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Rhapsody Rabbit
Rhapsody Rabbit
Rhapsody Rabbit
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Rhapsody Rabbit
Directed byI. Freleng
Story by
StarringMel Blanc
Music byCarl W. Stalling
Jakob Gimpel (piano solo, uncredited)
Animation by
Layouts byHawley Pratt
Backgrounds byTerry Lind
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Distributed by
Release date
  • November 9, 1946 (1946-11-09)
Running time
7:33
LanguageEnglish

Rhapsody Rabbit is a 1946 American animated comedy short film in the Merrie Melodies series, directed by Friz Freleng and featuring Bugs Bunny.[1] The movie was originally released to theaters by Warner Bros. Pictures on November 9, 1946.[2] This short is a follow-up of sorts to Freleng's 1941 Academy Award-nominated Rhapsody in Rivets, which featured the "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" by Franz Liszt. The "instrument" used to perform the "Hungarian Rhapsody" in Rhapsody in Rivets is a skyscraper under construction, while this short features Bugs playing the piece at a piano while being pestered by a mouse.

In 1946, film critic James Agee wrote in The Nation that the short is "the funniest thing I have seen since the decline of sociological dancing," saying, "The best of it goes two ways: one, very observant parody of concert-pianistic affectations, elegantly thought out and synchronized; the other, brutality keyed into the spirit of the music to reach greater subtlety than I have ever seen brutality reach before."[3]

Rhapsody Rabbit was the first cartoon to be broadcast on Cartoon Network when the channel launched on October 1, 1992.[4]

Plot

[edit]

Set against a backdrop of Richard Wagner's Siegfried funeral march, Bugs Bunny takes center stage as a piano virtuoso. Amidst thunderous applause, Bugs embarks on a performance of Franz Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2".

The opening scene sees Bugs poised at the piano, only to be interrupted by a persistent cough from an unseen audience member. Unfazed, Bugs resorts to unconventional means to silence the disturbance, humorously wielding a revolver from his tailcoat.

Throughout the performance, Bugs engages in playful banter, responding to a ringing phone inside the piano with his trademark catchphrase, "Eh, what's up, doc?" He cleverly incorporates musical references, such as singing "Fi-ga-ro!" during a familiar three-note sequence, adding a comedic twist to his piano playing.

As Bugs navigates through the piece, he encounters a pesky mouse that becomes a persistent nuisance. The encounter escalates into a musical duel, culminating in a boogie-woogie showdown. Despite momentarily trapping the mouse, Bugs is ultimately outwitted as the mouse reemerges, performing a surprise finale on a miniature piano.

In a comedic climax, Bugs confronts the final frenzied pages of the Rhapsody, culminating in exasperation as the mouse steals the spotlight with its unexpected performance. Frustrated yet undeterred, Bugs delivers the closing notes with characteristic wit, concluding the performance with a humorous flourish.

Voice cast

[edit]

Home media

[edit]

The short is available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2 DVD set, with an optional commentary track by musical historian Daniel Goldmark. It is also available on volume 2 of Looney Tunes: Spotlight Collection, as well as Warner Bros. Discovery's two video streaming services, the Boomerang SVOD app and Max. It recently appeared on the Looney Tunes Collector's Vault: Volume 1 Blu-ray set.[5]

Plagiarism dispute

[edit]

One year after the release of Rhapsody Rabbit, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio (MGM) produced a comparable animated short titled The Cat Concerto, featuring Tom and Jerry. This production portrays Tom encountering distractions caused by Jerry, the mouse, during a piano concert performance.[6] Noteworthy similarities between the two works include the replication of several comedic sequences and the utilization of Franz Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" as their primary musical composition.[7] The Cat Concerto received recognition by winning an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.[6]

Following the presentation of both films at the 19th Academy Awards Ceremony, allegations of plagiarism arose from both MGM and Warner Bros. studios.[6] Technicolor was accused of sending a print of either cartoon to a competing studio, who then plagiarized their rival's work.[6] Despite attempts to address the matter, uncertainties persist regarding the origins of the similarities. While Rhapsody Rabbit holds an earlier Motion Picture Association approval number and release date, MGM's production timelines extended over a longer duration. Additionally, the substantial resemblances between the two animations may also be attributed to mere coincidence.

