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A-Lad-In His Lamp is a 1948 Looney Tunes short directed by Robert McKimson.

Title[]

The title is a play on Aladdin's Lamp.

Plot[]

While digging a new rabbit hole, Bugs finds Aladdin's lamp -- initially believing it to be junk, Bugs starts cleaning it off so he can use it as an ashtray. A genie (ultimately dubbed "Smokey" by Bugs) soon appears and claims that he can grant any wish that Bugs wants. After trying but failing to make some wishes (due to Smokey interrupting him), Bugs ultimately requests two carrots, which the genie produces.

When Smokey claims that he wants to return to his home in Baghdad, Bugs (imagining how amazing a trip to Baghdad would be) wishes that he could go as well -- interpreting this as an actual wish, Smokey stuffs Bugs into his lamp and then fires him from it like a cannon, and the two fly off all the way to Iraq. The two soon arrive at their destination, eventually landing in a royal palace belonging to Caliph Hasenpfeffer. Though initially angry at being disturbed, the caliph gets excited upon discovering Aladdin's lamp -- Bugs, of course, refuses to give the lamp to the caliph, which just makes him angry and soon leads to him chasing Bugs throughout his palace.

While trying to escape the angry caliph, Bugs tries hiding out in a room. He exits after a group of women scream -- after coming out, Bugs sheepishly says, "Er, uh, a 'hare-um', I think." This encourages Smokey to come out of his lamp and take a peek himself, prompting another shriek from the ladies inside, after which he informs Bugs, "Oh, that was a harem, alright! I know a harem when I see one!" But then the caliph catches up to them, causing Smokey to dive back into his lamp to escape the ruler's anger.

Bugs tries summoning the genie to help him, but Smokey (who is in the middle of taking a bath) refuses and tells Bugs not to bother him. Bugs starts running away from the angry caliph again and tries summoning Smokey's help a second time, but the genie (now in the middle of eating) once again refuses to help Bugs. Angry at the lazy genie's refusal to help him, the rabbit starts repeatedly ramming a stick into the genie's lamp, but all this does is earn Bugs a whack in the face with said stick from Smokey (who sticks his arm out of the lamp to do so). After avoiding the caliph again (who blindly charges into a wall offscreen), Bugs briefly manages to escape him by flying away on a magic carpet (that's rigged with an outboard motor). The rabbit tries summoning Smokey again, who's now in the middle of a date with a female genie. Just as the two genies are about to kiss, the female genie is startled away by Bugs -- angered at having his date interrupted, Smokey threatens to beat Bugs to a pulp if the rabbit disturbs him again before diving back into his lamp.

Bugs' carpet soon loses power and he crash lands back into the palace, with the lamp falling into the hands of Caliph Hasenpfeffer -- the caliph excited upon finally gaining possession of the lamp and starts rubbing it to get the genie. Bugs (with a smile on his face) warns the caliph not to do so, claiming, "You'll be sorry!" Smokey (much larger and angrier than before) emerges and starts beating up the caliph, with Bugs cheering him on. After giving the caliph a good thrashing, Smokey thanks Bugs for his part in it and offers to grant him a wish. After deciding what he wants, Bugs whispers something into Smokey's ear -- the genie produces a ball that ends up as a puff of smoke when dropped.

The short ends with Bugs (now a caliph) surrounded by a harem of female rabbits and wonders "what the poor rabbits are doing this season."

Availability[]

Quotes[]

  • Smokey: I'm here! I'm here! Let the bells ring out and the banners fly! Feast your eyes on me! It's too good to be true, but I'm here! I'm here!
  • Smokey: Why, I'm a genie. I live in that lamp. They call me 'Genie with the light brown hair'. Oh, that was a witty one! Yah-Hal! Yah-Hal! Yah-Hal! Yah-Hal! Yah-Hal!
  • Bugs: Hey, look fellas, I'm a hare-plane!
  • Bugs: Eh, what's up, uh, Beaverpuss?
  • Sultan: WHY YOU...!, Aladdin's Lamp!
  • Bugs: Eh, correction, doc. Bugs Bunny's lamp!
  • Bugs: Just a minute, doc. Let's not start splitting hares!

Censorship[]

  • When this short aired on Cartoon Network, the part where Caliph Hassan is smoking from his hookah before Bugs Bunny lands on him (though not Caliph Hassan smoking during his introductory scene) was cut.
  • When MeTV aired this short in May 2021 as part of their Saturday Morning Cartoons block, the smoking part was left in, but Bugs singing "In the Cold, Cold Ground" in the beginning of the cartoon was cut for time reasons. In November 2021, the cartoon re-aired with the beginning reinstated.

