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Elmer's Pet Rabbit Merrie Melodies (Bugs Bunny) series
"Bugs Bunny" has a chat with Elmer.
Directed by	Charles M. Jones
Produced by	Leon Schlesinger
Voices by	Mel Blanc Arthur Q. Bryan
Music by	Carl W. Stalling
Animation by	Rudy Larriva Ken Harris Bob Cannon Ben Washam
Layouts by	John McGrew
Backgrounds by	Paul Julian
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	January 4, 1941
Color process	Technicolor
Running time	7 min, 41 sec
Language	English

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 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 rabbit's voice is pitched noticeably lower than in later incarnations of Bugs Bunny.

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).
• The song While Strolling Through the Park One Day is heard at different times in the short.
• A sequence of signs at the pet store extol the virtues of having a rabbit for a pet. One of them, "Ask the man who owns one", is a famous advertising slogan for the Packard.[1]
• Elmer inexplicably wears his hat in his house, even when going to take a shower.
• The voice and phrasing that Bugs uses sounds similar to some of the movie characters that James Stewart played. In this short Bugs also affects the bent-over walk of Groucho Marx.
• While Bugs and Elmer are dancing, Bugs says to him, "You dance divinely; really you do" in the style of Katharine Hepburn.
• Bugs yells "Turn off that light!" at Elmer like an air raid warden from World War II--twice.
• 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 no teeth and yellow gloves. It is also the only cartoon where Bugs claims to not eat carrots (yet he eats them and other vegetables while complaining).

External links

• http://www.classicaldrives.com/50226711/ask_the_man_who_owns_one.php
• Elmer's Pet Rabbit at the Internet Movie Database
• Elmer's Pet Rabbit Video