Release Date:

April 13, 1957

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny, Taz

Summary:

A crate of carrots is dropped by parachute into Tasmania with Bugs Bunny also having been in said crate. Upon learning from fleeing animals that Taz is on the loose, Bugs reads about him in a brochure on Tasmania, and when Taz actually arrives, Bugs heckles him.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1428 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

After nearly three years since his debut in “Devil May Hare”, Taz is now back as a continuing character, thanks to Jack Warner having received numerous letters demanding more Taz cartoons be made.

The title is a play on words for “bedeviled” but with an extra “l” added.

The cartoon was originally titled “Hare Deviled”.

When preparing the “wild turkey surprise”, Bugs reuses the “Atsa Matta for You” song from “A Hound for Trouble”.

This is the final cartoon to have Richard H. Thomas as a regular background artist (he had been with McKimson ever since he became a director eleven years prior). After this, Thomas would only do backgrounds occasionally.

Russ Dyson is not credited as he was arrested back in September 1956 and committed suicide. The only 1957 cartoon where he receives credit is “Boston Quackie”, released two months later while the final cartoon he animated on was “Tabasco Road”, released three months later.

Part of the animator draft for the cartoon can be viewed here.

The cartoon was restored for the Looney Tunes Super Stars Bugs Bunny Hare Extraordinaire DVD set in 2010, but was cropped to widescreen. It was put on the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection Volume 1 Blu-ray set a year later in its corrected full frame version.

The items on Taz’s mega-menu (that is so large, it takes up more than one page) that Bugs doesn’t read out aloud include lions, jackals, muskrats, mink, dingoes, zebras, foxes, boxes, moose, mice, moles, snipes, elk, wapati, tortoise, roadrunner, elands, wolves, guinea hen, vultures, eagles, hummingbirds, squids, salamanders, water buffalo, bison, kangaroos, pigeons, daws, unicorns, vixens, ox, and widgeons.

Taz and She-Devil refer to each other as “Claude” and “Rosebud” respectively here.

Favorite Scene:

“What for you say you monkey when you got little powder-puff tail like rabbit, RABBIT!?”

Bugs’ imitation of Taz’s growling and snarling when scolding him is just as hilarious.

What Happens in This One:

A plane is seen flying over the ocean before it drops out a crate attached to an open parachute. The crate’s label is revealed as “Ajax Carrot Packing Co. To: Potter Plantation, Tasmania Via ACME Air Drop”. It slowly descends down into the island of Tasmania before the crate bursts open from falling to the ground. Bugs is revealed to be in this crate as he gets up while holding one, “Hey! What happened? Take a little nap in a carrot patch and the next thing I know, I’m here. But where is HERE?” (animated by George Grandpre)

His question is answered when he sees a large sign, “Welcome to Beautiful Tasmania”. Bugs then wonders, “Tasmania? Where in Tasmania’s Tasmania?” He then sees a stampede of animals running (animated by Grandpre) towards him so he figures, “What the- Hey! Must be chow time at the zoo!” He tries to ask the numerous animals, “Wait a minute-” to no avail as they’re too busy running. Bugs resorts to shouting and waving his arms, “WAIT A MINUTE! WAIT A M-!” A crocodile stops at this and converts himself into an alligator bag. Bugs pulls numerous clothes out of the crocodile’s bag form and asks him, “Eh, what’s up, croc? Who ya hiding from?” The crocodile answers, “The Tasmanian Devil’s on the loose! Run! Run! Run for your life! Run!” This only confuses Bugs, “Tasmanian Devil? And what pray tell is a Tasmanian Devil, to create such a fu-ro-ry?” The crocodile hands him a brochure and leaves, still in his bag form. Bugs reads the longer-than-one-page warning section about Taz, “Hmm. Beware of the Tasmanian Devil, a vicious ravenous brute with powerful jaws like a steel trap. Eats Aardvarks, ants, bears, boars, cats, bats, dogs, hogs, elephants, antelopes, pheasants, ferrets, giraffes, gazelles-” (animated by Keith Darling). Bugs briefly stops to aside, “Heh! A likely story! But there ain’t no such animal!”, before continuing, “stoats, goats, shoats, ostriches-” (animated by Grandpre).

