At the Miss Acme Beauty Pageant, Bugs, dressed as Miss P.U. says "Oh, Elmer-- you sure know how to make a gal happy!" as Elmer, with hearts in his eyes, offers up the first place trophy. Two real contestants, presumably the runners up, stand behind Elmer and glare at him. One is about to clobber him a flower pot.
Bugs is burrowing for Miami beach, but ends up instead under the Miss America Pageant which is being hosted by Elmer Fudd. When Bugs tries to emerge, Elmer slams a trap door on Bugs and this, of course, is not something Bugs will let go unanswered.
Bugs makes his appearance as the swimsuit competition is about to begin, but he makes it as Miss Albuquerque and while wearing a sharkskin outfit, complete with panic causing fin. Elmer demands a disqualification but Bugs charms the judges. The rabbit also traps Elmer and performs a baton act that leaves no doubt that Elmer is a hothead.
Backstage, Elmer is about to grudgingly admit that Miss Albuquerque is the winner. Just before he does, he spots a box from Acme. A box containing a wig. Bugs opens a dressing room door and takes the box, treating Elmer as a delivery boy. Elmer finally realizes who Miss Albuquerque really is.
Thinking he can show her for a fraud, Elmer resumes his duties as master of ceremonies, at least until he can try to pull the wig off of Bugs. The wig does not come off, and the maltreatment of a contestant angers the other contestants. Elmer has new problem: outraged beauty contestants out to get him. In the end, it seems Miss Albuquerque won the pageant, and Bugs reveals to the reader that he isn't wearing a wig at all.
While the actual location is not mentioned, the Miss America Pageant does not take place in Miami, Florida, but in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Page 1: Miss Indiana is trying to cover herself with her state, suggesting that that is all that is covering her.
Page 1: The Miss America Pageant began in 1921, so the 2003 pageant would seem to be the 82nd, not the 81st. While it could be argued that since there was no contest in 1929, the organization claims 2002 to be the 81st year of the competition (which is correct, even with skipping 1929). The explanations is probably that the story was done mostly if not completely in 2002. Miss Albuquerque, while suitable for the joke, would not be in the Miss America Pageant with that title. Miss America contestants have titles of states. The one exception is Miss District of Columbia.Daffy, as Mike Mallard, is asked by beautiful young woman to find her father's lost voice. Mallard asks for her phone number, but is all he needs to do is whistle, and is given classic instruction on whistling. Alas, Mallard tries it (it seems he can't help it) and gets the attention of a few dogs rather than that of the young lady.
The famous instruction "Just put your lips together and... blow" (or, bill together, here) is from the 1944 film To Have and Have Not.K-9 is awakened by speaker announcement and starts the day by pouring syrup on his doghouse, which is made of pancakes, and eating it. Next the Martian dog must report to a cloning chamber but the results show that cloning, even on Mars, has a way to go. Then K-9 must deliver an Aludium Q36 Explosive Space Modulator to Commander X-2, who we know as Marvin, but it detonates before delivery.
K-9 scratches himself and must have a flea bath. This removes a few rather large, and surprisingly equipped, fleas. Finally the dog's day is done and he settles in, a new pancake doghouse plopping down around him.
Marvin is his more recent name. In the Classic cartoon era he was only known as Commander X-2, and was identified by his orders in Hasty Hare (Jones, 1952). Page 1: K-9 wakes up in Martian time: 20 bleems and 15 snickles. Page 1: K-9's edible doghouse is labelled after the International House of Pancakes, which is now known, simply, as IHOP. Page 2: The arrow pointing away from Dispatch points to Datpatch. Page 3: The "flea bath" takes place on a raised red X, like would be found on Planet X. Page 2: The Space Modulator detonates and there is the comment "Short fuse!" but the fuse appears to not have been lit in the previous panels.Daffy, as Mallard, tells Porky, as Sam, to "Play it." Sam, at the piano, protests that he was told never to play it again. Mallard insists, and the two play a game of hopscotch.