The controversy surrounding these productions received further examination in an episode of the Cartoon Network anthology series ToonHeads, providing a platform for discussion and analysis of the issue.[8][9]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Rhapsody Rabbit

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Rhapsody Rabbit is a 1946 American animated comedy short film produced by as part of the series, directed by and starring as the voice of the titular character, performed by . In the seven-minute cartoon, appears as a tuxedo-clad concert at a grand recital, endeavoring to perform Franz Liszt's , but his efforts are continually sabotaged by a diminutive, mischievous mouse who emerges from the instrument and engages in escalating antics, including tampering with the keys and pedals. The film's musical track was recorded on February 2, 1946, by uncredited concert pianist Jakob Gimpel, who was compensated $250 for his performance of the Liszt piece, providing the sophisticated backdrop for the humor. Released theatrically on November 9, 1946, Rhapsody Rabbit draws inspiration from earlier shorts like Freleng's Rhapsody in Rivets (1941), which also parodied performances amid construction chaos, but shifts the focus to Bugs Bunny's signature wit and resilience against the rodent interloper. Notable for its blend of highbrow music and lowbrow gags, the short gained attention due to similarities with MGM's The Cat Concerto (1947), directed by Hanna and Barbera and featuring Tom and Jerry in a comparable piano recital scenario set to the same Liszt composition; while The Cat Concerto won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, Rhapsody Rabbit was not nominated, fueling debates over production timelines and potential cross-studio influences. Despite this, Rhapsody Rabbit remains a celebrated entry in the Looney Tunes canon, highlighting Freleng's direction in timing visual comedy to orchestral swells and Bugs Bunny's iconic cool-headed improvisation.

Background and Production

Inspirations and Development

The concept for Rhapsody Rabbit originated as a follow-up to the 1941 short Rhapsody in Rivets, directed by , in which construction workers and tools animate to perform Franz Liszt's as if forming an . This inspiration was adapted to feature anthropomorphic animal characters in a concert hall setting, shifting from inanimate objects to lively performers while retaining the piece's rhythmic structure for comedic synchronization. Development began in 1945 at under producer , with the story credited to and Michael Maltese. The narrative centered on a rivalry between and a diminutive mouse antagonist, parodying the pretensions of concerts through escalating disruptions during the performance. The choice to cast as the lead pianist drew from his established clever and irreverent persona, first solidified in the 1940 short , allowing for humorous interruptions that played on his quick-witted defiance against annoyances. Director refined this concept to heighten the musical parody. Early storyboard sketches highlighted slapstick gags integrated with piano keys—such as keys snapping or trapping fingers—and stage props like falling lights or sabotaged benches, ensuring the humor aligned with the rhapsody's tempo without interrupting the musical flow.

Direction and Animation

Rhapsody Rabbit was directed by Friz Freleng, a veteran animator at Warner Bros. who helmed numerous Bugs Bunny shorts, including The Wabbit Who Came to Supper (1942). Freleng's direction emphasized precise timing to synchronize visual gags with the musical rhythm of Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, creating a seamless blend of comedy and performance that highlighted his expertise in rhythmic animation. The animation was led by Manuel Perez, with significant contributions from Ken Champin and Virgil Ross, all key figures in the Warner Bros. animation unit. Employing traditional cel animation techniques, the team crafted exaggerated depictions of piano-playing motions, incorporating classic squash-and-stretch effects to amplify the humor in Bugs Bunny's interactions and . This approach prioritized dynamic character movement over intricate environmental details, maintaining the short's fast-paced energy. Production took place at the studio, affectionately known as Termite Terrace, and was completed in mid-1946 for its November 1946 release. The story foundation, crafted by and Michael Maltese, provided the framework for these visual elements.

