I. Freleng, Hare Do, USA, 1949
And we end this look back at Bugs Bunny for 2021 and with the first short of 1949.
So we have Bugs being chased by Elmer. Not usual in that, but here Elmer actually has more cunning than previously shown, forcing Bugs to get creative to avoid him. A bit meta too, as the main setting is a theater, with Bugs dragging Elmer into the world of the stage with hilarious results.
Pretty good and keep an eye out for next month as we have a surprising return.
Charles M. Jones, My Bunny Lies over the Sea, USA 1948
Nearing the end and here's the last short of 1948.
Bugs again takes the wrong turn at Albuquerque and ends up in Lomond, Scotland. Mistaking a nearby piper for a woman being attacked by an octopus, Bugs leaps in and smashes the piper's bagpipes. Angus MacRory takes a great deal of offensive at this and starts the traditional chase, only this time with a blunderbuss instead of a shotgun. He does make a point to salvage the spent shot too ("Been in the family for years!")
MacRory finally decides to settle things the Scottish way, via golf. From there it's Bugs VS the game of golf. Who do you think wins?
Good, with Jones hitting all the marks, although I'm a bit disappointed we only got this short with MacRory. He'd show up in a few cameos here and there, but never as a headliner.
Robert McKimson, A-Lad in His Lamp, USA 1948
One of the first shorts where Mel Blanc didn't do all the male voices. Yup, an uncredited Jim Backus plays the genie.
Oh yeah, Bugs finds a genie.
Smokey, as Bugs dubs him, is your typical jerk genie. He mostly complains and refuses to grant wishes, but he does trick Bugs into wishing them back to the genie's home town of Baghdad, where both rabbit and lamp fall into the hands of Caliph Hassan Pfeffer.
Not horrible, and not nearly as racist as some of the previously mentioned shorts, although the portrayal of the Middle East isn't exactly 100% accurate. Everything looks straight from a storybook and all the cultures are pretty much tossed together. The caliph is a bit bland. He's not as violative as Yosemite Sam but he's not as dumb as Elmer, so he's doesn't leave the best impression. The genie is a bigger jerk.
Friz Freleng, Hare Splitter, USA 1948
Pretty good, although the status quo here is a bit different than normal. Brings to mind the Popeye shorts from the same period.
Here Bugs is preparing for a date with his gal Daisy Lou. His neighbor, Casbash (looking like the Easter Bunny from a few years earlier) is doing the same. Naturally Bugs isn't going to let this go without a fight, and so seeing Daisy isn't home Bugs puts on her Sunday best and proceeds to unleash hell against his romantic rival.
Like I said, pretty good, but while Bugs does his bit it just feels off. Seeing Bugs in a love triangle is new. Pity we haven't seen Daisy since then. From what little we glimpse here she looks like she can go toe to toe with Bugs, at least in terms of slapstick.
Robert McKimson, Hot Cross Bunny, USA 1948
Bugs Bunny VS mad science
Yeah, the foe this time out doesn't rate a name. He's just a generic mad scientist. Mad as in irate although he could be considered crazy by the end.
Bugs is in the hospital, serving as experimental rabbit#46. He's pampered and waited on, at least until his times and the Doc needs a subject. Bugs treats the operating theater like a real theater, at least until the doc breaks out the surgical tools. The chase is on.
Pretty good, but the doc is too bland a foe, although his comeuppance at the end is a nice joke to end the short.
The Music of Erich Zann (1980). Dir. John Strysik, Lurker Films
And the Summer of Love(craft) continues! We pretty much hit most of the films and TV, so why not go into the shorts?
Charles M. Jones, Haredevil Hare, USA 1948
And here might be my favorite short we've seen so far. Bugs is chosen (very reluctantly) to go to the moon. He lands, but guess who landed at the same time?
Yup, Marvin the Martian (although not named as such) lands and with his Uranium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator he plans to blow up the Earth. Can Bugs stop him in time?
Wonderful. Marvin isn't dumb like Elmer or an explosive idiot like Sam so the nature of his fights has to be different. Here it feels like Bugs has to work for his victory so that's a plus.
