Ballot Box Bunny

Ballot Box Bunny
Merrie Melodies (Bugs Bunny) series

The title card of Ballot Box Bunny.
Directed by I. Freleng
Produced by Eddie Selzer
(uncredited)
Story by Warren Foster
Voices by Mel Blanc[1]
Music by Carl Stalling
Animation by Ken Champin
Virgil Ross
Arthur Davis
Manuel Perez
Layouts by Hawley Pratt
Backgrounds by Paul Julian
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date(s) October 6, 1951 (USA)
Color process Technicolor
Running time 7:35
Language English

Ballot Box Bunny is a Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoon short released in 1951, directed by Friz Freleng and written by Warren Foster.[2]

Plot

Yosemite Sam is running for mayor of a small town, declaring such empty promises as: "There's enough fresh air and sunshine in this great country of ours for everybody – and I'll see to it, that you'll get your share!". Bugs Bunny is underneath the podium drinking carrot juice when Sam makes a pledge to make good on his previous promise "to rid this country of every last rabbit" if elected. Bugs then decides he needs to fight against Sam by running against him for mayor.

Bugs proceeds to quickly try and win the townspeople over with Theodore Roosevelt's famous "I speak softly, but I carry a BIG stick!" quote, even dressing up like Roosevelt. However, Sam declares "I speak LOUD and I carry a BIGGER stick, and I use it too!" (When watching this on The Bugs Bunny Show, Daffy Duck says "I speak medium, and I carry the BIGGEST stick.) Sam has more than a few tricks up his sleeve. He steals Bugs' cigar stand, to which Bugs switches his "SMELLO" cigars with five-cent ATOM Explosive Cigars ("You Will Get A BANG Out of This"). He sends a boxful of "assorted" picnic ants to steal all of the food at Bugs' picnic, to which Bugs hides a dynamite stick in a watermelon for him. Then he rigs a cannon at the front door of Bugs' headquarters and greets Bugs with friendship at the back door, but the plan backfires on him when Bugs pretends that a pretty girl named Emma who loves Sam is at the front door. Then he challenges Bugs, asking him if he can "play the pi-anna", and Bugs takes the challenge, so he rigs explosives in the piano at a certain key and presents the piano to Bugs to play "Those Endearing Young Charms" (a gag recycled from a Private Snafu short), but Bugs misplays the tune on purpose to infuriate Sam, who plays it correctly and falls for his own trap.

A quick chase through the streets leads the pair to the parade for the newly elected mayor. But as it turns out, a literal "dark horse" candidate, a chestnut-colored mare, stepped in and won, whose car bears a sign reading "Our New Mare".

Bugs suggests a game of Russian Roulette and hands Sam a gun. Sam agrees, points the gun at his head, closes his eyes and pulls the trigger, and gets the click of an empty barrel. He then hands the gun to Bugs, who points the gun to his head, closes his eyes, and pulls the trigger as the "camera" irises into black in the center of the screen to the sound of a gunshot. An iris opens up on Bugs to the left, showing that he had actually ducked immediately before he fired and now holds a smoking gun as he proclaims, "I missed!" The right side of the screen irises open to reveal a scorched, hatless Sam shot in the head by Bugs' wayward blast, and Sam grumbles: "I hate that rabbit!"

Trivia

Availability

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lawson, Tim; Persons, Alisa (9 December 2004). The Magic Behind the Voices: A Who's Who of Cartoon Voice Actors. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 54. ISBN 978-1-57806-696-4.
  2. 1 2 3 "Ballot Box Bunny". www.bcdb.com, August 31, 2013

External links

Preceded by
His Hare-Raising Tale		 Bugs Bunny Cartoons
1951 		Succeeded by
Big Top Bunny
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