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French Rarebit is a 1951 Merrie Melodies short directed by Robert McKimson.

Title[]

The title is a takeoff on "Welsh rarebit", which is also known as "Welsh rabbit".

Plot[]

Bugs Bunny rides inside a carrot box and is unexpectedly dropped off a food delivery truck at Paris. Two French chefs, red-haired Louis and black-haired François, both want to cook dinner specials for their restaurants, and both their dishes involve rabbits. They both spot Bugs and fight over who gets to cook him. As the two prepare to run to capture the rabbit, François walks back with the platter and walks right next to Bugs, who thinks he has caught the rabbit. However, when François unveils Louis, the two chefs start to question where did the rabbit go, and Bugs whispers into their ears to get the two to continue fighting. Eventually, François comes off victorious over Louie and gets to take Bugs into the kitchen.

As François places Bugs in the pot, Bugs tricks the chef into believing he has a Louisiana Back-bay Bayou Bunny Bordelaise recipe from the famed Antoine's of New Orleans. When François asks for the recipe, Bugs first rejects, but François yells at Bugs to teach him how to make the "recipe". As a result, Bugs demonstrates it, allowing the rabbit to turn the tables on François and invert their roles, with Bugs as the chef and François disguised as a rabbit. Bugs dips François into wine, pickles him in a shaken jar, stuffs him with every spicy ingredient in the kitchen, then soaked in flour and rolled with a rolling pin. François is then placed inside a bowl, where Bugs cuts up vegetables for the dish.

By the time Bugs has held the onions under François' request, Louis returns, attempting to claim Bugs back for himself. However, François whacks him with a mallet and convinces him that he is trying to make the Antoine recipe. Now wanting to get ahold of the recipe, Bugs takes Louie and forces him through the same procedure that he prepared François earlier with. Afterwards, he finishes the dish with a carrot booby-trapped with a stick of dynamite. When Bugs places the two in the oven to bake, the dynamite explodes. After the dynamite explodes, the chefs, having survived the blast, sing "Alouette" while repeatedly basting themselves. Bugs comments on the botched dish, and states, "Ehh, personally I prefer hamburger."

Censorship[]

The version of this cartoon that aired as part of ABC's "The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show" was edited to tone down violence:[4]

  • Louis and François (the two French chefs) clobbering each other with cookery (that Bugs provides for both of them) was shortened.
  • Bugs inserting a stick of dynamite into a carrot before placing it in the pot with the two chefs inside was edited, but not Bugs sticking the chefs in the oven with the booby-trapped carrot and the resulting explosion.

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Notes[]

  • The working title was "Hassenpfeffered Hare".
  • This is the final short to have a fade in on the orange color rings before Bugs Bunny's headshot appears in the rings.[citation needed]
  • Unlike most cartoons reissued during the time, the original closing title card was kept, although the original "Bugs Bunny In" title was plastered over by the 1956-1964 version.
  • This cartoon marks the final appearance of Freleng's "hold the onions" gag which debuted in "Pigs Is Pigs".
  • Francois would later appear in The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries episode "Yelp", and later still, near the end of the direct-to-video film "Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas" as Wile E. Coyote's personal chef which Daffy Duck had hired for him as his Christmas present.
  • The scene where Chef Francoise does the "chef's kiss" in this short has become a popular meme and GIF depicting such in pop culture.

Gallery[]

TV Title Cards[]

References[]

External Links[]

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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