Voice Cast and Sound

The voice cast for Rhapsody Rabbit consists solely of , who provided all character voices in the 1946 short. Blanc portrayed with his signature Brooklyn accent, delivering wise-cracking lines such as "Of course you realize, this means war!" in a mock-serious tone during the pianist's interruptions. He also voiced the unnamed mouse antagonist through high-pitched squeaks and taunting exclamations, showcasing his range in creating distinct comedic personas without additional performers. This single-actor approach highlights Blanc's versatility, contrasting with later ensemble-heavy productions like the 1957 short "What's Opera, Doc?", which featured more layered vocal interactions despite Blanc's dominant role. Recording sessions for Rhapsody Rabbit took place on June 8, 1946, where Blanc's multi-role efficiency enabled quick overdubs for the dual characters. His ad-libs emphasized comedic timing, particularly in reacting to the musical interruptions, allowing for spontaneous humor synced to the . Sound design was handled by Treg Brown, the longtime Warner Bros. effects editor, who incorporated exaggerated piano key plinks, comedic crashes, and orchestral swells to punctuate the action and heighten the rivalry's chaos. These effects were meticulously timed to align with Friz Freleng's direction, enhancing the short's rhythmic interplay between performance and disruption.

Content

Plot Summary

Rhapsody Rabbit is a seven-minute short that unfolds as a comedic performance of 's , structured around the piece's musical movements with sight gags intensifying during its dramatic crescendos. The story begins in a grand concert hall where , attired as a tuxedo-clad , strides onstage to enthusiastic applause, accompanied by "Merrily We Roll Along" and a snippet of Wagner's "" funeral march for ironic effect. He seats himself at the grand piano and launches into the rhapsody with assured, florid keystrokes, immediately establishing his confident virtuoso persona. Minor disruptions arise early: a loud from an member prompts Bugs to draw a , shoot the offender, and casually blow away the smoke before resuming play. Moments later, a rings from within the piano; Bugs answers it with his signature "Eh, what's up, Doc?" only to hang up on a caller seeking , muttering "Wrong number." As Bugs progresses through the rhapsody's lively sections, playfully singing "Fi-ga-ro!" on a rising triad, a diminutive suddenly emerges from beneath , drawn by the music. The begins mimicking Bugs's finger movements on the low keys, pulling pedals and hammers to sabotage the performance and create discordant mishaps. Bugs notices the intruder, barricades its hole with —pausing to ogle a pinup illustration—and attempts to continue, but the mouse's antics escalate into a frenzied rivalry, with the pair chasing each other around and inside the instrument during the piece's transitional pauses. In the climax, amid the rhapsody's boisterous allegro sections, Bugs retaliates with ingenious traps concealed in the piano: he slams the lid on the mouse, who retaliates by playing "Chopsticks" from hiding, leading Bugs to insert dynamite that explodes prematurely. Feigning mourning as "Taps" plays, Bugs is then whacked by a mallet wielded by the resilient mouse. Undeterred, Bugs resumes with one-handed flair, then footwork using his toes, but faces a chaotic finale page of scrambled notes, prompting him to oil his paws and pray. The mouse commandeers a miniature piano for the frenzied coda, but Bugs ultimately outsmarts it, delivering the triumphant final three chords as the mouse suffers a comedic comeuppance, concluding the short on a high note.

