Release Date:

August 12, 1950

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny

Summary:

While vacationing in the Ozarks, Bugs Bunny comes across two hillbilly brothers from the Martin family, Curt and Punkinhead, who mistake him as being from the Coys, the family they’re feuding with. Bugs spends the rest of the cartoon heckling them, climaxing in the most hilarious square dance in any media.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1130 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The idea for this one came around as square dancing was a popular activity at the studio (notably Jones animator Phil Monroe was very into it). Obviously, they did not do all of Bugs’ violent instructions which include pulling on each other’s beards like a tug of war, splashing around in a brook, wallowing around in a muddy pigpen, hitting each other with fence posts, going into the hay baler and coming out as squares, and running off a cliff.

This is the first McKimson cartoon to be written by Tedd Pierce, who would become his storyman from mid-1951 to the early 1960’s. However, Warren Foster was still McKimson’s storyman at this time while Pierce was still Freleng’s.

This is one of three McKimson cartoons where Bugs’ antagonists are two humans, one of whom has red hair and the other has black hair. The other two are “French Rarebit” (1951) and “Oily Hare” (1952). In this case, Curt has black hair (and is voiced by Mel Blanc) and Punkinhead has red hair (and is voiced by John T. Smith).

You can find out who animated what scene here.

This is one of three Warner cartoons released in 1950 to not use the all-green rings with the green background. They instead use the 1951 orange rings with the black background. The other two include “Dog Collared” and “Two’s a Crowd”.

The cartoon is in the 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons book.

This is the only McKimson cartoon released in 1950 to not have animation by Bill Melendez.

Curt and Punkinhead would later appear in several Looney Tunes comics and would make a cameo appearance in “Space Jam” (1996) as one of the many background characters watching the game.

McKimson would have Bugs go to the Ozarks again in the equally hilarious “Backwoods Bunny” (1959) where his antagonists this time are two Southern buzzards named Pappy and Elvis (these two characters also chased Foghorn in 1960’s “The Dixie Fryer” where the gunpowder shack gag in this cartoon is reused in that one).

This is definitely one of the best coincidences on this blog so far: this is my all-time favorite McKimson cartoon and today, October 13, is also his birthday.

What I Like About This One:

Walking along and singing “I Like Mountain Music”, Bugs contemplates the peace and quiet, “Vacation in the Ozarks. So quiet. So peaceful. So far from harm and danger. So- Huh?” but then feels a very large rifle pointing towards him and upon peeking into the barrel (animated by Emery Hawkins), sees an angry eye blinking at him. “Oh, Murgatroyd! Look what crawled out of the woodwork!”, he laughs. It turns out that it’s Curt, who pulls the trigger, and because it’s so long, the rifle wobbles for a few seconds before it shoots (animated by Charles McKimson).

After the smoke clears, it’s revealed that only Bugs’ carrot has been shot full of holes as he asks, “Eh, what’s up, doc?” with it still in his mouth. Curt asks, “Be ya’ll a Martin or be ya’ll a Coy rabbit?” Not knowing he’s referring to a surname, Bugs chuckles, “Well, uh, my friends say I’m VERY coy”. Outraged, Curt exclaims, “A Coy!? Well, square off, ya shoat! Me and you’s a-feudin’ on account of I’m a Martin!” as he prepares his rifle to shoot again. After Bugs sarcastically bemoans, “Boo-hoo. Now I’ll never see my wife and young ones again. Never no more. Boo-hoo-hoo”, Curt finds what Bugs has done to his rifle: “Hey, ya durn fool! What’s the idea of tyin’ knots in my rifle barrel?” Curt undoes the knot and gets blasted in the face, which creates several holes in his face. Curt tells us, “Just call me ‘Freckles’” (animated by Charles).

Bugs decides, “Well, that’s that. Now to get back to that peace and quiet I was talkin’ about”. He then runs into another very large and long rifle, which belongs to Punkinhead. After he says, “Hold on there, critter!”, Bugs asks him, “And just who might YOU be?” Punkinhead replies, “I might be Teddy Roosevelt but I ain’t (animated by Phil DeLara). I’m Punkinhead Martin, and I see’d what you all done to my brother”. “Your brother? Well, glad to know ya, Punkin. Any brother of your brother is a-”, Bugs says as he walks over to him but Punkinhead interrupts, “Hold the phone, long ears! (animated by Charles) I’m-a aimin’ to terminate this here feud right now! Now hold still”. Bugs just simply crawls under the gun and removes the gun stock, which causes Punkinhead to let out a hilarious “Huh?” before Bugs puts said gun stock on the other side. Realizing he’s screwed, Punkinhead gives a “bye bye” wave and an “Uh oh” expression before he gets blasted (animated by John Carey). After shaking his head around, slapping buckshot out of his right ear, and then pouring more buckshot out of his hat, he pulls out a small chicken hidden in his beard, which now has a lump on its head from the blast (animated by Charles).

