Shrunken Cinema/Termite Terrace/French Rarebit
From Eccentric Flower
French Rarebit
1950
Summary: Bugs ends up in Paris, where two rival chefs both want to cook him for dinner.
Director: Robert McKimson
Writer: Tedd Pierce
Featuring: Bugs Bunny.
Onreel
0:24 Sound cue: This cartoon makes heavy use of "The Latin Quarter" by Harry Warren. (For more on Warren see the music page.) The credits are a variation on the basic melody, which will be heard in its normal form as soon as the cartoon proper begins.
0:37 Since the Arc de Triomphe is in the middle of an enormous traffic circle, I'm pretty sure you can't drive through the middle of it.
1:01 Unlike the other two French signs in this sequence, this sign incorrectly says "Eiffel Tower" instead of "Tour d'Eiffel." Perhaps it is for les touristes Anglais?
1:23 Francois exclaims "Nom de plume!" which is French for "pen name." Later in the scene, Louis (whose name is spelled Louie on his signs) exclaims "Nuit de nöel!" which means "Christmas Eve!" He finishes with "Vive a la carte!" Presumably then his establishment is an a la carte restaurant (order what you like from the menu) rather than a table d'hote or prix-fixe.
2:01 Sound cue: Francois hums "Alouette." (Both chefs will sing it at the end of the film.)
2:16 The word Francois uses as he opens the dish for Bugs to have a look is "regardez" - one of the few bits of French in the cartoon that's actually correct.
3:22 "Now, just an eau de cologne minute, Doc!"
3:47 "... a la Antoine." Antoine's is a famous restaurant in New Orleans which has been in operation since 1840, named for its founder Antoine Alciatoire. It is the oldest restaurant in the United States continually run by the same family. It is not unthinkable that even a French chef would regardez Antoine's with admiration. (By the by, Flatbush is an area of Brooklyn.)
4:25 Sound cue as Francois is being given rabbit ears: "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby." In correct animation fashion, the glove placed on Francois' head has only four fingers.
5:10 In addition to "bay leaf," Bugs stuffs Francois with "bay rum," consumable but normally used as aftershave/cologne, and in addition to "horseradish," adds a dose of the fictional "mule radish."
5:58 Sound cue: A bar or two of La Marseillaise under "You are expecting maybe 'Umphrey Bogart?"
Offreel
The title of this short is a joke on "Welsh rarebit," AKA "Welsh rabbit." (It is a cheese dish which contains no rabbit.) If the cartoon had been called "French Rabbit," no one would have realized there was a joke in there.
IMDb suggests that "A Stranger in Paree," another Harry Warren composition, appears in this cartoon, but I know its basic theme and I can't seem to hear it anywhere. They also credit "On the Rue de la Paix," which I don't know, somewhere in here. There are two places with unidentified themes - one where Bugs figures out he is in Paris and the other while he is demonstrating the recipe on Francois - so who knows? (If you do, tell me.)