Taz makes his entrance with his spin, splitting a boulder in two, plowing through a tree, burrowing into the ground, and plowing through another tree before he stops and walks around snarling. Upon spotting Bugs, he points at him hungrily (animated by Russ Dyson). Bugs is still in the middle of reading Taz’s large menu, “Octopuses, penguins, people, warthogs, yaks, newts, walrus, gnus (pronounces “g” in word), wildebeestis-”, but is surprised at an apparent omission, “What? No rabbits?” Taz appears behind him and turns the page where it says, “And especially rabbits!”, with Taz saying the latter two words verbatim and then chewing up the brochure. Bugs asks him, “Eh, what’s up, doc?” When Taz responds with unintelligible snarling, Bugs comments, “Jeez, what a grouch!” Taz picks Bugs up delighted, “Rabbit!” Bugs gets himself out of Taz’s clutches, “Put me down! I’m not a rabbit! I’m a monkey! And monkeys are DEFINITELY not on your menu!” (animated by Ted Bonnicksen)

As Bugs moves around chittering like a monkey, Taz tries to make sense of the situation before realizing that Bugs misled him. He points towards Bugs with an angry “Oh!” expression before spinning after him (animated by Bonnicksen). Bugs is seen walking away and laughing to himself, “What a birdbrain!” Realizing that Taz is approaching, he remarks, “Uh oh. He wants to play some more!”, before hiding behind a tree. Taz stops spinning upon losing track of Bugs, who then slaps him on the back with, “TAG! You’re it, Baggy Eyes!” Taz continues spinning after Bugs, going through every tree in the way. As Taz is in the middle of spinning his way through a larger tree, Bugs appears behind him in a singsong voice, “Hey Baggy Eyes!” Taz turns in his direction, but is then crushed by the tree sandwiching him. Bugs tells us, “Hmm. I wonder what Tasmanian Devil Little Thin Pancakes would taste like. Well, I guess I’ll never know”, but is suddenly grabbed by the ears from above. It turns out to be Taz’s doing with him appearing from a hole in the tree. He asks Bugs a question made hilarious by Mel Blanc’s line delivery, “What for you say you monkey when you got little powder-puff tail like rabbit, RABBIT!?” (animated by Darling)

With Bugs tied up and with an apple in his mouth, he is sprinkled with salt and pepper (shakers made out of coconuts) by Taz. Bugs sneezes so hard from the pepper that it causes the apple to shoot out of his mouth. He then observes, “Hey, Tazzy old devil! Ya sure toss a mean salad!” Taz’s salad is a ridiculously large bowl that does consist of vegetables, but also numerous small critters that are tossed around in the bowl. Bugs continues, “But any real gourmet knows ya just don’t serve a tossed salad with rabbit! Ya serve it with wild turkey surprise!” As he’s putting a drop of salad oil into the bowl, Taz becomes intrigued, “Huh? Wild turkey surprise?” After Bugs says, “Too bad I’m all tied up or I’d cook ya up a batch!”, Taz unties him, eager to eat this dish (animated by Grandpre).

Sitting down at a makeshift table with cutlery, Taz hungrily waits for the meal while Bugs imitates an Italian waiter, “One-a wild-a turkey surprise-a coming up!” Bugs actually fixes a few dynamite sticks together to resemble a turkey while he sings, “Atsa Matta for You” in his normal voice. Serving the dynamite to Taz, he switches back to the Italian accent, “Now eat it up while it’s-a still-a sizzle-a!” As Bugs backs away, Taz shoves the entire dynamite into his mouth and pats his stomach with a contented “Mmm”, before the dynamite explodes from inside him and causes him to briefly rumble. Slightly embarrassed, he lets out a quiet “Pardon”. Bugs removes his chef/waiter outfit, “That’s alright. You good kid”. Taz becomes angry and gets up on the table growling and snarling. Bugs scolds him, “Don’t you (imitates same growling and snarling) me, buster!” Taz continues doing it, causing Bugs to let out a disgusted groan before running off (animated by Bonnicksen).

Bugs runs into the “Trader Mac” hut to get some stuff for a disguise, with those being a small box, a broom, a bear trap, and a small pink skirt. He uses the broom’s bristles for female hair (also putting a feminine hat on), puts the bear trap in his mouth, the skirt around his waist, and takes out the contents of the box- lipstick- to apply it to his lips (animated by Bonnicksen). He then does his own Tasmanian Devil spin, causing Taz to believe Bugs is a “Tasmanian SHE-devil!” Love-struck, Taz reacts wildly by imitating a wolf, a dog, and a rooster, then letting out a “Rowr!” to the audience. Bugs says to him in a feminine voice, “John!”, with Taz coming up to him and replying, “Marsha!” Taz noisily anticipates a kiss so Bugs kisses him with the bear trap, which snaps shut on Taz’s now lipsticked mouth. Taz’s brief excitement from this is cut short by a familiar voice exclaiming, “Claude!” It turns out to be his wife, She Devil, who presumably assumes he was cheating on her with another female Devil. Taz refers to her as “Rosebud!” before she leads him away by repeatedly clobbering him on the head with her rolling pin. Bugs removes his disguise and makes a comment on She-Devil in his normal voice, “She’s a NICE lady!”, ending with him letting out a disgusted groan (animated by Darling).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