Release Date:

November 15, 1952

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny, Pete Puma

Summary:

Bugs Bunny defends a small brown rabbit named Shorty from the hungry Pete Puma, showing him how to heckle Pete.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1238 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

While this is the only Golden Age appearance of Pete Puma, he is nevertheless easily one of the most memorable one-off characters to come from the studio. He would end up making several appearances outside of the Golden Age such as “Pullet Surprise” (1997) where he’s up against Foghorn, the Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries episode, “Good Bird Hunting” where he competes against Sylvester for Tweety, several appearances in the Looney Tunes Show, and two appearances in Looney Tunes Cartoons (both times against Bugs), “Puma Problems” (2021) and “Bottoms Up” (2022).

Stan Freberg voices Pete and is one of his most memorable Warner roles. He even provided a commentary for this cartoon on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1 DVD set (I specifically remember him saying, “I’m about to be the puma here in a second” before Pete is first seen).

Speaking of Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1, the cartoon was originally restored for it in 2003. It was re-restored again for HBO Max in 2020, but when it first went up on the platform, it contained a VERY horrendous error where the “Warner Bros. Pictures Inc”. logo was still there above the Merrie Melodies card and even more amateurish, McKimson’s director credit was also marred, making the “O” in “Robert” look like “R8bert”. These errors would shortly be fixed, but unfortunately the titles were still photoshopped (so therefore the HBO Max restoration is still inferior to the Golden Collection master like with every other cartoon that was originally restored for one of the first two Golden Collections, and was re-restored for HBO Max).

Shorty’s voice is sped-up as he talks very fast. His voice in normal speed is actually similar to Sylvester’s.

The title is a pun for “rabbit skin”.

The cartoon uses the 1953 green rings with the red background.

The phrase “grimy paw” would be used again, albe in the live-action Disney movie, “Son of Flubber” (1963), the sequel to the 1961 film, “The Absent-Minded Professor”, where the protagonist, Ned Brainard, uses it when referring to his arrogant rival, Shelby Ashton, as this, “Betsy, I think you’ll agree that I’m a very patient man, but ‘Old Flame’ or not, if that no-good rat sets one grubby paw inside this house, I’ll-”

When Shorty decides he wants to heckle Pete too, Bugs instructs him to “hop down the old mill road”. There actually is a road called “Old Mill Road” in Rutledge, Georgia in Morgan County.

Up until 2015, I misinterpreted Pete’s “Oh, three or four” line for “Oh, twenty-four”.

You can find out who animated what scene here.

Favorite Scene:

The “how many lumps do you want?” running gag, especially the bits with the stovelid (and the “stovelid lifter”) and Pete deciding to do it to himself: “Oh, no you don’t. I’ll help myself!”

What Happens in This One:

Shorty is seen running away frantically for help, “Help! Help! Save me! Don’t let him catch me! Help!” He briefly trips over a log before continuing to run, “If he catches me, he will cut off my ears and fry my tail and eat me all up! Don’t let him catch me! Help!” In the midst of running, he falls down Bugs’ hole. Inside, he runs around Bugs, who’s trying to comprehend what Shorty is saying, “Hey, wait a minute. Wait a minute”, before yelling, “WAIT A MINUTE!” Bugs picks Shorty up by the ears (animated by Rod Scribner) and asks him, “Now, what’s this all about, Shorty?” Shorty: “I was coming home from school, skipping through the woods all alone by myself”. Bugs puts him down and begins to understand, “You was skipping along through the woods, yeah?” (animated by Herman Cohen)

