The Abominable Snow Rabbit

The Abominable Snow Rabbit is a 1961 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon starring Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. The cartoon was directed by Chuck Jones and co-directed by Maurice Noble, with a story by Tedd Pierce. The cartoon's title, is, naturally, taken from the phrase and horror film, The Abominable Snowman.

Summary

At the start of this cartoon, Bugs and Daffy set out for a vacation in Palm Springs (traveling via Bugs' underground burrowing). Once Daffy emerges topside and makes a break for a "pool", only to find he has leaped headfirst into a frozen lake surrounded by a snowy landscape, the pair realize that have gone far off course. (Daffy to Bugs: "You and your short cuts! I told you to turn west at East St. Louis!".) Freezing and shivering, Daffy pulls his shirt up over his head and ties his sleeves around his head. Bugs re-reads his map, and realizes that he and Daffy are in the Himalayas. An appalled Daffy promptly decides to turn back and leave Bugs, and the duck hops back into the rabbit hole and begins burrowing on his own. Upon his return, Daffy hits a snag in the road, running into the Abominable Snowman named Hugo. Daffy arises out of the tunnel only to be mistaken for a pink snow rabbit (his sleeves from his shirt look like rabbit ears). Hugo (echoing the character Lenny from Of Mice and Men) picks up Daffy, and proclaims, "What a cute little bunny rabbit! I will name him George, and I will hug him and pet him..." "You are hurting me," responds Daffy in an uncharacteristically calm tone. "Put me down. I ain't no bunny rabbit." When Hugo does not comply, Daffy finally becomes fed up and screams: "I ain't no bunny rabbit!" Once Hugo realizes that Daffy isn't a bunny rabbit, and punishes him for lying, Daffy tells him where he can get a "real bunny rabbit", leading him to Bugs. Daffy and Bugs then spend quite some time trying to trick Hugo into believing the other character is a rabbit. As usual, Bugs wins out, and hastily jumps back in his hole and burrows away. Upon realizing Daffy is not a rabbit, Hugo jumps in the hole after Bugs. "Look out, bunny rabbit," exclaims Daffy. "This I gotta see!" By the time Daffy makes it to Palm Springs, he finds Hugo and the rabbit (in disguise) having heart to heart talk. The snowman, "sweating" because of the heat, is distraught over losing sight of his bunny rabbit, and the disguised Bugs feigns sympathy. Just as Daffy arrives (asking "has the massacre started yet?"), Bugs produces a rabbit mask and holds it over the rabbit hole Daffy is set to emerge from. Sure enough, Daffy pops his head into the mask unwittingly, and Hugo, giddy to have his "bunny rabbit" back, rushes over to Daffy. Although Hugo begins his "I will name him George" spiel once again - with Bugs imitating him - Bugs is shocked to suddenly discover a puddle standing where Hugo was a few seconds ago. "Well, what do you know; he melted," Bugs says to the camera. "He really was a snowman after all!" At this, a soaked Daffy emerges from the puddle and quips "Abominable, that is," as the cartoon irises-out to its end title.

Home video releases

The Abominable Snow Rabbit is included on the DVD collection Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5 as well as the VHS collections Looney Tunes After Dark and .

Trivia

• Hugo is based upon Lenny from Of Mice and Men. His mental ineptitude, his desire for a pet rabbit, and his calling Bugs "George" are evidence of this relationship.
• Hugo the Abominable Snowman returned in the Looney Tunes comic books.

See also

• List of Bugs Bunny cartoons
• List of cartoons featuring Daffy Duck