Music and Visual Style

Rhapsody Rabbit centers its musical foundation on Franz Liszt's (1853), which serves as the primary score dictating Bugs Bunny's piano performance and synchronizing with the action through precise "Mickey-Mousing" techniques. Carl Stalling arranged and conducted the piece, adapting its structure to fit the cartoon's comedic rhythm while preserving the original melody's integrity. Tempo variations play a key role in enhancing the humor, with slower sections building tension for gag setups and accelerating into frenzied paces during chaotic sequences, such as chases, to amplify the visual comedy. Stalling incorporated original cues to underscore rapid movements without disrupting Liszt's core composition, blending classical realism with cartoon exaggeration. The visual style employs a stylized concert hall setting, painted by background artist Terry Lind in April 1946, to evoke a formal performance environment that spotlights the characters amid a packed auditorium. Minimalist backgrounds keep the focus on the action, utilizing vibrant to heighten the palette's richness and emphasize exaggerated facial expressions, such as Bugs Bunny's arrogant warm-up gestures. Prominent props, including the grand as the central stage element, support the parody by integrating surreal humor—such as animated keys responding dynamically to the music—into the otherwise elegant hall design. This aesthetic reinforces the cartoon's of classical concert tropes, portraying Bugs as a tuxedo-clad disrupted by a rival, where realistic contrasts with whimsical visual flourishes like dancing elements. The gags, timed closely to the score's beats, further merge the auditory and visual , satirizing rituals through cartoonish interruptions.

Release

Theatrical Release

Rhapsody Rabbit was released to theaters on November 9, 1946, as a animated short produced and distributed by . The seven-minute cartoon premiered amid a postwar surge in popularity for animated shorts, which had boosted morale during through characters like . It was screened in theaters nationwide, leveraging the established appeal of and series, which dominated the market for comedic animation in the late 1940s. These materials emphasized the blend of classical music and slapstick humor, capitalizing on the series' reputation for innovative sound design and animation.

Home Media

Rhapsody Rabbit first appeared on home video via VHS compilations in the late 1980s. It was included in the Bugs Bunny Classics: Special Collector's Edition released around 1988 by MGM/UA Home Video. A subsequent VHS release featured the short on Looney Tunes: The Collector's Edition, Volume 3 in 1990, distributed by Warner Home Video. The cartoon made its DVD debut on , released by in 2004. This edition presented a restored print of the short along with an track by music historian Daniel Goldmark, who discusses the integration of Franz Liszt's and the short's musical gags. Bonus features on the set include behind-the-scenes documentaries on music, though no alternate versions or endings of Rhapsody Rabbit exist. For high-definition home media, Rhapsody Rabbit received a remastered release on the Collector's Vault: Volume 1 Blu-ray set from on June 17, 2025, marking one of its first appearances in HD format alongside other rare and classic shorts. The short is also available for digital purchase and download on platforms like (now ). Since 2020, Rhapsody Rabbit has been streamable on Max (formerly HBO Max), where it remains part of the catalog, and on the streaming service.

Reception and Controversy

Awards and Critical Reception

Rhapsody Rabbit did not receive any major awards, including no nomination for the Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons) at the in 1947, where MGM's —a similar cartoon—won the honor. Despite the ensuing controversy, the short faced strong competition from studios like . Upon its 1946 release, Rhapsody Rabbit garnered positive initial reception for its musical satire and Bugs Bunny's charismatic performance. Film critic praised it in as "the funniest thing I have seen since the decline of sociological dancing," highlighting the seamless integration of humor and Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. The cartoon drew audiences despite the era's dominance by features. In modern critical assessments, animation historians commend Rhapsody Rabbit for its tight gag structure and inventive synchronization of action to music, though some critique its heavy reliance on classical over wholly original elements. It earned inclusion in Jerry Beck's (1994), selected by over 1,000 animation professionals as a standout example of Friz Freleng's direction. More recent reappraisals, such as in Vulture's 2020 ranking of 90 essential shorts, emphasize its enduring appeal through Bugs Bunny's role reversal as the to a mischievous mouse. The cartoon also features prominently in discussions of Bugs Bunny's legacy.

