Rhapsody Rabbit

The basic premise of this cartoon is that Bugs is trying to play a Lizst concerto in concert but is hampered by a small mouse inside the piano. This cartoon's significance is two-fold: a) Since the beginning of the WB animation department, classical music had been looked upon with scorn by much of the staff and was ridiculed in most of the cartoons. The reason for much of this was that Walt Disney absolutely insisted that classical music and nothing else be used. This was one of the many reasons that many animators left Disney for WB and/or elsewhere and was certainly the main reason for Carl Stalling leaving Walt. So, for the longest time, classical music was put through the wringer at Termite Terrace. Even though toons such as Rhapsody in Rivets, Pigs in a Polka, and A Corny Concerto all rely on synchronozation to a classical piece, they do possess a charming hammy quality. But, Rhapsody Rabbit was the WB cartoon that treated classical music with the respect that an avid music buff would appreciate. This would lead to other great WB symphonic toons like Rabbit of Seville, Mouse Mazurka, What's Opera, Doc?, etc. b) This could have been the year for Bugs, Freleng, and Termite Terrace to finally win an Oscar. But, something happened. The Technicolor company sent a copy to MGM by mistake where the team of Hanna Barbara saw it. Upon witnessing the above-excellent animation they paniced and rushed the production of their cartoon Cat Concerto (having the same premise as Rhapsody Rabbit) so that it could be submitted for Oscar consideration. So, both the Bugs and the Tom & Jerry cartoons were submitted that year. Here's an inside tip, the submitted films for the Acadamy then and now are screened alphabeticly. So, Cat Concerto was viewed BEFORE Rhapsody Rabbit and the acadamy thought that Bugs was copying Tom & Jerry. Cat Concerto got the nomination AND THE WIN!!! This just shows that Bugs would have been a shoe-in had it not been for Hanna and Barbara pulling that. Some say that's the main reason Tweetie Pie won the Oscar the following year, as a way of apologizing for the mistake. I personally think that Tweetie Pie would have won on it's own merits regardless but that's a whole other post. Not to worry, Bugs would receive an Oscar, but not now.

This cartoon was, by and large, the work of three men. There was director Freleng, who also wrote it (according ot Maltin's book, these musicals were written entirely by the director himself). Also, Ross & Chiniquy were the only two animators who worked on this cartoon; when I spoke with Virgil Ross in 1991, he said the other two animators were only listed contractually.

WOW!!! No other reviews of this one YET?!? A small but vital piece of info: When I spoke with animator Virgil Ross in 1991, he told me that he and Gerry Chiniquy were really the only animators who worked on this one (i.e., that Champin and Perez merely got contractual credit for it). Also, in all probability, Michael Maltese and Tedd Pierce didn't write this cartoon at all: Freleng's musical pantomime films were written by the director himself.