Release Date:

April 28, 1956

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam

Summary:

Yosemite Sam, as Robinson Crusoe, has been stranded on an island for 20 years with his only food source being a coconut tree on a separate island. This is constantly a hazard due to a man-eating shark named Dopey Dick trying to chase him. Sam is fed up with coconuts and upon spotting a shipwrecked Bugs Bunny, tries to cook him for a meal.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1386 and was released as a Looney Tune.

The cartoon is a parody of Robinson Crusoe, with the title being a pun for it. This is also the second Warner cartoon to do so, with the first being “Robinson Crusoe Jr.” from fifteen years prior.

The name of Dopey Dick is an obvious parody of Moby Dick. This name would also be used by Walter Lantz in the 1957 Woody Woodpecker cartoon, “Dopey Dick the Pink Whale”, which actually spoofs that novel.

This cartoon contains one of Milt Franklyn’s best ever scores with it being very summer-esque (I’m particularly glad to be talking about this cartoon around the summer season). His rendition of “Trade Winds” throughout the cartoon (which Bugs also sings in one scene) is especially pleasant.

Favorite Scene:

After getting a match from his ship, Sam is confused to find Bugs not in the pot only for Dopey Dick to leap out at him and latch onto him leaving only Sam’s legs and feet visible. Sam then searches around for something to remove Dopey Dick off of him (with the sight of his hands sticking out of Dopey Dick’s mouth being especially hilarious) and repeatedly bonks him in the face with a mallet. Dopey Dick eventually jumps off, with Sam briefly malleting himself in the face a few times afterwards.

What Happens in This One:

We begin with Sam narrating about his ordeal, “A low tide and a high rock caused my predicament. The ship’s supplies used up, my only food supply was a lonely coconut tree. Gathering coconuts was a problem ‘cause of a dangerous man-eating shark named Dopey Dick”. Dopey Dick himself is seen lurking around the rocks, waiting for Sam to do his usual walking across the rocks between the islands to get to the coconut tree. Sam then runs across the rocks when Dopey Dick starts coming after him. Dopey Dick continues following him onto the island and up the tree, where Sam has a mallet hanging off of it to keep him back. Sam pounds him with the mallet repeatedly, “Back! Back! Back! Down, ya shark-livered varmint!” Dopey Dick goes away, yelping like a dog, before leaping back into the ocean. Sam puts the mallet back on its hanging spot on the tree and sulks, “Danged old fin-flappin’ flounder!” before sliding down the tree with his latest coconut (animated by Arthur Davis).

Sam begins to cautiously walk across the rocks with his coconut back to the main island and is chased by Dopey Dick again. Upon getting back to the main island, Sam takes one of three baseball bats he has on the island and pursues Dopey Dick with it. Dopey Dick screeches to a halt and retreats back into the ocean. Sam taunts, “Twenty years trying and ya missed me again! Ya shovel-nosed mackerel!” He walks away while adding, “No-good bushwhacking barracuda!” (animated by Davis)

Having consulted his cookbook, “1000 Ways to Prepare Coconuts”, Sam has prepared “Tossed Coconut Salad”, “Fresh Coconut Milk”, and “New England Boiled Coconut” before suddenly exclaiming in disgust and pushing them all off the table while ranting, “I HATES COCONUTS! TWENTY YEARS OF COCONUTS! I CAN’T STAND COCONUTS!” He then begins pounding his face against one of the poles on his hut repeatedly before hearing Bugs out at sea in a crate singing “Trade Winds”. Bugs is also tossing carrot stems into the water and rowing with his ears while leaning backward. Sam is delighted with something different, “A rabbit! A STEWIN’ rabbit!” (animated by Gerry Chiniquy)

Sam starts calling out to Bugs while running to the shore, “Ahoy, rabbit! Ahoy! This way, rabbit! I’ll save ya, rabbit! This way!” Bugs is also delighted and begins rowing towards the island, “It’s land! I’m saved! Oh, boy! At last!” Sam encourages, “Do-don’t fall overboard!” A wave suddenly comes in from under Bugs, which Sam begins to run away from. Bugs jumps out of his crate and lands in Sam’s arms (animated by Chiniquy). Once Sam takes him over to the pot, Bugs comments, “Oh, boy! Dry land! It sure feels good to be dry again!” He speaks too soon as Sam throws him into the pot. Emerging from the water in there, Bugs sputters for a bit and then asks, “What’s the big idea? What’s up, doc?” After he’s lit the fire under the pot, Sam answers, “I’m gonna make rabbit stew!” Bugs replies, “Rabbit stew? Mm. Sounds good! But, eh, where are ya gonna get the rabbit?” Without being specific, Sam tells him, “We’ve already got the rabbit! Get the idea?” and chuckles fiendishly. Getting wise, Bugs answers, “Yeah, I get the idea”, before laughing nervously. He then asks, “How long will it be before dinner is ready?” Sam’s answer is, “Just a few minutes. Uh, barring accidents”, so Bugs deliberately causes one by pouring a label of water over the fire to extinguish it, “Oops! (chuckles) First accident!” Sam exclaims in fury and yells, “Ya stupid idjit rabbit! Don’t ya know matches is scarce on this island!? Now I gotta go all the way to the ship to get another match!” (animated by Virgil Ross)

