Category: Chuck Jones

Anything directed by the man who was responsible for directing the number one greatest cartoon.

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Don’t Give up the Sheep

“Hello, Fred.”

This is the first appearance of Ralph and Sam, and it shows. Sam is erroneously called Ralph, and the real Ralph looks less like a coyote and more like a starving animal.

It starts with Sam going to work. He greets Fred Sheepdog and they switch places for the day. Ralph shows up and plans to get the sheep. He sets the time-clock ahead and this works. Until Sam sees the village clock and runs back to the field. (One thing to keep in mind, Ralph usually gets his prey. He just does not get to eat it.)

3 more scenes deserve mention. Ralph digs under the ground to get the sheep but he gets greedy and takes them all. Sam sees this and rushes down. The wolf grabs him. POW! Ralph uses a rope swing to swing down and get a sheep, bur he grabs Sam. Finally, Sam quits for the day and Fred greets him. Sam starts pounding him and we see it’s really Ralph in disguise. The real Fred shows up and takes over Sam’s Ralph pounding.

Personal Rating: 3

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Feed the Kitty

“Don’t you dare bring one more thing into this house!”

A little kitten comes across a big dog. He tries to frighten her, but she treats him as her bed. Falling for her, Marc Antony takes her with him to her new home. The mistress of the house decides the dog has enough material objects and warns him to not bring in anymore things. So now he must try to keep the kitten hidden. This lady never stops moving and frequently runs into it. Puppy has to pass it off as a toy and a powder puff just to keep it safe.

When she comes into the kitchen, he hides it in the flour bin. Wouldn’t you know it, she is about to make cookies. He tries to save her, but the mistress throws him out. Unbeknownst to him, his kitty crawls out of the bowl but not before he thinks she has been beaten, rolled out, cut into shapes, and baked. The dog is reduced to a blubbering wreck and the woman tries to cheer him up with a cat shaped cookie. (Seriously, who makes cookies shaped like cats?) He puts it on his back and cries, but surprise! She’s alive! The woman finally gets wise and says if he takes care of it, he can keep it. A happy ending for all.

Rating: 5

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Baton Bunny

“Guest conductor: Mr. Bugs Bunny”

The beauty of this short, is that there is no dialogue. We have Bugs trying to conduct a orchestra, but things just don’t seem to go right for him. His cuffs keep sliding along his body and a fly annoys him to no end. Every time he tries to move and fix the problem, the musicians play in accordance with his movements. Bugs always gives them a glare and I can see why. If they are there, then shouldn’t they be professionals who know what to play?

That aside, Bugs is by no means patient in this short. (He has a man thrown out for coughing.) After a staged Native American attack with his ears, Bugs goes crazy trying to kill the fly from earlier. He manages to hit it and bows. To his shock there is no audience. (Traitors.) But wait! There is a sound of clapping. It’s the fly he squished. Bugs bows to his only admirer.

Personal Rating: 3

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The Hypo-Chondri-Cat

“Have you ever operated on a sick cat before, doctor?”

Its a rainy night and Hubie and Bertie have just settled in to their new home, eating cheese by the fire. They run into Claude and a chase ensures. It looks like they are trapped, but an open window sends Claude running to his bed to make sure he did not catch a cold. The mice now know his weakness and decide to torment him. He changes color at their suggestion and is soon begging them for their help.

They get ready for a operation and Claude faints. He has a way, disturbing fever dream (can you say, “extremely creepy?”) and wakes to find the mice crying at what appears to be his grave. He tries to tell them he is alive, but they walk right by. The clock strikes 12 and Hubie recalls that at midnight, ghosts appear. They “now” see Claude and he begs them for their help again. They push him off a cliff and he begins to fly towards cat heaven (Thanks to a balloon) Now filled with an inner peace, he bids the mice farewell. I wonder what happens when he finds out it’s not real?

Personal Rating: 4

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Frigid Hare

“Jumping ice cubes! Its freezing!”

Out of the two shorts that Playboy Penguin appeared in, this is my favorite. Bugs is on his way for a vacation and makes a wrong turn at Albuquerque and ends up at the south pole. There he saves a penguin from an… Eskimo? (Never mind. I’m not going to mention he’s in the wrong hemisphere.) Now the little bird is smitten with him and we see the cutest scene ever! (I want to hold him) Bugs throws him away, and sees him get nabbed by the Inuit. Realizing he must do the right thing he disguises himself as a woman again, and manages to rescue the penguin.

Upon the guy’s realization that his dreamboat is a rabbit, the chase begins. They end up dangling over a cliff where Playboy returns the favor and saves bugs. (The Eskimo is carried off by a whale that has a vertical tail. WRONG!) Bugs wants nothing more to do with the bird and just wants to get to his vacation spot. Until he learns that the days down there are 6 months long! We wont see bugs again until 1951. (Not literally.)

Personal Rating: 3

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For Scent-imental Reasons

“Touching, is it not?”

