Release Date:

June 19, 1954

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny, Taz

Summary:

All of the animals are running away in fear from the Tasmanian Devil. Not knowing what a Tasmanian Devil is, Bugs Bunny soon meets the very animal- Taz, who Bugs plays numerous tricks on.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1304 and was released as a Looney Tune.

This is the first appearance of Taz, who would end up being the final major character the studio introduced. Taz only appeared in four more cartoons in the Golden Age (all directed by McKimson), with those being “Bedevilled Rabbit”, “Ducking the Devil” (both released in 1957), “Bill of Hare” (1962), and “Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare” (1964). Taz’s popularity would take off after the Golden Age, having appeared in several modern incarnations and even his own television series in the 1990’s called “Taz-Mania” (it’s really a shame that McKimson never got to see Taz grow in popularity since he died of a heart attack at 66 in 1977).

The idea of Taz came to be when the studio was trying to think up a new species of a character they hadn’t used before. McKimson, who was a crossword puzzle addict, suggested a Tasmanian Devil since he came across it in one of his puzzles. No one else knew what that was, so he had all his animators come up with what they thought one looked like. The end result is how Taz appears.

Taz was originally going to be a one-off character, because Eddie Selzer hated him. Selzer deemed him too violent and didn’t want to see any more of him. A few years later, however, Jack Warner (who rarely paid attention to what was going on with the cartoons), took notice of the boxes and boxes of letters he received from people asking to see more of Taz. Warner ordered Selzer to have more Taz cartoons made and the rest is history. So if not for Jack Warner’s interference, Taz would have never been a recurring character.

Sid Marcus wrote this cartoon rather than Tedd Pierce.

Milt Franklyn scored this cartoon.

The title is a pun for the phrase, “devil may care”, referring to someone who is as cheerful as they are reckless.

This is the last Bugs Bunny cartoon to have him only sit atop the letters in his first name in the “Bugs Bunny in” card, barring “Lumber Jack Rabbit” (although the original animation for this sequence would still be used up until 1956’s “Half Fare Hare”, which is coincidentally McKimson’s next Bugs cartoon after this one).

During the ending scene where Bugs gets Taz married to a female Tasmanian Devil (known as “She-Devil”), Taz and She Devil’s voices are accidentally switched.

You can find out who animated what scene here.

This is the only Taz cartoon to be animated by McKimson’s old unit (Rod Scribner, Phil DeLara, Charles McKimson, and Herman Cohen), as his other four cartoons would be animated by McKimson’s new post-1955 unit (Ted Bonnicksen, George Grandpre, and to an extent, Warren Batchelder, and Keith Darling).

Bugs says “Take it easy” at least twice in this cartoon. Coincidentally, the band Eagles’ hit, “Take It Easy” (1972) is a song I’ve grown appreciation for recently (about two weeks ago to be exact).

Favorite Scene:

Bugs tricking Taz into eating a chicken made out of liquid bubble gum and bicarbonate of soda.

What Happens in This One:

Doing some spring cleaning, Bugs comes up out of his hole to empty out his vacuum bag full of carrot stems. Suddenly, a bird flies toward him at rapid speed, causing Bugs to duck. “I gotta watch out for them low-flyin’ planes. A person’s liable to get, eh-”, before a deer jumps over him. Bugs wonders, “Hey, what’s all the excitement about?” The ground then shakes and a stampede of animals runs past him in terror. He tries to ask several, “What’s up, doc?” to no avail, before eventually stopping a turtle by putting a shovel in front of him, causing said turtle to bash into it and create a turtle-shaped imprint. When Bugs asks him, “What’s cookin’?”, the turtle answers, “The Tasmanian Devil’s on the loose! Run! Run! Run for your life!” Bugs realizes, “Hmm. I don’t even know what a Tasmanian Devil is. Huh. I better find out more about him!” as he descends down into his hole (animated by Charles McKimson).

Taz makes his entrance doing his now trademark spin, which breaks a boulder in two and enables him to go right through a tree, burrow under the ground and go through another tree. He stops spinning and walks around growling and snorting, before hearing Bugs searching through an encyclopedia as he looks down into the hole watching him, “Q…R…S…T.. (animated by Phil DeLara) Tas…Tasmanian…Here it is!” Upon finding “Tasmanian Devil” (animated by Rod Scribner), he reads out the encyclopedia’s definition for the species aloud, “A strong murderous beast, jaws as powerful as a steel trap- has ravenous appetite-eats tigers, lions, elephants, buffaloes, donkeys, giraffes, octopuses, rhinoceroses, mooses, ducks,-”. Taz adds in a hilariously flat tone, “Rabbits”, which confuses Bugs, “Rabbits!? It doesn't say rabbits here!” Taz uses a pencil to add “And Rabbits” to his description in the encyclopedia (animated by Charles McKimson).

Bugs sees that Taz is behind him and growling but he only eats a carrot and nonchalantly asks, “Eh, what’s up, doc?” Taz picks him up only for Bugs to hit him with his carrot, “Put me down, you baggy-eyed devil! If ya eat me, what have ya got? One skinny rabbit, that’s all. Look, no meat”, as he lifts up his leg fur to reveal a small amount of skin underneath. “Now, look, pal, if you and me work together, I can fix you up with a menagerie”. Excited, Taz asks, “You will?” Bugs assures him, “That’s right, doc. First, we’ll start the menu with a little appetizer: groundhogs”, to which Taz licks his lips in ecstasy (animated by Herman Cohen).

