Little Red Riding Rabbit
| Little Red Riding Rabbit | |
|---|---|
| Merrie Melodies (Bugs Bunny) series | |
"Red" about to get even "redder". Animation by Virgil Ross
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| Directed by | I. Freleng |
| Produced by | Leon Schlesinger |
| Story by | Michael Maltese |
| Voices by |
Mel Blanc (first time credited) Billy Bletcher (uncredited) Bea Benaderet (uncredited) |
| Music by | Carl W. Stalling |
| Animation by |
Manuel Perez Uncredited: Gerry Chiniquy Virgil Ross Richard Bickenbach |
| Studio | Leon Schlesinger Productions |
| Distributed by |
Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation |
| Release date(s) |
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| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 7 minutes 4 seconds |
| Language | English |
Little Red Riding Rabbit is a 1944 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon, directed by Friz Freleng, and starring Bugs Bunny. It is a sendup of the Little Red Riding Hood story, and is the first time in which Mel Blanc receives a voice credit.
Little Red Riding Hood is depicted as a typical 1940s teen-aged girl, a "bobby soxer" with an extremely loud and grating voice (inspired by screen and radio comedian Cass Daley, provided by Bea Benaderet). After she sings the first verse of "Five O'Clock Whistle" in the opening to establish this fact, Bugs pops out of her basket to ask where she's going. She replies that she's going to "bring a little bunny rabbit to [her] grandma ta HAVE."
With this part of the story set up, the wolf is now introduced. The wolf switches a "Shortcut to Grandma's" sign, so that Red has to go through a long mountain path, while the wolf uses the real shortcut – a few short steps to the house. Seeing a note on the door that Grandma isn't home (apparently, Grandma is a "Rosie the Riveter" type who's working the "swing shift" at Lockheed), the wolf sneaks inside and dresses like Grandma, only to find that three other wolves are similarly dressed and waiting in the bed for Red! The wolf (voiced by Billy Bletcher) growls for the others to "COME ON! COME ON! Take a powder – this is MY racket!" The other wolves leave, grumbling to themselves, and a small wolf hiding under the pillow sheepishly follows suit, too. Once in bed, the wolf waits for Red to arrive. But in a twist, the wolf isn't interested in eating Red, but rather the rabbit she brings to Grandma.
The wolf quickly shuffles Red out the door and tries looking for Bugs in the basket. Bugs, however, gets the better of the wolf and runs around the house, with the wolf in hot pursuit. Along the way, Bugs subjects the wolf to the famous lots-of-doors in-and-out routine (which will be repeated in Buccaneer Bunny). The wolf, however, is constantly interrupted by Red, who continues asking the questions from the actual story. The wolf then yells at her to get out.
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