2023 marks the 85th Anniversary of Bug Bunny’s first animated appearance in 1938’s “Porky’s Hare Hunt.” Debuting originally as Happy Rabbit, Bugs eventually became one of the most iconic animated characters of all time. In honor of the landmark anniversary, we’re discussing every animated appearance by Bugs Bunny. We’re big fans of Bugsy and we hope that you are, too.
Follow us on this massive journey where we discover and re-discover Every Bugs Bunny Ever.
All This and Rabbit Stew (1941)
Directed by Tex Avery
Written by Dave Monahan
Music by Carl W. Stalling
Animation by Virgil Ross
In the list of things that Warner Bros. wants you to forget about Looney Tunes, there’s “All This and Rabbit Stew.” Not only is it Tex Avery’s final short for Warner and Bugs Bunny, but it’s also one of the dreaded “Censored Eleven.”
It’s seventh in a list of animated shorts that have otherwise been banned or pulled from circulation due to sensitive content (racial, political, or otherwise). “All This and Rabbit Stew” has been banned since 1968 mainly for its depiction of black face and African American stereotypes that are just so offensive, that it’s almost impossible to get around. At least with something like “Swing Time” and “Hold that Ghost” you can simply move past it.
But with “All This and Rabbit Stew” it’s the absolute centerpiece.
What makes “All This and Rabbit Stew” even harder to sit through is that it really doesn’t accomplish anything new with Bugs Bunny. It merely features him in another story of being chased by a hunter who wants to kill him. Except this time the hunter is an unnamed African American hunter that very strongly resembles Stepin Fetchit. This character checks off all the horrendous black stereotypes we usually would have seen during this period. He’s lazy. He’s dimwitted. He’s first seen shuffling along the woods with his shotgun dragging behind.
Hell, he’s dumber than Elmer Fudd. He can barely string together a coherent sentence, and has his own weak catch phrase “Gonna catch me a rah-hah-hah-bit!” Here the nameless black hunter is shuffling through the woods with the intent of catching and hunting a rabbit. He finds Bugs Bunny in his hole and proceeds to pursue him, as Bugs does everything to outwit and evade his attacks. A lot of the gags are weak, and Bugs is surprisingly not very vocal during here. I don’t know why but the usual wise cracking foil doesn’t really offer quips and one-liners.
Bugs Bunny just works so much better when he’s fighting a villain who can think as fast as Bugs, and even give him a run for his money. “All This and Rabbit Stew” finds the artists behind the short (and even Bugs) punching down. Way down. The writers always seem to be on the verge of developing Bugs and his own line up of foils, but then they keep introducing new rivals, many of which just aren’t memorable or fun. People like Elmer Fudd and or Yosemite Sam are dimwits, but they offer their own unique character traits that aren’t duplicated in the latter shorts in Bugs Bunny’s repertoire. They don’t even think enough to give the villain of this short an actual name.
Here, he’s mostly identified as “black hunter” whose long drawl is pretty much his version of the rhotacism that Elmer Fudd is known for. To make things worse the short takes a turn when Bugs finally manages to trick the hunter in to a game of craps in the bushes. This ends with Bugs running off with his clothing, miming his shuffling, while the hunter sits in the grass naked, and defeated. As one final insult to injury as the film dissolves, Bugs pulls out the leaf hiding the hunter’s privates and proudly displays it to the audience. It pretty much enters with a thud and closes with a thud.
It was only until ten years ago that I learned “All This and Rabbit Stew” existed within Bugs Bunny’s list of films. And Warner hid it very well for a long time. I grew up with (and cut my teeth on) the Merrie Melodies and watched hours of it on Cartoon Network in the nineties, and there was never a single mention of “All This and Rabbit Stew.” Even in episodes of their primetime, more mature, animated block “Toonheads” where they aired previously banned animated shorts from Warner and MGM. Shortly after its completion, Tex Avery would leave Warner after his rocky relationship with Leon Schlesinger, and move to MGM, where he’d produce some of his finest, most iconic animated comedy of all time.
“All This and Rabbit Stew” can be looked at as a historical artifact in the public domain that is best examined in the context of the 1940’s. This is when “entertainment” such as what we witness was common, and even celebrated. It has aged about as well as “Birth of a Nation.” Animation buffs and film historians definitely need apply. If you’re a Bugs Bunny completist like me, it’s also worth watching, if only to see how long it took for Warner to find the right formula for the animated hero. It’s not Bugs’ best short; I’d put it easily as one of the top ten worst.
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