Bugs and Taz go out with shovels as Bugs has them stop at a random place, “Okay, doc. This is the spot. We’ll start digging for groundhogs”. Taz begins digging a hole, only for Bugs to bury him in it by shoveling dirt atop him. Bugs puts a flower atop it and believes, “That’s that”, only to feel Taz tapping him on the shoulder from behind. Bugs turns around to be confronted by Taz asking him, “What for you bury me in the cold, cold ground?” before he growls and attempts to attack Bugs. Bugs tries to get Taz to stop, “Now, now, now, take it easy, doc. Take it ea- Take it. Wait. Wait”, before pretending to smell something in the air. “I smell chicken”. Taz asks, “Huh? Chicken? Huh?” to which Bugs answers, “Sure, doc. Wait right here and I’ll fix it up for ya” (animated by Phil DeLara).

Bugs goes to a tree stump and takes out two cans labeled, “Liquid Bubble Gum” and “Bicarbonate of Soda”, respectively. He pours the liquid bubble gum on the stump and puts the bicarbonate of soda on it in order to shape the gum into a chicken. Bugs then pulls out a miniature xylophone that chimes like a bell and announces, “Luncheon is served. Luncheon is served”. After whimpering like a dog for a bit, Taz takes the gum chicken, puts it in his mouth, and after noisily eating it, begins to hiccup several times to the point that he creates a very large bubble emerging from his mouth. Bugs blows him away and then pops his bubble by firing a rock from a slingshot, causing Taz to fall and the gum to get him stuck to a tree branch (animated by Rod Scribner).

Having opened the box of a portable life-raft that inflates when a cord is pulled, Bugs makes it look like a pig by painting a pig-like face on its front, and sticking leaves on its front and back to make them look like ears and the curly tail, respectively. Bugs then kicks the box away before hiding behind a tree with the cord and saying “Oink” several times. Taz falls for it and eats the raft whole, to which Bugs then pulls the cord, causing the raft to inflate from inside Taz, making him resemble a raft (animated by Scribner).

Bugs has just finished constructing a phony deer with a bucket for a head, a barrel for a body, and a broom for a tail, before he sees Taz approaching him. He runs up to the top of a tree which Taz begins chomping at repeatedly, reducing the tree down to size and allowing Bugs to get within reach of him. During this, Bugs tells him, “Now-now- now, devil, control yourself. That-that’s no way to act. Now-now-now, take it easy. I can explain everything, doc. I just rounded up something very extra special for ya. A nice, fat deer”, and points to his decoy. Taz attempts to run up to it, before Bugs holds by the arm for him to stop, “Not so fast. You’ll scare him away. First, knock him out with this slingshot. Then, go get him”. Taz goes over to a large slingshot to launch a boulder at the “deer”, oblivious to Bugs jumping into a hole next to said slingshot. Bugs cuts away at it with a saw, sending the slingshot flying backwards and causing Taz and the boulder to crash offscreen. The aftermath is revealed with a dazed Taz piled up and seeing stars (animated by DeLara).

Bugs climbs out of the hole and laughs, “What a maroon. What a ma-”, only for a small fawn to come up to him and begin licking his hand. Realizing this fawn has no idea what he’s in for, Bugs warns him to go away, “Hey, scram. Go on. Beat it. The Tasmanian Devil’s liable to get ya. He’s a mean, vicious, nasty, no-good, baggy-eyed, marble-headed ignoramurus. He’s a stupid-”, only to stop upon feeling Taz behind him. Taz informs him, “Flattery will get ya nowhere. And ya can’t fool me again!” Bugs answers, “Huh? Uh, why, uh, yeah, yeah, that’s right, doc. Uh, this little bitsy animal is made out of straw”. “But YOU’RE not!”, Taz replies before attempting to chomp at Bugs. Bugs runs off into the distance with Taz chasing him by spinning all the way (animated by Cohen).

Taz passes by Bugs hiding behind a tree while Bugs pulls out a phone from the tree and calls, “Long distance? Get me Tasmania. I want the Tasmanian Post Dispatch”. He briefly confides, “Oh, brother. What I got up my sleeve shouldn’t happen”, before continuing his call, “Hello? Tasmanian Post Dispatch? Uh, insert this ad. Lonely Tasmanian Devil Would Like to Meet Lonely Lady Devil. Object: Matrimony”. As soon as Bugs hangs up (animated by Cohen), a plane from the “Tasmanian Air Lines” lands and a She-Devil wearing a bridal headdress, comes out. She and Taz are immediately smitten and start growling at each other (animated by Scribner). Wearing a preacher’s hat, Bugs blows a whistle and gets the two Devils married by talking in gibberish and then ending the brief ceremony with, “I now pronounce you Devil and Devilish”. Taz and She-Devil board the plane which flies back to Tasmania. After waving goodbye, Bugs confides, “All the world loves a lover. But in this case, we’ll make an exception” (animated by Charles).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