Little Red Riding Rabbit

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Little Red Riding Rabbit is a 1944 Warner Bros Merrie Melodies cartoon, directed by Friz Freleng, and starring Bugs Bunny. This is the first time Mel Blanc receives a credit for a cartoon.

It is a parody of the Little Red Riding Hood story, in which Red, a typical 1940s teenage bobbysoxer with a very loud, grating voice, is bringing a rabbit [Bugs] to her grandma "to have". Of course, a big bad wolf is waiting for them.

This short is also No. 39 on The 50 Greatest Cartoons list. It also made it onto The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes list.


Tropes used in Little Red Riding Rabbit include:
  • The Bad Guy Wins: Bugs, annoyed by Red's interruptions, switches the Big Bad Wolf, who was about to fall onto red hot coals because of all the furniture Bugs threw on him, with Red. Bugs and the Wolf, arms around each other and sharing a carrot, watch proudly as Red soon gets what she deserves.
  • Never Mess with Granny: Though unseen, Red's grandmother is implied to be a Rosie the Riveter type who was out working a "swing" shift at Lockheed [an aircraft manufacturing company].
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed/Shout-Out: Red's voice is inspired by Cass Daley, a comic actress from screen and radio.
  • No Indoor Voice: Red
  • Road Sign Reversal: The wolf sends Red on the long way to Grandma's house.
  • Running Gag: Red interrupting Bugs and the wolf.
  • The Runt At the End: The wolf finds a bunch of other wolves in Grandma's bed and tells them to beat it. After he lies down he feels something stirring and finds a small wolf left over.
  • Scooby-Dooby Doors
  • Verbal Tic: Red ends a lot of her lines with the exclamation "Ta' Have!", just another thing that makes her so very irritating.
  • Wafer-Thin Mint: Bugs is about to add the literal last straw on the pile the wolf is holding when Red interrupts... which to Bugs is the metaphorical last straw.
  • Wartime Cartoon: Red's grandmother working at an aircraft factory.