And so we end another feature. This year we end with the last Witch Hazel short and the first Hazel short released on Halloween.
Bugs is captive of Witch Hazel, not that he minds at first. All the while, a writer who looks a heck of lot like William Shakespeare wanders around and takes inspiration from the events unfolding around him.
Darn good way to end this year. Witch Hazel is underrated as a foe and here she really shines. The Shakespeare references are a nice addition.
It's 1896 and Bugs is in Dawson City at the heart of the Gold Rush. He's not having a great time of it though. He came out to the hills to look for all the 'carrots' people keep talking about and all he keeps finding is yellow rocks. He trades a good size nugget for a glass of carrot juice.
This earns him the attention of Blacque Jacque Shellacque, the most ruthless claim jumper that ever jumped a claim.
Decent, but Jacque could easily be Yosemite Sam. He's short and prone to violence. Bugs gets a few over him and the final gag is delightful.
That's pretty much it. Sam walks into town and declares himself the toughest gunfighter this side of the Pecos. Bugs takes exception to this and soon a duel is in order.
If you like trains this is for you.
Stripped down; no setup or any kind of backstory. We open with Sam being the bad guy and Bugs deciding to stop him. No reason, not even a 'this means war' kind of justification. Sometimes that works though.
Bugs ends up in the Ozarks where he runs afoul of the backwoods buzzards Elvis and his Pappy. Pappy spends most of the short reclining on his front porch. Sniffing out a rabbit, Pappy sends out his halfwit son Elvis to take care of the intruder.
Bugs, being Bugs easily outwits his foes.
Not bad but then that's the problem. Elvis is too dumb to really be a threat and Pappy is too lazy. Bugs outwitting them doesn't seem to take a lot of effort, although the final gag does have a nice payoff.
Not a clip show, but pretty much a straight remake of 1948's Gorilla My Dreams.
A drunken stork, having lost his last charge, decides to improvise. Noticing Bugs roasting a carrot, he whacks him upside the head, slaps him in a diaper, and dumps him off with a family of gorillas.
Brother, if I had a nickel...
Bugs regains his senses pretty quickly but he also realizes the prank potential. Mama dotes on him but while Elvis snarls at him Bugs can hit with him a bat. Why not? If Elvis tries anything, Bugs cries to Mama, who wields a rolling pin like a masterless samurai.
But the good times can't last. Can Bugs handle an enraged gorilla? Since this is a straight remake (rehash if one is less kind) you can figure how the ending goes.
Yeah, even back then sometimes deadlines loomed too quickly so one had to make do with what one had.
Somewhere that is vaguely Middle Eastern, a sultan is interviewing entertainers. When they displease him, the interview is cut short-mostly via a quick trip to the Royal Crocodile Pit. Bugs, on his way to Perth Amboy, ends up in the palace and forced to perform.
Opting to spin some yarns, Bugs recalls his time as a bullfighter (Bully for Bugs), encountering a monster (Water, Water, Every Hare), and the time he outwitted a particularly dimwitted desert dwelling Yosemite Sam (Sahara Hare), the last one being of particular interest to the Sultan...
A fine short, although clip shows sort of irked me. I imagine a theatrical audience might be more receptive, considering the latest of the clips hadn't aired since 1955.
First short in a while that has two directors, plus a return to an actual orchestra. This short proved popular enough to get a reissue in 1968.
As far as the plot goes, it's pretty threadbare but the music makes up for it. Bugs is conducting "A Morning, Noon, and Night in Vienna" by Franz Von Suppe.
Naturally there are complications, namely a bothersome fly and two dress cuffs that refuses to adhere to his wrists. The whole 'a mistake is happening and people interpet it as directions' might be a bit old now but in '59 it might have played better.
Overall good and the music makes up for any shortcomings.
Another Bugs VS Elmer. The biggest thing is Elmer being voiced by Dave Berry instead of Arthur Q. Bryan, plus the music is stock due to a strike going on at the time.
Bugs is being chased by Elmer, as usual but during the course of the chase Bugs stumbles across a time capsule, buried in 10,000 BC. Bugs takes out the film reels and prepares to watch them.
Look, you got to suspend some disbelief at some point.
Basically Bugs and Elmer's ancestors did pretty much the same thing as their descendants do, but the ending joke is decently executed with a good setup and execution.
