Release Date:

January 1, 1944

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny

Summary:

An obnoxious teenaged Red Riding Hood brings Bugs Bunny as a present to her grandma- the wolf in disguise who is more interested in rabbit than teenage girls and wants nothing to do with her. Of course, Bugs also proves hard to catch.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 25-12, the 25th Merrie Melodie in the 12th release season.

This is one of the earliest Warner cartoons to feature the voice of Bea Benaderet, who would voice most of the female characters in the late 1940’s and 1950’s. Benaderet would also voice Betty Rubble for the first four seasons of “The Flintstones”.

Billy Bletcher (the voice of Disney’s Pete) voices the wolf.

This is the first cartoon where Virgil Ross animated for Freleng. Ross would end up being one of Freleng’s top animators all the way up until the original studio’s closure in 1964.

The cartoon was ranked number 39 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons and is in the 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons book.

Andrew Farago, author of “The Looney Tunes Treasury” (which was the first Looney Tunes book I ever got), named this as his very favorite Freleng cartoon.

“Powerhouse” plays during the scene where Bugs decides to put Red in the wolf’s position of holding several heavy objects while seated above hot coals.

This is the first use of Freleng’s “door gag” where a pursuer tries to open the door that whoever they’re chasing just entered, only for them to keep coming out of another door. This gag would later be used in “Buccaneer Bunny” (1948) and “A Bird in a Guilty Cage” (1952).

This was the first Warner cartoon to give voice credits, in this case to Mel Blanc. For many years, Blanc was the only voice actor allowed to get screen credit before other voice actors in Warner cartoons started receiving credit in the early 1960’s. Thankfully, Keith Scott’s excellent two-volume book “Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age” (that was recently published in October 2022) confirms all of the previously unknown voices in Golden Age cartoons.

The wolf resembles the one from “Pigs in a Polka”.

Red from this cartoon would later be seen in the crowd in “Space Jam” (1996).

The cartoon bears some resemblance to Robert McKimson’s “The Windblown Hare” (1949) in that they are both fairy tale parodies with Bugs, Bugs is pursued by a wolf, and Bugs teams up with said wolf to get even with the obnoxious third character (in that cartoon, Bugs is swindled by the Three Little Pigs into buying their straw and stick houses and heckles the wolf until he learns that these were supposed to be the pigs’ houses and the wolf was going by the book as to what he’s supposed to do in the story).

What I Like About This One:

Bea Benaderet does a fantastic job at making Red such an obnoxious character, particularly when she sings “The Five O’Clock Whistle” (animated by Gerry Chiniquy) .

The wolf switching the shortcut sign where the long way has a trail that goes around a large mountain where the shortcut just has Grandma’s house straight ahead (animated by Richard Bickenbach).

Once the wolf gets in Grandma’s clothes (animated by Manuel Perez), he finds three other wolves in the bed. After he tells them to “take a powder! This is my racket!”, the wolves leave in angry disappointment. As he lays down, there is also a very small wolf under the pillow, who chuckles sheepishly (animated by Gil Turner).

When Red comes in, she announces, “Hey, Grandma. I brought a little bunny rabbit for ya- to have!” The wolf noisily licks his lips over the thought of a rabbit dinner before Red does the usual “Grandma, what big eyes you got!” routine. The wolf, far more hungry for rabbit than teenage girls, rushes her out the door while impatiently talking very fast, “Yeah, yeah. I know. Alright. Alright. Big eyes. Big eyes. Yeah, yeah. I know. Goodbye. Goodbye”. Red comes back in again to comment, “Hey, Grandma! That’s an awful big nose for you- to have!” The wolf rushes her out again this time saying, “Okay, yeah, yeah, sure. I know. Thanks a lot. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye.” (animated by Turner)

The wolf then sees that Bugs isn’t in the basket before Bugs pops out of the other end and asks, “Did you look in THIS side, doc?” As Bugs gets out, the wolf realizes, “He ain’t HERE either!” before Bugs hits him on the behind with a paddle (animated by Bickenbach).

The door gag where Bugs enters a door to a room but every time the wolf opens it, Bugs comes out of another door. The wolf eventually tears one door off its hinges and substitutes for it by standing in its place while holding the doorknob, which causes Bugs to open him up like a door. Realizing the wolf is about to grab him, Bugs raps on his head shouting, “ANYBODY HOME!?” (animated by Perez)

Bugs imitating a stool pigeon and whistling to various places (animated by Ken Champin), one of which Bugs is actually hiding in! (animated by Turner)

Red comes in a third time to tell the wolf, “Hey, uh, what big ears you got!” This time when the wolf attempts to push Red out the door, Bugs puts them BOTH out (animated by Turner).

Coming back in and cornering Bugs, the wolf gets annoyed with Bugs mimicking him. Bugs then tricks the wolf into copying him before getting him to sing “Put On Your Old Gray Bonnet with a Blue Ribbon on It”. It turns out the wolf really enjoys singing that song as he continues after Bugs stops singing and holds up a sign, “Silly, isn’t he?” The wolf is interrupted by a knock on the door, which is Red saying, “What sharp teeth ya got, Grandma!” After slamming the door on her, the wolf continues singing before realizing Bugs is no longer there. “Put on your old gray bonnet with a blue-” (animated by Chiniquy)

With the wolf sneaking into a dark room, we see that Bugs is hiding under his nightgown when he passes by the fireplace. Bugs also takes a hot coal (animated by Jack Bradbury) and jabs the wolf in the behind with it. The lights suddenly come on as this happens with Bugs putting a shovel full of hot coals underneath the wolf, who has his legs suspended on a chair and a piece of furniture (animated by Perez). Bugs then piles several heavy objects for the wolf to hold while he’s trying not to touch the hot coals and is about to put a flower on top of the stack before Red suddenly comes in again (animated by Bickenbach).

Fed up with Red’s obnoxious entrances, Bugs decides “I’ll do it but I’ll probably hate myself in the morning!” (animated by Chiniquy) So he puts Red in the wolf’s position over the hot coals while Bugs and the wolf become friends and share a carrot while watching the scene play out (animated by Virgil Ross).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