Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt
Encyclopedia
Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt is a Warner Bros.
cartoon in the Merrie Melodies
series, starring Bugs Bunny
and Hiawatha
, first released on June 7, 1941. The short makes several direct references to The Song of Hiawatha
, an epic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
. The short was directed
by Friz Freleng
, written by Michael Maltese
, animated by Gil Turner
, and the musical director was Carl Stalling
.
The voices of Bugs Bunny and Hiawatha were both provided by Mel Blanc
.
out loud to himself, and the saga turns real as a pint-sized, Elmer Fudd
-like Hiawatha (minus the speech impediment) turns up, paddling his canoe. Hiawatha is looking for a rabbit for his dinner. Hiawatha manages to tricks Bugs into thinking he is preparing a hot bath for him. It is actually a cooking pot, which Bugs quickly vacates once Hiawatha casually mentions that he is having rabbit stew for supper. As with Elmer, Bugs spends the rest of the cartoon tormenting his would-be devourer, who finally breaks his arrows in anger and disgust, and paddles his canoe away while Bugsy finishes his reading of the poem. However, in the closing gag, the miffed-looking Hiawatha suddenly returns to the foreground where Bugs is reading the narrative, and after a second of wordless staring at each other, Hiawatha gives Bugs the "insulting kiss" that the Bunny usually bestows on others. Hiawatha then paddles away again, as Bugs "spits out" the kiss at the iris-out.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
cartoon in the Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...
series, starring Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
and Hiawatha
Hiawatha
Hiawatha was a legendary Native American leader and founder of the Iroquois confederacy...
, first released on June 7, 1941. The short makes several direct references to The Song of Hiawatha
The Song of Hiawatha
The Song of Hiawatha is an 1855 epic poem, in trochaic tetrameter, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, featuring an Indian hero and loosely based on legends and ethnography of the Ojibwe and other Native American peoples contained in Algic Researches and additional writings of Henry Rowe Schoolcraft...
, an epic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
. The short was directed
Animation director
An animation director is the director in charge of all aspects of the animation process during the production of an animated film or animated segment for a live-action film...
by Friz Freleng
Friz Freleng
Isadore "Friz" Freleng was an animator, cartoonist, director, and producer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros....
, written by Michael Maltese
Michael Maltese
Michael "Mike" Maltese was a long-time storyboard artist and screenwriter for classic animated cartoon shorts.-Career:...
, animated by Gil Turner
Gil Turner
Gil Turner was an American folk singer-songwriter, magazine editor, Shakespearean actor, political activist, and for a time, a lay Baptist preacher...
, and the musical director was Carl Stalling
Carl Stalling
Carl W. Stalling was an American composer and arranger for music in animated films. He is most closely associated with the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts produced by Warner Bros., where he averaged one complete score each week, for 22 years.-Biography:Stalling was born to Ernest and...
.
The voices of Bugs Bunny and Hiawatha were both provided by Mel Blanc
Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
.
Synopsis
Bugs is reading The Song of HiawathaThe Song of Hiawatha
The Song of Hiawatha is an 1855 epic poem, in trochaic tetrameter, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, featuring an Indian hero and loosely based on legends and ethnography of the Ojibwe and other Native American peoples contained in Algic Researches and additional writings of Henry Rowe Schoolcraft...
out loud to himself, and the saga turns real as a pint-sized, Elmer Fudd
Elmer Fudd
Elmer J. Fudd/Egghead is a fictional cartoon character and one of the most famous Looney Tunes characters, and the de facto archenemy of Bugs Bunny. He has one of the more disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon pantheon . His aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring...
-like Hiawatha (minus the speech impediment) turns up, paddling his canoe. Hiawatha is looking for a rabbit for his dinner. Hiawatha manages to tricks Bugs into thinking he is preparing a hot bath for him. It is actually a cooking pot, which Bugs quickly vacates once Hiawatha casually mentions that he is having rabbit stew for supper. As with Elmer, Bugs spends the rest of the cartoon tormenting his would-be devourer, who finally breaks his arrows in anger and disgust, and paddles his canoe away while Bugsy finishes his reading of the poem. However, in the closing gag, the miffed-looking Hiawatha suddenly returns to the foreground where Bugs is reading the narrative, and after a second of wordless staring at each other, Hiawatha gives Bugs the "insulting kiss" that the Bunny usually bestows on others. Hiawatha then paddles away again, as Bugs "spits out" the kiss at the iris-out.