In the days of King Arthur, things are amiss. The Singing Sword has been stolen by the Black Knight (Yosemite Sam). With his dragon plus the sword, only a great fool would attempt to steal the sword back...a fact the king agrees with, much to the Fool (Bugs Bunny)'s sorrow.
Thus on the quest, Bugs goes about getting the sword back with characteristic stealth and subterfuge.
No, but he get in some great one-liners. This was another Looney Tunes short that earned an Oscar and one can see why.
Big Bad is hankering for some rabbit meat but his every effort at getting Bugs fails. Noticing his nephew is reading some fairy tales gives him some ideas.
He first tries the old Red Riding Hood gag (dress up as grandma, big eyes, etc.). Bugs drops some hot coals on him.
He then goes with Goldilocks and the Three Bears but Bugs is rather quick with dynamite...
Good; the Big Bad Wolf is more in the Elmer mode but not as belligerent as Sam. The fairy tale bit has been done before and certainly with a meaner sense but this does the job.
Bugs is in a bad way (never mix carrot juice and radish juice kids!), so much so he stumbles into a rocket ship when he leaves his hole. One errant satellite later, Bugs finds himself on a space station, manned by Marvin.
Marvin pays him no mind, as he has bigger fish to fry. Namely he's going to blow up the Earth as it obstructs his view of Venus. With his horde of Instant Martians, can Marvin stop this interfering Earth Creature?
Wonderful, from the design to Marvin deadpan manner, even the ending has a perfect note. Always had a soft spot for that little alien and this shows way. He's going to do something horrible but he's just so darn upbeat about it. Even when he gets mad he doesn't show angry so much as disapointed.
New year and a new character! Charlie M. Wolf hasn't exactly made the impact and this short explains why.
Charlie is trying to enjoy a ballgame on the TV when his shrew of a wolf wife barges in and demands he hunt a rabbit. He grouses that he hates her and he gets a frying pan to the skull for his trouble.
He runs into Bugs and at this point it almost comes across bullying. Charlie can't hold a thought in his head for a few seconds and Bugs takes full advantage of this. Charlie gets shot in the face and hit by a train as Bugs easily escapes.
I suppose that's the problem. Charlie is too dumb to be a credible threat. Elmer has some flashes of cunning at the very least you get the impression he isn't going to blast a body part off. Plus the whole 'I hate my wife/wife commits domestic abuse' wasn't exactly cutting edge humor in 1958.
Elmer gets a package from his uncle Judd. It contain a very rare Slobbovian rabbit named Millicent. It Elmer can hold it for a few days he'll get 500 bucks for his effort.
Nice Al Capp reference
The problem is Millicent is not exactly what you'd call low maintenance. In short, she's having the mother of meltdowns and wrecking his house. Elmer is at a loss until he learns that rabbits from Slobbovia get lonely and if he gets another rabbit she should calm down.
Heading out into the snow, Elmer stumbles across a near freezing Bugs. Taking him home, he hopes the two will get along.
They do not.
Yeah, not exactly up to the level set by What's Opera, Doc? Millicent is one long fat joke and the ending does no one any favors. You could honestly skip this one, but it is better than the wartime shorts at least.
Odd they released a romance short right in the middle of December, now that I think about it.
Seriously though, Bugs and Daffy are appearing onstage but there are problems. Namely it doesn't seem to matter what Daffy does, the audience doesn't care. This outrages Daffy and drives to attempt more and more daring acts which result in silence wash rinse repeat.
Perfect and it's funny that Daffy undoes himself at every turn but Bugs simply stands there as Daffy burns himself up (literally in the finale too). Not much else to add but this really shows how perfect Daffy was as Bugs' foil. His motivation is also understandable.
The return of Rocky and Mugsy. More or less a remake of Stooge for a Mouse.
Bugs, seeking a drier climate, relocates to an abandoned building which quickly becomes occupied by the titular gangsters. When Rocky starts mentioning 'carrots', this gets Bugs involved and by involved he plays Rocky like a fiddle and unleashes hell upon the two thugs.
Decent; Rocky was a good antagonist. Smarter than Elmer but not as excitable as Yosemite Sam, Bugs had to rely on trickery and cunning to take him down.
Might as well stop here as this is considered the acme of Jones' work at Warner Bros. How many other shorts can boast a Wagnerian score?
