why, he’ll have you back here before you can say schkicklgruber (13. 085)

As our faithful chronicler reminds, not long before the collapse of the Third Reich the Merrie Melodies animated short film, the penultimate in their anti-Nazi propaganda series, premiered in theatres with news reels before the main feature on this day in 1945. After a prologue describing the downfall of Nazi Germany, a furrow ending in a rabbit hole emerges in the woods with Bugs Bunny, realising he is in the Black Forest laments that he knew he should have “taken that left turn at Albuquerque”—the first occurrence of the catchphrase. A chase ensues with Hermann Göring pursing his quarry, hoping for a bit of relaxation and distraction but Bugs manages to evade capture whilst eliciting some anti-Hitler sentiment. Musical, operatic interludes from Wagner’s Tannhäuser (see also here and here) and Strauss waltzes punctuate the encounter. Though not banned per se from the studio’s catalogue, the cartoon only saw limited releases in 2001 and 2007, likely due the amount of footnoting when the bounty presented to the Führer emerges as Joseph Stalin with the question “Does your tobacco taste different lately,” a reference to popular advertising campaign for pipe-smokers.