Release Date:

November 13, 1954

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny

Summary:

Wandering into Paul Bunyan country, Bugs Bunny stumbles across Bunyan’s carrots, and believing he’s discovered a carrot mine, creates one out of them. Bunyan’s giant dog, Smidgen, discovers Bugs’ intrusion and pursues him.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1291 and was released as a Looney Tune.

The cartoon was allegedly produced in 3-D (during the temporary 3-D craze that caused the studio to briefly shut down), but like Jerry Beck says in his commentary for this cartoon on the Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection Blu-ray set, I highly doubt it was actually intended for it or seen that way. There aren’t any actual 3-D effects in the cartoon, aside from the Warner Bros. shield zooming all the way into the audience before going back into its proper position, the opening and ending rings looking different (but still using the same colors for the 1954 release season), the “That’s all, Folks!” writing and other info on the end card fading in rather than being written out, and the “Bugs Bunny in” card having a 3-D look to it.

On top of all that, everywhere on the Internet likes to say that this cartoon was released on September 26, 1953 (or even September 25 of that year but that is even more incorrect because September 25, 1953 was on a Friday and Warner cartoons always had their original release dates occur on Saturdays), judging by this cartoon allegedly being shown privately in 3-D in certain theaters. Whatever the case may be, November 13, 1954 IS the official release date of this cartoon, as evidenced by the filmography section in “That’s all, Folks! The Art of Warner Bros. Animation”, which relies on the original release sheets for release date info.

The title is a play on words for both “lumberjack” and “jackrabbit”.

The cartoon was restored for the Looney Tunes Super Stars Bugs Bunny Hare Extraordinaire DVD set in 2010, but was cropped to widescreen. The corrected full frame version was seen on the Boomerang app in the late 2010’s and later put on the Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection Blu-ray set in 2020.

This is officially the last cartoon to use the original larger opening rings and the original “Bugs Bunny in” card as well as the last cartoon to use “What’s Up Doc” until 1956’s “Wideo Wabbit” (and to an extent, “Half Fare Hare”, also from 1956).

Bunyan and Smidgen are both giants in the regular world.

Smidgen shares the same character design as both Charlie Dog and Frisky Puppy.

Favorite Scene:

When Bugs lands in a moose call, Smidgen attempts to get him out of said moose call by blowing into it. This causes an actual (and regular-sized) moose to gallop up to the door in a love-struck manner. Upon seeing the giant Smidgen glaring at him, the moose runs off, yelping in fear (this same yelp is also reused in “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” when Snoopy is chased by the lounge chair).

Bugs sings four verses of “Jimmy Crack Corn” throughout the cartoon (sung nicely by Mel Blanc), with the lyrics (all of which end with a chorus of “Jimmy Crack Corn and I don’t care. Jimmy Crack Corn and I don’t care. Jimmy Crack Corn and I don’t care. My master’s gone away”) being as follows- First verse: “When I was young, I used to wait. On master and hand him his plate. And pass the bottle when he got dry. And brush away the blue-tail fly (chorus)”. Second verse: “And when he’d ride in the afternoon, I follow after with a hickory broom. Uh, the pony being rather shy. When bitten by the blue-tail fly. (chorus)”. Third verse: “One day he ride around the farm. The flies so numerous, they did swarm. One chanced to bite him on the thigh. The devil take the blue-tail fly (chorus)”. Fourth verse: “The pony run, he jump, he pitch. He throw my master in the ditch, he died and the jury wandered why. The verdict was the blue-tail fly (chorus)”.

What Happens in This One:

We begin with some opening narration, “Most everyone has heard of Paul Bunyan, the giant lumberjack. But some people still doubt that old Paul really existed. If you’re one of those doubters, you might ask the opinion of a certain rabbit, who happened one day to wander into Paul Bunyan’s country”. Bugs walks through the countryside while carrying a handkerchief on a stick and singing the first verse of “Jimmy Crack Corn”. He briefly stops singing upon noticing “funny-looking trees”, which are actually asparagus sticking out of the ground. He continues with the second verse while passing by celery, and then blackberries on several posts, and then carrots. Initially oblivious to what they are, Bugs stops to rest against one of the carrots, “Eh, this looks like as good a place as any to rest me weary foot-bones”. He sighs, “Ah, me”, before letting out a contented sigh (animated by Ken Harris).

After saying, “Good ol’ vacation time”, Bugs realizes, “That’s funny. I keep smelling carrots!” Seeing that what he’s been resting on looks like a carrot, he takes a very small piece off and upon realizing it’s the real thing after eating it, he exclaims, “Holy eureka! I’ve discovered a carrot mine!” Bugs then digs through this carrot, creating a tunnel (animated by Ben Washam).

