Release Date:

March 26, 1955

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam

Summary:

Bugs Bunny mistakenly tunnels into the Sahara Desert instead of Miami Beach and unintentionally annoys Yosemite Sam (as “Riff Raff Sam”), who chases him into an abandoned Foreign Legion fort and attempts a series of failed schemes to gain entrance into the fort.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1343 and was released as a Looney Tune.

This is the first cartoon to use the 1955-1964 Looney Tunes opening and ending themes, which is Milt Franklyn’s rendition of “The Merry Go Round Broke Down”. Ever since I first got into these cartoons in 2013, this one has always been my very favorite of the Looney Tunes opening themes as it is absolute honey to my ears.

A few cartoons after this, however, would still use the 1946-1955 Looney Tunes opening and ending themes with those being “Sandy Claws”, “Ready Set Zoom”, and “Lumber Jerks”.

The storyboards for this cartoon are available as a bonus feature on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 4 DVD set (while this cartoon is indeed on that set, the storyboards are not on the same disc).

The opening of Bugs tossing out all his stuff and running out is reused animation from “Frigid Hare”, likely due to it having a similar opening.

The cartoon was included in the 1981 compilation movie, “The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie”.

Sam apparently owns the Sahara as evidenced by his line, “Great horny toads! A trespasser! Gettin’ footy-prints all over my desert!”

While this cartoon wasn’t on the Boomerang app (2017-2024), footage from this cartoon would be utilized in the clip show cartoon, “Devil’s Feud Cake” (1963). The subtitles for this cartoon’s footage somehow misinterpreted Sam’s “Yah, mule!” for “D*** you!” (my brother actually caught that in 2018, and so that always stuck out to me since it’s such a glaring mistake)

The cartoon ends with Daffy making a cameo also mistaking the Sahara for Miami Beach. Interestingly, McKimson would make a whole cartoon revolving around Daffy being lost in the desert with that being “Aqua Duck” (1963). Ted Bonnicksen also animated on both cartoons.

Favorite Scene:

Sam’s camel who doesn’t comply to whoa’s or giddy-ups.

What Happens in This One:

After a camera pan reveals two signs written in foreign language that are translated to “Sahara Desert” and “Keep Off the Grass” respectively, Bugs tunnels in and believing he’s in the right place, throws out his sun tan lotion, sunglasses, and the book “Fun on the Beach”. After tossing up a lounge chair, umbrella, and a bucket of ice with carrots in it, Bugs, wearing an old-fashioned swimsuit, runs out excited, “Miami Beach at last!” (reused animation from “Frigid Hare) He continues running along the dunes, “Yippee! Hooray! Yahoo! Whee! Yippee! Hooray! Yahoo! Hooray!” (animated by Gerry Chiniquy)

After a while, Bugs is still running and is becoming very tired out as he pants wearily, “Yippee. Hooray. Whew! Man, dig this crazy beach! Must be low tide” He spots an oasis nearby and goes up to it, “Hey! There’s a park over there. Wonder if that’s where the water is”. Bugs only finds a small puddle of water and believes this is what he was looking for all along. “So THIS is the big pond. Big deal. I always pictured the Atlantic Ocean as so much bigger. Well, as long as I’m here, I might as well take a dip”. He dives in, only for it to be far too shallow as his body ends up hanging in mid-air, and his head comes back out covered in mud from the unseen muddy bottom, much to his annoyance (animated by Chiniquy).

Meanwhile, Sam and his camel hop along the desert when Sam notices Bugs’ footprints. “Great horny toads! A trespasser! Gettin’ footy-prints all over my desert!” He then orders the camel, “Yah, mule! Yah, yah, yah!” The camel goes off so fast that Sam initially leaves his Arab headdress behind. The way the camel gallops gives Sam a very bumpy ride as he orders, “Whoa, camel! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa, camel! WHOA! Ah, come on, whoa!” He then jumps off the camel’s back and runs backward in front of him, “When I say whoa, I mean WHOA!”, as he whacks the camel on the head with his rifle, causing the camel’s hump to go down, due to a lump growing out of his head (animated by Chiniquy).

Bugs, having ditched his swimsuit, has decided to use the puddle as a bath instead as he washes his face with soap while singing, “Singing in the Bathtub”. Getting out and groping for a towel, he unknowingly comes up to Sam, who’s scolding the camel, “Now, I hope that’ll learn ya, ya humpbacked muley!” Bugs, still groping around, mistakenly tears off Sam’s headdress like a paper towel, before another headdress appears behind Sam’s head in the manner of a towel dispenser. Bugs notices him and asks, “Eh, what’s up, doc? You with the sideshow around here?” Sam answers, “I’m no ‘doc’, ya flea-bitten varmint! I’m Riff Raff Sam, the riffiest riff that ever riffed a raff!” Bugs distracts him by pointing to his legs, “Your slip is showin’”, to which Sam quickly covers up his legs in embarrassment (animated by Chiniquy).