This, of course, plays on the the often misquoted scene from the 1942 film Casablanca. The scene, aside from hopscotch, is correct here. The line "Play it again, Sam." while popular, is not in the film. The black keys of the piano aren't quite right. In the second panel, one seems to be in the middle of a white key, while in the third panel several seem to be inset in the right side of the white keys. They should be between (and partially splitting) the white keys.Porky buys a used car at the Acme Auto-Rama but his joy is short-lived when, despite his care, there is a crash as he backs out of the lot. Porky apologizes to the other driver, though only Porky's car seems to be damaged. The other driver turns out to be Daffy, who finds a tiny scratch. Rather than get his insurance premium raised, Porky opts to pay for repairs himself. The duck comes up with a strange list of things that need work and charges Porky for it all.
The pig is even more careful now, but again there is a sudden crash. And again there is no damage to the other vehicle, which is Daffy's. This time it's truly trivial: a smudged mirror. But that doesn't stop the duck from extorting a huge fee, for odd items, from Porky. He offers a check, but Daffy refuses, rhetorically asking if he looks like a sucker. Porky can't seem to get away from a crashing, and unaffected, Daffy as yet again Porky ends up paying the duck for damages. And this time the damage can't even be seen.
Now Porky's care become paranoia and he parks in an empty field and take a bus. Alas, when he returns and starts to drive again Daffy clobbers him even before he gets out of the field. The pig finally realizes what has been going on and accuses Daffy of intentionally causing the crashes. The duck denies it with a line about lightning striking. It does. Suddenly the roles switch and Porky works out what Daffy owes him. Porky can afford a sportier car, and Daffy is left trying to pay for a decrepit pink tricycle by check, but the salesman is no sucker.
Porky's car is smaller than all other cars, as was the case in You Ought to be in Pictures (Freleng, 1940). Page 1: The used car salesman is dressed as the stereotypical used car salesman. That is, dressed in clothes nobody else would consider wearing. In this case, not only is there a tag visible from a toupée, but he commits the fashion blunder of mixing stripes, plaid, and polka-dots Page 3: The Powerpuff Girls Movie is playing at the cinema in the background of the first panel. Page 6: The last crash, on page 5, left Porky holding a disconnected steering wheel and column with a few parts around him, yet in the fourth panel the wheel from Daffy's vehicle smashes Porky's intact, if beat up, car. A car that still has its steering wheel. Page 6: If that's supposed to be the same pad and pencil in the fifth panel as in the first, there are problems. The first panel pencil is the same blue as the sky, while the fifth panel pencil is the more common yellow. Also, the pad in the first panel does not appear to be spiral bound, as the pad in the fifth panel is.Yosemite Sam chases Bugs, who runs into a House of Mirrors. The sight of so many odd looking rabbits leaves Sam stunned. Bugs, in a doctor's outfit, offers to help with an eye test and Sam accepts. The standard bit of reading an eye chart proves insulting, but trying another eye chart doesn't seem to work. Bugs slips an unusual pair of glasses on Sam to fix that. With the new glasses, Sam sees rabbits everywhere and is carted away by a couple men in white coats.
Page 1: Yosemite Sam must have went to a most unusual school, getting "straight A's in Spittin' and Snortin'." Page 2: In the first panel, Yosemite Sam's nose and even his open eye is red, rather than just his facial hair.Daffy, as Mike Mallard has gathered a few people to explain how they had all come close to acquiring a statue, but none had managed it. He unveils what seems to be the statue, only to have it turn out to be Road Runner who immediately runs off, leaving Mallard with an angry crowd.
The situation and the "black bird" refer to The Maltese Falcon, the 1941 version with Humphrey Bogart being the more well known film.* Issue Index * Tabular Issue Index * Story Index * Creative People * Disclaimer *
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Last updated 01 December 2003