Wideo Wabbit

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = "Wideo Wabbit"
series = Looney Tunes/Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd
director = Robert McKimson
story_artist = Tedd Pierce
animator = Ted Bonnicksen
Keith Darling
Russ Dyson
George Grandpré
layouts = Robert Gribbroek
backgrounds = Richard H. Thomas
voice_actor = Mel Blanc
Arthur Q. Bryan (uncredited)
Daws Butler (uncredited)
musician = Carl W. Stalling
producer = Edward Selzer
distributor = Warner Bros.
release_date = 1956 (USA)
color_process = Technicolor
runtime = 7 min
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0049952

Wideo Wabbit is a fy|1956 Warner Bros. cartoon featuring Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. The voice of Bugs Bunny and other characters are played by Mel Blanc while the voice of Elmer Fudd is played by Arthur Q. Bryan. Bugs' Groucho Marx and Ed Norton impressions were actually performed by Daws Butler.

Plot

Bugs Bunny is singing "This Is My Lucky Day" when he comes on an ad in the newspaper wanting a rabbit for a show at the QTTV-TV studio. When he gets there, the producer makes Bugs climb a ladder whereupon Bugs asks why he has to climb the ladder and the producer says "Most of our actors, we start at the bottom. We are starting you at the top."

However, unbeknownst to Bugs, it is a hunting show starring Elmer Fudd called "The Sportsman's Hour", sponsored by The French Fried Fresh Frozen Rabbit Company of Walla Walla, Washington. He tells the audience how he goes about getting a rabbit. He signals the cue for Bugs to come up out of the hole by push button and 10,000 volts' worth of electricity. When Bugs comes out of the hole, Elmer starts shooting. Bugs starts a fuss about the shooting, and Elmer tells him not to make a scene and everybody is watching ("How d'you expect me to bwast you when you're moving awound wike that?") and Bugs tells Elmer to let them look and that it is his first chance on TV. Elmer takes a couple of shots at Bugs as he runs away and Bugs takes this as professional jealousy, but on a scale he had never imagined.

This leads to a chase all over the studio wherein Bugs goes into each and every show in the studio. The first show he does is a parody of You Bet Your Life with Groucho Marx called "You Beat Your Wife" (see "Censorship" for information about this gag). Elmer comes in, and Bugs as Groucho asks Elmer what the secret word was for $50, what his name was and what he was looking for. Elmer says he was looking for a rabbit, a crazy fresh rabbit. In response, Bugs as Groucho says "Oh, a fresh hare fiend." As Groucho, Bugs asks Elmer "Have you stopped beating your wife?" (The question is known for trapping the questionee whether the answer is "yes" nor "no" since neither answer allows for the possibility that the questionee has "never" beaten his wife and therefore cannot "stop" doing what he has never done in the first place.) As Elmer stutters and stammers for a reply, Bugs walks out and says, "While you're making up your mind, I'll go slip out of these wet clothes — and into a dry martini, eh!" Elmer sees Bugs in disguise and tells him off, Bugs kisses him and tells him "Aw, you been peekin'."

Next, Elmer gets hit by a pie by Bugs on a parody of You Asked For It called "You're Asking For It."

Next, Bugs plays Liberace who is called "Liver-ace", and when Elmer comes in, he is playing the piano. When Bugs sees Elmer, he does his Liberace imitation showing his teeth as piano keys, calling Elmer "his brother George", and tells Elmer to take the candelabra over to Mother. The candles are actually sticks of dynamite; when Elmer walks slowly and stops, there is an explosion. Bugs as Liberace says, "I did that because I always like to start my show off with a "bang"."

Next, Bugs as a studio page, sends Elmer into the show "You Were There", a takeoff of the show You Are There depicting Custer's Last Stand and when he comes out he is all covered in arrows.

The final time, Bugs as a producer, sends Elmer into a show called Masquerade Party where he is now disguised as a rabbit and Bugs as Elmer in his hunting outfit. Bugs goes back on "The Sportsman's Hour" and shoots Elmer in his rabbit suit and then Bugs as Ed Norton from The Honeymooners comes out and gives Elmer a cigar with Groucho Marx's glasses and eyebrows and says "Gee, what a Groucho."

Production details

This is the second time that Bugs has played Groucho Marx to avoid Elmer. The first time was Friz Freleng's 1947 cartoon "Slick Hare", but Elmer comes much closer to catching Bugs in that Groucho scene than in the one in "Wideo Wabbit", by means of disguise as Groucho's brother Harpo.

The part where Bugs is a studio page at the TV studio is repeated again in the 1959 cartoon "People Are Bunny", this time with Daffy Duck as his victim.

When Bugs is masquerading as Liberace and playing the piano, the part where he gets his fingers tied in a knot could have been lifted from another Freleng cartoon (1946's "Rhapsody Rabbit").

* When Elmer is tracking Bugs' footprints while giving tips, music is reused from "A Wild Hare" where Bugs taps on Elmer's head and introduces his catch phrase. Interestingly, McKimson (who directed this cartoon) animated "A Wild Hare" without receiving screen credit.

Censorship

*Versions of this cartoon that aired on WB and Cartoon Network edited the scene where Elmer is on the "You Bet Your Life" game show parody called "You Beat Your Wife" (for fear that viewers may misconstrue it as a joke about spousal abuse) by removing all references to the show in both the dialogue and on the podium (the WB's version blanked out the show title with a light brown square that doesn't match the rest of the podium color while Cartoon Network used digital editing to remove the offending title, which compared to WB, was done flawlessly). It should be of note that Cartoon Network had the "You Beat Your Wife" scene uncut until 2001.
*The WB version had more edits to this cartoon besides the "You Beat Your Wife" sequence. The part where Elmer chases Bugs into the set of "Custer's Last Stand" and emerges, battered and with arrows pointing out of his rear end was also edited out.
*The ABC version (surprisingly) didn't cut the You Beat Your Wife sequence (however, this cartoon was only shown once because of the complaints brought on by the showing of this sequence), but edited the cartoon to remove a dynamite gag (the scene where Bugs, impersonating Liberace plays the piano and hands Elmer a candelabra with dynamite sticks in place of candles), a gun gag (Elmer firing his gun at Bugs several times, leaving rabbit-shaped bullet silhouettes in the wall behind Bugs) and the scene where Elmer comes out of the "Custer's Last Stand" set with arrows in his butt was only edited to remove the shot of Elmer with arrows in his rear end.

Availability

"Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 3" (uncut & restored)