Release Date:

December 16, 1950

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd

Summary:

Elmer Fudd chases Bugs Bunny backstage to an amphitheater where a summer opera performance of the Barber of Seville is to take place. Bugs takes advantage of this and disguises as the barber in question while heckling Elmer in time to Rossini’s music.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1138 and was released as a Looney Tune.

The cartoon is centered around Rossini’s “Barber of Seville” overture with original lyrics by Michael Maltese being sung in tune to it (and it’s impossible not to listen to Rossini’s music itself without thinking of this cartoon).

This is a cartoon that absolutely deserves all the praise it has gotten as this is easily one of my all-time favorites. It was ranked number 12 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons and is also in the 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons book.

Elmer only has one line of dialogue throughout the cartoon (“Oh, wait until I get that wabbit” sung in tune to the music), not counting his shouts of pain when Bugs swipes away at his face with a straight razor.

The scene where Bugs massages Elmer’s head with his foot is one of the scenes playing in “Space Jam” (1996) after Mr. Swackhammer (Danny DeVito) accidentally sits on his remote turning them on.

This is the last cartoon to use the 1950 green rings with the green background.

The names on the Barber of Seville poster seen at the start of the cartoon are all Italian-like names of Eddie Selzer (Eduardo Selzeri), Michael Maltese (Michele Maltese), and Chuck Jones (Carlo Jonzi).

The cartoon’s restoration on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1 DVD set is inexplicably low-pitched.

The wedding cake that Bugs drops Elmer into at the end has “The Marriage of Figaro” written on it. This alludes to Mozart’s piece of the same name.

What I Like About This One:

The awesome rendition of “Madrid” over the opening credits.

As people are coming in and instruments are tuning up, gunshots are heard in the distance as Elmer is shown chasing Bugs out of the countryside and towards the amphitheater where Bugs enters the backstage door (animated by Emery Hawkins). Panting heavily, Bugs hides behind the door as Elmer comes in and unknowingly walks onto the stage. Bugs turns on the switch for the curtain with a carrot as the audience starts clapping when the curtain rises and an oblivious Elmer is shown onstage with his back turned (animated by Lloyd Vaughan).

Noticing the time, the maestro shrugs and has the music begin. Startled as he is embarrassed, Elmer turns around in shock as the camera pans back to reveal the “Barber of Seville” backdrop complete with chairs like those in a salon (animated by Hawkins). Disguised as the Barber, Bugs sings with original lyrics in time to the music: “How do? Welcome to my shop, let me cut your mop, let me shave your crop! Dain-tily. Dain-tily”. He then shouts to Elmer, “Hey, you!” before picking him up and taking him in as a customer: “Don’t look so perplexed, why must you be vexed? Can’t you see you’re next? Yes, you’re next. You’re so next” (animated by Phil Monroe), sitting Elmer down in one of the chairs and putting a cape around his neck.

Bugs then scoops out several ice cream scoop worthy servings of shaving cream into a cup which he then puts into a milkshake mixer to froth it up before pouring it on Elmer’s face: “How about a nice close shave? Teach your whiskers to behave. Lots of lather, lots of soap. Please hold still, don’t be a dope. Now we’re ready for the scraping. There’s no use to try escaping. Yell, and scream, and rant, and rave. It’s no use, you need a shave!” Bugs then swipes at Elmer’s face with a razor several times with Elmer shouting in pain. Pulling out a mirror, Bugs continues, “There. You’re nice and clean. Although your face looks like it might have gone through a machine” (animated by Monroe).

With numerous facial cuts, Elmer runs out to grab his hat and rifle before he sings, “Oh, wait until I get that wabbit”. Dressed as a temptress, Bugs sings, “What would you want with a wabbit? Can’t you see that I’m much sweeter? I’m your little senoreeter. You are my type of guy. Let me straighten your tie (ties Elmer’s rifle barrel into a knot) and I shall dance for you”. Bugs dances with two pairs of scissors in time to the music as he uses them to snip Elmer’s suspenders, causing his pants to fall down and reveal his flower underwear. Pulling them up and blushing in embarrassment, Elmer sees that this temptress is Bugs in disguise, who sticks his tail up at him (animated by Hawkins).

Elmer attempts to shoot but due to his rifle barrel having been tied, he ends up flying backward into one of the chairs, briefly becoming unconscious. Bugs pours two tonics on Elmer’s head before massaging it with his feet. He then sprays shaving cream around Elmer’s head and puts several fruits atop it to resemble a Carmen Miranda hat, before topping it off with another spray of shaving cream and a cherry on top. Furious upon regaining his senses and seeing his “do” in a mirror Bugs shows him, Elmer chases Bugs with a straight razor only to get chased by an electric razor that Bugs snake-charms into attacking Elmer. Elmer shoots the electric razor, forcing Bugs to get out of his snake charmer disguise and flee (animated by Ben Washam).

Bugs uses one of the chairs to rise up into the air with Elmer following him by using the other chair. With every shot from his rifle, Elmer ends up going further down while Bugs keeps rising his chair higher. Bugs eventually cuts the ropes holding a sandbag which lands on Elmer, sending him all the way back down and leaving him tipsy. Sliding down from the risen-up chair like a pole (animated by Vaughan), Bugs dusts Elmer off before Elmer gives him a tip. Bugs then has Elmer go through some revolving doors that render him unconscious (animated by Ken Harris).

Guiding Elmer back to the chair in the form of a slow dance, Bugs shines Elmer’s head like a shoe (animated by Harris) before cutting open his shoe, trimming his toenails with large scissors before filing them, and then painting his foot red complete with “Wet Paint” sign. He then pours hair restorer on Elmer’s face, causing him to grow a beard, which Bugs shaves with a miniature lawn mower (animated by Monroe) and also pours beauty clay on Elmer’s face which hardens into a block like cement. After putting a “Keep Off” sign on the block he created, Bugs chisels away at it and dusts the specks off of Elmer before flicking two more off of Elmer’s face (animated by Harris).

Finally, Bugs pours hair tonic on Elmer’s head as well as “Figaro Fertilizer” before playing his fingers on Elmer’s head like a piano in time to the music and then massaging it with his ears (animated by Vaughan). When Elmer comes to, he is elated to see that he is growing hair when looking in the mirror Bugs shows him, but said hair then sprouts into flowers! (animated by Harris)

Elmer chases Bugs with an ax, before Bugs chases Elmer with a bigger ax. They then go back and forth with larger and larger weapons as Elmer comes back with a pistol, Bugs with a rifle, Elmer with a small cannon, Bugs with a larger cannon, Elmer with a full-sized cannon, before Bugs then gives him flowers, candy, and then a ring. Elmer comes back as a bride to which Bugs dresses as a groom before carrying him off up the stairs to the top of the stage and dropping him several feet into a large wedding cake for “The Marriage of Figaro”. Bugs ends the cartoon chomping a carrot and saying, “Eh…. next!” (animated by Harris)

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