Shorty continues, “I wasn’t bothering anybody. Wasn’t looking for any trouble. Just skipping along, happy as a lark”. Bugs: “Just skipping along, minding your own business. Yeah, go on”. Shorty: “A great, big terrible-looking monster with long fangs and sharp claws jumped out and me and went- (snarls ferociously)”. Bugs: “Suddenly, a big snarling beast jumped out at ya from behind the tree and then?” Shorty: “My heart pounded, my legs trembled! I was frozen with fear!” Bugs: “You was terrified? Yeah. Yeah” Shorty: “I knew that if he caught me, he’d eat me up. And I ran and ran and ran-” Bugs: “And ya ran for your very life?”, to which Shorty nods. Bugs figures out who he’s talking about, “Hmm. Sounds like that sneakin’ Pete Puma. And there he is now” (animated by Cohen), where he finds that Pete’s arm is groping around in his hole to reach for Shorty, “I’d know that grimy paw anywheres”. Bugs moves Shorty out of Pete’s reach and disguises a stick of dynamite to look like Shorty, by putting leaves on it to resemble ears, planks on the bottom to resemble feet, and a cotton ball to resemble the cottontail (animated by Keith Darling). Pete feels it and believes it’s Shorty, so he grabs it, only to put it back after it explodes, before his hairless hand continues to grope for him (animated by Cohen).

Shorty finds this funny and laughs, “He didn’t like that very much, I bet!” Bugs tells him, “Meh, you wait over here, buster. I’m going up and give that joker a workout!” Shorty is horrified at the idea as he grabs Bugs’ foot, “No! Don’t go up there! He’s ferocious and bigger than you are! He’ll tear you all to pieces! And all of a sudden, just as I was passing the big old oak tree- you know, the one by the swamp-“, but Bugs interrupts and assures him, “Nah, I ain’t afraid of HIM. As long as I can keep the big phony in front of me as he goes up his “Emergency Exit” ladder leading out of another hole (animated by Rod Scribner), “And I AIN’T gonna turn my back on him” (animated by Charles McKimson).

Bugs finds Pete groping around in the hole and goes up to him asking, “Eh, what’s up, doc?” (animated by Charles) Pete answers, “I got a little rabbit in this hole. And I’m gonna catch the little rabbit and eat him up” before he does an inhaled chortle. “Little rabbit?”, Bugs asks, “Wouldn’t you rather have a BIG rabbit?” Pete nods, “Uh, yeah!” Bugs holds his arms out and pretends to let himself be captured, “Well. Here I am. Take me”. Pete does so only for Bugs to slap him, “Take your dirty mitts off of me! What do you think you’re doin’!?” Pete protests in a startled manner, “Well, ya told me to, ya told me to, ya told me to!” He then offers Bugs, “How about having a cigar?” Bugs thanks him for it, and says, “Hmm, nice” after sniffing it, but then sees the label on it, “El Explodo Cigar” (animated by Phil DeLara).

Pete lights a match for the cigar, but Bugs just tucks the cigar away in his unseen front “shirt” pocket (animated by DeLara). Pete decides, “Well, I think I’ll have to be going now”, but Bugs stops him from leaving, “Oh, no. You can’t leave yet. You gotta have a nice cup of tea with me” as he takes Pete with him while holding his arm and Shorty comes out of the hole to watch in curiosity. Bugs sits them down at a large tree stump set up like a picnic table (animated by Darling) and as he pours the tea, he says, “There’s nothing as sociable as a nice cup of tea, uh, I always say”. He takes out some sugar lumps and asks Pete, “Eh, uh, how many lumps do you want?” Pete answers, “Oh, three or four”, to which Bugs whacks him on the head with a mallet several times, giving him five lumps. Bugs realizes, “Oh, dear. I gave you one too many. Well, we can fix that”, so he uses a teeny hammer to pound the extra lump back down into Pete’s head. He then gives Pete the cigar and shoves it in his mouth before lighting it, “And here’s a cigar for ya!” The explosion leaves Pete completely hairless down to the upper part of his chest (animated by Charles).

Bugs later walks along with Shorty, “I thought I’d better see ya home, Shorty. On account of I don’t trust that sneakin’ puma no further than I could throw the Big Mo!” Shorty replies, “I’m not afraid of him as long as you’re with me!” and laughs. Pete comes out from behind a tree, dressed in drag in a very phony rabbit costume. He speaks in a feminine voice, “Darling? Come to your mama?” (animated by Cohen) Pete runs up to them and tells Bugs, “I’m Mrs. Rabbit. The little feller’s mother. And I’ve been so worried about him!” before doing the inhaled chortle again. Shorty is wise to this and warns Bugs, “No! No! No! She’s not my mother! She’s not even my aunt! Don’t let her take me! Don’t let her take me! Don’t let her take me!” Bugs tells him, “Ah, ah, Junior! It ain’t polite to talk back to your mother!”, but then winks to him to signal that he’s onto Pete. Shorty laughs, “I get it! I get it!” and goes up to Pete (animated by Scribner).