Production notes
- This film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Short Subject (cartoons)Academy Award for Animated Short FilmThe Academy Award for Animated Short Film is an award which has been given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as part of the Academy Awards every year since the 5th Academy Awards, covering the year 1931-32, to the present....
. - This was the first Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by Friz FrelengFriz FrelengIsadore "Friz" Freleng was an animator, cartoonist, director, and producer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros....
. - This was Bugs' first encounter with a Native AmericanIndigenous peoples of the AmericasThe indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
. - This is a parody of the Silly SymphoniesSilly SymphoniesSilly Symphonies is a series of animated short subjects, 75 in total, produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939, while the studio was still located at Hyperion Avenue in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles...
cartoon Little HiawathaLittle HiawathaLittle Hiawatha is a 1937 animated cartoon produced by Walt Disney.-Synopsis:Over opening narration, Little Hiawatha is seen paddling his canoe down a river—at one point backwards—on his way to hunt game. Upon reaching land, he steps out and immediately falls down a hidden hole in the water,...
. In fact, the character is a parody of the legendary DisneyThe Walt Disney CompanyThe Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
animatorAnimatorAn animator is an artist who creates multiple images that give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence; the images are called frames and key frames. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, video games, and the internet. Usually, an...
, Ward KimballWard KimballWard Walrath Kimball was an animator for the Walt Disney Studios. He was one of Walt Disney's team of animators known as Disney's Nine Old Men.-Career:...
. - This was the fourth cartoon for Bugs, and the 66th cartoon Friz Freleng directed at Warner Bros.Warner Bros.Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
- The cooking-pot sequence from this cartoon would be directly incorporated three years later in the 1944 Bugs Bunny cartoon What's Cookin' Doc?What's Cookin' Doc?What's Cookin' Doc? is a 1944 Warner Bros. cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series, directed by Bob Clampett and starring Bugs Bunny. The title is a variant on Bugs' catch-phrase "What's up Doc?". It also hints at one of the scenes in the picture....
, although Bugs' facial appearance had subtly changed in the interim. The central joke in that film is Bugs losing the Oscar to fellow Warner actor James CagneyJames CagneyJames Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...
. Showing clips specifically from Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt provides some context to that storyline. - This is also the only pre-August 1948Associated Artists ProductionsAssociated Artists Productions was a distributor of theatrical feature films and short subjects for television. It existed from 1953 to 1958. It was later folded into United Artists. The former a.a.p. library was later owned by MGM/UA Entertainment and then Turner Entertainment. Turner continues...
Bugs Bunny cartoon (not counting A Wild Hare) that was reissued as a Blue Ribbon. It was the only Blue Ribboned Bugs cartoon to feature the Bugs Bunny variation of the opening sequence segue into the Blue Ribbon title card - all other reissued Bugs cartoons just had the standard Blue Ribbon opening sequence (though some of the post-July 1948 entries did retain the "Bugs Bunny In..." card). - On Cartoon Network, the cartoon's original credits were restored, but with faded-out colors and the Turner "dubbed version" production notes on the 1938 That's All,Folks! ending title card.
Controversy
- This cartoon was one of the 12 Bugs cartoons pulled out of the June Bugs marathon in 2001 because of ethnic stereotypes (in this case, the Native American hunter), even though this cartoon has aired on Cartoon NetworkCartoon NetworkCartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....
's show The Acme Hour during ThanksgivingThanksgivingThanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...
(and the latter cartoon What's Cookin' Doc?What's Cookin' Doc?What's Cookin' Doc? is a 1944 Warner Bros. cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series, directed by Bob Clampett and starring Bugs Bunny. The title is a variant on Bugs' catch-phrase "What's up Doc?". It also hints at one of the scenes in the picture....
, which features a clip of this cartoon, has aired a few times with the scene from Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt intact.)