Elmer's Pet Rabbit

Elmer's Pet Rabbit
Merrie Melodies series
"Bugs Bunny" has a chat with Elmer.
Directed by	Chuck Jones
Animation by	Rudy Larriva
Voices by	Mel Blanc Arthur Q. Bryan
Music by	Carl W. Stalling
Produced by	Leon Schlesinger
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	January 4, 1941
Format	Technicolor, 7 min, 41 sec
Language	English
IMDb page

Elmer's Pet Rabbit is a 1940 Merrie Melodies cartoon starring Elmer Fudd and, ostensibly, Bugs Bunny. The short was released on January 4, 1941. It is the first cartoon in which the name Bugs Bunny is given (on a title card, slapped onto the end of the opening title sequence when A Wild Hare hit big), but the rabbit is the same one seen and heard in Elmer's Candid Camera and other pre-Bugs shorts. It was directed by the legendary Chuck Jones, written by Rich Hogan, animated by Rudy Larriva, and the music was directed by Carl Stalling. It was produced by Leon Schlesinger and the sound effects were by audio wizard Treg Brown, inexplicably credited, as he usually was on these cartoons, as film editor.

In this cartoon, Elmer buys a rabbit in a pet shop and the animal pesters him mercilessly. Elmer is voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan and the hare by Mel Blanc.

The music in the cartoon includes a variation on "While Strolling Through the Park One Day," arranged by Carl Stalling, performed by Elmer and the rabbit. Elmer, of course, has trouble with many of the words, due to his "rounded L and R" speech impediment.

Trivia

• Accepting the billing at face value, this is the first cartoon in which Bugs Bunny quotes the famous Groucho Marx line, "Of course you realize this means war!" (not counting Porky's Hare Hunt in which Happy Rabbit, the early Bugs, but not officially developed, quoted it).
• This is officially the second cartoon for Bugs and the 23rd cartoon that Chuck Jones directed.

Links

Elmer's Pet Rabbit Video

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