Spotting Bugs walking away, Sam realizes he’s been tricked and begins shooting at him, “Ooh, why you-!” He misses several times, but manages to shoot Bugs in the tail when the bullet goes right through the dune. Bugs continues running off, so Sam attempts to go after him on the camel, who this time stands completely still, despite Sam’s orders. “Follow that rabbit! Giddy up! Come on, camel! Giddy up! Giddy up! Yah! Yah! Yah! Camel! Giddy up! Giddy-!” Sam angrily gets down, “When I say giddy up, I mean giddy up!”, as he hits the camel in the rear with the rifle’s end. This causes the camel to run off in fear, forcing Sam to chase after him. “Whoa, camel, whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa, camel!” Bugs soon spots a car conveniently in the middle of the desert and attempts to use it as a getaway vehicle, “A car! Boy! What a break!” It however turns out to be a mirage, much to Bugs’ annoyance. “What a spot to pick for a mir-ah-gee!” Hearing Sam shouting at his camel in the distance behind him, “Whoa, camel! Whoa! Whoa!”, Bugs runs off again as Sam hits the camel on the head offscreen before he is shown raging, “When I say whoa, I mean WHOA!” (animated by Chiniquy)

Sam chases Bugs into an abandoned Foreign Legion fort, only to get the fort’s door shut in his face. Bugs hears Sam pounding on it and demanding, “Open the door! Open up! Open up, I say! Open that door!” The door lands atop him like a drawbridge as he demands, “Close it! Close it! Close it up again! Close it!” When it does, Sam is revealed to have his entire body scrunched down with only his headdress and feet visible (animated by Ted Bonnicksen).

From the fort, Bugs calls down to Sam, “Yoo-hoo! Mr. A-rab!” Sam attempts to pole vault to get into the fort, only to slam into a battlement at the top of the fort, causing the opposite side to shatter out and leave a Sam-shaped imprint (animated by Bonnicksen).

Bugs hears chiseling noises on the other side (animated by Chiniquy), where it’s revealed that Sam is chiseling out of one the bricks in the wall to get in. Upon removing it, he finds a cannon ready to fire and quickly attempts to put the brick back, only for the cannon to fire and blast him and the brick away into the distance (animated by Arthur Davis).

Sam comes in on stilts and aims his rifle at Bugs, “Okay, rabbit! I got a beat on ya!” His attempt to shoot only results in him and the stilts falling backwards. Sam angrily jumps up and down on his stilts (animated by Davis).

Bugs opens the door briefly and lets out an “Uh oh!” upon seeing something. It turns out to be Sam approaching with an elephant to break the door down with. Bugs holds the door shut himself for a while, as Sam whacks the elephant with a plank to make him push into the door further. Bugs responds to this by winding up a toy mouse and sending it rolling out. The elephant becomes so frightened by the wind-up mouse that he uses Sam to swat at it, before running away into the distance (animated by Davis).

Having drawn up an illustration in the sand of him successfully flying into the fort along with an equation, Sam attempts to slingshot himself into the fort by using an elastic band suspended by two trees. He ends up flying smack into another tree in the way, so he chops it down and tries again, only to fly into another tree (animated by Bonnicksen).

Sam puts a plank up against the side of the wall and attempts to shimmy up it, only for Bugs to split it in two with a single swing of an ax. Not only does the board get split in half, but so does Sam! (animated by Bonnicksen)

Sam notices a secret entrance and manages to pry the door open only to find another door behind it. There is also another door behind this second door. Bugs has just finished nailing together door after door. Sam tears them all off their hinges one by one, unaware that the final door leads to a booby trap of explosives that will go off once opened. Having left the fort and walking away, Bugs ponders to himself, “I wonder if he’s stubborn enough to open all those doors”. The inevitable explosion answers his question (animated by Davis), “Yep. He’s stubborn enough”. Someone else has just tunneled into the desert, tossing up a lounge chair, umbrella, and bucket of ice cubes. It’s revealed to be Daffy Duck, who is wearing an old-fashioned swimsuit of his own, and has also mistaken the Sahara for Miami Beach as he runs out. “Miami Beach, at last! Last one in’s a hard-boiled egg!” Bugs attempts to tell Daffy this isn’t Miami Beach to no avail, before deciding, “Eh! Let him find out for himself” (animated by Chiniquy).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