Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt

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Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt
Merrie Melodies series
Directed by	I. Freleng
Story by	Michael Maltese
Animation by	Gil Turner
Voices by	Mel Blanc
Music by	Carl Stalling
Produced by	Leon Schlesinger
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date	June 7, 1941
Format	Technicolor, 7:30 (one reel)
Language	English
IMDb page

Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt is a Warner Bros. cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series, starring Bugs Bunny and Hiawatha, first released on June 7, 1941. The short makes several direct references to The Song of Hiawatha, an epic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The short was directed by Friz Freleng, written by Michael Maltese, animated by Gil Turner, and the musical director was Carl Stalling.

The voices of Bugs Bunny and Hiawatha were both provided by Mel Blanc.

[edit] Synopsis

Bugs is reading The Song of Hiawatha out loud to himself, and the saga turns real as a pint-sized, Elmer Fudd-like Hiawatha turns up, paddling his canoe. Hiawatha is looking for a rabbit for his dinner. In a key sequence (replayed in a later cartoon - see below), Hiawatha tricks Bugs into thinking he is preparing a hot bath for him. It is actually a cooking pot, which Bugs quickly vacates once Hiawatha casually mentions that he is having rabbit stew for supper. As with Elmer, Bugs spends the rest of the cartoon tormenting his would-be devourer, who finally breaks his arrows in anger and disgust, and paddles his canoe away while Bugsy finishes his reading of the poem.

[edit] Trivia

• This film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Short Subject (cartoons), but lost to the Pluto cartoon Lend a Paw.
• This was the first Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by Friz Freleng.
• This was Bugs' first encounter with a Native American.
• This is a parody of the Silly Symphonies cartoon Little Hiawatha. In fact, the character is a parody of the legendary Disney animator, Ward Kimball.
• This cartoon was pulled out of the June Bugs marathon in 2001 because of the ethnic Native American stereotypes, even though this cartoon has aired on Cartoon Network's show The Acme Hour during Thanksgiving.
• This was the ninth cartoon for Bugs, and the 66th cartoon Friz Freleng directed at Warner Bros.
• The cooking-pot sequence from this cartoon would be directly incorporated three years later in the 1944 Bugs Bunny cartoon What's Cookin' Doc?, although Bugs' facial appearance had subtly changed in the interim. The central joke in that film is Bugs losing the Oscar to fellow Warner actor James Cagney. Showing clips specifically from Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt provides some context to that storyline.