Transylvania 6-5000 (1963 film)

For the 1985 film of the same name, see Transylvania 6-5000 (1985 film).

Transylvania 6-5000
Merrie Melodies (Bugs Bunny) series
Bloodcount: I am a vampire! Bugs: Oh, yeah? Well, abacadabra! I'm an umpire!
Directed by	Chuck Jones Maurice Noble (co-director)
Produced by	David H. DePatie (unc.)
Story by	John Dunn
Voices by	Mel Blanc Ben Frommer Julie Bennett
Music by	Bill Lava
Animation by	Bob Bransford Tom Ray Ken Harris Richard Thompson
Layouts by	Bob Givens
Backgrounds by	Philip DeGuard
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	November 30, 1963 (1963-11-30)
Color process	Technicolor
Running time	7:00
Language	English

Transylvania 6-5000 (1963) is a short Merrie Melodies animated film directed by Chuck Jones and starring Bugs Bunny. Bugs demonstrates how to handle a pesky vampire with six simple magic incantations. The title is a pun on "Pennsylvania 6-5000", a song made famous by Glenn Miller, and referring to the old telephone number system of an "exchange" of two letters plus a digit, instead of a three-digit exchange (i.e. PE6-5000 vs. TR6-5000). Voiced by: Mel Blanc as Bugs Bunny, Ben Frommer as Count Bloodcount, and Julie Bennett as Agatha and Emily Vultures.

Plot

Bugs is heading for "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania", but instead ends up in "Pittsburghe Transylvania". Initially he asks a two-headed female vulture (the two heads are named "Agatha" and "Emily") for directions to "Pittsboig", but the girls seem to be talking about making him into a meal. Bugs sees an old castle nearby, mistakes it for a motel, and calmly makes an exit.

At the castle, Bugs meets a vampire, who introduces himself as Count Blood Count and invites him in. Although Bugs is only looking for a telephone to call his travel agency, the Count leads him to a guest room and says, "Rest first, telephone tomorrow. Rest is gooood for the blooood."

Unable to sleep, Bugs picks up a book titled "Magic Words and Phrases" because all the other books' subject matter was blood. Despite his initial skepticism about their effect, he is about to treat the viewers to a classic sequence of gags featuring the use of the magic words "hocus pocus" and "abacadabra" (Bugs' Brooklyn-esque pronunciation of "abracadabra").

As Bugs begins to read the phrasebook, the Count sneaks up behind him and is just about to strike when Bugs says "abacadabra", turning the Count into a bat. Bugs mistakes the bat/Count for a big mosquito and clobbers the bat with a fly swatter. As the bat dizzily flies out of the window, Bugs says "hocus pocus", which causes the Count to turn back into a vampire and fall into the moat surrounding his castle. Agatha and Emily watch the Count take the plunge, while they wonder who he is (Emily: "Anyone we know, Agatha?", Agatha: "No. Splendid-looking specimen, though.").

Shortly afterward, Bugs is searching for the house restaurant. The Count sneaks up from behind again, but Bugs is humming a song (to the tune of the popular song "It's Magic," sung by Bugs in other WB cartoons as "Oh, carrots are divine, you get a dozen for a dime, it's magic!") and inadvertently turns the Count back into a bat with "abacadabra". Once again mistaking the bat for a mosquito ("Another one? They oughta screen this place!"), Bugs sprays the bat with a fumigator. As the bat/Count is hanging his head down from an archway, coughing insecticide out of his lungs, Bugs sings "hocus pocus" during a continuation of his song, and the Count crashes to the floor on his head.

Fed up with the situation, the Count reveals his true identity to Bugs, resulting in a duel of "magic phrases" in which Bugs transforms into an umpire. Bugs gets the best of the Count throughout the duel, as might be expected.

Bugs eventually says "abraca-pocus" which gives the vampire his human body and a bat's head, then says "hocus-cadabra" and the vampire now is only a head with bat wings. Afterward he uses "Newport News" and turns him into Witch Hazel. Unimpressed, Bugs comments to himself, "I can do better than that." Then finally he uses the incantation "Walla Walla, Washington", and the Count is turned into a two-headed male vulture. Bugs calls out to Agatha and Emily, who are just outside the castle; and the Count is horrified to find himself the object of their amorous pursuit. The Count flees the castle with the female vulture in pursuit as Bugs watched in amusement.

In an epilogue, Bugs finds a working pay phone (in a coffin), but while waiting for the operator to reach his travel agency in Perth Amboy, he mumbles "abraca-pocus", and his ears turn into bat wings. Bugs hangs up and decides to fly home with those wings.

References in other media

Count Blood Count also reappeared in the video game Bugs Bunny and Taz Time Busters as the final boss character.

The Count character also appeared in the Tiny Toon Adventures episode "Stuff that Goes Bump in the Night" in the segment "Fang You Very Much," where he is adopted by Elmyra Duff while disguised as a bat. In this, Count Blood Count repeatedly tries to bite Elmyra in his vampire form, but any time the Count is exposed to light, he turns back into a bat.

The Tiny Toons version of the Count also appears as a boss character in the video game Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose!.

In the song 'Dracula' by Gorillaz, you can hear in the beginning of the song the phrases "I am a vampire!" and "rest is good for the blood" that are clearly excerpts of the Count speaking.

Portions of the cartoon were used in the compilation film Bugs Bunny's Howl-Oween Special. Before the footage of the cartoon began, Witch Hazel is transformed into Count Blood Count by some Hyde formula that Bugs brought with him, so when Bugs uses the phrase "Newport News," she remains as Witch Hazel.

Most of the cartoon was used in Daffy Duck's Quackbusters, but some dialogue was redubbed to connect it to the film's main story. Also, the end was changed so that instead of Bugs sprouting bat wings and flying away, he reports his findings to Daffy Duck (although he still sings "abraca-pocus" to himself while in the coffin phone-booth), who is displeased to hear from him (saying "What do you think we're running here, a matrimonial agency?"). Later, Bugs is seen leaving the castle from the cartoon before he answers a nearby payphone as part of the link to the cartoon The Abominable Snow Rabbit.

Count Bloodcount also appears in Looney Tunes Collector: Alert! as a boss character. After the player defeats him, he decides to become an NPC ally of Bugs to find some opportunites in blood.

Notes

This was the last Chuck Jones theatrical cartoon release to feature Bugs Bunny.

Bugs' remark that he hasn't eaten since he left "Cu-ca-monga" is a reference to Mel Blanc's famous "Anaheim, Azusa and Cucamonga" train-announcement running gag on The Jack Benny Program.

See also

• Transylvania 6-5000 (1985 film)

External links

• Transylvania 6-5000 at the Internet Movie Database

Preceded by Mad as a Mars Hare

Bugs Bunny Cartoons 1963

Succeeded by Dumb Patrol