Elmer's Pet Rabbit

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = Elmer's Pet Rabbit
series = Merrie Melodies


caption = "Bugs Bunny" has a chat with Elmer.
director = Charles M. Jones
story_artist =
animator = Rudy Larriva
Ken Harris
Bob Cannon
Ben Washam
voice_actor = Mel Blanc
Arthur Q. Bryan
musician = Carl W. Stalling
producer = Leon Schlesinger
distributor = Warner Bros.
release_date = January 4, 1941
color_process = Technicolor
runtime = 7 min, 41 sec
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0033575

"Elmer's Pet Rabbit" is a 1940 Merrie Melodies cartoon starring Elmer Fudd and, ostensibly, Bugs Bunny. The short was released on January 4, 1941. It is the first cartoon in which the name Bugs Bunny is given (on a title card, slapped onto the end of the opening title sequence when "A Wild Hare" hit big), but the rabbit is also somewhat the same as the one seen and heard in "Elmer's Candid Camera" and other pre-Bugs shorts. It was directed by the legendary Chuck Jones, written by Rich Hogan, animated by Rudy Larriva, and the music was directed by Carl Stalling. It was produced by Leon Schlesinger and the sound effects were by audio wizard Treg Brown, inexplicably credited, as he usually was on these cartoons, as film editor.

In this cartoon, Elmer buys a rabbit in a pet shop and the animal pesters him mercilessly. Elmer is voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan and the hare by Mel Blanc.

The music in the cartoon includes a variation on "While Strolling Through the Park One Day," arranged by Carl Stalling, performed by Elmer and the rabbit. Elmer, of course, has trouble with many of the words, due to his "rounded L and R" speech impediment.

Production notes

*Accepting the billing at face value, this is the first cartoon in which Bugs Bunny quotes the famous Groucho Marx line, "Of course you realize this means war!" (not counting "Porky's Hare Hunt" in which his prototype, the early but not officially developed Bugs, quoted it).
*This is officially the second cartoon with Bugs and the twenty-third cartoon overall that Chuck Jones directed.
*This short is the only one where Bugs has yellow gloves and no teeth.

Links

[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8523800452600706168&q=Bugs+Bunny&hl=en "Elmer's Pet Rabbit" Video]