Rabbit of Seville

Rabbit of Seville
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Airdate:	16 December 1950 Blue Ribbon reissue: 18 January 1969
Series:	Looney Tunes
MPAA Number:	13885
Production Number:	1138
Vitaphone Number:	1894
Runtime:	7 minutes, 30 seconds
Copyright Renewed:	11 March 1977
Starring:	Bugs Bunny Elmer Fudd
Crew
Voice Characterizations:	Mel Blanc Arthur Q. Bryan (uncredited)
Director:	Charles M. Jones
Written By:	Michael Maltese
Producer:	Eddie Selzer (uncredited)
Animated By:	Phil Monroe Ben Washam Ken Harris Lloyd Vaughan Emery Hawkins
Layout Artist:	Robert Gribbroek
Background Artist:	Philip DeGuard
Film Editor:	Treg Brown (uncredited)
Musician:	Carl Stalling

Rabbit of Seville is a 1950 Looney Tunes short directed by Charles M. Jones.

Plot

People fill a theater to see The Barber of Seville. In back of the theater, Bugs is chased by Elmer and runs through an open back door. Elmer, now behind the curtain, doesn't see it rise when Bugs raises it. The conductor, after a brief confused look at his watch, shrugs and then starts the orchestra, which causes Elmer to turn wide-eyed towards the audience. Bugs then steps out from behind a stage door, dressed as a barber and ropes Elmer into getting a shave, rendering him "nice and clean, although [his] face looks like it might have gone though a machine".

After recovering, Elmer starts the chase again, "Oh, Wait till I get that wabbit," but is stopped by Bugs dressed as a temptress singing, "Oh, what would you want with a rabbit? Can't you see that I'm much sweeter? I'm your little senioriter. You're my type of guy, let me straighten your tie, and I will dance for you." He then ties the barrels of Elmer's shotgun into a bowtie and snips off Elmer's pants suspender buttons, while dancing around him. After being thoroughly embarrassed when his pants fall down, Elmer sees through Bugs' disguise, he tries shooting him, but is blown back into the barber's chair. Bugs has another go with Elmer's scalp, beginning with a scalp massage with his hands and feet, turning his head into a fruit salad bowl complete with cherry on top. Enraged, Elmer chases Bugs again, but Bugs plays a snake charmer to get an electric shaver to chase Elmer. Elmer disables the shaver with a shotgun blast and chases Bugs back to the barber's chairs. Bugs and Elmer raise their chairs to dizzying heights, and Bugs cuts loose a stage sandbag which bonks Elmer, causing Elmer to wander around in a daze until he's back in Bugs' barber chair.

Before Bugs' third go-round with Elmer's scalp, he gives one of his feet a pedicure with a can opener, hedge clippers, file and red paint. This is followed by growing a beard on Elmer's face and shaving it with a miniature mower, and finally beauty clay for the face which Bugs handles like cement. Then it's back to the scalp as Bugs massages it with hair tonic first, then adds "Figaro Fertilizer", causing hair to grow from Elmer's head which sprouts into flowers. A short 'arms chase' ensues as a result where Bugs and Elmer chase each other off stage with bigger weapons. First, Elmer chases Bugs with an ax, then Bugs chases Elmer with a bigger ax, Elmer chases Bugs with a pistol, Bugs chases Elmer with a rifle, Elmer chases Bugs with a cannon, Bugs chases Elmer with a larger cannon resembling a pickle, Elmer chases Bugs with an incredibly long cannon. Finally, Bugs ends the chase by offering flowers, box of chocolates and a engagement ring to Elmer, who quickly ducks offstage and returns as the blushing bride, happily wanting Bugs to marry him. The tune then briefly switches to the "Wedding March" by Mendelssohn as the couple marries, before finishing with Bugs carrying his 'beautiful bride' up a long flight of stairs, through a false doorway opening up onto thin air, and drops Fudd down into a wedding cake labeled "The Marriage of Figaro". Bugs then smirks, munches on a carrot and says, "Eh... NEXT!"

