@genplant29 said:

This classic animation short, from 1946, is lots of fun. Who knew Bugs has such prodigious keyboard skills?!

Here's an old severely faded, worn print of Rhapsody Rabbit. It's the only full-length copy of this film I'm able to find online.

Incidentally, MeTV's delightful classic cartoons shows Toon In with Me (weekday mornings) and Bugs Bunny & Friends (Sat. mornings) ocassionally broadcast this terrific short, always presenting it in beautiful fully restored pristine condition.

.. see also ..

---

Please check out the following list of titles and celebrities I've created TMDb threads for: https://www.themoviedb.org/list/118052

Franz Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" is quite popular in cartoons.

It has even caused controversy - about plagiarism - between two cartoons that were produced around the same time in 1946, "Rhapsody Rabbit" (Warner Bros.) and "The Cat Concerto" (MGM).

In the end "The Cat Concerto" won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1947 at the 19th Academy Awards, while "Rhapsody Rabbit" wasn't even nominated.

Who doesn't remember the moment when Friz Freleng accused MGM of stealing his cartoon?

. "The Cat Concerto"

. Rhapsody Rabbit & Cat Concerto | Side by side

Those are both excellent, highly entertaining, clever cartoons. I've always thoroughly enjoyed each. Indeed, they share many similarities. I'm a fan of both - though of Rhapsody (which I find more playful and less malicious) the most.

@genplant29 said:

Those are both excellent, highly entertaining, clever cartoons. I've always thoroughly enjoyed each. Indeed, they share many similarities. I'm a fan of both - though of Rhapsody (which I find more playful and less malicious) the most.

Yes, they're both good. Though thinking back, Bugs Bunny shooting someone in the audience was funny then, but also shocking.

I found a better version of "Rhapsody Rabbit" here.

Thanks, wonder! Yes, that looks infinitely better, and appears to likely be the restoration the MeTV classic cartoons shows air.

Brilliant! On a sheer technical level, imagine how much work went into planning, storyboarding, illustrating & animating all those frames to synchronize perfectly with a 7 min piano piece!

It obviously wasn't done the other way around (where the animation is done first, then the music department's composer writes the soundtrack to sync up). These cartoons that follow known compositions have to be accurate to the frame.

One of my favorites is Bugs Bunny's 1950 "Rabbit of Seville" (Rossini's "Barber of Seville")

In addition to the animation wizardry, the hilarious gags, the voices (Mel Blanc singing all of it), don't forget the studio orchestra had to play the Rossini piece, just like in Rhapsody Rabbit a studio musician had to play Liszt. Back then they couldn't just grab a stock CD off the shelf, pay EMI's licensing fee and be done. Cartoons soundtracks were all recorded in house with full orchestras of classically trained musicians!