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Elmer's Candid Camera is a 1940 Merrie Melodies short directed by Charles Jones.

Plot[]

Elmer Fudd wants to learn how to take photos of wildlife and grabs his camera kit to begin his progress. Elmer tries to photograph rabbits after seeing footprints, which leads to a mischievous gray rabbit. Elmer tries to hide behind the rabbit to take a picture of him, but the rabbit sneaks behind and asks to have a look. When Elmer finds out the rabbit has moved, the rabbit starts to leave.

Elmer decides to take a picture of a squirrel instead, but the rabbit returns to continuously bother Elmer. He grabs the lens of the camera and springs it back onto Elmer, launching him back into an apple tree. The rabbit throws an apple core at the tree to knock an apple down on Elmer. Elmer attempts to photograph a bird, but the rabbit taunts him again, and an angered Elmer now wants to forget photographing in the meantime to capture the rabbit. The rabbit tries to fake himself suffering, and Elmer falls for the ploy to release him, causing the rabbit to place Elmer in the net and make his escape.

Elmer is now driven insane, destroys his camera set, and jumps into a lake. He nearly drowns, while the rabbit swims to rescue Elmer. After ensuring Elmer is fine, the rabbit boots Elmer back into the lake and tosses the photographing book at Elmer's face for further insult.

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Notes[]

  • In this cartoon, Elmer Fudd evolved from an earlier character debuting in Tex Avery's "Little Red Walking Hood" (1937). In this cartoon, Elmer still wears the same derby hat, high collar, and green coat as the Egghead-like Elmer prototype and sports a large, bulbous nose, which was one of Prototype-Elmer's earliest distinguishing traits that Avery gave to him. This is Elmer Fudd's ninth appearance. This is also the first time Arthur Q. Bryan voices him in his "milk-sop" and "hewwo" voice that he used earlier in a Merrie Melodies cartoon titled "Dangerous Dan McFoo" (1939) directed by Tex Avery. And the very last appearance, other than a cameo in "Patient Porky", of Ben Hardaway's rabbit, who would become Bugs Bunny a few months later, beginning with "A Wild Hare".
  • The Prototype-Bugs Rabbit from the three earlier cartoons is more like Bugs Bunny in this short, except he has apricot-colored hands and mouth, furrier tail, black nose, black-tipped ears, and a different voice. The rabbit's voice sounds "rural", and at times sounds rather like Daffy Duck's early voice. The laugh at the end of the cartoon, "Heh-heh-heh-HEH-heh!", is similar to that of another Blanc character, the early version of Woody Woodpecker, which would debut later in the year.
  • Elmer's voice is fully developed, and his appearance is similar to that in later cartoons, except for having shiny cheeks and nose. When in a mild-mannered mood, he is very much like the familiar Elmer. When enraged, his appearance is decidedly uncharacteristic, nearly maniacal.
  • Chuck Jones was extremely critical of this short, as he says in his book Chuck Amuck. "Perhaps the kindest thing to say about 'Elmer's Candid Camera' is that it taught everyone what not to do and how not to do it" is one of the things he says about the short.[4]
  • Vitaphone release number: 9371

