Jack-Wabbit and the Beanstalk

Jack-Wabbit and the Beanstalk
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Airdate:	12 June 1943
Series:	Merrie Melodies
MPAA Number:	8431
Production Number:	MM-13-12
Vitaphone Number:	993
Runtime:	7 minutes, 18 seconds
Copyright Renewed:	24 May 1971
Starring:	Bugs Bunny Giant
Crew
Voice Characterizations:	Mel Blanc (uncredited)
Director:	I. Freleng
Written By:	Michael Maltese
Producer:	Leon Schlesinger
Animated By:	Jack Bradbury Phil Monroe (uncredited) Gil Turner (uncredited) Gerry Chiniquy (uncredited) Richard Bickenbach (uncredited) Manuel Perez (uncredited)
Film Editor:	Treg Brown (uncredited)
Musician:	Carl W. Stalling

Jack-Wabbit and the Beanstalk is a 1943 Merrie Melodies short directed by I. Freleng.

Title

The title is both a play on the story "Jack and the Beanstalk," which the film is a parody of, and "jack-rabbit," a desert hare. In the case of the latter, it is written like how Elmer Fudd would pronounce it.

Plot

Bugs is in the giant's lofty realm, chopping down gigantic carrots. It turns out they belong to a dim-witted giant. "Well, don’t try nuttin' funny, 'cause I got ya covered", pointing an enormous pistol at Bugs.

The giant is incensed at Bugs for invading his "Victory garden", and Bugs spends most of the rest of the film trying to elude the giant. At one point he challenges him to a duel, and the giant starts pacing off into the distance and is soon over the horizon. Bugs says to the audience, "Ya know, I'm so smart, sometimes it almost frightens me!" Bugs' self-congratulation is short-lived, as the giant is then seen coming toward him from the other horizon. Bugs nearly got blasted by the giant's pistol as he started running for his life. But the giant managed to catch him with a humungous glass tumbler. Then Bugs distracted the giant by presenting him with the glass cutter. After his demonstration, Bugs managed to escape and puts up a sign that says "BACK IN 15 MINUTES". The giant looks at his watch, which is a Grandfather clock attached to his wrist. 15 minutes later, the giant realizes that Bugs tricked him again. He said to himself that Bugs cannot outsmart him because he is a "moron".

While Bugs tries once again to make a run for it, the giant grabbed him and threatened to crush him with his bare hand. Then Bugs distracts the giant by complimenting his palm. Flattered, the giant lets Bugs whisper into his ear until the rabbit comes across a literal eardrum and played on it causing the giant discomfort inside his head. Bugs attempts to sneak away, especially by gradually closing his eyes, but then he jumped onto the giant's head of hair. When he spotted a gray hair, Bugs yanked on it causing pain to the giant. To keep Bugs from escaping again, the giant puts on his huge bowler hat therefore trapping the rabbit. Bugs begins searching his way out of the "jungle", strikes a match only to read "DOBBS HATS, FIFTH AVENUE, SIZE 107 1/4" labeled on the inside of the giant's hat. He drops the lit match after he got startled by someone offscreen who yelled "PUT OUT THAT LIGHT!!" When the giant smelled smoke above his head, he immediately removed his hat as Bugs begins coughing from the smoke. The giant pours water on the top of his head causing Bugs to fall right off. As the chase ensues, Bugs kept dodging from the giant's grasps. Then Bugs retreats into the beanstalk elevator. He disguised himself as the elevator attendant to fool the giant into taking the stairway.

Finally, as in the classic story, the giant accidentally falls from his sky-borne realm and crashes into the ground, making a huge giant-shaped hole. The giant survives the fall though, sits up dizzily and says, "Duh, watch out for dat foist step - it's a lulu!"

Availability

(1986) VHS
Viddy-Oh! For Kids Cartoon Festivals: Bugs Bunny Cartoon Festival Featuring "Little Red Riding Rabbit"

(1990) VHS
Bugs Bunny Collection: Bugs Bunny on Parade

(1992) LaserDisc
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Volume 2, Side 7

(2020) DVD
Looney Tunes: Parodies Collection (1995 Turner dubbed version)

(2020) Blu-ray
Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection (restored and HD)

Streaming

Boomerang App ( - 2024) (1995 Turner dubbed version)

HBO Max (2020 - 2023) (restored; uses the Turner dubbed print soundtrack)

Max (2023 - ) (restored; uses the Turner dubbed print soundtrack)

Goofs

• The giant is mostly drawn with four fingers; during the part where he catches and has Bugs in his palm, he suddenly has five.
• When Bugs notices the grey hair, his dialogue is off sync in relation to his mouth.
• In a very brief long-shot, right before the elevator scene, The beanstalk isn't visible.
• In the scene with Bugs and the Giant at the elevator (animated by Gil Turner), the Giant is suddenly much smaller.
• Both the American and European Turner "dubbed" versions replace the original 1941-55 Merrie Melodies ending music cue with the 1938-41 Merrie Melodies ending music cue.
  • The restored version shown on HBO Max and the Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection Blu-ray, like most pre-1948 restorations, uses the Turner print as the source of its soundtrack, hence the error persists in the restored print as well.

Music-Cues

• Suppé: The Jolly Robbers - Overture (by Franz von Suppé)
  • Played during the opening credits
• Long, Long Ago (by Thomas Haynes Bayley)
  • Played during the opening scene with the narrator (Mel Blanc)
• Says Who? Says You, Says I! (by Harold Arlen)
  • Plays when Bugs says "So long, Jerky. Send me a postcard from Albuquerque."
• Sobre las olas [Over the Waves] (by Juventino Rosas)
  • Plays when Bugs cuts out the glass.
• My Grandfather's Clock (by Henry Clay Work)
  • Plays when the Giant looks at his watch.
• It Can't Be Wrong (by Max Steiner)
  • Plays when Bugs is standing on the Giant's hand and when Bugs finds the Giant's eardrum.
• Congo (by M.K. Jerome)
  • Plays when Bugs Bunny is inside the Giant's hat.
• Twilight in Turkey (by Raymond Scott)
  • Plays when the Giant is chasing Bugs and when Bugs and the Giant are at the elevator.
• Indian Dawn (by J.S. Zamecnik)
  • Plays very briefly near the end when the Giant rises from the crater he created.

Notes

• "Victory gardens" were a wartime civilian program in which civilians were encouraged to replace their gardens with vegetable crops to make up for wartime food shortages. They appear and are mentioned in several wartime-era cartoons, such as this one.
• During the opening credits, a staked sign identifies the garden vegetable: Marvel Brand (Inc.) Early Climber Beans Julian & Co. Packers. Julian is a reference to background artist Paul Julian.
• The giant from this cartoon went on to appear in a few episodes of New Looney Tunes.
• The idea of Bugs in the fairytale Jack and the Beanstalk would return in "Beanstalk Bunny". Coincidentally, both this cartoon and "Beanstalk Bunny" are written by Michael Maltese.
• This cartoon was originally slated to be included on the Looney Tunes Super Stars' Bugs Bunny: Hare Extraordinaire DVD, but was replaced early in development due to executive backlash from Warner Home Video.

Gallery

Lobby card

Model sheet of the giant

Production drawing

Animation cel

Animation cel