1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/42e0a_24c_rhapsody.jpg]] |
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3 | ->"''Eh, what's up, doc? Who? Music/FranzLiszt? Never heard of him. Wrong number.''" |
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5 | Rhapsody Rabbit is a 1946 WesternAnimation/BugsBunny cartoon short, released in the ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]]'' series and directed by Creator/FrizFreleng. |
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7 | The plot is simple. Bugs is a concert pianist performing Franz Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2". While playing, he begins to be bothered by a mouse that is living inside his piano. The mouse interrupts Bugs's recital repeatedly, sometimes jumping out from a hole to play a note that doesn't fit, sometimes playing an entirely different piece. Bugs tries to get rid of the mouse, at one point shoving a stick of dynamite into the piano, but the mouse always escapes. In the climax, Bugs flips the pages of his music only to find a tangled morass of notes all over the page. After a brief silent prayer, Bugs sits down to play--only to hear the mouse over on stage right, pounding out the frantic ending of the rhapsody on a toy piano that sounds real. Bugs plays the last three notes of the rhapsody, and the cartoon ends. |
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9 | ---- |
10 | !!"Rhapsody Rabbit" provides examples of: |
11 | |
12 | * ActuallyQuiteCatchy: When the mouse starts a "boogie woogie" number, Bugs are surprised at first but slowly begins to join in. |
13 | * AlliterativeTitle: "'''R'''hapsody '''R'''abbit". |
14 | * {{Bowdlerise}}: The scene where Bugs shoots an audience member was cut on the former [[Creator/TheWB WB]] channel. |
15 | ** Some airings on Cartoon Network and Boomerang cut straight to the title card. |
16 | * CurseCutShort: After the mouse beats him into playing the finale, Bugs angrily plays the last few notes and appears to mouth "son of a bitch!". |
17 | * DisproportionateRetribution: An audience member keeps bothering Bugs by coughing and clearing his throat repeatedly, so Bugs resorts to pulling out a gun and shooting him just to silence him. |
18 | * {{Expy}}: The mouse is basically [[WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry Jerry.]] |
19 | * HalfDressedCartoonAnimal: Bugs dons a white tie and tails (but no trousers) along with his usual gloves. |
20 | * KnuckleCracking: Done for a gag as Bugs sits down to play his difficult piece. |
21 | * MickeyMousing: Used throughout the cartoon, like when the mouse is running down the keys of the piano, playing the rhapsody as he goes. |
22 | * NoDialogueEpisode: Bugs Bunny cartoons usually had plenty of talking and wisecracks, but this one is mostly silent. The mouse never talks, and Bugs only has three lines: |
23 | -->"[[CatchPhrase Eh, what's up, doc?]] Who? Music/FranzLiszt? [[TakeThat Never heard of him.]] Wrong number."\ |
24 | "Fi-ga-ro! Fi-ga-ro!"\ |
25 | "Look, one hand! No hands!" |
26 | * OddballInTheSeries: One of only a few Bugs Bunny cartoons in which Bugs was the butt of the joke. |
27 | * OffingTheAnnoyance: Bugs shoots the audience member who won't stop coughing. |
28 | * PianoKeyWave: Has quite a few of these, including the piano keyboard acting like a typewriter carriage and, at one point, Bugs literally ''picking up the keys and letting them fall back down.'' |
29 | * PublicDomainSoundtrack: Actually averted. Renowned pianist Jakob Gimpel performed the Liszt "Rhapsody" for the cartoon. Although, there is a brief moment in between the ''lassan'' and ''friska'' sections where Bugs and the mouse play some boogie-woogie. After trapping the mouse inside the keys, the mouse taunts Bugs by playing "Chopsticks". When he throws some dynamite into the case, the mouse plays "Taps". |
30 | * StandardSnippet: During the opening credits, the first few notes of "Merrily We Roll Along" are briefly heard, before transitioning into Wagner's ''Siegfried'' funeral march. |
31 | * TheShowMustGoWrong: The mouse continually interrupts and upstages Bugs, eventually playing the finale in Bugs's place. |
32 | * WolfWhistle: Bugs, flipping through his book of sheet music, stops on a picture of a pin-up girl hidden inside. A wolf whistle emits from the audience, and Bugs flashes an embarrassed grin before flipping the pages ahead some more. |
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