Elmer is a hero in the proper opera tradition, prancing around with his spear and magic helmet. When he spots a rabbit hole, this prompts "kill the wabbit!" But suddenly, Brunhilda the Valkyrie appears! How can Elmer resist such charms?
Perfect. Some fans even argue this should have been the last Bugs Bunny short as the bar was set so high with this one.
The use of classical music really pushed this past your average short. I remember thinking of this short every time I heard "Ride of the Valkyries".
A Yosemite Sam short this time. Mountaineering is the theme this time out.
In a quant Bavarian village, a challenge issued. Anyone who can climb the Schmatterhorn will win 50,000 kronkites. Sam takes that challenge but sadly, Bugs is already living on the mountain and is fairly high up to boot.
After some back and forth, in which Sam is knocked down quite a bit, Sam has the idea to partner up. Sam then proceeds to try and double cross Bugs. It ends poorly.
Decent. The running gag of Sam falling down the mountain is wonderful but Sam doesn't really do anything different this time out. He's greedy and pays for it but we've seen better.
Bugs VS the Tasmanian Devil, AKA Taz's second ever short.
A bit similar to Devil May Hare, Bugs wakes up in Tasmania. Taz is pretty much his same crazy self but Bugs manages to trick him plenty of times and but he's in enough danger as make it a challenge.
Decent but honestly it feels too much of a rehash. The ending is either a wonderful callback or a rehash, depending on your view.
So we kick off 1957 with a Chuck Jones short featuring Bugs and Daffy. Might as well stop there but I'll continue.
Bugs and Daffy are on vacation, but instead of Pismo Beach Bugs takes them to a cave...filled with riches. Which is fine, except for the massive guard outside. Hassan doesn't care for trespassers but his sword loves them.
Bugs is all for getting back on the road but Daffy? Oh, Daffy wants that money. Daffy is the real MVP, kicking off all the action. Not that Bugs is passive but when he is dragged into this nonsense he can fool both guard and duck with equal aplomb.
Setting the standard rather high but this was easily my favorite period of shorts.
And we end 1956 with the last short ever made at the old Termite Terrace.
TLDR: Willie E. Coyote, super genius, wants to eat Bugs Bunny. Bugs is disinclined to his request.
The jokes are all based around a UNIVAC (fancy computer for those who's bones are dust yet) and how Willie comes to rely perhaps a pinch too much on the device for his own good.
It's Jones doing a Willie E. short so yeah, pretty much perfect. Bugs is just going about his business, Willie tries to mess with him and pays the price, so pretty much the perfect Bugs Bunny short.
This is a first; namely a long parody of TV shows that aired at the roughly the same time.
Bugs spots an ad asking for a rabbit to appear a local TV station. Pity he didn't read the fine print, as the show he's trying for is the Sportman's Hour, with its host Elmer Fudd. When Elmer breaks out the shotgun, Bugs thinks this is simply professional jealously. After that, Bugs and Elmer race through various studios, each one being a parody of a different show. The parodies range from You Bet Your Life (You Beat Your Wife) to You Are There (You Were There).
Decent and the first Bugs short to tackle television as a medium.
Bugs, in this short, is living the high life. Interviewed by famed reporter as his shorts just get bigger and bigger, Bugs still manages to stay humble. Daffy Duck, on the other, is pushing a broom around the set and grew more resentful with each push.
Throwing his broom down, Daffy marches into the casting director's office and demands a part. He gets one, specifically he is to be Bugs' new stunt double. Daffy thinks this is his chance to outact Bugs and steal the show.
The first short is a Western with Yosemite Sam. Daffy, thinking he's about to show up Bugs, gets shot in the face by Sam.
The next short is an Elmer Fudd short. Daffy sees this as the perfect to get revenge on Bugs, so he knocks out Elmer. While Bugs is perched on a tree branch, Daffy opts to saw the entire branch off. Pity this causes the tree he's holding to fall while Bugs stays safely suspended.
The next short, Bugs offers to do the scene himself to give Daffy a break. The duck refuses and is promptly eaten by a giant fish.
So it goes; utterly wonderful and this is one of the few shorts were Bugs works with Daffy, Elmer, and Yosemite Sam at the same time. Daffy is the real star here as his building rage and mishaps make Bugs the straight man here and it works.
