Wabbit Twouble

“West and wewaxation at wast!”

Two words to describe this cartoon: friggin, hilarious. It’s one of those cartoons where Bugs does not need to be heckled; he actually wants to bother Fudd, who is camping in the area. In this short, unless you are a imbecile, you will notice that Elmer is fat. This is because for a brief time Elmer was drawn to resemble his voice actor, Arthur Q. Bryan.

Another reason this is great, is that the title and credits are all written in “Fuddese.” The gags are spectacular! One is Bugs tricking Elmer into thinking it’s night and then morning in only 2 minutes. It takes all my power to remind myself that Elmer has not been there for two days.

Personal Rating: 4

My Bunny Lies Over the Sea

“Fore? Three and a half!”

This is a true story. I was once watching this with some friends of mine and they got all mad because the person Bugs outwits in this short is Scottish and they had Scottish ancestry. (They called it an attack on their people) Come on! Its not making fun of Scottish people, it just happens because Bugs took another wrong turn at Albuquerque. Some people are just way too sensitive. The golf gags are fantastic and as usual, I recommend a watch.

Personal Rating: 3

Big Top Bunny

“Am I not magnificent?”

Don’t worry. I know I am. However, this quote is said by Bruno, an acrobatic circus bear at colonel Kornys’ circus, who is angered to find that he will be sharing the spotlight with a rabbit. can you guess who?

Did you say Bugs? Good for you! If it weren’t for Bruno then I would say that this would just be a generic cartoon. Bruno has a great accent and he makes a great antagonist. “Innocent as a newborn baby. Baby rat that is!” says Bugs.

Personal Rating: 3

Big House Bunny

“Schultz! Office!”

For once Bugs is scared while it’s rabbit season. (probably because there’s no Fudd) He tries to escape and ends up in singsong prison. (where there’s no hanging around) Its a typical Bugs and Sam cartoon with prison gags. Well worth a watch, and one of my personal favorites. Also we get to see Bugs do his pigeon impersonation. Cool, huh?

Personal Rating: 4

Water Water Every Hare

“If you only had a living brain…”

I know a lot of people who I would love to say that to, so if I ever see Bugs floating by I will put his brain into you. You’ll thank me later. This short is the second appearance of Gossamer. (who is called Rudolph in this short) It also shows us that Bugs is immortal. He can sleep, drink, and um, walk underwater without dying. Also, if you ever wanted to see a carrot get digested this is the cartoon for you.

Personal Rating: 3

Rabbit’s Kin

“How many lumps do you want”?

This is a real pity. This is the only cartoon to feature Pete Puma. It begins with a little rabbit (who is 50% cute, 50% annoying) running from him and running into Bugs, who decides to help him. Pete is a great character; half smart and half dumb. He tries tricks that would fool anyone except Bugs, who just goes along with it. Stan Freberg did a good job voicing Pete and it would have been great if he ever came back.

Personal Rating: 4

What’s up, Doc?

“Oh we’re the boys of the chorus, we hope you like our show, we know you’re rooting for us, but now we have to gooooooooo!”

This is one of the shorts where Bugs tells us of his past. I however find the other one (“A hare grows in Manhattan”) to be the superior one. That aside, this is still worth a watch. This cartoon is great for many reasons, but my favorite is when Bugs (who is out of work) is asked by Elmer to be part of his slapstick comedy after Fudd passes by Al Jolson, Jack Benny, Eddie Cantor, and Bing Crosby. “They’ll never amount to anything”, Fudd says. As always, I hope you are enjoying this place.

Personal Rating: 3

Bully for Bugs

“Booby trap”

This is how all bull fights should be. The real ones are so inhumane. Its a good thing Bugs showed us how to do it. Still, real bulls would die if they smashed into anvils, swallowed guns, and got blown up in a Rube Golberg device. This bull is a wonderful enemy for Bugs because he could never call his other enemies “nin-cow-poops”, “im-bess-ils,” or “gull-i-bulls”. If you have not seen this one you cant say you enjoy Looney Tunes.

Personal Rating: 4

High Diving Hare

“I hate you.”

Here’s a wonderful cartoon. I say that about every Looney Tune but the beauty of this one is the fact there is only one gag. At a carnival house Bugs informs the audience that fearless Freep the high diver will be unable to perform. Sam is angered at this and tries to force bugs into diving, as expected though, bugs tricks Sam into doing it each time.

If I had to point out a flaw in this short, it would be that as Bugs and Sam climb the ladder the first time, they end up on the other side at one point. I guess that was so we could see them better, but it sill bothers me. My favorite part though is when Sam finds Bugs has constructed a door to keep Sam from pushing him off and Sam yells “Open up that door!” then he turns to the camera and adds “You notice I didn’t say Richard?” (“Open the door Richard” was a popular song at the time)

Personal Rating: 4

Yosemite Sam

Fudd may be a classic, but when it comes to Bug’s nemeses, I find Sam to be my favorite. Sam emerged as he would today in the Bugs Bunny short “Hare Trigger”. Though he is always remembered as a cowboy, he had many other roles from sultan, to general, to pirate, to alien. Nothing about this guy bugs me. Like the fact that Yosemite is in California and he sounds like a Texan. Perhaps my favorite thing is that before they named him, other names they considered were Wyoming Willie, Denver Dan, and Texas Tiny.