Release Date:

December 20, 1952

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam

Summary:

The world’s largest airplane parks atop Bugs Bunny’s hole, so he decides to explore it. Meanwhile, Yosemite Sam has robbed the Last National Bank and boards the same plane to make a getaway. Spotting Bugs pretending to fly the plane, Sam assumes he’s the pilot and orders him to fly it, only for him to soon realize that Bugs is no pilot.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1214 and was released as a Looney Tune.

A slightly different arrangement of “What’s Up Doc” plays under the opening credits.

The title is a pun for “air lift”. You could also see it as a pun for “hair lift”, as in lifting one’s hair to become lighter in color.

The newspaper in the opening shot of the cartoon directly mentions the very first Warner cartoon, “Sinkin’ in the Bathtub” (as my journey of writing individual blog posts for all 1000 Warner cartoons from 1930-1969 continues, I always end up being completely amazed at how far I’ve come, as this is the 667th Warner cartoon overall, and it’s been almost three years since I started this blog!), in an article due to using the same newspaper mentioning the passing of a former Warner animator, Rollin Hamilton (who was also an early Disney animator), who died around the time this cartoon was in production. Hamilton animated on most of the cartoons from the Harman-Ising era. Another thing where once you notice it, you can’t unnotice it.

A photo of Treg Brown can also be seen in the newspaper.

The cartoon is a reworking of “Falling Hare”, which is notable for being a cartoon where Bugs mostly gets the worst of it. This time, however, he is unquestionably always on top and true to character in being nonchalant. While the original cartoon is still very funny, this is by far the superior cartoon, since this is the Bugs we know. Coincidentally, both cartoons are written by Warren Foster and Virgil Ross also animated on both cartoons.

The cartoon uses the 1953 green rings with the red background.

The cartoon was originally going to be included on the Looney Tunes Super Stars Bugs Bunny Hare Extraordinaire DVD set in 2010, before being reconsidered. It was later among the very first cartoons to be restored for HBO Max in 2020, and was also put on the Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection Blu-ray set later that year.

“Reckless Night On Board an Ocean Liner” plays during the scene where Bugs decides he’s going to radio the authorities that he’s bringing the plane back, only for him to be stopped by Sam shortly, up to the point where he kicks the “Learn to Fly” book out the door when Sam demands it for himself.

Favorite Scene:

Sam holds Bugs at gunpoint, but happens to be standing atop the doors on the bomb release, so Bugs opens the doors, causing Sam to fall. He doesn’t realize he’s falling until after he’s finished counting to 10 and not seeing Bugs anywhere.

What Happens in This One:

The newspaper’s headline reads, “Giant Plane Ready for Test Flight”, before the plane itself is seen parking atop Bugs’ hole. Bugs pops out of it and struggles to get out, “Hey! What’s goin’ on here? (grunts) Who parked this doughnut (grunts) on top of my house?” (animated by Virgil Ross) He then looks around at the plane and is impressed, “Say! This is quite a hunk of aircraft! Hmm, look at that landing gear”. He decides to go up the escalator toward the plane to explore it, “Well, I think I’ll take the 50-cent tour”. After getting to the interior of the plane, he asks, “Anybody home?”, which echoes. Upon getting no response, he continues in, “Wow! It’s the Grand Central Station with wings!” (animated by Manuel Perez)

Meanwhile, at the Last National Bank, offscreen shooting is heard as Sam laughs at the screaming people, “And keep reachin’ for the ceiling til ya reach it!”, before he comes out with the sack of money he’s stolen and wipes away the assets advertised on the bank’s window, 4562321.08 to just .08. Upon hearing a police siren, Sam gets into his vehicle and drives to the airport (animated by Arthur Davis). Still in the plane, Bugs is still impressed over it while he sits in the cockpit, “Some hot rod! Boy! I wish I could run one of these babies!” He puts on a pilot hat and imitates being said pilot, “Contact (makes sputtering and zooming noises)”, just as Sam enters the plane from the escalator. Bugs then mimics gunfire and says, “Pilot to bombardier. Over, roger!”, and soon sees Sam’s gun pointed at him. “Eh, what’s up, doc?” Sam demands, “Okay, pilot! Take off and make it snappy!” Bugs attempts to explain that he isn’t, “But see, I-I’m not really-I mean, I can-,I mean, what I mean is-”, but Sam isn’t in a listening mood and points his gun at him again, “Get a-goin’, or I’ll blow your carcass right out from under your hat!” Bugs shrugs and decides to comply as he looks at the controls, “Well, let’s see now. Where do they put the starter on this thing? Hmm. I wonder what this one’s for”, and pushes a seemingly random button (animated by Perez).