Availability

(1984) VHS
The Looney Tunes Video Show Volume 8

(1985) VHS
A Salute to Mel Blanc

(1985) VHS
Elmer Fudd's Comedy Capers

(1990) VHS
Bugs Bunny (1990)

(1993) LaserDisc - Looney Tunes: Curtain Calls: Classic Music and Show Business Cartoons

(1994) VHS
Special Bumper Collection (Vol. 1)

(1995) VHS
Special Bumper Collection (Vol. 2)

(1996) VHS
Bugs Bunny

(1996) VHS
Elmer Fudd

(2000) VHS
Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition Volume 5: Musical Masterpieces

(2003) DVD
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1, Disc One (low pitch; remastered with minor DVNR)

(2003) DVD
Looney Tunes Collection Best of Bugs Bunny

(2010) DVD
The Essential Bugs Bunny, Disc 1

(2010) DVD
3 Spooky DVD Treats

(2011) DVD
Looney Tunes Super Stars' Bugs Bunny: Wascally Wabbit (Region 4 only)

(2011) Blu-ray
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc One (low pitch; remastered with DVNR and HD)

(2011) DVD
Bugs Bunny

(2012) DVD
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc One (low pitch; remastered with DVNR)

(2012) Blu-ray
Looney Tunes Showcase: Volume 1

(2013) DVD
Best of Warner Bros. 50 Cartoon Collection: Looney Tunes (low pitch)

(2015) DVD
Looney Tunes Musical Masterpieces (low pitch)

(2016) DVD
Music Triple Feature

(2020) DVD
Looney Tunes: Parodies Collection

(2020) DVD
Looney Tunes Bugs Bunny Golden Carrot Collection, Disc 1

(2020) Blu-ray
Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection, Disc 2 (remastered with DVNR and HD)

Streaming

Boomerang App (2017 - 2024) (low pitch)

HBO Max (2020 - 2023) (low pitch)

Max (2023 - ) (low pitch)

iTunes ( - ) (restored)

Censorship

• The ABC airing mutes out some of the sound effects of Elmer shooting in the beginning. The shot of Bugs slashing Elmer's face with a razor was also cut by replacing it with a cropped shot of Bugs holding a mirror (which appeared after Elmer got slashed) and grimacing in disgust while the sound of the slashing played as normal. Also cut was the segment where Bugs ties Elmer's gun into a knot. It skips from the shot of Bugs doing a provocative thrust backwards towards the camera to the shot of Elmer being flung back into the barber chair, attempting to suggest some continuity between the two.

Notes

• The Barber of Seville poster that appears at the start of the film features three names: Eduardo Selzeri, Michele Maltese and Carlo Jonzi, which are Italianized versions of the names of the producer (Eddie Selzer), writer (Michael Maltese) and director (Chuck Jones) of the film.
• In one shot of the scene where Bugs massages Elmer's head in time to the piano melody, his hands are drawn with five digits instead of the usual four to match the hand of a piano player.
• Despite playing such a major role, Elmer only has one line of dialogue.
• The short was re-released 18 January 1969 as a Blue Ribbon short, but the credits and original target rings were never altered or cut off. Only the production code was changed.
• This short was used in the TV Special Bugs Bunny's Overtures to Disaster.
• George Daugherty made use of the short for his special concerts Bugs Bunny on Broadway and Bugs Bunny at the Symphony.
• This short was briefly shown on the TV sets in the penthouse of Gotham Royal Hotel in the video game Batman: Arkham Origins, specifically during Joker's confrontation with Batman when about to detonate the Woolworth building's top. Music from the episode and the opera it was largely based on was also playing in the background during this scene.
• The chase is punctuated with gags and accompanied by musical arrangements by Carl W. Stalling, focusing on Rossini's overture to The Barber of Seville.
• In 1994 it was voted #12 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field.
• Initially, this short played in PAL audio when shown on Cartoon Network and Boomerang. Newer airings (which now include MeTV) came from the Golden Collection release (see below).
• The audio on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1 DVD incorrectly has the soundtrack at a lower pitch than usual. This is fixed on The Essential Bugs Bunny, Looney Tunes Showcase: Volume 1, and Looney Tunes Parodies Collection, but not on the Platinum Collection or Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection, presumably due to the latter two home media releases reusing the same low-pitched audio commentary as for Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1 DVD release, something which The Essential Bugs Bunny and Looney Tunes Parodies Collection DVD releases did not have. Other home video releases, including Best of Warner Bros. 50 Cartoon Collection: Looney Tunes and Looney Tunes Musical Masterpieces, did not have audio commentaries either, but still use the low-pitched version.
• The writing on the wedding cake that Elmer fell into was a shoutout to the opera created by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart called The Marriage of Figaro.

Gallery

Lobby card

TV Title Cards

The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show (Final Season)

Further reading

• Lawrence Van Gelder, With That Wascally Wabbit, That's Not All, Folks, NY Times, October 22, 1999
• Richard Freedman, What's Opera, Doc?, Adante Magazine, March 2002

External links

• Rabbit of Seville on the SFX Resource Wiki