Robot Rabbit
Directed byI. Freleng[1]
Story byWarren Foster
Produced byEdward Selzer[1][2]
StarringMel Blanc
(Bugs Bunny, Mule)
Arthur Q. Bryan
(Elmer Fudd)[3]
Music byCarl Stalling
Animation byKen Champin
Manuel Perez
Arthur Davis
Virgil Ross[2]
Layouts byHawley Pratt
Backgrounds byIrv Wyner[1][3]
Color processTechnicolor[1]
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
The Vitaphone Corporation[1]
Release date
December 12, 1953 (USA premiere)
Running time
6 minutes 45 seconds[2]
LanguageEnglish

Robot Rabbit is a 1953 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Friz Freleng.[4] The short was released on December 12, 1953, and stars Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd.[5][6]

The short is considered an example of how animation of the time addressed the topic of robotization.[7]

Plot

Elmer Fudd is carrot farmer. While going about his chores singing "In a Little Red Barn (On a Farm down in Indiana)", he realizes Bugs has joined his singing. At the end of the chorus of the song, Bugs dives into his hole, and carrots fly into the air. Elmer angrily laments "Ooooh, da wascal wabbit is in my cawwots again!", and then rushes into his house to retrieve a shotgun. After shooting into an empty hole (Bugs had conveniently left the hole, then does his "fake dying" act, culminating in an actual metal bucket that materializes, which Bugs kicks), Elmer exclaims "Howway! Da wabbit kicked da bucket!", then he and Bugs start dancing as a result until Elmer begins to realize Bugs tricked him and is still very much alive.

That prompts Fudd to call "ACME Pest Control" for a robot with the express purpose of evicting Bugs. After Elmer puts the robot together, The robot initially confuses a mule and Elmer — who was trying to explain to the robot what a rabbit looks like — for his intended target before getting the early upper-hand. Bugs quickly evens the score by luring his antagonist under a rotating water sprinkler, causing the robot to rust. Elmer however resolves this setback just as quickly by oiling the robot up and then warns him that he'll be sold for old scrap iron if he doesn't get the job done.

Later, Bugs disguises himself as a female robot, before finally causing the robot to follow him through a construction site and beneath a pile driver. Back at home, Elmer starts wondering how the robot fared, Bugs greets him and dumps the remains of the robot onto the floor; it proved that the robot was crushed underneath the pile driver. As Bugs walks off, he comments to himself: "Ya know, someday, dese scientists are gonna invent something dat will outsmart a rabbit".

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Webb, Graham (2011). The Animated Film Encyclopedia: A Complete Guide to American Shorts, Features and Sequences (1900-1999) (Second ed.). McFarland & Company Inc. p. 304. ISBN 978-0-7864-4985-9.
  2. 1 2 3 "Robot Rabbit (1953): Main". The Big Cartoon DataBase. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  3. 1 2 "Robot Rabbit (1953): Cast". The Big Cartoon DataBase. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  4. ↑ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 255. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
  5. ↑ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 60–62. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  6. ↑ Ohmart, Ben (2012-11-15). Mel Blanc: The Man of a Thousand Voices. BearManor Media.
  7. ↑ Telotte, J. P. (2017-10-10). Animating the Science Fiction Imagination. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-069529-3.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.