Pete picks Shorty up, “Come on home with Mother, darling. Mother’s going to have a wonderful dinner!”, but before he can run off, Bugs stops him by grabbing his tail, “Oh, no. Don’t go yet, Mrs. Rabbit. You MUST have a cup of tea with me first!” Pete begins to explain, “But I don’t think…”, only for Bugs to reply, “Oh, no. It’s no trouble at all, Mrs. Rabbit” (animated by Cohen). Bugs wheels in the tea cart and announces, “Here we are. Tea’s on” (animated by DeLara). In order to avoid getting lumps on the head again, Pete protests, “But I don’t want no tea. It gives me a headache!” Bugs asks, “Oh, uh, well, uh, uh, what shall we have then?” (animated by Darling) Pete answers, “Coffee!” as he brings out a coffee pot and does his inhaled chortle again. Bugs accepts this, “Okay, we’ll have coffee”, but asks Pete again, “Eh, how many lumps do you want?” Pete again answers, “Oh, three or four”, to which Bugs again whacks him on the head, only for Pete to reveal that he was wearing an ACME Stovelid under the hat in his disguise as he sticks his tongue out at him. Bugs brings out a device called an “ACME Stovelid Lifter” and uses it to remove said stovelid off of Pete’s head to reveal that he now has a large bump growing out of his head along with four lumps growing out of it. This causes Pete to collapse forward chin-first onto the cart (animated by DeLara).

Bugs and Shorty walk along again as Bugs laughs, “You like that, huh? Eh, you think it’s fun outsmarting Pete Puma?” Shorty answers, “Oh, boy! I sure do! I hope he comes back (animated by Scribner) so we can do some more to him! Can I do it too? This time, can I?” Bugs asks him, “Oh, YOU want to get into the act, huh? You want US to pull a fast one on Pete?” Shorty nods so Bugs agrees, “Well, okay, Shorty. Now this is what we’ll do” and whispers a plan to him to “hop down the old mill road and then you go to the-“ (animated by Charles).

Shorty hops along pretending not to suspect anything, and allows himself to be grabbed by Pete, who takes him back to his cave to fry him. After putting Shorty in the pot, Pete hears a rural-accented voice call to him, “Howdy, cousin!”, which turns out to be Bugs disguised as a puma. Pete believes, “I know you!” (animated by Scribner) Bugs answers, “Sure ya do! I’m your second cousin, Paul Puma! I just dropped by for a little social call, cuz!” “Noticing” Shorty, he comments, “Say! Mighty tender little rabbit squab ya got there!”, to which Pete responds with an enthusiastic “Uh, yeah!” (animated by DeLara) Shorty laughs at what’s about to happen (animated by Charles).

“Well, what’re we waitin’, for?”, (animated by Charles) Bugs asks as he shoves Pete up to the stove. “Let’s start the fire and fricassee him! You start the kindlin’ and I’ll get the coal!” (animated by DeLara) Pretending to ask for lumps of coal, Bugs asks, “Uh, by the way, how many lumps do ya want?” Putting logs in the stove for the fire, Pete answers, “Oh, better give me a lot of lumps! A whole LOTTA lumps!” before realizing what he just said and stops the undisguised Bugs from hitting him with a mallet again, “Oh, no you don’t! I’ll help myself!” He takes the mallet from Bugs and proceeds to repeatedly mallet himself on the head rapidly (animated by Charles). As Pete continues giving himself lumps, Bugs and Shorty leave, with Bugs sarcastically saying, “Come on, Shorty. We’d better get out of here. He’s MUCH too smart for us!” before he does an imitation of Pete’s inhaled chortle (animated by Cohen).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