Release Date:

June 30, 1951

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny

Summary:

Having been in a crate of carrots shipped overseas to Paris, Bugs Bunny realizes he’s in France and finds himself the target of two French chefs named Francois and Louie, who own separate restaurants and want to cook Bugs in order to have rabbit on the menu. Bugs gets out of it by tricking them into being the demonstration “rabbits” for the coveted recipe, “Louisiana Back-bay Bayou Bunny Borderlaise, a la Antoine”.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1167 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. Inexplicably, the “Bugs Bunny in” for this cartoon was replaced with the “Bugs Bunny in” card and animation used from late 1956 to 1964. Thankfully, the music and the rest of the credits are still intact.

Like with “Bushy Hare”, this is another instance where Bugs ends up in a different location, but not by taking a wrong turn at Albuquerque.

This is the only Bugs Bunny cartoon scored by Eugene Poddany, and the first Bugs Bunny cartoon to be scored by someone other than Carl Stalling.

Instead of “What’s Up Doc”, a combination of a few French tunes such as “The Latin Quarter” play under the opening credits.

Like with “Hillbilly Hare”, Bugs’ two antagonists are one with black hair and one with red hair. In this case, Francois has black hair and Louie has red hair.

The cartoon was originally titled “Hassenpfeffered Hare”. Hassenpfeffer, which is a rabbit dish, would play a central part in Freleng’s “Shishkabugs” (1962) where Yosemite Sam is the cook for the spoiled king who wants hassenpfeffer, so Sam tries (and fails) to have Bugs as the ingredient in the dish.

The title is a pun for “Welsh rarebit”.

Tedd Pierce voices Louie.

Speaking of Pierce, this is the first cartoon he wrote for McKimson when he officially became his storyman (though McKimson’s next cartoon, “Leghorn Swoggled” would be written by Warren Foster).

The animator draft for the cartoon can be viewed here.

The scene where Francois does the “chef’s kiss” would later become a meme.

Francois would later appear in the Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries episode, “Yelp”.

What I Like About This One:

In Paris, a truck carrying crates of carrots from the US drives along a bumpy road with one of the crates falling off and smashing (animated by Phil DeLara). This one happens to be the one Bugs was in as he comes out from the spilled carrots, “Heh. When these drivers decide to drop ya off somewheres, they ain’t kiddin’!” Wondering where he’s at, Bugs sees some signs pointing towards French landmarks and mispronouncing them (mostly pronouncing them how they’re spelled), “Rue De La Paix”, “I-full Tower”, and “Champs Ellieisiay”. Realizing he must be in Paris (animated by Charles McKimson), Bugs decides to “stroll down ze boulevard and look over the mon-sewers and madi-moiselles” (animated by DeLara).

As Bugs is walking along the streets whistling, “The Latin Quarter”, Francois comes out of his restaurant and is ecstatic: “Nom de plume! A rabbit! Just what I must have for ze dinner menu!” and then runs back in. Louie shortly comes out of his and is also delighted: “Oui de noel! A rabbit! Just what I must have for ze dinner menu! Vive a’la carte!” before going back in. Bugs is initially oblivious to Francois sneaking up behind him to measure him but upon feeling him rush off, becomes confused and also doesn’t notice Louie doing the same thing seconds later. He then feels Louie rushing off and wonders, “What was that?” (animated by DeLara)

Bugs realizes, “Uh oh. Something tells me this little gray hare’s in the middle again!” (animated by Charles) Seeing Louie running out towards him with a platter (animated by DeLara), Bugs says to himself, “En garde, rabbit” while fluttering his eyebrows (animated by Charles). Francois also runs towards Bugs with a platter and seemingly catches him offscreen. As he walks back la-la’ing happily to “Alouette”, he is stopped by Bugs asking him, “Meh, what’s up, doc? What ya got in the tureen?” Francois obliviously answers proudly, “Ah, monsieur. Here I have ze most beautiful rabbit!” Bugs asks, “Rabbit, eh? Eh, mind if I have a peek at him?” Francois gladly approves, but upon lifting the platter, it’s revealed that he actually stuffed Louie in there by mistake (animated by Emery Hawkins).

Seeing this, Bugs remarks, “Mm. Sort of short-eared critter, ain’t he, doc?” (animated by Charles) Making a realization, Francois finally sees who he actually caught: “Monsieur Louie! Monsieur, what have you do with my rabbit?” Louie retorts, “YOUR rabbit? No, no, no, no, no. No, Monsieur Francois. Ze rabbit, she is mine!” Francois argues back, “Au contraire, monsieur. The rabbit is MINE, not YOURS” (animated by Hawkins).

Bugs whispers into Louie’s ear, “If anybody was to tell me, my rabbit wasn’t mine, I’d tweak his little pink tomato (British pronunciation) nose” (animated by Charles). Louie tweaks Francois’ nose after declaring, “En garde!” (animated by Rod Scribner) Bugs then whispers to Francois, “If anybody was to tweak my little pink tomato (British pronunciation again) nose, I’d-” and then whispers something inaudible to him (animated by Charles). Francois exclaims, “Touche!” and yanks on Louie’s beard. After Bugs whispers something else to Louie, Louie pulls on Francois’ mustache. Bugs then hands Francois a mallet and Louie a frying pan before they start hitting each other with their respective weapons back and forth (animated by Scribner).

