Release Date:

November 10, 1945

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd

Summary:

Elmer Fudd buys Bugs Bunny from the market to make into a rabbit stew. Once Bugs gets Elmer distracted, he imitates a radio announcer informing him that all rabbits sold within the last three days are infected with the dreaded disease, “rabbititus”, which if humans catch it, causes them to act like a rabbit. Elmer then tries to get rid of Bugs, to no avail.

That’s Not All, Folks:

Despite the production number being 8-14 (the 8th Merrie Melodie in the 14th release season), the cartoon was released as a Looney Tune.

This is the first of two cartoons to have Bugs appear in the drum ending (animated by Ken Harris), and instead of saying the usual “That’s all, folks!”, says, “And that’s the end!” while munching on a carrot. The other cartoon that uses the Bugs drum ending is “Baseball Bugs” (1946). This ending is even referenced in the Looney Tunes Show episodes “Peel of Fortune” (2011) and “Super Rabbit” (2013; not to be confused with the 1943 cartoon of the same name).

This is Jones’ first Elmer cartoon since “To Duck or Not to Duck” as well as his first Bugs and Elmer cartoon since “Elmer’s Pet Rabbit” (which prior to this, was the only time he had them paired up).

The cartoon basically predicts the COVID-19 pandemic by 75 years as Bugs puts a sign on Elmer’s door saying “Quarantined for Rabbititus. No one may leave the premises”.

The title is an obvious pun on “hair tonic”.

Elmer wears the same outfit as his predecessor, Egghead, in this cartoon.

This is one of the few cartoons where Bugs refers to Elmer by name.

What I Like About This One:

The rendition of “Corns for My Country” over the opening credits.

Elmer singing “Mommy’s Wittle Baby Woves Wabbit Stew” to the tune of “Shortnin’ Bread” (animated by Lloyd Vaughan).

Stealing one of the carrots from a bunch Elmer bought, Bugs rises out of the basket and asks what he’s got in the basket. Elmer tells him it’s a wabbit he plans to make into wabbit stew. Asking to see the rabbit, Bugs looks into the basket and tells Elmer, “No rabbit in there, doc. You’ve been robbed”. As a confused Elmer gets into the basket to look, Bugs carries the basket with Elmer inside while singing “Mommy’s Little Baby Loves Rabbit Stew” himself. Elmer then pops up annoyed, “Ooh, you twickster. YOU’RE the wabbit!” They switch back to their regular places with Elmer vowing to “take this wabbit home and fwicassee him!” Bugs laughs, “He don’t know me very well, do he?” (animated by Vaughan)

As Elmer is putting his apron on, he tells Bugs, “Now, Mr. Wise Wabbit. I’ll demonstwate how to make a wabbit stew!”, but once his back is turned, Bugs rings a bell that makes telephone-like noises. Thinking someone’s on the phone, Elmer goes to answer it while Bugs sneaks out of the house. Bugs has second thoughts about escaping however: “Uh oh. Wait a minute. This setup’s too good. I just CAN’T leave. I gotta go back and heckle that character” (animated by Basil Davidovich).

Bugs goes back in as Elmer is trying to sort out confusion with the operator: “Well, but you wang my phone, opewator. Oh, yes. My phone went BWWWWWWWIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNGGG!” Bugs flips the dial on the radio and sneaks behind it to imitate an announcer informing that all rabbits sold within the last three days are infected with “rabbititus”, which is highly contagious to humans, and with the main symptoms being seeing spots before their eyes, coated tongues, throwing violent fits, and in the final stage has delusions that make them believe they’re a rabbit. Scared at the thought of this, Elmer gets off the phone as Bugs is next seen back in the pot slicing carrots and singing “Mommy’s Little Baby Loves Rabbit Stew” (animated by Davidovich).

Elmer telling Bugs, “You’re fwee to scamper away. Far, far away.” Bugs acts like he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, and walks up to Elmer, who desperately begs for Bugs to not get close to him, retreating to the top of a door. Bugs sniffs his armpits and asks, “Don’t tell me I offend!” After Elmer tells Bugs to “make twacks, scuwwy away, SCWAM!” (animated by Davidovich up to here), Bugs acts offended and decides he can take a hint. After bidding an irritable “Goodbye”, he returns instantly and shows Elmer a sign on the door: “Quarantined for Rabbititus. No One May Leave the Premises” (animated by Ken Harris).

Elmer is horrified at the thought of being “twapped with a cwazy contaminated wabbit”. Bugs tries to assure him he’s not contaminated as he has no symptoms, which are all immediately proven false as he does indeed have them: spots before his eyes, a coated tongue (actually, his tongue wearing a jacket), and throwing fits which include among other things, imitating Frankenstein’s monster. Claiming he’s full of pep and has never felt better in his life, Bugs tries to get Elmer to jitterbug with him. Seeing he’s touched a wabbit, Elmer believes he’s been contaminated and tries to wash it away in the shower. Instead of water spraying down on him, Elmer only hears Bugs imitating a spraying noise and then sees him in place of the shower sprayer: “Gurgle. Gurgle. Why don’t you pay your water bill, doc?” (animated by Harris)

Elmer then puts his clothes back on but Bugs substitutes his chair and tricks Elmer into tying his ears around his neck like a tie. Realizing he’s wearing Bugs instead of a tie, Elmer zooms off, leaving Bugs wearing only his underwear (animated by Ben Washam).

Opening the door, Elmer is met by Bugs disguised as “Dr. Killpatient” from the Board of Health. Grateful to see a doctor, Elmer leads him to another room. A few seconds later, Bugs tells Elmer to come in to the room, where red, blue, and yellow spots are everywhere. As Elmer reacts in shock, Bugs sneakily pushes cans of red paint, blue paint, and yellow paint behind a chair. Elmer believes he is seeing spots before his eyes, which is the first symptom of rabbititus. Bugs then asks him multiplication facts such as 2 times 2 which Elmer answers as 4 and 3 times 3 which Elmer falsely answers as 6 instead of 9. Bugs claims that multiplying is proof that Elmer is beginning to look like a rabbit. Elmer is dumbfounded: “Why, that’s widicuwous. I don’t wook one itty bit wike a wabbit!” Bugs removes the mirror part of a mirror and tells Elmer to “get a load of yourself in the mirror, long ears!” (animated by Washam).

Unaware that his mirror has been removed, Elmer sees Bugs undisguised and imitating all of his gestures. As Elmer screams for “Dr. Killpatient” for help, Bugs has him sit down and hits his knees to test his reflexes, beating them in rhythm, which results in Elmer doing the Russian kick dance with Bugs joining him a few seconds later. This causes Elmer to get wise: “Hey! You’re not a doctor, you’re that scwewy wabbit!” and reappears with his rifle, chasing Bugs outside (animated by Robert Cannon).

Bugs scares Elmer into going back into his house by convincing him that the entire audience has rabbititus. Laughing at this (“Oh, Margaret! What a dope!”), Bugs assures us, “That was just a gag of course. You folks haven’t got rabbititus”, and explains that if we did, we would see red and yellow spots before our eyes, they would start swirling and swirling around, and then everything would go black. Spots that are those very colors appear on screen, they swirl around, and the screen fades to black with Bugs heard laughing as the cartoon ends (animated by Cannon).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