Also having rocks from the main island to his wrecked ship, Sam mistakenly steps on Dopey Dick posing as a rock, who chomps at him, slicing off the front part of his right shoe. After seeing that all of his toes are still intact, Sam chortles, “Ha! Missed again, ya hammerhead halibut!” To distract him, Sam has Dopey Dick fetch a bone by tossing said bone into the distance from his right, “Here, boy! Here! Go get it!” Sam then runs across the rocks to his ship (animated by Chiniquy). Onboard, Sam opens a safe and gets out one of the few matches he has stored in there and goes back across the rocks (animated by Ross). By the time he gets back to the pot, Bugs is nowhere to be seen, causing Sam to look inside in confusion. Dopey Dick suddenly leaps out from the pot at him, latching himself onto Sam, with only the latter’s legs and feet sticking out. Sam then sticks his arms of Dopey Dick’s mouth to grope around for a mallet, and upon picking it up, repeatedly bashes Dopey Dick in the face with it. Dopey Dick jumps off from this, causing Sam to hit himself with the mallet a few times. Dopey Dick yelps like a dog again, before jumping back in the water (animated by Chiniquy).

Upon coming to, Sam looks around for Bugs, “Now, where’d that rabbit go?” He suddenly hears Bugs calling out, “Yoo-hoo! Mr. Robinson!” It turns out that Bugs is now on the ship (animated by Ross). Shocked at this, Sam vows, “I’ll get ya, ya long-eared galoot! Shark or no shark!” He grabs a surfboard and runs with it onto the water to zoom towards the ship on his chest. Sam ends up zooming right into Dopey Dick’s waiting mouth, so he wrestles around from inside and paddles back out to the main island quickly (animated by Chiniquy).

While Bugs is singing “Secret Love” on the ship, Sam has tied a balloon to himself, with said balloon’s sting held down by a rock. “Ha! This time, I’ll outsmart BOTH of ‘em!” Realizing, “Ah! The wind’s just right!”, Sam lets the rock go and begins floating to the ship. Seeing this, Bugs walks to a door in the middle of the ship’s deck. Floating downward towards him, Sam laughs, “Now I gotcha, rabbit!”, only for Bugs to open the door, revealing Dopey Dick underneath in the water-filled bottom of the ship waiting for Sam, causing the latter’s laughing to become weaker as he floats down to him instead. Bugs watches Dopey Dick snapping at Sam (animated by Ross up to here). Sam goes back up to the deck while keeping Dopey Dick back with a club, “Down! Down! Down, ya shark-toothed salmon!”, before quickly shutting the door on him and panting heavily (animated by Davis).

Bugs runs across the walks back to the main island himself, only for Sam to come up behind him and push him back to the pot, “Alright, rabbit! I’m through fooling around with you!” (animated by Chiniquy) “Now into the pot with ya!”, Sam demands as he shoves Bugs back in. Sam lights the fire for the pot and begins looking in his cookbook, “Now, let’s see. Uh, let rabbit simmer for one half hour-”, only for Bugs to notice something and warn, “Look! It’s a tidal wave!” Sam initially ignores it, “Shut up and start simmering!”, before realizing what Bugs just said and turning around to look at said tidal wave, which completely obliterates the whole island (animated by Davis).

Remaining safe in the pot, Bugs remarks at the water surrounding the pot’s outside, “Holy carrot sticks! The island’s gone!” He then hears Sam yelling for help and swimming away from Dopey Dick, “Quick! Rabbit! Pull me in! Pull me in, I say! Pull me in!” Bugs uses a hook and does so, “Okay. Okay. Keep your shirt on”. With Sam hanging onto it, he demands, “Well, alright, alright! Pull me in!”, only for Bugs to reply, “Er, uh, not unless we make a deal”. Sam refuses, “No deals!”, so Bugs decides, “Okay, okay. Back you go!” Not wanting to be chased by Dopey Dick, Sam agrees, “Okay! Okay! Anything you say! It’s a deal! It’s a deal!” The deal is revealed to be Sam paddling the entire way home, still hanging on the hook that Bugs is holding from the safety of the pot. Bugs remarks, “After all, a deal’s a deal”. Seeing Dopey Dick following them, Sam paddles faster as the three of them pass a sign in the water, “San Francisco- 2736 Miles” (animated by Davis).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