''Rabbit Every Monday'' is a 1951
Warner Bros. ''
Looney Tunes
''Looney Tunes'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series ''Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation. '' cartoon directed by
Friz Freleng
Isadore "Friz" Freleng (August 21, 1905May 26, 1995), credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, director, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and '' ...
. The short was released on February 10, 1951, and stars
Bugs Bunny and
Yosemite Sam.
The title is a play on ''
Chicken Every Sunday''.
It is the last short to feature Sam's mouth below his mustache; his design changes midway through the film.
''Rabbit Every Monday'' has the distinction of being the first ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon to appear on the first episode of ''
The Bugs Bunny Show
''The Bugs Bunny Show'' is a long-running American animated anthology television series hosted by Bugs Bunny that was mainly composed of theatrical ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoons released by Warner Bros. between 1948 and 1969. ...
'', on October 11, 1960.
Plot
Bugs is cooking carrots on a
rotisserie
Rotisserie, also known as spit-roasting, is a style of roasting where meat is skewered on a spit – a long solid rod used to hold food while it is being cooked over a fire in a fireplace or over a campfire, or roasted in an oven. This metho ...
and singing a parody of the song "
It's Magic
"It's Magic" is a popular song written by Jule Styne, with lyrics by Sammy Cahn, published in 1947. They wrote the song for Doris Day in her Warner Brothers film debut, ''Romance on the High Seas'' (retitled ''It's Magic'' in the United Kingdom ...
" (from the 1948 Warner Bros. film ''
Romance on the High Seas''). Yosemite Sam is hunting and, when he smells carrots cooking, knows he must be close to a rabbit. In a breaking the fourth wall moment, a patron in the movie theater leaves his seat and passes in front of the screen. Sam points his shotgun at him and orders him back to his seat. Sam then issues a warning to the rest of the audience. He reaches Bugs' hole and Bugs, thinking that Sam's nose is a carrot, flavours it, yanks it, and Sam, into his hole and bites the nose.
Sam jumps above ground, sticks the gun down the hole and commands Bugs to come out. Bugs emerges from Sam's gun and says, "What's up Doc?", to which Sam replies, "Your time is up, rabbit!" and demands he remove himself from the gun. Bugs refuses so Sam releases a gun shell, which Bugs is inside of. He says to Bugs, "Now start prayin', cuz I'm a-blowin' ya to smithereenies at the count of ten!" Bugs quickly chews bubble gum and sticks it into the gun. The gun backfires, surrounds Sam with a bubble and Bugs blows him down a cliff. As Sam is blowing his way back up, Bugs bursts the bubble with a pin. After a very "sticky" situation, Sam digs around the hole with Bugs in it, puts him in a sieve and proceeds to filter Bugs out. He then takes Bugs, by gunpoint, to his cabin - "Now, ya carrot-chewin' coyote, git a-goin'!".
Bugs is hanging on a wall while Sam puts wood in the oven. After Bugs manages a few annoyances for Sam concerning his hat, he is obliged to go into the oven. He exits it several times and takes back in some items: a fan, a pitcher of water ("Hot in there"), chairs, and party favors. He empties ashtrays into Sam's hat and asks him to see if he can 'scare up a few more'. Sam gets mad. The next time Bugs pops from the stove (covered with lipstick), he tells Sam there is a party going on and invites him in. Sam spruces himself up a bit and enters the oven. Bugs comes out and starts putting more wood in the fire, but begins having regrets about having fooled Sam. When he takes a look inside, Bugs suddenly realizes that the oven is actually hosting a real party (a live-action clip from ''
Romance on the High Seas''), hears Sam wildly celebrating, and dives in himself. As the cartoon ends, he pokes his head from the oven door (now wearing a hat and waving party favors) and exclaims, "I don't ask questions, I just have fun!"
Alternate versions
* When the short was used in the 1979 ''
Bugs Bunny's Thanksgiving Diet'' special, the "dancing girls" clip seen by Bugs was replaced with a scene of people dancing in a disco-themed setting. Also, the original music playing when Bugs walks out was replaced with music contemporary to the late 1970s, and new dialogue was substituted for the segments in which the disco music was played.
See also
*
Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography (1950–1959)
*
List of Bugs Bunny cartoons
This is a list of the various animated cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny. He starred in over 160 theatrical animated short films of the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons and distributed by Warner Bros. P ...
*
List of Yosemite Sam cartoons
References
External links
*
{{Friz Freleng , state=collapsed
1951 films
1951 animated films
1951 short films
1950s Warner Bros. animated short films
Short films directed by Friz Freleng
Looney Tunes shorts
Films scored by Carl Stalling
Bugs Bunny films
Yosemite Sam films
1950s English-language films