Release Date:

March 11, 1950

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny

Summary:

A burly construction worker mistakenly uproots Bugs Bunny’s hole and after the worker rudely dumps Bugs and his uprooted hole into a dump truck, Bugs enacts his revenge during the worker’s construction of the skyscraper he was planning to build.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1107 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. In 2025, a 16mm print with the original opening and closing rings was found, with this sequence retaining the “Bugs Bunny in” title card that was removed from the reissue (like in “Rabbit Hood”, the music where this sequence is supposed to be in the reissue is very obvious).

Bugs refers to the worker as “Hercules”, so that’s what we’re going to refer to him as.

This is another Jones cartoon that is a perfect showcase of his portrayal of Bugs as he attacks only when someone has the nerve to do him harm (interestingly, this cartoon and Jones’ first instance of this approach to Bugs, “Case of the Missing Hare”, are presented right next to each other on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 3 DVD set).

This is the first Warner cartoon to feature the voice of an actor named John T. Smith, who voices Hercules here. Smith would often portray other gruff characters such as the red-haired hillbilly, “Punkinhead” in “Hillbilly Hare” (released five months later), the Crusher in “Bunny Hugged” (1951), the bulldog in “Chow Hound” (1951) who constantly complains, “What, no gravy!?”, one of the leprechauns, “O’Pat”, in “The Wearing of the Grin” (1951), the evil scientist in “Water Water Every Hare” (1952), and a similar behaving construction worker in “No Parking Hare” (1954). A few notable instances of Smith not voicing an antagonist include the drill sargeant in “Forward March Hare” (1953) and the narrator in “There Auto Be a Law” (1953).

The cartoon’s premise would be somewhat reworked by McKimson in the aforementioned “No Parking Hare”.

While uncredited, this is one of six Jones cartoons to feature animation from Emery Hawkins (all released later in 1950). The other five include “8 Ball Bunny”, “Dog Gone South”, “The Ducksters”, “Rabbit of Seville”, and “Two’s a Crowd”.

“Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals” plays during the opening scene right after the credits up until the point where Hercules says “What the-?” upon seeing Bugs in the bucket of his excavator.

Hercules’ line, “I’m feelin’ mighty low” was the catchphrase of radio personality Candy Candido.

What I Like About This One:

The very catchy music over the opening credits.

Just as Hercules’ excavator mistakenly uproots Bugs’ hole, Bugs wakes up, apparently having had a crazy party the previous night, “Oh, brother. What a night! Me head’s still spinnin’!” Upon seeing the scenery move below him, Bugs wonders, “Hey, what’s goin’ on around here? What-what-” Hercules spots Bugs in his excavator’s bucket and exclaims, “What the-?” After greeting him with “Eh, what’s up, doc?”, Bugs informs Hercules, “Seems to be some mistake around here. You see, this is my home. So, uh, put it back where ya found it, will ya, please?” (animated by Emery Hawkins)

Putting on a fake polite persona, Hercules answers, “Of course I will. I don’t know what could’ve come over me. Of course I’ll put it right back”. Bugs descends back down into his hole telling him “no hard feelings”. Hercules rudely replies, “Pleasant dreams” and deposits Bugs and the remains of his hole into the dump truck, while laughing. Bugs protests, “Hey, ya big gorilla! Didn’t ya ever hear about the sanctity of the American home!?” but Hercules instead deposits more earth atop him. As Hercules gets out of his excavator, he mockingly chortles, “Sure. I’ll tuck you into your little bed” before he hears Bugs calling to him atop the skyscraper skeleton, “Yoo-hoo, Hercules. Here’s a message for ya”. Bugs drops a brick which lands right on Hercules’ face. Attached to it is a telegram that reads, “Okay, Hercules. You asked for it”. Hercules walks off looking at it with a smirking expression before a steel beam is dropped on him (animated by Hawkins).

