Wabbit Twouble

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Wabbit Twouble
Merrie Melodies series
Directed by Wobert Cwampett
Story by Dave Monahan
Animation by Sid Suthewand
Voices by Mel Blanc
Arthur Q. Bryan (uncredited)
Music by Cawl W. Stawwing
Produced by Leon Schlesinger
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date December 20, 1941
Format Technicolor, 8 min. (one reel)
Language English
IMDb page
Wabbit Twouble's playful "Fudd-ese" opening titles (background image is partially duplicated due to foreground image sliding past it, as forced perspective).
Wabbit Twouble's playful "Fudd-ese" opening titles (background image is partially duplicated due to foreground image sliding past it, as forced perspective).

Wabbit Twouble (Rabbit Trouble) is a Merrie Melodies cartoon starring Bugs Bunny, produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions released on December 20, 1941 by Warner Bros. Pictures. In the cartoon, Elmer Fudd expects to find rest and relaxation at Jellostone National Park, but he mistakenly sets camp in Bugs' hole, and Bugs (and a neighboring bear) don't have much leisure in mind. It was the first Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by Robert Clampett, with a story by Dave Monahan and musical direction by Carl Stalling. Sid Sutherland is the only credited animator, although at least three more, including Rod Scribner and Robert McKimson, animated on the short as well. Mel Blanc provided the voices for Bugs and the bear, and Arthur Q. Bryan provided the voice for Elmer.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Elmer, riding in his old jalopy (whose eccentric rear axle and wheel do the Conga "kick" and beat), makes his way to Jellostone National Park (a clear reference to Yellowstone National Park), where the sign by the entrance promises "Rest and Relaxation" and "a Restful Retreat" (or, in Elmer's usual diction, "West and Wewaxation" and "a Westful Wetweat"). Bugs has seen Elmer Jellostone National Park, and let's Elmer camp next to his rabbit hole. In short order, Elmer pitches a tent (on the bottom of Bug's hole), sets up camp by putting a fire stove, a mirror and a table to wash his face, and puts up a hammock. However, he gets annoyed when Bugs unpitched and took his tent, but luckily gets it back, tied up in knots as well as his fingers when he was getting his hands on Bugs. He prevents Bugs from getting out of his hole by hammering a board, saying that he can't get out of that. However, Bugs does get out of that, and mimics Elmer by weight and what he previously said, thinking all of it as a "phooey". Elmer lays on his hammock and soon fell fast asleep with him muttering.

Bugs then appears in a rabbit hole by Elmer's campsite. He takes a pair of glasses, paints them black, puts them on Elmer's face and sets Elmer's alarm clock to go off. Elmer now thinks it's night (since everything seems so dark), so he gets undressed and goes to bed. Bugs then takes the glasses off and crows like a rooster, making Elmer think that it's the next morning.

When Elmer goes to wash his face, Bugs keeps the towel at a distance with a branch, causing Elmer to blindly follow the towel. (As Bugs tells the audience, "I do this kind of stuff to him all through the picture.") Elmer then almost falls off a cliff. He then, looks at the miraculous view of the Grand Canyon. But just when he sees that Bugs is the one pulling these gags, Bugs runs off, with Elmer giving chase after retrieving a gun from his tent.

However, when he tries hitting Bugs with his rifle, he winds up hitting a black bear in the head instead. The bear starts growling, and Elmer, turns to a wildlife handbook for advice, which states:

"When confronted with a grizzly bear, play dead. Above all else, remain completely motionless!"

The bear soon gives up (after sniffing Elmer's "B.O." - his feet), but Bugs has more fun with Elmer when he climbs on Elmer and starts growling exactly like the bear.

Eventually, Elmer gives up and quickly packs everything back into his car (including, at first, the tree that was next to his tent!). On his way out, he can't help but be angry at the failed promise of the sign for "rest and relaxation", and starts chopping the sign to bits. The park ranger then appears, a stern look on his face. Elmer is then shown in prison (presumably for vandalism), where he's thankful that he's finally "wid of that scwewy wabbit!" But somehow, he turns to find out that he's sharing his cell with both Bugs and the black bear!

  • The title card credits are written in "Elmer Fudd-ese"; that is, written the way Elmer would say them ("Superwision Wobert Cwampett" and so on).
  • It has been suggested on various forums dedicated to classical animation that this cartoon originally began production under Tex Avery and was completed by Clampett when Avery left the Warners studio in 1941. The evidence given to support this contention include the reddish nose sported by Elmer Fudd in this cartoon (Avery had given Elmer such a nose in A Wild Hare), Bugs' design, the unique credit sequence (Avery had previously done such tinkering with the credits of Tortoise Beats Hare), and the credits for Dave Monahan and Sid Sutherland.
  • The voice used by Mel Blanc for the bear (who only has one line, at the end of the film, "Yeh, how long ya in for, Doc?") is a softer version of the voice characterization he would later use for Cecil Turtle and eventually Barney Rubble.
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