Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
Merrie Melodies (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck) series
Daffy writes Elmer Fudd a license to shoot a "fricasseeing rabbit" in this scene from Duck! Rabbit! Duck!. "Hey, Bugs, how do you spell 'fricasseeing?'" "F-R-I-C-A-S-S-E-E-I-N-G... D-U-C-K!"
Directed by	Charles M. Jones
Story by	Michael Maltese
Animation by	Ken Harris Abe Levitow Richard Thompson Lloyd Vaughan Ben Washam
Voices by	Mel Blanc Arthur Q. Bryan
Produced by	Eddie Selzer
Studio	Warner Bros. Cartoons The Vitaphone Corporation
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date	October 3, 1953 (USA)
Format	Technicolor, 7 min (one reel)
Language	English
Preceded by	Rabbit Seasoning (1952)
IMDb page

Duck! Rabbit! Duck! is a 1953 Merrie Melodies cartoon, directed by Chuck Jones, and starring Bugs Bunny. It is the sequel to Rabbit Seasoning, and the third (along with Rabbit Fire) and final entry in Jones' "Hunter's trilogy" (the only major difference in format between this film and the others is that it takes place during the middle of winter). Produced by Eddie Selzer for Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc., the short was released to theaters on October 3, 1953 by Warner Bros. Pictures and is widely considered among Jones' best and most important films. Merrie Melodies end title Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. ... Bugs Bunny is an Academy Award-winning, street-smart, anthropomorphic, fictional gray hare, despite the name Bunny, who appears in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated films produced by Warner Bros. ... Daffy, as Duck Dodgers, faces off against Marvin the Martian in the 1953 short Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century, a parody of Buck Rogers. ... Image File history File links Duck-rabbit-duck. ... Chuck Jones in 1976 Charles Martin Chuck Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. ... Michael Maltese (February 6, 1908 - February 22, 1981) was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York. ... Ken Harris (1898-1982) was an American animator who worked for several film studios. ... Abe Levitow (July 2, 1922 - 8 May 1975) was an American animator who worked mainly at Warner Bros. ... For other persons named Richard Thompson, see Richard Thompson (disambiguation). ... Ben Washam (1915-1984) was an American animator who worked at Warner Bros. ... Melvin Jerome Blanc (May 30, 1908 – July 10, 1989) was a prolific American voice actor, performing on radio, in television commercials, and most famously, in hundreds of cartoon shorts for Warner Bros. ... Arthur Q. Bryan, as seen in one of his few film roles, from the 1941 film The Devil Bat Arthur Q. Bryan (May 8, 1899 - November 18, 1959) was a United States comedian and voice actor. ... Edward Eddie Selzer (January 12, 1893 - February 22, 1970) was producer of the Warner Bros. ... Warner Bros. ... Vitaphone was a sound film process used on several features and shorts produced by Warner Brothers in the late 1920s and early 1930s. ... Warner Bros. ... October 3 is the 276th day of the year (277th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Logo celebrating Technicolors 90th Anniversary Technicolor is the trademark for a series of color film processes pioneered by Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation (a subsidiary of Technicolor, Inc. ... Rabbit Seasoning is a 1952 Bugs Bunny cartoon. ... 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Merrie Melodies end title Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. ... Chuck Jones in 1976 Charles Martin Chuck Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. ... Bugs Bunny is an Academy Award-winning, street-smart, anthropomorphic, fictional gray hare, despite the name Bunny, who appears in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated films produced by Warner Bros. ... Rabbit Seasoning is a 1952 Bugs Bunny cartoon. ... Bugs and Daffy fight over which one of them is in season at the moment, in this scene from Rabbit Fire. ... A trilogy is a set of three works of art, usually literature or film, that are connected and can generally be seen as a single work as well as three individual ones. ... Winter is one of the four seasons of temperate zones. ... Edward Eddie Selzer (January 12, 1893 - February 22, 1970) was producer of the Warner Bros. ... Warner Bros. ... October 3 is the 276th day of the year (277th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Warner Bros. ...