These carrots are actually part of Bunyan’s garden, as Bunyan himself is seen walking out of his large cabin with an ax and taking out a regular-sized grandfather clock that he uses as a pocket watch. Smidgen walks around beside him, before he is instructed by Bunyan, “Keep an eye on those vegetables, boy. They’re just about ready. See you tonight”. Bunyan then walks away, stepping over the landscape to go cut some wood (animated by Richard Thompson).

Meanwhile, Bugs has created several tunnels through the carrots and placed tracks for mine carts between them. He pushes out mine carts full of carrot pieces and dumps them out over a cliff while singing the third verse of “Jimmy Crack Corn”. Once he goes back into the carrot he rested on to get more pieces, Smidgen hears Bugs singing the fourth verse of “Jimmy Crack Corn”, and upon realizing there’s an intruder, Smidgen pulls out the carrot with his teeth and also ends up removing the part of the track it’s attached to. Bugs stops upon seeing Smidgen’s dog license tag in front of him (which reveals that Smidgen weighs 4,600 tons and his height is 124 feet and 6 inches) and wonders, “Hey! Where did that billboard come from?” After reading it over while muttering, Bugs remarks, “It doesn’t make sense” before looking down and reacting in shock at the very long drop below (animated by Abe Levitow).

Bugs runs off the pulled-up track attached to the carrot and stops at Smidgen’s nose. Upon seeing Smidgen angrily glaring at him, Bugs reacts in fear before deciding, “I’ll be scared later. Right now, I’m too mad”. He walks right up to Smidgen’s eyes and demands, “Alright, buddy. What’s the idea of grabbin’ my carrot mine!?”, before swinging his fists and declaring, “Why, I oughta let you have it!” Smidgen flicks the middle part in between his eyes so that Bugs ends up jumping up (animated by Levitow) before landing on Smidgen’s head and entering his body through his right ear. Bugs is seen walking through Smidgen’s right eye as if it’s a room and pulls a window shade in front of his pupil as if it’s a window. He then walks through Smidgen’s left eye the same way and exits out through his left ear and goes down it. Smidgen scratches this ear as if Bugs is a flea. After sliding off of Smidgen’s foot (animated by Lloyd Vaughan), Bugs runs off (animated by Thompson).

Smidgen gives chase before Bugs jumps into a hole, causing a foot-long inchworm to pop out of it. Upon seeing Smidgen approaching, the inchworm slithers away. Smidgen begins to sniff into the hole as Bugs, holding a feather, laughs, “What a nosy character!” He tickles Smidgen’s nose with the feather, causing the latter to inhale Bugs and sneeze so loudly that it causes Bugs to fly in through the hole at the top of Bunyan’s door and land in a moose call. Smidgen enters the cabin and blows into the moose call to get Bugs out. An actual regular-sized moose hears it and comes trotting up to the cabin happily, thinking it’s a mating call from a female moose. He skids to a stop upon seeing the significantly larger Smidgen, who gives him an annoyed “What are you doing here?” glare. Frightened at Smidgen’s size, the moose runs away while yelping (animated by Thompson).

Smidgen blows into the moose call again, this time causing Bugs to fly out and land in the barrel of a pistol. Seeing the bullet in front of him, Bugs remarks, “Looks like a torpedo”. Smidgen fires the gun with Bugs riding the bullet, before it lands in an apple among a plate of fruit. Smidgen eats half of the apple and finds Bugs’ lower half sticking out of the apple’s other half, trying to get through. He then eats the entire apple as well as Bugs, but upon picking his teeth with a toothpick, he sees Bugs clinging onto it. Bugs then jumps off of the toothpick and folds Smidgen’s ear around his eyes like a blindfold before jumping into his fur (animated by Thompson).

Smidgen moves around in a way that causes his ear-blindfold to come undone before smiling contently upon feeling something (animated by Thompson). It turns out that Bugs is scratching him from the inside (animated by Vaughan), causing Smidgen to make several happy whimpers and poses. Once Bugs leaves, Smidgen stops and then goes after him (animated by Harris).

Bugs runs out of the cabin, with Smidgen in pursuit. Stopping to catch his breath, Bugs sighs in relief before turning around upon seeing Smidgen looking at him from behind a hill before the latter ducks down. Bugs walks down the trail while singing a reprise of the first chorus of “Jimmy Crack Corn”: “When I was young, I used to wait. On master and hand him his plate. And pass the bottle when he got dry-”. He is suddenly stopped by Smidgen’s large tongue licking him affectionately several times, before he runs off again. Bugs stops upon noticing a sign and excitedly tells Smidgen while pointing to it, “Hey, Rover! Look! Look!” The sign is pointing to “Giant Redwood Tree ¾ Mile”. After Smidgen runs toward it in excitement, Bugs flutters his eyebrows at the audience (animated by Harris).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½