Stage Door Cartoon is a 1944 Warner Bros. cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series, directed by Friz Freleng and featuring Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, and a predecessor to Yosemite Sam. Voices are by Mel Blanc, except Elmer was voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan. The cartoon's title is a parody of the 1943 musical film Stage Door Canteen.
Plot synopsis
Elmer arrested for "indecent southern exposure"
The film starts as a typical Elmer-hunting-rabbits cartoon; he hooks a carrot to his fishing hook in an attempt to catch Bugs, who turns the tables on Elmer by attaching the hook to his pants and "reeling" him in. Bugs then throws Elmer back for being too small and ends up getting chased to a Vaudeville theater. Bugs gets a chance to do his tap-dance routine, one of his recurring schticks. He then tricks the shy Elmer onto the stage. First, he prompts Elmer through some classic acting emotive poses, seguéing into face-making, which draws a ripe tomato in the face from the jeering crowd. Then he tricks Elmer into doing a "strip-tease", whereupon a southern sheriff (a primordial Yosemite Sam, with the same raucous drawl as the similar-sounding Foghorn Leghorn) arrests Elmer.
Cultural references
- Bugs' goofy yell to Elmer, "Here I ya-um!" was a catchphrase used by radio star Red Skelton's country bumpkin character "Clem Kadiddlehopper".
- Bugs' statement to the audience at the end of the film, "I got a million of 'em!" was a Jimmy Durante catchphrase; Bugs mimics Durante's standard body language while saying it.
- The basic plotline would be re-used in the 1950 Bugs-and-Elmer cartoon, The Rabbit of Seville. Also, the same high-dive gag would be re-used and expanded for the 1948 Bugs Bunny cartoon High Diving Hare, in which Yosemite Sam (who, as previously noted, appears in prototypical form in this cartoon) would play a large part as Bugs's antagonist.
See also
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