Rabbit's Kin

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = Rabbit's Kin
series = Merrie Melodies (Bugs Bunny, Pete Puma)


caption = The title card of "Rabbit's Kin".
director = Robert McKimson
story_artist = Tedd Pierce
animator = Charles McKimson Herman Cohen Rod Scribner Phil DeLara.
voice_actor = Mel Blanc Stan Freberg
musician = Carl Stalling
producer = Eddie Selzer
distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures
The Vitaphone Corporation
release_date = November 15 1952 (USA)
color_process = Technicolor
runtime = 7 min (one reel)
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0045063

Rabbit's Kin is a Merrie Melodies short released on November 15, 1952. It was directed by Robert McKimson and written by Tedd Pierce. The animators who worked on this cartoon included Charles McKimson, Herman Cohen, Rod Scribner and Phil DeLara. The music was scored by Carl Stalling while the backgrounds and layouts were done by Robert Givens and Richard H. Thomas, respectively. Mel Blanc, as usual, did the voice of Bugs Bunny, as well as his companion Shorty, while Stan Freberg voiced Bugs' nemesis Pete Puma. The title is a play on "rabbit skin".

Summary

A little bunny named Shorty with a barely discernible warp-speed high pitched voice (a la "Alvin and the Chipmunks") is running from Pete Puma, until he stumbles down Bugs Bunny's rabbit hole. The little guy tells Bugs his problem ("Myheartpounded, mylegstrembled, Iwasfrozenwithfear!"), and Bugs agrees to help him out. Bugs then proceeds to play tricks on Pete. Firstly, he asks Pete to stay for tea. He then proceeds to ask the puma how many lumps of sugar he wants, to which Pete Puma replies "Oh, three or four". Bugs repeatedly hits Pete Puma on the head, leaving him with three or four lumps on his head. Pete had also offered Bugs an exploding cigar, and while Pete is dazed, Bugs puts the cigar in Pete's mouth and lights it. BOOM!

Pete next tries to disguise himself as the little rabbit's mother. Once again, Bugs wants to have him for tea, but this time Pete declines the offer. He says, "But I don't want no TEA! It gives me a HEADACHE!" Instead, Pete provides coffee. The "lumps" gag repeats itself, only this time the puma has protection in the form of an "Acme Stove Lid" on his head. Bugs removes it with his "Acme Stovelid Lifter", revealing more lumps on Pete's cranium.

Shorty enjoys the shenanigans so much that he wants to get involved. So, as the little bunny hops down the road alone, Pete grabs him and runs home to his cave. Bugs shows up in a costume disguised as Pete's second cousin, Paul Puma. He asks how many lumps of coal Pete wants for the stove, and after he says "You better give me a lotta lumps, a whooole lotta lumps", he catches himself. "Oh no ya don't", he says. "I'll help myself!" the cartoon ends with Pete beating himself on the head with a wooden mallet as Bugs takes the little bunny home ("We'd better get outta here, Shorty--he's much too smart for us! Huuuuuuugh!") (representing Pete's inhaled chortling sound).