''The Big Snooze'' is a 1946

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...

'' cartoon directed by

Bob Clampett Robert Emerson Clampett Sr. (May 8, 1913 – May 2, 1984) was an American animator, film director, director, film producer, producer and puppeteer best known for his work on the ''Looney Tunes'' animated series from Warner Bros. as well as the te ...

and co-directed by Arthur Davis, who were both uncredited as directors.Milton Gray
/ref> It features

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is a cartoon character created in the late 1930s at Warner Bros. Cartoons (originally Leon Schlesinger, Leon Schlesinger Productions) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the ' ...

and

Elmer Fudd Elmer J. Fudd is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes''/''Merrie Melodies'' series and the archenemy of Bugs Bunny. Elmer Fudd's aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring himself and other antag ...

, voiced by

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908 – July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for come ...

and

Arthur Q. Bryan Arthur Quirk Bryan (May 8, 1899 – November 30, 1959) was an American actor and radio personality. He is best remembered for his longtime recurring role as well-spoken, wisecracking Dr. Gamble on the radio comedy ''Fibber McGee and Molly'' and f ...

. Its title was inspired by the 1939 book ''

The Big Sleep ''The Big Sleep'' (1939) is a hardboiled crime novel by American-British writer Raymond Chandler, the first to feature the detective Philip Marlowe. It has been adapted for film twice, in 1946 and again in 1978. The story is set in Los A ...

'', and its 1946 film adaptation, also a Warner release.

Plot

Bugs and Elmer are in the midst of their usual hunting-chasing scenario. After Bugs tricks Elmer into running through a hollow log and off a cliff three times, Elmer angrily quits because he feels that the writers never let him catch the rabbit. He tears up his Warner Bros. cartoon contract and walks off the set to devote his life to fishing, stunning Bugs, who piteously asks him to reconsider. During a relaxing fishing trip, Elmer falls asleep. Bugs observes Elmer's nap, remarks that the dream he notices Elmer is having — that of a classic log and saw, representing snoring — is "a heavenly dream". Then, Bugs decides he had "better look into this", and downs a sleeping pill. He dreams he is inside Elmer's dream, in a boat crooning "

Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat "Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat" is a song written by Leon René, Otis René and Emerson Scott in 1941. It was recorded in 1941 by The Ink Spots (Decca 4045), Erskine Hawkins (Bluebird B-11277), "Hutch" Leslie Hutchinson with Orchestra (HMV B.D ...

". He decides to use Nightmare Paint to disrupt the "serene scene". Within Elmer's dreamland, Bugs creates unsettling situations: Elmer appears nearly nude, wearing only his derby hat and a strategically placed "loincloth" consisting of a laurel wreath. Next, in a musical parody of "

The Campbells Are Coming "The Campbells Are Coming" is a Scottish song associated with Clan Campbell. The tune, a traditional Scottish air, is similar to "The Town of Inveraray" () ("I was at a wedding in the town of Inveraray / Most wretched of weddings, with nothing bu ...

", and a visual parody of the

Pink Elephants on Parade "Pink Elephants on Parade" is a song and scene from the 1941 Disney animated feature film ''Dumbo'' in which Dumbo and Timothy Q. Mouse, having accidentally become intoxicated (through drinking water spiked with champagne), see pink elephants sin ...

sequence from the

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

film ''

Dumbo ''Dumbo'' is a 1941 American Animated film, animated Musical film, musical Fantasy film, fantasy Comedy drama, comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film i ...

'' (1941), Bugs creates a situation where "ziwwions and twiwwions of wabbits" are dancing over Elmer while Bugs' voice is heard singing, "The rabbits are coming. Hooray! Hooray!" When Elmer asks where they are all coming from, Bugs replies, "From me, Doc," and is shown literally multiplying them from an

adding machine An adding machine is a class of mechanical calculator, usually specialized for bookkeeping calculations. Consequently, the earliest adding machines were often designed to read in particular currencies. Adding machines were ubiquitous office ...

. Looking for another way to torment Elmer, Bugs consults the book '' A Thousand and One Arabian Nightmares'', exclaiming, "Oh, no! It's too gruesome!" before peeking over the book to cheerfully tell the audience, "But I'll do it!" Elmer realizes what Bugs has in mind, pleading, "No, no! No, not that! Not that, please!" as Bugs ties him to railroad tracks, just as "the

Super Chief The ''Super Chief'' was one of the List of named passenger trains, named train, passenger trains and the flagship of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The then-modern streamliner was touted in its heyday as "The Train of the Stars" b ...

" (Bugs in an Indian chief's

war bonnet file:Native American PowWow 9488.jpg, A modern-day Cheyenne Dog Soldiers, dog soldier wearing a feathered headdress during a pow wow at the Indian Summer festival in Henry Maier Festival Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 2008 War bonnets (also called ...