Notes[]

  • Jim Backus, who voiced Smokey the Genie, would also work with Mel Blanc in UPA's Mr. Magoo series, the former voicing canned vegetable tycoon Mr. Quincy Magoo, and the latter voicing his uncle Tycoon Magoo, his manservant Worcestershire, and a number of incidental characters.
  • Smokey the Genie would later reappear in The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries episode "Fleas Release Me".
  • Smokey would also reappear in the New Looney Tunes episodes "The Meanie and the Genie" and "O.M.Genie"; here Smokey now has purple skin as opposed to Caucasian skin as in previous appearances.
  • The gag where the Genie is summoned out of his lamp while bathing in this cartoon would later be referenced in Disney's Aladdin (1992).
  • The working titles were "Genie's Lite Brown Hare" and "The Fair-Haired Hare", the latter of which would be later used as the title of a Friz Freleng cartoon released in 1951.
  • Vitaphone release number: 1656[2]

Gallery[]

TV Title Cards[]

References[]

  1. https://archive.org/details/catalogofcopyrig3291213libr/page/111/mode/1up?view=theater
  2. Liebman, Roy (2003). Vitaphone Films: A Catalogue of the Features and Shorts. McFarland, page 294. ISBN 978-0786412792. 

External Links[]

Preceded by
Hare Splitter
Bugs Bunny Cartoons
1948
Succeeded by
My Bunny Lies over the Sea
Bugs Bunny Shorts
1938 Porky's Hare Hunt
1939 Prest-O Change-OHare-um Scare-um
1940 Elmer's Candid CameraA Wild Hare
1941 Elmer's Pet RabbitTortoise Beats HareHiawatha's Rabbit HuntThe Heckling HareAll This and Rabbit StewWabbit Twouble
1942 The Wabbit Who Came to SupperAny Bonds Today?The Wacky WabbitHold the Lion, PleaseBugs Bunny Gets the BoidFresh HareThe Hare-Brained HypnotistCase of the Missing Hare
1943 Tortoise Wins by a HareSuper-RabbitJack-Wabbit and the BeanstalkWackiki WabbitFalling Hare
1944 Little Red Riding RabbitWhat's Cookin' Doc?Bugs Bunny and the Three BearsBugs Bunny Nips the NipsHare Ribbin'Hare ForceBuckaroo BugsThe Old Grey HareStage Door Cartoon
1945 Herr Meets HareThe Unruly HareHare TriggerHare ConditionedHare Tonic
1946 Baseball BugsHare RemoverHair-Raising HareAcrobatty BunnyRacketeer RabbitThe Big SnoozeRhapsody Rabbit
1947 Rabbit TransitA Hare Grows in ManhattanEaster YeggsSlick Hare
1948 Gorilla My DreamsA Feather in His HareRabbit PunchBuccaneer BunnyBugs Bunny Rides AgainHaredevil HareHot Cross BunnyHare SplitterA-Lad-In His LampMy Bunny Lies over the Sea
1949 Hare DoMississippi HareRebel RabbitHigh Diving HareBowery BugsLong-Haired HareKnights Must FallThe Grey Hounded HareThe Windblown HareFrigid HareWhich Is WitchRabbit Hood
1950 Hurdy-Gurdy HareMutiny on the BunnyHomeless HareBig House BunnyWhat's Up Doc?8 Ball BunnyHillbilly HareBunker Hill BunnyBushy HareRabbit of Seville
1951 Hare We GoRabbit Every MondayBunny HuggedThe Fair Haired HareRabbit FireFrench RarebitHis Hare Raising TaleBallot Box BunnyBig Top Bunny
1952 Operation: RabbitFoxy by Proxy14 Carrot RabbitWater, Water Every HareThe Hasty HareOily HareRabbit SeasoningRabbit's KinHare Lift
1953 Forward March HareUpswept HareSouthern Fried RabbitHare TrimmedBully for BugsLumber Jack-RabbitDuck! Rabbit, Duck!Robot Rabbit
1954 Captain HareblowerBugs and ThugsNo Parking HareDevil May HareBewitched BunnyYankee Doodle BugsBaby Buggy Bunny
1955 Beanstalk BunnySahara HareHare BrushRabbit RampageThis Is a Life?Hyde and HareKnight-Mare HareRoman Legion-Hare
1956 Bugs' BonnetsBroom-Stick BunnyRabbitson CrusoeNapoleon Bunny-PartBarbary-Coast BunnyHalf-Fare HareA Star Is BoredWideo WabbitTo Hare Is Human
1957 Ali Baba BunnyBedevilled RabbitPiker's PeakWhat's Opera, Doc?Bugsy and MugsyShow Biz BugsRabbit Romeo
1958 Hare-Less WolfHare-Way to the StarsNow, Hare ThisKnighty Knight BugsPre-Hysterical Hare
1959 Baton BunnyHare-abian NightsApes of WrathBackwoods BunnyWild and Woolly HareBonanza BunnyA Witch's Tangled HarePeople Are Bunny
1960 Horse HarePerson to BunnyRabbit's FeatFrom Hare to HeirLighter Than Hare
1961 The Abominable Snow RabbitCompressed HarePrince Violent
1962 Wet HareBill of HareShishkabugs
1963 Devil's Feud CakeThe Million HareHare-Breadth HurryThe UnmentionablesMad as a Mars HareTransylvania 6-5000
1964 Dumb PatrolDr. Devil and Mr. HareThe Iceman DuckethFalse Hare
1979 Bugs Bunny's Christmas CarolFright Before Christmas
1980 Portrait of the Artist as a Young BunnySpaced Out Bunny
1990 Box Office Bunny
1991 (Blooper) Bunny
1992 Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers
1995 Carrotblanca
1997 From Hare to Eternity
2004 Hare and Loathing in Las VegasDaffy Duck for President



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