This button starts the plane’s propellers and the plane soon takes off. “Well, what do ya know? We’re movin’!”, Bugs realizes. Several approaching cars quickly get out of the way as the plane comes towards them. Bugs then silently reacts in shock when he sees they’re about to hit a skyscraper, so he has it go up just in time and go all the way upward into the air, nose-first as Sam falls into the rubber glass back window on the plane’s tail end, and sees that they’re in space upon seeing the Earth disappear into the distance (animated by Ross). Bugs also realizes this when he sees they’re approaching the Moon (animated by Davis) and in order to avoid crashing into it, pulls the wheel all the way back, which now causes the plane to go downward, and for Sam to fall from the rubber glass window on the tail end (animated by Ross) and roll backwards into one of the doors inside the plane (animated by Davis).

As the plane continues descending downward, Sam bursts into the cockpit and raves, “Why, you crazy idjit pilot! I’ll have your license revoked!” (animated by Davis), only to find Bugs calmly reading a book called “Learn to Fly” while in the cockpit seat, causing Sam to realize the mistake he made. “Great horny toads!” and sees that the Earth is getting closer. He demands, “Quick! Quick! Do something! We’re gonna crash! Read faster, rabbit! Read faster or I’ll blast your head off!” Bugs shuts the book and tells him, “I refuse to look up any more reference because you talked mean to me. Say you’re sorry”, to which Sam responds with “Oh, no” in an “are you kidding me?” tone and facepalms. Seeing the United States’ shape in the Earth get closer, Sam begrudgingly apologizes, “Okay, ya crazy galoot. I’m sorry”. Since the apology wasn’t sincere, Bugs tells him to “Say you’re sorry with sugar on it”. Sam raves, “No! No! Never!”, so Bugs decides, “Okay”, and calmly sits in the cockpit seat while munching a carrot, not doing anything to prevent a possible crash. Sam tries to act nonchalant by twirling a yo-yo and playing jacks while humming nervously but then looks out the cockpit window again and sees that they’re now approaching land quickly (animated by Ross).

Desperate, Sam gets down on his knees in a pleading position, and says, “I-I’m sorry with sugar on it!” Bugs accepts this, “That’s better! MUCH better! I’ll see what I can do!” Sam screams in terror and turns around covering his eyes, just as Bugs has the plane zoom back up into the air at the last minute. Bugs decides, “I guess that was it” and begins to walk out of the cockpit seat. “I guess I’d better radio the authorities that I’m bringing the ship back”. Sam yells, “Bring it back!?” and goes up to Bugs with his guns (animated by Ross). He stops Bugs with his guns drawn and demands, “Oh, no, ya don’t! Gimme that book!” Bugs seemingly complies, “Gladly” but then drops it on the floor and kicks it out the door. Sam runs out after it, “Oooh, ya clumsy rabbit!”, and manages to catch it, before realizing he’s in mid-air. He races back in (animated by Davis), only to slip out the door on the opposite side thanks to a banana peel that Bugs has placed on the floor. Bugs hears a knock on the door and finds Sam clinging to the door and panting in terror. Bugs just says, “Sorry, can’t use any today. Try next Wednesday”, as he shuts the door back (animated by Perez).

Sam bursts back into the plane, “Ooooh, ya long-eared, fur-bearin’, flat-footed varmint!” (animated by Perez) and holds Bugs at gunpoint to the one of the walls of the plane. “Say your prayers, ya critter! I’m a-blastin’ ya to kingdom come at the count of ten!” It turns out Sam is obliviously standing on the doors of the bomb release, so Bugs pulls the lever to open the doors, causing Sam to fall out through the doors as he’s still counting. Unaware that he’s falling, Sam wonders after he finishes counting, “Now where’d that skunk of a rabbit go?” He then looks around him and now realizes he’s falling, “YIPE!”, and quickly zooms back up into the plane (animated by Davis).

Bugs is back in the cockpit singing “Captain of the Clouds”. Sam comes up to him and demands, “I’m a-takin’ over this flyin’ machine! Gimme that wheel!” Bugs takes him literally, “Well, if you insist. Here it is”, and uproots said wheel before throwing it out the window. Sam watches the wheel fall far below to the ground as the plane begins to dive downward and he raves, “You idjit! Look what ya done!” (animated by Davis)

Sam pushes several buttons and controls to try and stop the plane, and then resorts to using the robot pilot. Once summoned, the robot pilot instead grabs one of the plane’s parachutes and bails out with it. Bugs realizes, “Gee. That leaves only one parachute. We’ll have to draw straws to see who gets it”. Sam decides, “Okay. You draw the straws”, and takes the other parachute. “I’m a-takin’ the parachute! Geronimo!” and jumps out. After he descends down slowly with the parachute open, Sam laughs up to Bugs, “So long, sucker!”, only for a waiting police car to stop below him and his laughing to become weaker as he lands right in the car, with the parachute covering up the whole police car. Meanwhile, Bugs pulls a large brake lever inside the plane, causing it to come to a stop just inches before crashing. Relieved, Bugs sighs, “Whew! Lucky for me this thing had air brakes!” (animated by Ken Champin)

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