette and dive into Elmer’s outfit, which ends up tickling him. After they exit through an opening in his outfit near his foot, Elmer shouts, “Hey, you! Come back here!” and gives chase once more. Daffy and Bugs run under the crack of a large door, but once Elmer opens it, Bugs trips him, which causes Elmer to fall and crash front-first. Daffy comments in a jovial mood, “Hey! What do ya know? He’s colder than a foundered flounder!” Bugs grabs Daffy by the wrist and attempts to take him with him to escape, “Come on, come on! Let’s get out of here before he comes to!”, only for Daffy to get his hand out of Bugs’ grasp, “Take your hands off of me! I came up here to get those solid gold goodies, and I ain’t leaving without them! On account of I am greedy”, putting emphasis on “I”. After Daffy dashes off in the opposite direction, Bugs comments, “Oh, brother” before running out of the castle. A good distance away, he pants while running, “Boy! Am I well out of there!”, only to stop upon spotting a field of giant carrots (animated by Thompson).

That night, after having indulged in the giant carrots, a fattened and full Bugs asides, “Y’know, sometimes I wonder whatever happened to that silly duck”. Reading “Little Men” by his fireplace, Elmer puts it down and yawns before checking his pocket watch. It turns out he has caught Daffy and is keeping him imprisoned inside the watch by having him use his hands as the hour and minute hands of a clock. Daffy also has to repeat, “Tick, tock” over and over again, stopping only to comment, “Heh. It’s a living” (animated by Harris).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