The Big Snooze
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Big Snooze
Looney Tunes/Bugs Bunny series |
|
|---|---|
 Title Card for The Big Snooze |
|
| Directed by | Bob Clampett (uncredited) |
| Produced by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Story by | Warren Foster (uncredited) |
| Voices by | Mel Blanc Arthur Q. Bryan |
| Music by | Carl Stalling |
| Animation by | Rod Scribner I. Ellis Manny Gould J.C. Melendez |
| Studio | Warner Bros. Cartoons |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Release date(s) | October 5, 1946 |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 7 minutes (one reel) |
| IMDb profile | |
The Big Snooze is a 1946 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Bob Clampett, his final cartoon for Warner Bros. Its title was inspired by the 1939 book The Big Sleep, and its 1946 film adaptation, also a Warner release. The Big Snooze features Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, voiced as usual by Mel Blanc and Arthur Q. Bryan, respectively.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
In this cartoon-within-a-cartoon, Bugs and Elmer are in the midst of their usual hunting-chasing scenario. After Bugs tricks Elmer into running through a hollow log and off a cliff three times (a similar version from All This and Rabbit Stew) , Elmer becomes enraged and frustrated that the writers never let him catch the rabbit "in every one of these cartoons" (thus breaking the fourth wall). He tears up his Warner contract and walks off the set to devote his life to fishing. With a line in the water, and lying against a tree, Elmer quickly falls asleep.
Bugs, stunned by Elmer's walkout, observes Elmer's nap and takes sleeping pills ("Take Dese and Doze") in order to rock Elmer's "dreamboat" by invading his dream and continuing to drive Elmer crazy. Symbolic of his dreamland plight, Elmer appears nearly nude, wearing only his derby hat and a strategically placed loincloth consisting of a garland of flowers. The two resume their chase, through a surreal landscape.
Bugs tricks Elmer into slipping into a snug-fitting dress that he somehow fills out in a feminine way, along with high heels. Bugs tops Elmer with a wig and applies lipstick. Bugs lifts a backdrop to reveal the corner of Hollywood and Vine, where a trio of "Hollywood wolves" dressed in zoot suits hoot and holler, and one wolf cries out "Howwwwww old is she?", before resuming the hooting and hollering.
Elmer runs away from the wolves, pausing long enough to ask the audience, "Have any of you giwls evew had an expewience wike this?". Bugs and Elmer dash toward stage right, as Bugs plays the old gag "run 'this way'!)" and puts Elmer through a bizarre series of steps.
Bugs and Elmer jump off the edge of the dreamscape (in a scene similar to The Heckling Hare). During the descent, Bugs drinks some "Hare Tonic - Stops Falling Hare" and screeches to a halt in mid-air, while the dream version of Elmer continues to careen toward earth. The dream Elmer crash-lands into the real Elmer's snoozing body as he wakes up with a start: "Oh, what a howwibwe nightmawe!"
Elmer dashes back to the cartoon's original set, pieces his Warner contract back together, and tells the audience, Oh, Mr. Warner... I'm ba-ack! and the chase through the log begins anew. The happy Bugs faces the audience in a closeup, closing with the catchphrase from the "Beulah" character on the radio show Fibber McGee and Molly, Ah love dat man! ("Love dat man!").[1]
[edit] Censorship
Due to concerns about drug abuse (even though the Latin-American dubbing states "non-addictive"), the part where Bugs takes a sleeping pill (from the bottle that reads, "Take Deze and Doze") to invade Elmer's dream was originally edited out when shown on most TV channels. The scene was most often deleted with a jump cut or, as on Cartoon Network, with a fake black-out. This was the method used until it was shown uncut on Cartoon Network's The Bob Clampett Show and has been shown uncut ever since on other cartoon shows, networks, and DVDs.
The Big Snooze is available in a restored version on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2 DVD set, and as part of the compilation What's Up, Doc? A Salute to Bugs Bunny on Volume 3.
[edit] References
- ^ Billy Ingram. The Beulah Show. Retrieved on 2006-09-15.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Racketeer Rabbit |
Bugs Bunny Cartoons 1946 |
Succeeded by Rhapsody Rabbit |