Plagiarism Dispute

The primary controversy surrounding Rhapsody Rabbit centers on its striking similarities to MGM's The Cat Concerto, a 1947 Tom and Jerry short directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Both cartoons feature a tuxedo-clad protagonist—a rabbit in Rhapsody Rabbit and a cat in The Cat Concerto—performing Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 on a grand piano, only to be repeatedly disrupted by a mischievous small antagonist (a mouse) who engages in identical sight gags, such as pulling keys from the piano, hiding inside the instrument, and causing chaotic interruptions synchronized to the music. Timeline evidence strongly favors Rhapsody Rabbit as the original, with the short produced and released by on November 9, 1946, while The Cat Concerto did not premiere until April 26, 1947. This chronology prompted to accuse of , with speculation centering on a possible leak at Labs, where both studios processed their films; theorists suggested that early footage or prints of Rhapsody Rabbit may have been inadvertently shared with during . Director , who helmed Rhapsody Rabbit, vehemently denied any knowledge of the rival short and expressed frustration upon discovering the parallels at a 1947 screening. A secondary point of comparison, though far less contentious, involves ' own earlier short Rhapsody in Rivets (1941), also directed by Freleng, which similarly animates but depicts construction workers as an orchestra building a , lacking the pianist-antagonist dynamic of the later films. This precedent highlights shared inspiration from the composition within the studio but predates both disputed shorts by years, diffusing any direct claims. The dispute never escalated to lawsuits, with industry figures like co-director attributing the overlaps to coincidence or parallel creative impulses drawn from the popular piece's rhythmic potential for comedy. At the 1947 , The secured the Oscar for Best Animated Short Subject, while Rhapsody Rabbit received no nomination, yet the episode continues to spark debates among animation historians and fans over intentional copying versus serendipitous similarity.

References

  1. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038880/
  2. https://tv.apple.com/us/episode/rhapsody-rabbit/umc.cmc.3v13hgfd9f62f3wxvo2q5nyej?showId=umc.cmc.1yc14qmmmjjj3gr7eowtndhsj
  3. https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/animation-anecdotes-237/
  4. https://warnerbros.fandom.com/wiki/Rhapsody_Rabbit
  5. https://www.wqxr.org/story/5-cartoons-had-some-serious-fun-classical-music
  6. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038880/fullcredits/
  7. https://time.com/3967572/bugs-bunny-75/
  8. https://www.whataboutthad.com/2013/02/26/pianistenvy/
  9. https://animationresources.org/biography-mel-blanc/
  10. https://designingsound.org/2009/12/08/treg-brown-and-the-sound-of-looney-tunes/
  11. https://looneytunes.fandom.com/wiki/Rhapsody_Rabbit
  12. https://doi.org/10.24114/gondang.v8i1.57435
  13. https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/pianist-envy/
  14. https://www.intanibase.com/iad_entries/entry.aspx?shortID=5484
  15. https://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/videocarmovs.aspx
  16. https://looneytunes.fandom.com/wiki/Looney_Tunes_Golden_Collection:_Volume_2
  17. https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=36373
  18. https://tv.apple.com/us/episode/rhapsody-rabbit/umc.cmc.3v13hgfd9f62f3wxvo2q5nyej
  19. https://www.hbomax.com/gd/en/shows/looney-tunes/s11/de3488b1-a8ab-4f34-8230-0a465a79ae86/e9-rhapsody-rabbit/3f3fb5a3-8c2c-432b-85e2-dd371c4d5b9d
  20. https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1947
  21. https://www.animationmagazine.net/2011/08/the-case-of-the-copycat-concerto/
  22. https://www.ign.com/articles/2005/09/09/comics-in-context-101-classical-chuck
  23. https://www.amazon.com/50-Greatest-Cartoons-Animation-Professionals/dp/187868549X
  24. https://www.vulture.com/article/best-looney-tunes-shorts-cartoons.html
  25. https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/50-greatest-animated-characters-2/
  26. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039251/
  27. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034097/
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