Release Date:

September 25, 1948

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny

Summary:

Bugs Bunny is preparing to see his girlfriend, Daisy Lou, and finds out that his next door neighbor, a large dopey brown rabbit named Casbah, is planning the same thing. Finding out that Daisy Lou has gone shopping, Bugs uses this as an opportunity to heckle Casbah by disguising as Daisy Lou.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1059 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The cartoon was given the new Blue Ribbon reissue system. When it was restored for HBO Max in 2020, the original opening rings were put back in. This same restored print with the original titles was later put out on the Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection Blu-ray set the same year.

This one is a real standout as it’s one of the very few times in the Golden Age that Bugs is shown to be in a relationship. Other instances of Bugs being in love or being pursued by someone he shows no interest in include “The Grey Hounded Hare” (1949) where he mistakes a mechanical rabbit used in a dog race for a real female rabbit as well as “Rabbit Romeo” (1957) where he tries to avoid the clutches of a lovesick Slobovian rabbit named Millicent. Incidentally, both of these are directed by McKimson (and both are also included on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 4 DVD set).

The name “Casbah” comes from the saying, “Come with me to the casbah!”

Oddly, Daisy Lou lives in a house rather than a rabbit hole.

The title is a pun for the phrase “splitting hairs”.

Considering this is a cartoon centered around romance, it’s unsurprising this one was written by Tedd Pierce, the studio’s “womanizer”.

The name “Daisy Lou” is reused from “A Hick A Slick and a Chick”, the other romance-themed cartoon of 1948 (while that one is by far the superior cartoon, this one is still very enjoyable).

What I Like About This One:

Bugs is first seen sprucing himself up and singing “If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight”, while spraying himself with cologne and kissing Daisy Lou’s picture. In the rabbit hole next door, Casbah is doing the exact same things (animated by Gerry Chiniquy).

After going up his elevator (animated by Chiniquy), Bugs comes out and finishes scatting to the same tune at the same time as Casbah. Noticing Casbah has a larger bouquet of flowers, Bugs goes back down and re-emerges with a box of candy. Casbah goes back down and re-emerges with a heart-shaped box of bon bons. A better gift competition ensues with both constantly going down their respective holes and coming back up trying to outdo the other: Bugs with a diamond ring, Casbah with a necklace, Bugs with six boxes of nylons, Casbah with a mink, Bugs with a box of perfumes, Casbah with various presents before they both just keep using larger stacks of various presents. As Bugs stops, Casbah keeps descending and re-emerging with the same stack of various presents before Bugs ends this by holding an anvil over Casbah so that he bashes into it headfirst when coming back up (animated by Virgil Ross).

Getting to Daisy Lou’s first, Bugs rings the doorbell but finds a note: “Gone Shopping. Be Back Soon. Daisy”. Hearing Casbah scatting to “If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight” in the distance, Bugs takes the note off the door and puts on a green dress belonging to Daisy Lou that was hung out for laundry before disguising himself as Daisy Lou by making his eyelashes longer and putting on lipstick (animated by Ken Champin).

In a feminine voice, Bugs whistles, “Yoo-hoo. Casbah." while sitting on the porch swing, to which Casbah gets excited and a small Cupid rabbit appears and mallets him on the foot where Casbah’s heart rises up into his head like a test your strength game. A dazed Casbah gives the Cupid rabbit a cigar and it flies off (animated by Virgil Ross).

Bugs attempts to mallet Casbah, but is forced to hide it when he turns to look at him when he presents a carrot as a gift in an embarrassed manner: “A little token of my infection”. Bugs thanks him for being such a gentleman, always giving nice gifts (animated by Ross) as Casbah walks his fingers up near Bugs’ tail to which he giggles still in a feminine voice, “Oh, Casbah! Now you stop that!” and slaps him. Annoyed that Casbah is attempting the finger walk near the tail routine again, Bugs puts a mousetrap which Casbah gropes at in confusion before shouting in pain once it snaps on his fingers (animated by Chiniquy).

