Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt

This article contains mature content and may not be suitable for all readers. This article particularly deals with content blacklisted from contemporary television for containing harmful, outdated racial stereotypes and/or imagery. This article is not censored, as to censor the article would be to pretend that these prejudices never existed. Please continue at your own risk.

Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt
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Airdate:	7 June 1941 Blue Ribbon reissue: 12 February 1944
Series:	Merrie Melodies
MPAA Number:	6745
Vitaphone Number:	9953
Runtime:	7 minutes, 48 seconds
Copyright Renewed:	10 January 1969
Starring:	Bugs Bunny Hiawatha
Crew
Voice Characterizations:	Mel Blanc (uncredited)
Director:	I. Freleng
Written By:	Michael Maltese
Producer:	Leon Schlesinger
Animated By:	Gil Turner Richard Bickenbach (uncredited) Gerry Chiniquy (uncredited) Herman Cohen (uncredited) Cal Dalton (uncredited) Manuel Perez (uncredited)
Character Design:	Robert Givens (uncredited)
Layout Artist:	Robert Logan Holdeman (uncredited)
Background Artist:	Lenard Kester (uncredited)
Film Editor:	Treg Brown (uncredited)
Musician:	Carl W. Stalling

Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt is a 1941 Merrie Melodies short directed by I. Freleng.

Plot

Bugs is reading "The Song of Hiawatha" out loud to himself, and the saga turns real as a pint-sized, Elmer Fudd-like Hiawatha turns up, paddling his canoe. Hiawatha is looking for a rabbit for his dinner. Hiawatha finds Bugs in the cooking pot washing himself. Then he tricks Bugs into thinking he is preparing a hot bath for him. Bugs quickly vacates once Hiawatha casually mentions that he is having rabbit stew for supper. Bugs begins tormenting his would-be devourer. Hiawatha attempts to tie Bugs up, but it happened the other way around as Bugs circled around him tied to a tree. Bugs, disguised as a tribal chief, tricked Hiawatha by pointing to the direction in which "him go that way". After taking off his disguise, Hiawatha held Bugs at arrow point until the rabbit bounced around many times and landed on a stray branch at the cliffside. Hiawatha mimic the same thing Bugs did only to end up falling all the way to the ground. Angered by Bugs' trickery, he finally breaks his bow in disgust and paddles his canoe away while Bugs finishes his reading of the poem. However, 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.

Caricatures

• Ward Kimball - Hiawatha is a caricature of him.
• Lon Chaney Jr. - "Which way did he go? Which way did he go?"

Availability

8mm

Super 8

Super 8

(1986) VHS
Bugs Bunny Cartoon Festival, Little Red Riding Rabbit (blue borders, Blue Ribbon, original closing)

(1992) LaserDisc
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 2 (blue borders, Blue Ribbon, original closing)

(2006) DVD
The Maltese Falcon (1995 Turner dubbed version)

(2008) DVD
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection (original titles, restored closing)

(2010) Blu-ray
The Maltese Falcon (restored, original titles, restored closing)

(2014) DVD
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 3, Disc 1 (original titles, restored closing)

(2014) Blu-ray
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 3, Disc 1 (original titles, restored closing)

Streaming

HBO Max (2020 - 2020) (original titles, restored closing)

Censorship

Due to its stereotypical portrayal of Native Americans, this cartoon and "What's Cookin' Doc?", which featured a clip from this short, were part of the "Twelve Missing Hares" that was pulled from Cartoon Network's 2001 June Bugs marathon by its then-owner, AOL Time Warner. As with the other members of the "Twelve Missing Hares" as described in the unreleased ToonHeads episode, it was originally intended to air in the marathon, but was pulled due to executive backlash. Although the cartoon does air on international networks, and "What's Cookin' Doc?" has aired more often in recent years, this cartoon in full has rarely aired on American television.

Goofs

• The Blue Ribbon reissue title card erroneously shows the Vitaphone release number instead of the MPAA number.

Notes

• In 1995, the original opening and credits were restored for the American and European 1995 Turner "dubbed" version prints, but the original ending was replaced by the 1937–38 Merrie Melodies dubbed closing card, though the original ending music cue is kept intact on both dubbed version prints. The original closing was restored with the original titles when the cartoon was released on DVD 12 February 2008 on Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection. This restored print was double-dipped in the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 3 release for DVD and Blu-ray.
• The Blue Ribbon print from the LaserDisc has the original closing, like most Schlesinger-credited Blue Ribbon reissues.
• In 1942, this cartoon was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoon), alongside "Rhapsody in Rivets". However, it lost to the Disney cartoon "Lend a Paw".
  • The cooking-pot sequence from this cartoon would be directly incorporated three years later in the 1944 Bugs Bunny cartoon "What's Cookin' Doc?", directed by Bob Clampett, 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 Cagney. Showing clips specifically from "Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt" provides some context to that storyline.
• This is the second and last Bugs Bunny short in that was reissued in the Blue Ribbon program that had its original titles replaced; the other being "A Wild Hare". Both shorts were nominated for an Academy Award.
  • The reissue of this cartoon is unique in that it has Bugs Bunny on top of the WB shield; this is the only unique Blue Ribbon reissue with this opening.
    • However, unlike all of the times Bugs Bunny has been on the shield from 1941 to 1944, there is a small goof; Bugs Bunny always bites on his carrot twice. But in the BR opening, he bites it only once, and munches on the carrot for a much longer time. Though when Bugs reappears on the WB shield from 1945 to 1949 with the updated character design by Robert McKimson, he bites on his carrot only once and munches on the carrot for a much shorter time.
• Hiawatha’s design is based on Disney animator Ward Kimball.

Gallery

Model sheet by Bob Givens

Lobby card

Lobby card

Lobby card

Full waterfall background

External links

• "Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt" CHOF