Seriously, Bugs is on his way to Chattanooga and their bumper carrot crop when he opts to hop the rails. Pity the car he chooses is already occupied by NOT Ralph Kramden and NOT Ed Norton. The two hobos are a bit peckish and would LOVE to have Bugs for lunch...
Decent. Having the hobos be Ralph and Ed is funny but if you're unfamiliar with the Honeymooners this short might be odd. This also tended to get censored quite a bit, so if you can get the unedited version strive for that.
Also one of the few later made shorts were Bugs doesn't win. Interesting choice but this doesn't really make the short stand out.
This one was always a favorite of mine. Bugs is traveling and minding his own business when he collides with a giant gold nugget. Before he can celebrate his new fortune, he decides to deposit it in a conveniently opened bank. Why not? The president, Nasty Canasta, seems like a trustworthy sort.
At least until Canasta declares the bank folded (mostly by folding Bugs up in the facade) and rides off with Bugs' gold.
Six months later, Canasta is living the high life in San Fransico as the owner of his own gambling den. As he's busy marking cards, a rube fresh off the turnip truck happens in. Amazed at what he thinks is a new 'telly-o-phone', the bumpkin asks for change so he can call his dear mother.
Canasta, amused at the yokel's mistaken view of a slot machine, happily gives the fellow a coin; which then multiplies by about a hundredfold as wouldn't you know it the stranger won!
From there, Nasty learns a sharp lesson about stealing carrots from rabbits.
Wonderful. Nasty is a sadly one shot character but he proves good enough to give Bugs some trouble plus his straight man act plays to Bugs' chaotic nature perfectly.
An odd one; we've seen Bugs in historical periods before (Ancient Rome, old west, etc.) but here we see Bugs going up against a historical figure, in this case Napoleon (although when he went against the Roman Emperor, he was more of a side character).
Bugs takes one of his many wrong turns and ends up France. The headquarters of the Emperor Napoleon, to be precise. Napoleon is a bit of a stuffed shirt so naturally Bugs unleashes all his skills to drive the emperor nutty.
Decent, Freleng's done better work. Napoleon comes across as a French Yosemite Sam. I'm honestly rather surprised they didn't just slap Sam in a uniform and call him Napoleon Sam.
Sam is a castaway on a remote island. Been there for twenty years and he's sick of it. The island, yes, but also the coconuts that he's been eating have finally lost their appeal. There's also the matter of the maneating (or Sam eating in this case) shark that swims daily by the island.
Things are looking grim but when a shipwrecked Bugs washes up? Looks like meat's back on the table!
Bugs then proceeds to wreck Sam's day.
Good, although the desert island setting has been done before. Good joke in the ending but oveall it's been done before.
Here we see the return of Witch Hazel, who hadn't been seen since Bewitched Bunny (1954). This also when June Forey officially took over the role.
Halloween Night, and Bugs is out trick or treating. He's having a good night, at least until he stops by Witch Hazel's house. She's so taken by his ugliness (mask, unknown to her) that she invites him in; this isn't a social call though.
Nope, seems dear old Hazel is obsessed with being the ugliest one of all, which she was until Bugs walked in. Will she figure out the truth? Is Bugs in danger of being the next ingredient?
Darn good and Hazel is the perfect foil for Bugs. She's prideful and far more competent than Elmer or Sam and the magic is a wonderful tool. Really lets the writers get away.
The premise is simple if a bit odd. Basically how one dresses can impact one's behavior (i.e. putting a business man in a pirate suit makes him act like a pirate).
And wouldn't you know it, a truck containing a ridiculous amount of hats just loses its contents as Elmer is hunting Bugs?
Cute; basically Bugs find a hat of a gangster, Elmer finds a hat of a policeman, but Bugs then finds the wig of a judge, etc. It's a nice showing of one-upmanship from both sides and the ending is unexpected for the 1950's.
Another short that takes place in the past. This has Bugs just walking through days of Ancient Rome. Captain of the Guard, Sam, is tasked with getting a next victim for the visiting Lions (they're from Detroit you know).
Bugs isn't interested and decides to make Sam's life very difficult. Little weasel had it coming...
Decent, although the Roman setting doesn't really factor into that much. Sam is perfectly cast as the captain of the guard and gives Bugs a run for his money.
