The Scarlet Pumpernickel used Sylvester in a speaking role. Mel Blanc voices Elmer Fudd, who plays the role of an innkeeper here. Elmer was originally voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan, but since the character had only one line of dialogue, Mel Blanc was told to go ahead and imitate Bryan's voice for the character. Blanc did not like imitating, however, believing it to be stealing from another actor. Although the title (invoking a type of bread instead of a flower) is a pun on "The Scarlet Pimpernel", the Pumpernickel is given a portrayal closer to that of Robin Hood: in one scene, after
The Scarlet Pumpernickel through the resulting flood, an erupting volcano, and skyrocketing food prices (notably kreplach), to which J.L. asks, "Is that all?" At his wit's end, Daffy shoots through his hat in exhaustion, as if representing the Scarlet Pumpernickel committing suicide, commenting, "It's getting so you have to kill yourself to sell a story around here". This "Looney Tunes" short has an unusually large cast of "star" characters (which, in addition to Daffy, Porky, and Sylvester, includes Elmer Fudd, Henery Hawk and Mama Bear from Jones' "Three Bears" series). It was also the only cartoon directed by Chuck Jones in which he