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. Catalog of Copyright Entries
  2. (3 October 2022) Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, Vol. 2. BearManor Media, page 79. 
  3. Jones, Chuck (1989). "The Writers: The Slum Kid, the Scion, and Me", Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist. Farrar Straus Giroux, page 114. ISBN 978-0374123482. 
  4. Jones 1989, p. 197
Preceded by
Hare-um Scare-um
Prototype-Bugs Bunny Cartoons
1940
Succeeded by
A Wild Hare
Bugs Bunny Shorts
1938 Porky's Hare Hunt
1939 Prest-O Change-OHare-um Scare-um
1940 Elmer's Candid CameraA Wild Hare
1941 Elmer's Pet RabbitTortoise Beats HareHiawatha's Rabbit HuntThe Heckling HareAll This and Rabbit StewWabbit Twouble
1942 The Wabbit Who Came to SupperAny Bonds Today?The Wacky WabbitHold the Lion, PleaseBugs Bunny Gets the BoidFresh HareThe Hare-Brained HypnotistCase of the Missing Hare
1943 Tortoise Wins by a HareSuper-RabbitJack-Wabbit and the BeanstalkWackiki WabbitFalling Hare
1944 Little Red Riding RabbitWhat's Cookin' Doc?Bugs Bunny and the Three BearsBugs Bunny Nips the NipsHare Ribbin'Hare ForceBuckaroo BugsThe Old Grey HareStage Door Cartoon
1945 Herr Meets HareThe Unruly HareHare TriggerHare ConditionedHare Tonic
1946 Baseball BugsHare RemoverHair-Raising HareAcrobatty BunnyRacketeer RabbitThe Big SnoozeRhapsody Rabbit
1947 Rabbit TransitA Hare Grows in ManhattanEaster YeggsSlick Hare
1948 Gorilla My DreamsA Feather in His HareRabbit PunchBuccaneer BunnyBugs Bunny Rides AgainHaredevil HareHot Cross BunnyHare SplitterA-Lad-In His LampMy Bunny Lies over the Sea
1949 Hare DoMississippi HareRebel RabbitHigh Diving HareBowery BugsLong-Haired HareKnights Must FallThe Grey Hounded HareThe Windblown HareFrigid HareWhich Is WitchRabbit Hood
1950 Hurdy-Gurdy HareMutiny on the BunnyHomeless HareBig House BunnyWhat's Up Doc?8 Ball BunnyHillbilly HareBunker Hill BunnyBushy HareRabbit of Seville
1951 Hare We GoRabbit Every MondayBunny HuggedThe Fair Haired HareRabbit FireFrench RarebitHis Hare Raising TaleBallot Box BunnyBig Top Bunny
1952 Operation: RabbitFoxy by Proxy14 Carrot RabbitWater, Water Every HareThe Hasty HareOily HareRabbit SeasoningRabbit's KinHare Lift
1953 Forward March HareUpswept HareSouthern Fried RabbitHare TrimmedBully for BugsLumber Jack-RabbitDuck! Rabbit, Duck!Robot Rabbit
1954 Captain HareblowerBugs and ThugsNo Parking HareDevil May HareBewitched BunnyYankee Doodle BugsBaby Buggy Bunny
1955 Beanstalk BunnySahara HareHare BrushRabbit RampageThis Is a Life?Hyde and HareKnight-Mare HareRoman Legion-Hare
1956 Bugs' BonnetsBroom-Stick BunnyRabbitson CrusoeNapoleon Bunny-PartBarbary-Coast BunnyHalf-Fare HareA Star Is BoredWideo WabbitTo Hare Is Human
1957 Ali Baba BunnyBedevilled RabbitPiker's PeakWhat's Opera, Doc?Bugsy and MugsyShow Biz BugsRabbit Romeo
1958 Hare-Less WolfHare-Way to the StarsNow, Hare ThisKnighty Knight BugsPre-Hysterical Hare
1959 Baton BunnyHare-abian NightsApes of WrathBackwoods BunnyWild and Woolly HareBonanza BunnyA Witch's Tangled HarePeople Are Bunny
1960 Horse HarePerson to BunnyRabbit's FeatFrom Hare to HeirLighter Than Hare
1961 The Abominable Snow RabbitCompressed HarePrince Violent
1962 Wet HareBill of HareShishkabugs
1963 Devil's Feud CakeThe Million HareHare-Breadth HurryThe UnmentionablesMad as a Mars HareTransylvania 6-5000
1964 Dumb PatrolDr. Devil and Mr. HareThe Iceman DuckethFalse Hare
1979 Bugs Bunny's Christmas CarolFright Before Christmas
1980 Portrait of the Artist as a Young BunnySpaced Out Bunny
1990 Box Office Bunny
1991 (Blooper) Bunny
1992 Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers
1995 Carrotblanca
1997 From Hare to Eternity
2004 Hare and Loathing in Las VegasDaffy Duck for President
Elmer Fudd Cartoons
1937 Little Red Walking Hood
1938 The Isle of Pingo PongoCinderella Meets FellaA Feud There WasJohnny Smith and Poker-Huntas
1939 Hamateur NightA Day at the ZooBelieve It or Else
1940 Elmer's Candid CameraConfederate HoneyThe Hardship of Miles StandishA Wild HareGood Night Elmer
1941 Elmer's Pet RabbitWabbit Twouble
1942 The Wabbit Who Came to SupperAny Bonds Today?The Wacky WabbitNutty NewsFresh HareThe Hare-Brained Hypnotist
1943 To Duck .... or Not to DuckA Corny ConcertoAn Itch in Time
1944 The Old Grey HareThe Stupid CupidStage Door Cartoon
1945 The Unruly HareHare Tonic
1946 Hare RemoverThe Big Snooze
1947 Easter YeggsA Pest in the HouseSlick Hare
1948 What Makes Daffy DuckBack Alley Op-RoarKit for Cat
1949 Wise QuackersHare DoEach Dawn I Crow
1950 What's Up Doc?The Scarlet PumpernickelRabbit of Seville
1951 Rabbit Fire
1952 Rabbit Seasoning
1953 Upswept HareAnt PastedDuck! Rabbit, Duck!Robot Rabbit
1954 Design for LeavingQuack Shot
1955 Pests for GuestsBeanstalk BunnyHare BrushRabbit RampageThis Is a Life?Heir-Conditioned
1956 Bugs' BonnetsA Star Is BoredYankee Dood ItWideo Wabbit
1957 What's Opera, Doc?Rabbit Romeo
1958 Don't Axe MePre-Hysterical Hare
1959 A Mutt in a Rut
1960 Person to BunnyDog Gone People
1961 What's My Lion?
1962 Crows' Feat
1980 Portrait of the Artist as a Young Bunny
1990 Box Office Bunny
1991 (Blooper) Bunny
1992 Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers
2012 Daffy's Rhapsody




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