The Big Snooze (1946) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Elmer becomes frustrated after Bugs tricks him into running through a hollow log and off a cliff three times in a row. Feeling that the writers have unfairly deprived him of catching Bugs, Elmer decides the chase is pointless and dramatically abandons it to pursue fishing instead. This decision creates the unique premise that allows the rest of the cartoon to unfold.

• elmer fudd contract
• quitting
• bugs bunny tricks
• cartoon meta humor

Bugs notices Elmer sleeping while fishing and comments on the heavenly dream Elmer is having, which features imagery of a log and saw symbolizing snoring. Curious and mischievous, Bugs takes a sleeping pill, which transports him directly into Elmer's subconscious to continue tormenting him in the dream world.

• bugs bunny
• elmer dream
• sleeping pill
• dream sequence

Bugs creates thousands of dancing rabbits in a parody of the Pink Elephants on Parade sequence from Disney's Dumbo. He multiplies them from an adding machine while they sing 'The rabbits are coming' to further confuse and distress Elmer. This surreal visual gag represents Bugs using the dream to completely flood Elmer's subconscious with his own image.

• dancing rabbits
• pink elephants parody
• adding machine
• dream surrealism

Bugs dresses Elmer in drag as a glamorous woman resembling Rita Hayworth complete with a dress, wig, and lipstick. This transformation serves as Bugs' final comedic trick, after making Elmer look ridiculous, Bugs lifts the backdrop to reveal literal wolves in Zoot suits (representing predatory Hollywood types) catcalling and whistling at the helpless Elmer, mocking both his appearance and the classic Hollywood starlets.

• elmer drag
• rita hayworth
• wolves
• hollywood parody
• dream transformation

After Bugs dresses Elmer in drag and the wolves scene, the chaos continues until Bugs and Elmer fall off a cliff. Bugs drinks 'Hare Tonic' (referencing Stops Falling Hare) and stops mid-air, while Elmer continues falling and crashes back into reality, waking up with a start and shouting about the horrible nightmare.

• elmer wakes up
• haret tonic
• cliff
• nightmare ending

Once Elmer realizes his nightmare was just a dream, he frantically reassembles his Warner Bros. contract to reinstate his role in the cartoon. The nightmare apparently wasn't bad enough to make him quit, Elmer reaffirms his commitment to chasing Bugs, demonstrating the endless cycle of their classic rivalry.

• warner contract
• elmer reaffirms chase
• cartoon loop
• resolution

The fictional Warner Bros. contract is a meta-joke about the characters' existence within the cartoon itself. When Elmer tears it up, he is literally quitting his role as the hunter, and putting it back together restores the established cartoon formula. This self-aware humor comments on how the characters are bound to their predictable roles in the Looney Tunes formula.

• warner bros contract
• meta humor
• cartoon formula
• self-aware joke

Bugs consults a fictional book called 'A Thousand and One Arabian Nightmares' as a source for more nightmare material. He exclaims it's too gruesome but eagerly decides to use it anyway, tying Elmer to railroad tracks while dressed as an Indian chief leading a conga line of baby rabbits across a train called 'the Super Chief.'

• arabian nights parody
• nightmare book
• railroad tracks
• indian chief

Bugs ends the cartoon with his signature line 'Ah love dat man!' directed at Elmer, which is borrowed from the radio character Beulah of Fibber McGee and Molly. This closing moment has Bugs breaking the fourth wall to face the audience directly, flashing his famous grin after the chase resumes, reinforcing the meta-commentary about the cartoon's self-aware humor.

• catchphrase
• beulah
• fourth wall
• bugs grin
• closing line

Bugs drinks 'Hare Tonic' from the cartoon Stops Falling Hare, which causes him to screech to a halt mid-air while Elmer continues falling. This references a previous Bugs Bunny cartoon where the same product stopped him from falling, creating a continuity joke that demonstrates the surreal, self-referential nature of the dream sequence.

• hare tonic
• stops falling hare
• cartoon reference
• mid-air stop