This may not be the first Pepe cartoon but it is Penelope’s, and it won an Oscar. (the only Looney Tune that won an Oscar and was not directed by Friz Freleng) We see a man going to open his perfume shop for the day. Only to find Le Pew in there already. The shop owner is a coward and won’t even try to get him out. So he has to go whine to some guard like character, but even he wants nothing to do with it. So the shop owner throws in a cat that is purring by his legs. (What a dick.)

Upon being launched in, a bottle of white dye gets poured on her back, and cartoon history is born. The skunk mistakes her for one of his species and a chase ensures. One gag is that she is locked in a glass room and they both pantomime talking. (The only time I recall her ever communicating) In the end, they both fall out a window and land in different substances. Pepe in paint that apparently masks his scent, because now Penelope is chasing him! We iris out on Pepe wondering if he is too attractive.

Personal Rating: 4

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Haredevil Hare

“I’m alone on the moon!”

In the cartoon that was the first appearance of our favorite martian, we find Bugs being forced to be the first rabbit to be sent into space. He is reluctant at first until he sees all the carrots being loaded into the ship. Once on the moon he encounters Marvin (who has a way different voice) preparing to blow up the earth. Bugs takes the infamous illudium pu 36 explosive space modulator and Marvin’s reserves (or his dog K-9) is sent to retrieve it. Bugs and the dog end up in a comedic embrace and Bugs makes his getaway. He then returns the explosive to the martians attached to a detonator. Bugs lowers the plunger and finally the scientists get through to him and ask for a statement for the press. Bugs response is “GET ME OUT OF HERE!” All that’s left of the moon is a sliver and Bugs… with the two martians hanging on to him for dear life.

Personal Rating: 3

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The Awful Orphan

“Looking for something, bub?”

Every time Charlie appeared with Porky, orphan was in the title. Just FYI.

We start out with a crowd of people who are watching Charlie give a demonstration of something every home needs…himself. Needless to say, no one is amused and Charlie is forced to hitch a ride in a pet shop delivery car. He crawls into a cage that is supposed to contain a canary and is delivered to Porky. The rest is just Porky trying to get rid of him and Charlie coming back.

He tries reasoning, he tries bribery, he even tries locking Porky out of his apartment. In the end, Porky gives in but now Charlie does not want to live there. This makes Porky go insane and we end with a shot of Charlie being forced to be the master of a snarling Porky.

Personal Rating: 4

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Hair-Raising Hare

“Did you ever get the feeling you was being watched?”

You can probably tell from the title, that Gossamer is in this one. He is, and it’s his first appearance.

Bugs is being watched by a Peter Lorre scientist who is trying to lure him into his lair to be the monsters dinner. He succeeds with a female rabbit decoy. “You don’t need to lock that door mac, I don’t want to leave” Bugs coyly remarks. Upon realizing he has been had, he tries to bid a hasty retreat, but Gossy won’t let him go that easily and what happens is a romp around the castle.

Gossamer is a particularly nasty foe and Bugs has to dispose of him not one, but three times. Its a great short in a place where lamps dance, rabbits become manicurists, monsters are scared of people, and where the pictures watch your every move.

Personal Rating: 4

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Fast and Furry-ous

“Beep-beep!”

Chuck Jones said that every Roadrunner cartoon would consist of 11 gags that would lead to a big finish. Since every one has the same plot, I will detail them in uh… detail. Starting with the first one ever, this one. So (Spoilers ahead) if you don’t want to know how it ends, don’t read.

We start with a bunch of signs telling us the title of the short. Something zooms by ripping them out of the ground. We freeze-frame to see its a roadrunner (Acelerati incredibulis). Panning over, we see he is being watched by a predator, a coyote (Carnivorus vulgaris). He grabs some utensils and gives chase. The bird sees him and gives a burst of speed leaving the canine in the dust. Shocked at the speed, he decides to use strategy.

First he holds up a pot lid. The r.r. stops short and seeing the c., he runs off. C. throws the lid down in frustration and begins to chase, but at the last second the r.r. returns and holds the lid up. C. crashes into it. Next he throws a boomerang and immediately gets hit by one thrown by the r.r. It runs off and c begins to chase, only to get hit with the one he originally threw. A school girl disguise doesn’t fool the bird and his rocket just fires him up into a cliff. Pulling a key stone out from under a rock just causes it to fall on him and a fake tunnel keeps turning real and fake again.

He tries a detonator that just explodes in his face and tries his first Acme product (a super suit) which was probably for fun only. He tries an easy to ski snow trail, but it just causes him to fall off a cliff. Next, trying rocket shoes, he nearly catches his prey, but they short out just as he is about to reach it. He decides to take the shortcut. Hiding behind a rock he hears a ‘beep’ sound and jumps into the road and is immediately hit by a bus. However he did hear the bird…it was riding in the back seat.

Personal Rating: 4