Watching the fight in the doorway of Francois’ restaurant, Bugs tsks, “What a revoltin’ display of temper!” before Francois suddenly declares, “I win! I win!”, catches Bugs in his platter and takes him to his kitchen, putting him in the pot (animated by DeLara). Bugs pops out of the pot and asks, “Now just an o-dee cologne minute, doc. What’s cookin’?” Francois answers, “YOU, monsieur” before chuckling to which Bugs questions, “You’re gonna cook ME?” Francois confirms, “Ah. Oui, monsieur. I am now prepare zee delicious rabbit Francois” and does a chef’s kiss. Bugs answers, “Oh. Uh huh. Okay” but then tells Francois, “Of course, if you REALLY want to make something good, nothing beats a good Louisiana Back-bay Bayou Bunny Borderlaise. A la Antoine” before going down into the pot (animated by Charles).

Curious (“A la Antoine!?”), Francois asks, “You mean ZEE Antoine of New Orleans?” Bugs replies leaning out of the pot, “I don’t mean Antoine of Flatbush!” before scolding, “Now go on, buster! Get with your cookin’!" and goes back into the pot. Becoming envious, Francois decides, “Pa bleu! Zis recipe I must know!” before politely knocking on the pot lid, “Uh, monsieur?” “NOW what?”, Bugs asks, pretending to be annoyed. Francois requests, “Monsieur will show me to cook zis recipe, no?” Bugs refuses with an emphatic “No” (animated by Charles).

Francois becomes frustrated and jerks Bugs out of the pot, “Monsieur, I insist that you show me!” Bugs gives in, “Oh, well. If you een-sist. Now then, eh, I’m the chef (pronounces it how it’s spelled) and you’re the rabbit, see?”, as he pulls Francois’ apron and chef hat off of him. Francois replies, “But, monsieur, I do not look like zee rabbit”. Bugs fixes that by putting a gray glove atop Francois’ head and cutting off all the extra fingers on the glove in order for it to resemble rabbit ears, and has him open wide so Bugs can put a cube sugar on the interior of Francois’ upper lip to resemble buck teeth. He then cuts Francois’ mustache so it resembles whiskers (animated by DeLara). After Bugs has Francois wiggle his nose, he tells Francois he makes a swell rabbit and has him look in a glass-less mirror that Bugs holds in front of it. Oblivious that he’s seeing Bugs instead of his reflection, Francois agrees (animated by Charles).

Bugs then demonstrates Antoine’s recipe, putting Francois through everything. “First, immerse the rabbit thoroughly in wine”, dipping Francois into a barrel of wine which gets him drunk, “then pickle” (animated by Scribner), to which Francois replies, “Already, I am ze (hiccups) pickled” (animated by Charles). Francois is then put into the pickling bottle where Bugs continues, “Shake well”, and after doing so, stuffs hot sauce, chili peppers, bay leaf, bay rum, hot mustard, horseradish, mule radish, and a dash of tabasco sauce all into Francois’ mouth (animated by Scribner), which causes Francois’ pupils to briefly form into erupting volcanoes and for him to breathe small flames from his mouth (animated by Charles).

“Next, we dip liberally in flour. So!” and drops Francois into a barrel of it. “And roll briskly with rolling pin. Knead (pronounces the “k” in the word) gently, but firmly” but actually kneads him very roughly. After putting him into the stew pot (where the flour comes off of Francois), Bugs adds a few vegetables, sliced parsnips, potatoes, “as-pa-ra-gus”, and nearly adds onions before he is stopped by Francois with a sign reading “Hold La Onions”. “Huh? Oh, okay. Skip the onions” (animated by Scribner).

Louie then walks in and absentmindedly believing Bugs is Francois, insists, “Monsieur Francois! Ze rabbit, she is MINE!” As Louie picks up the pot, Francois crowns him with a mallet to make him come to his senses. When Louie realizes who he’s actually carrying in the pot, Francois asks “You are expecting maybe Umphrey Bogart?” Louie asks Francois what happened (animated by Hawkins), to which Francois explains, “Monsieur le rabbit, la, is showing me to cook ze Louisiana Back-bay Bunny Bordelaise. A La Antoine”. Louie too covets the recipe and thinks to himself, “Nom de sad sack!” (animated by Charles)

Francois requests for Bugs to continue, “Proceed, monsieur le rabbit!” Before Bugs can continue, Louie frustratingly tells him to stop, “First, you show this recipe to Monsieur Francois! Then you must show it to me!” In response, Bugs fixes Louie up like a rabbit as well, removing his chef hat and apron, putting the gray glove that resembles rabbit ears on his head, and cubed sugar in his mouth, before doing all of the instructions quickly, “Now wine, pickle, stuffing, flour, roll, knead (again pronounces the “k” in the word), and into the pot” (animated by Scribner).

For good measure, Bugs also puts a “nice, big carrot” into the pot but before he does so, cuts out a large hole in the interior with a knife in order to put a dynamite stick in there (animated by Scribner). Bugs then puts them (animated by DeLara) “And into La Oven we go”. After shutting the oven door on them, Bugs lights the fuse to the dynamite, which only leaves the oven ruined. Francois and Louie are heard singing “Alouette” inside but when Bugs opens it, he finds that they are unharmed as shouting “Vive Antoine!” before singing an encore while basting themselves (animated by Hawkins). Bugs ends the cartoon with, “Heh. Personally, I prefer hamburger” (animated by Charles).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½