Casbah keeps trying to get uncomfortably close to Bugs until he is cornered at the end of the swing. Bugs quickly asks him to have a carrot- from a box of explosive ones. After Casbah eats it, it explodes in his mouth and his teeth break (animated by Chiniquy).

Wanting to “pitch some woo”, Casbah hugs Bugs very hard, causing the leggings from the disguise to fall down. Still talking in a feminine voice, Bugs tells him off while pulling the leggings back up: “Now you stop that, Casbah! You’re mistaken if you think I’m that kind of a girl!” When Casbah asks, “Well, er, uh, how about a little, uh, kiss, huh?” and attempts to smooch, as Bugs asides to the audience in his normal voice: “Do all of you girls out there have to go through this?” (animated by Champin)

Switching back to the feminine voice, Bugs tells Casbah, “Well, alright. But you’ll have to close your eyes”. As Casbah noisily anticipates it in excitement, Bugs applies lipstick to a plunger and says, “Here it comes!” as he puckers it against Casbah’s mouth, leaving Casbah’s mouth now marked with the lipstick before he is also crowned with a mallet (animated by Champin).

For good measure, Bugs paints a bomb to look like Daisy Lou’s face, puts it atop a fence post and puts a blonde wig over the bomb before putting another green dress around the post offscreen. Bugs beckons him for another kiss to which Casbah exclaims, “23 skidoo!” and gives chase, smooching the disguise which blows him up into the sky and causes him to float back down. Driven wild from this, he exclaims, “Wow! What a woman!” before imitating a rooster and then a dog before zooming at Bugs for another kiss. Bugs ducks, causing Casbah to get his lips stuck on the side of the house, pulling the boards his lips were stuck on off (animated by Ross).

Now disguised as Cupid, Bugs asks a depressed Casbah if he’s having girl trouble. When Casbah confirms, Bugs tells him, “Eh, that’s a cinch for old Daniel Cupid. One shot of this in the right place and you’ll be utterly irresti-bu-ble”. This is actually just an excuse for him to shoot Casbah in the rear end with a sharp arrow. After Bugs shoots it, Casbah screams in immense pain while jumping up through the porch’s roof (animated by Manuel Perez).

Bugs laughs, “What a maroon! What an ignora-no-mus!” before he is confronted by a furious Casbah, who has now gotten wise to Bugs’ shenanigans. Casbah is about to punch him as he fumes, “You can’t fool me no more! I know who you are! You’re that screwy rabbit!” Bugs puts on a pair of glasses and asks “You wouldn’t hit a guy with glasses, would ya?” Casbah does nothing for a brief second but then actually does punch Bugs! “You know, I believe he would!” (animated by Champin)

Chased back into the house and through the hallway, Bugs exits and shuts the door on Casbah just as Daisy Lou is returning home. Seeing this, Bugs runs off and hides behind the side of the house (animated by Ross). Regaining his senses, Casbah looks out the window and chuckles at what he thinks is Bugs disguised as Daisy Lou again: “Get him. Tryin’ to fool me again!”, preparing to attack with a vase. After she is attacked offscreen, Daisy Lou lets out a scream before angrily sending Casbah away, “Oh, you beast you!” Bugs hands her another vase as she attacks Casbah who runs out of the house who gets yet another vase thrown at him (animated by Perez).

Finally alone with Daisy Lou, Bugs starts romancing her like a gentleman: “Ah, my beautiful Daisy Lou. Your eyes are like limpid pools. Your teeth are like pearls. Real ones, no dimestore phonies.” Noticing some carrots, she delightedly takes one, but it turns out to be one of the explosive ones from earlier, which she eats just as Bugs makes a move to kiss her: “And your lips. Ah your lips are like- like- like-”. The explosion happens just as they kiss, which make them believe the other is a great kisser. “What a man!” “What a woman!” Bugs and Daisy Lou both whoop around happily before kissing again as the cartoon irises out (animated by Chiniquy).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½