, leading a conga line of baby rabbits) crosses over Elmer's head. Elmer chases Bugs through a surreal landscape, and Bugs inquires, "What's the matter doc, ya cold? Here, I'll fix dat." Before Elmer can react, Bugs dresses him in

drag Drag or The Drag may refer to: Places * Drag, Norway, a village in Tysfjord municipality, Nordland, Norway * ''Drág'', the Hungarian name for Dragu Commune in Sălaj County, Romania * Drag (Austin, Texas), the portion of Guadalupe Street a ...

, (dress, wig, lipstick) transforming the inept hunter into a woman with an

hourglass figure The hourglass figure is one of the four traditional female body shapes described by the fashion industry; the other shapes are the rectangle, inverted triangle, and spoon (or pear). The hourglass shape is defined by a woman's body measurements – ...

who resembles

Rita Hayworth Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer, and Pin-up model, pin-up girl. She achieved fame in the 1940s as one of the top stars of the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of ...

. Bugs inspects his handiwork, then lifts the backdrop to reveal a trio of literal

wolve The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though grey ...

s in

Zoot suits A zoot suit (occasionally spelled zuit suit) is a men's suit with high-waisted, wide-legged, tight-cuffed, pegged trousers, and a long coat with wide lapels and wide padded shoulders. It is most notable for its use as a cultural symbol among the ...

, lounging by the sign at

Hollywood and Vine Hollywood and Vine, the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, California, became known in the 1920s for its concentration of radio and movie-related businesses. The Hollywood Walk of Fame is centered on the intersectio ...

, who catcall at Elmer. As Bugs and Elmer fall off a cliff, Bugs drinks some "

Hare Tonic ''Hare Tonic'' is a 1945 Warner Bros. cartoon in the ''Looney Tunes'' series, directed by Chuck Jones and written by Tedd Pierce. It stars Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, making this the second cartoon directed by Jones to co-star the two (the first ...

(Stops

Falling Hare ''Falling Hare'' is a 1943 Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Bob Clampett. The cartoon features Bugs Bunny. In this film, Bugs Bunny tries to prevent the wrecking of an American military aircraft by a gremlin. The setting is a ...

)" and screeches to a halt in mid-air, while the dream Elmer continues to careen toward earth, finally crash-landing into the real Elmer's snoozing body. He wakes up with a start, exclaiming, "Ooh, what a howwible nightmare!" Elmer dashes back to the cartoon's original background, pieces his Warner contract back together, and agrees to continue. The chase through the log begins anew. Bugs faces the audience in a closeup, finishing with the

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

from the "Beulah" character on the radio show

Fibber McGee and Molly ''Fibber McGee and Molly'' (1935–1959) was a longtime American husband-and-wife team radio comedy program. The situation comedy was a staple of the NBC Red Network from 1936 on, after originating on NBC Blue in 1935. One of the most popular ...

, "Ah ''love'' dat man!"

Reception

Animation historian

Jerry Beck Jerry Beck (born February 9, 1955) is an American animation historian, author, blogger (person), blogger, and video producer. Beck wrote or edited several books on classic American animation and classic characters, including ''Looney Tunes and ...

writes, "In ''The Big Snooze'', Clampett, who has drawn up imaginary worlds several times before, outdoes himself with the imagery in Elmer's nightmare. The abstract rabbits foreshadow the minimalism of

United Productions of America United Productions of America, better known as UPA, was an American animation studio and later distribution company founded in 1941 as Industrial Film and Poster Service by former Walt Disney Productions employees. Beginning with industrial a ...

(UPA) cartoons, and the surreal landscape combining clouds, yellow skies, and musical notes is the closest we'll come to visualizing a Looney Tunes acid trip."

Notes

Contrary to popular belief, ''The Big Snooze'' was left unfinished upon Bob Clampett's departure. According to historian Milton Gray, Arthur Davis completed the short but didn't understand Clampett's humor, so he had to finish what he had and scrapped the rest.Bob Clampett Remembered
/ref> Clampett would not see the completed film decades later and admitted to Gray that some things in the short were done very different from his original intention.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Big Snooze, The 1940s LGBTQ-related films 1940s Warner Bros. animated short films 1946 films Bugs Bunny films Cross-dressing in American films Drag (entertainment)-related films Elmer Fudd films Films about hunting Films about nightmares Films directed by Arthur Davis (animator) Films directed by Bob Clampett Films scored by Carl Stalling Films with screenplays by Bob Clampett Looney Tunes shorts Warner Bros. Cartoons animated short films 1946 animated short films

Plot

Reception

Notes

See also

References

External links