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Mississippi Hare is a 1949 Looney Tunes short directed by Charles M. Jones.
Plot[]
As plantation workers pick cotton, one mistakes Bugs' fluffy cottontail for a real tuft of cotton and stuffs it, and the rabbit, in his sack. Bugs is then dumped into the baler, and his bale is loaded on a riverboat called The Southern Star (isail for Memphis, Vicksburg, Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Coo-camonga). He frees himself in time to see the conductor, who is collecting passenger tickets, boot a stowaway into the river ("What? No ticket? We'll have no stowaways on this boat. sir!"). Not wanting the same fate to befall him, he ducks into a stateroom and dons a wealthy man's attire; his self-assurance so clearly suggests that he belongs on the boat that the steward hesitates to even ask for a ticket, but rather than browbeat him with his presumed superior station, Bugs gives the man a ticket.
Bugs walks about the ship until he passes by the riverboat casino, where someone inside declares he has three queens in his hand, but another player beats him by laying down four kings. Sudden gunplay from inside ends up forcing all the patrons to clear the casino. The reason becomes clear as inside we are introduced to the neurotic Colonel Shuffle, "the rip-roarin'-est, gold-diggin'-est, sharp-shootin'-est, poker-playin'-est riverboat gambler on the Mississippi!", who is looking for anyone man enough to sit in a poker game with him. Of course Bugs accepts the challenge. Bugs begins with a hundred-dollar stake which amounts to half of a white poker chip, and eventually stands to win all of Shuffle's money; when the Colonel lays down five aces, Bugs beats him with six aces. Literally beaten at his own game, the Colonel challenges Bugs to a duel. Bugs, of course, gives him a heaping helping of southern hospitality by avoiding his shot and then kissing him and giving him an exploding cigar; subsequently he causes Shuffle to fall of the riverboat whilst performing "De Camptown Races".
Shuffle is casually lifted back onto the ship by its paddle wheel, and he comes up behind the laughing Bugs (casually asking the rabbit "Why for did you splash me in the Mississippi mud?") and makes a failed attempt to shoot him with a waterlogged pistol (the bullet, sporting a sail, simply falls out along with the water flow). After Shuffle grabs a dry pistol (from a case that reads "For Dry Pistol, Break Glass", no less), Bugs then tricks him into buying a ticket to see "Uncle Tom's Cabin", only for Shuffle to fall back into the river. After getting lifted back on the ship by its paddle wheel again, Shuffle again tries to shoot Bugs (asking beforehand "Why did you dunk my poor old hide in Ol' Man River, when I bought a loge seat?"), only to be reminded, "Ah, ah, doc! It's full of water!" Shuffle points the pistol at himself, only to get blasted in the face, seemingly leaving only his clothes. Shuffle, after coming out of his hat which he had hidden in, promptly chases Bugs, who opens a door so that he can get behind Shuffle. Shuffle does the same when they reach the boiler room door, with Bugs subsequently leading Shuffle into entering the boiler himself and get set on fire (with the smoke from the smokestacks briefly warping into the word "YIPE!"). Racing back out with his backside on fire, Shuffle finds a water dispenser that only takes pennies for the cups and he has no other option than to get change from Bugs for a cup to get water, only to shoot at Bugs when he puts out his fire.
He chases the rabbit into another stateroom, but this time Bugs comes out in Southern belle drag, beating up Shuffle with an umbrella, with Shuffle frantically apologizing until he recognizes Bugs after the rabbit's hat falls off, and the chase resumes. As Shuffle advances on him, Bugs persuades another gentleman to defend him. This man, not wanting to allow Shuffle to "molest that little flower of the South", kicks the Colonel into the river again. However, after realizing that the "lady" he has assisted is a rabbit (the back part of Bugs' dress got ripped off), the dumbfounded man has a nervous breakdown and steps overboard himself. The cartoon ends with Bugs, still in his disguise, telling the audience "Ah well, we almost had a romantic ending."
Caricatures[]
Availability[]
The Looney Tunes Video Show, Volume 9
Bugs Bunny: Winner by a Hare: 14 of Bugs Bunny's Best
Special Bumper Collection (Vol. 1)
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 4, Disc One
Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 4, Disc 1
Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection Volumes 4-5 Repack
Streaming[]
Censorship[]
- When this cartoon aired on ABC, the scene of Bugs rewarding Colonel Shuffle with a cigar that explodes, and Bugs giving him a banjo and the two perform Camptown Races was cut (though that censored scene was shown as a "Comedy Classics" clip shown in between cartoons in the 1989–1990 season of The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show), with the scene where the Colonel re-emerges onto the ship being moved to after he walks off the ship. Also cut on ABC was the part where Colonel holds a gun to Bugs' face after falling off the boat (in the "Uncle Tom's Cabinet" scene) and Bugs warns him that the gun is filled with water and Colonel Shuffle ends up supposedly getting shot in the face and the scene where Bugs Bunny (dressed as a Southern belle) whacks Colonel Shuffle with an umbrella was shortened.[2]
- On the now-defunct WB channel, the beginning where it shows the black sharecroppers singing "Dixie" and picking cotton (and Bugs) was cut as was the part where Colonel Shuffle supposedly shoots himself in the face after Bugs tells him the gun is filled with water that was edited on ABC.[2]
- This cartoon was part of the "Twelve Missing Hares" that were barred from airing on Cartoon Network's June 2001 Bugs marathon due to African American stereotyping that would be deemed offensive to modern audiences.[3] 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 from AOL Time Warner. Despite being available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 4 DVD, which was targeted to collectors, it has since seldom aired on American television.
Notes[]
- In a common Looney Tunes take on the old Mel Blanc/Jack Benny gag, Southern Star is sailing for Memphis, Vicksburg, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Cuc-amonga.
- The dance Bugs was doing in the "Camptown Races" scene would appear again in The Looney Tunes Show episode "Reunion", when Bugs was on the dance floor.
- On an audio commentary track, Eric Goldberg explains why the cartoon has been banned (though the racism in this cartoon, according to Goldberg, is "tastefully done" and not as blatant as in some other cartoons) and points out the presumably racist scenes (specifically the beginning with the cotton pickers, the Camptown Races scene, and the Uncle Tom's Cabinet gag), the gun gag that was cut when it aired on ABC and the WB (though he doesn't mention those channels specifically; he just makes an off-hand comment that this scene was often cut on Saturday morning broadcasts), and emphatically points out that Bugs' Camptown Races dance was animated by Ken Harris and not Virgil Ross as other sources have claimed.
Transcript[]
For a complete transcript, click here.
Gallery[]