Hercules attempts to take the elevator after Bugs, but Bugs fiddles with the elevator’s hoist control on the 76th floor and repeatedly switches it to up and down so that Hercules flies in and out of his clothes respectively. Eventually, the switch breaks causing Hercules to fly all the way up into the air. Unaware he’s in mid-air, he initially defies gravity before seeing a bird in front of him, calmly laughing, “Ha” before looking down and realizing where he is and giving a very quiet, “Ooh”. He falls, smashing through a wooden plank, creating a hole in the shape of him and also smashes through several floors with each creating a hole in the shape of him in a praying position, before landing in a trough of wet cement, getting thoroughly engulfed in it. A mute smaller worker, who was smoothing out this cement, takes Hercules’ cigar from him (animated by Lloyd Vaughan).

Bugs shows up disguised as the foreman and scolds, “So! Layin’ down on the job, eh?” Emerging completely covered in cement, a startled Hercules starts to explain, “Huh? What? But, sir, I, uh….” Bugs snaps back ordering, “But me no buts! Look at that sloppy wall! Finish it up!” In a nervous manner, Hercules does so. Bugs tricks him into constructing it all the way to the top and has him attach other things atop it, “Now stick on that crossbeam. Nail that board. Rivet that beam. Tote that barge. Lift that bale” before Hercules ends up perched atop the very precarious stack, with him on one end of a board and a stack of bricks on the other (animated by Ben Washam).

This is revealed to be the 103rd floor when an undisguised Bugs comes out of the elevator and takes a brick off the board, causing it to teeter. With each brick Bugs removes either by picking them up or pushing them off, Hercules throws off his clothes in groups to save weight. When Bugs is about to remove the final brick, Hercules silently shakes his head. Bugs shakes his head as if to question, “No?” Hercules again shakes his head no, but then Bugs gleefully nods yes, and removes the last brick. With only his underwear on, Hercules ends up falling headfirst onto a beam the small worker is painting orange, and absentmindedly paints Hercules’ whole face (animated by Washam).

Figuring “Maybe that’ll teach that big baboon some manners” (animated by Phil Monroe), Bugs hears Hercules whistling at him. Once Bugs turns around to look, Hercules swings a beam at him, with the impact causing Bugs’ face to be shaped into the beam (animated by Vaughan). Dazed from the hit, Bugs dizzily staggers across the skyscraper skeleton to the tune of Strauss’ “Perpetual Motion”, narrowly avoiding danger, before regaining consciousness upon falling into a barrel of water. “Hey, what is this!? What the? It ain’t Saturday night! What’s happenin’ around here?”, Bugs exclaims upon seeing where he is (animated by Ken Harris).

Bugs witnesses Hercules snapping at the small worker when the latter is having lunch, “So, layin’ down on the job, eh? Well, get a load of bricks up to the 75th floor! And get a move on!” before he eats the small worker’s sandwich. “Come on! Come on! Let’s have some action!” (animated by Washam). Irritated at this (animated by Harris), Bugs decides, “Action, he says” while using pliers to pick up a hot rivet, “Action he shall GET”, and after looking at the blueprints for the skyscraper, he follows the instructions to take five paces to a small hollow chute where he drops the rivet down (animated by Phil Monroe).

In Rube Goldberg fashion, the rivet goes all the way down the chute, goes down an open chute, lands in the small worker’s pile of bricks, falls out of the brick carrier, lands on a plank and slides down it before falling down some stairs, goes down another chute, falls down a ladder, and finally lands on a rope holding a giant pipe. The rivet burns the rope, causing the pipe to fall. Seeing it about to land on him, Hercules gives an “Oh no” before it crushes him. After the pipe’s door opens from the hit, Hercules responds groggily, “I’m feelin’ mighty low” before slumping down. Bugs confronts him, “Well, Toodles, do I get my home back or do I have to get tough!?” Hercules waves a white flag in surrender (animated by Monroe).

In the end, the now-finished skyscraper has Bugs’ new hole apart of its construction, having been built around it. Triumphant, Bugs says, “After all, a man’s home IS his castle” (animated by Monroe).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