Later, both Curt and Punkinhead are seen looking for Bugs with their rifles. Curt remarks, “That there rabbit critter’s bound to be around here somewheres!” before seeing Bugs’ footprints in front of them. “On account of I sees his footy-prints!” Punkinhead then spots him: “Hey! There’s the varmint now!” (animated by Rod Scribner) As Bugs is skipping along scatting to “Pop Goes the Weasel”, he gets the bottom of his carrot and then the stem shot off. “Persistanent little cusses, ain’t they?” Bugs remarks. The Martins then tell each other before running towards Bugs, “Get ‘em, Punkinhead.” “We’ve got him cornered, Curt” (animated by DeLara). They chase him into the gunpowder shack where it’s so dark, they can’t see anything. Bugs gives Curt his lighter and then sneaks out. “Dang thing won’t work!”, Curt remarks. Bugs calls to him, “Keep tryin’” before it explodes (animated by Hawkins). Curt comes out dazed with the lit lighter, “I think ya’ll are usin’ too strong a fluid!” (animated by Scribner)

With both running down the hill, Curt remarks, “We’ll get that critter if’n it takes until doomsday!” After they run past a venue announcing a square dance, Bugs appears out of it dressed as a hillbilly gal and whistles to get their attention. Once they both stop, Bugs asks in a feminine voice, “What’s your hurry, boys?” Curt exclaims, “Whoa-ho-ho, Nellie!” before they both wolf-whistle and dash over to him (animated by DeLara). Bugs asks, “Ya’ll care to prac-tice with me for the square dancin’ tomorrow?” (animated by Charles) “Dee-lighted, ma’am”, Curt answers as he bows like a gentleman. Punkinhead also agrees, “Same likewise, I’m sure, ma’am”, as he too bows like a gentleman (animated by Carey). Upon walking in, Bugs asks, “Oh, uh, pardon me. One of you gents got a spare nickel, so’s I can juice up the jukebox?” Punkinhead attempts to give her one, “Here you is…”, before Curt also gives her one, “Ma’am”. “Thanks just all to pieces”, Bugs replies as he inserts the nickel, and informs them, “‘Sour Belly Trio’ comin’ right up” (animated by DeLara).

The “Sour Belly Trio” appear inside the jukebox as the caller announces, “Let’s all square dance! Places all! (animated by DeLara) Bow to your corner! Bow to your own!” He then starts calling in tune to “Skip to My Lou” and as the Martins are distracted dancing, Bugs dances over to the jukebox, removes his disguise, grabs a fiddle, and then dresses up as a square dance caller. After he unplugs the jukebox and takes over, switching back to his normal voice, the rest of the cartoon is non-stop hilarity from here (animated by Hawkins).

The lyrics in Bugs’ square dance speak for themselves as the Martins follow his instructions without questioning: “Promenade across the floor (animated by Hawkins), sashay right on out the door! Out the door and into the glade, and everybody promenade!”; “Step right up, you’re doin’ fine! I’ll pull your beard, you’ll pull mine! Yank it again like you did before! Break it up with a tug of war!”; “Now into the brook and fish for the trout! Dive right in and splash about! (animated by Scribner) Trout, trout, pretty little trout! One more splash, and come right out!”; “Shake like a hound dog, shake again! Wallow around in the old pigpen! Wallow some more, you all know how! Roll around like an old fat sow! Allemande left with your left hand, follow through with a right left grand, now leave your partner in the dirty old thing, follow through with an elbow swing!”; “Grab a fence post, hold it tight! (animated by Carey) Whomp your partner with all your might! Hit him in the shin! Hit him in the head! Hit him again, the critter ain’t dead! Whomp him low and whomp him high! Stick your finger in his eye! Pretty little rhythm, pretty little sound! Bang your heads against the ground!”; “Promenade all around the room, promenade like a bride and groom! Open up the door and step right in, close the door and into a spin! Whirl, whirl, twist, and twirl! Jump all around like a flying squirrel! Now don’t ya cuss and don’t ya swear, just come right out and form a square!” (animated by Scribner); “Now right hand over and left hand under, both join hands and run like thunder! Over the hill and over the dale, duck your head and lift your tail! Don’t ya stray and don’t ya roam! Turn around and promenade home! Corn in the crib pen, wheat in the sack! Turn your partner, promenade back!” (animated by Hawkins)

After they walk off the cliff from the last instructions, Bugs looks down at them while calling out as they collapse front-first in front of each other on a small stream, “And now you’re home! Bow to your partner! Bow to the gent across the hall! And that is all!” He then plays the closing notes on the fiddle for the iris-out (animated by Hawkins).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