Overview

Synopsis

The cartoon, set in winter, finds Daffy Duck removing and burning every "Duck Season Open" sign he finds ("I am a duck bent on self preservationumum", he tells the audience). He then attempts to convince Elmer Fudd that it is actually Rabbit Season, prompting Bugs Bunny to use his wits to keep Elmer from shooting him. After each shot, irritated Daffy is forced to put his beak back in place. In the end, Bugs successfully convinces a thoroughly loopy Elmer that it is, in fact, Baseball Season. As Elmer goes off, shooting a baseball, Daffy finally admits that it's really Duck Season... and is promptly shot up by a dozen hunters lying in wait. Daffy, as Duck Dodgers, faces off against Marvin the Martian in the 1953 short Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century, a parody of Buck Rogers. ... The fictional cartoon character Elmer J. Fudd, now one of the most famous Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies characters, also has one of the more convoluted and disputed origins in the Warner Brothers cartoon pantheon (second only to Bugs Bunny himself). ... The beak—otherwise known as the bill or rostrum—is an external anatomical structure which serves as the mouth in some animals. ... A view of the playing field at Busch Memorial Stadium, St. ...

"Dirty Skunk Season"

One extended routine in this short has Bugs holding up various "animal season" signs to correspond with every figurative expression involving an animal that Daffy makes. This begins when Bugs tricks Daffy into making a hunting license that allows Elmer to shoot him (See above picture).

Daffy: Well, I guess I'm the goat.

[Bugs holds up a sign that reads "Goat Season Open!" and Elmer shoots Daffy].

Daffy: You're a dirty dog.

Bugs: And YOU are a dirty skunk!

Daffy: I'm a dirty skunk? I'M a dirty skunk?!

[Bugs holds up a sign that reads "Dirty Skunk Season" and Elmer shoots Daffy].

Daffy: Brother am I a pigeon.

[Bugs holds up a sign that reads "Pigeon Season" and Elmer shoots Daffy].

Daffy: Why, if he's dead, then I'm a mongoose!

[Bugs holds up a sign that reads "Mongoose Season" and Elmer shoots Daffy].

Each presentation of the sign was accompanied by a brass fanfare of a fox hunting call, and of course, followed up by a gunshot. Eventually, Daffy goes completely insane, demanding Elmer keep shooting him, bounding around on all fours like an elk, and scuttling around sideways like a crab: A fox hunt Fox hunting is a form of hunting for foxes using a pack of scent hounds. ...

Daffy: Shoot me again! I enjoy it! I love the smell of burnt feathers, and gunpowder, and cordite. I'm an elk!! Shoot me, go on!! It's elk season!! I'm a fiddler crab!!! Why don't you shoot me??? It's fiddler crab season!!!

The antics get truly confusing at the end when Elmer Fudd encounters Bugs disguised as a game warden: The fictional cartoon character Elmer J. Fudd, now one of the most famous Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies characters, also has one of the more convoluted and disputed origins in the Warner Brothers cartoon pantheon (second only to Bugs Bunny himself). ...

Elmer: Oh, Mister Game Warden, I hope you can help me. I've been told I can shoot rabbits and goats and pigeons and mongooses and dirty skunks and ducks. Could you tell me what season it really is?

Bugs: Why certainly, my boy...it's baseball season!

Elmer then goes completely nuts and starts shooting at a baseball as he runs off into the distance.

DVD release

• Duck! Rabbit! Duck! is presented restored and uncut on volume three of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD series, and is supplemented by an audio commentary by Looney Tunes: Back in Action and Fantasia 2000 animation director Eric Goldberg.

Looney Tunes: Back in Action was a 2003 Warner Bros. ... Fantasia 2000 is an animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. ... Eric Goldberg (born in 1955) is an American animator and film director. ...

External link

• Duck! Rabbit, Duck! at the Internet Movie Database