Category: First Appearances

Cartoons that were the debut of recurring characters. I.E., those that appeared at least twice.

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She was an Acrobat’s Daughter

“Why Daddy? Why did the man look at her like that, Daddy? Why Daddy? Did he like her Daddy? Did he like the lady?”

At the theater there are 15 acts. The audience keeps switching seats as soon as one is available and things start with a newsreel. Dole Promise tells us that the U.S. has built an ocean liner so long it barely has to move to reach across the Atlantic. The audience meanwhile, is annoyed by that one theater-goer who moves through the aisles and is fat. In this case he is an actual hippo.

Next the news tells us of a town, whose inhabitants all act like dogs. The hippo comes back just in time for the shorts namesake singalong! After the song, the feature presentation plays. (After the MGM lion crows like a rooster.) It is “The Petrified Florist”. During the show, a Donkey tries to sell some munchies to the patrons and is thrown out. The main character of the onscreen film tries to regale some poetry to a waitress but muddles it up.

Another typical theater goer we all know, (the kid who won’t shut up) is a duckling constantly asking his father numerous questions. The other patrons growl at him, and hit his father who tries to defend him. The youngster runs from his angry smacking father and comes across the projection room. He begins to play with the machine, speeding the film up and reversing it. He panics and tries to fix his mistake only to get pulled into the machine and tangled in the film.

Personal Rating: 3

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The Coocoo nut Grove

“My, oh my. Just look at all the Celeb-reties.”

In the middle of a jungle is a trendy nightclub called the Coocoonut grove. Ben Birdie (Bernie) is our host, and he’s not the only one here. W.C. Fields the pig is there with Katherine Heartburn (Hepburn) the horse. Tarzan is there in a tree, and a lady is chased by Harpo as a… Bird? I think. He’s got a beak…

The music starts up and everyone dances. Laurel and Hardy (as a monkey and pig, respectively) share a coconut. Laurel must have drank a little too hard, as he sucks out all of Hardy’s body fat. Edna May Olliver does a dance to Clark Gable’s delight and the Dionne quintuplets perform. Tarzan is frighted by a mouse and Harpo finally catches the woman only to find it’s Groucho in drag. (That gag will never get old.) Helen Morgan sings, but her singing is so sad that even Edward G. Robbinson and George Raft cry. The combined tears of the singer and audience create a sea of tears, (eat your heart out Alice) which carries them all away.

Personal Rating: Depends on how acquainted you are with the parodies. If you know who is being spoofed, then 3. Otherwise, 2.

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Homeless Hare

“Well toodles, do I get my home back or do I have to get tough?”

Sorry for lack of updates last week. It was my birthday and I did not feel doing my mediocre, tiny blog posts that I call “working”. But now I’m back, and ready with a new short!

At a construction site, Bug’s house is accidentally dug up. Despite asking very politely to put his home back, the worker dumps ‘im into a pile. The worker (who Bugs dubs Hercules) laughs until Bugs drops a brick on his face with a note that declares war. Hercules hops in an elevator and tries to reach Bugs who is controlling the elevator and he ultimately sends Herc into a vat of wet cement.

Bugs dresses as a foreman and demands that Herc build a huge tower. At the top Hercules is balancing on a thin board balanced by a pile of bricks. Bugs takes great delight in removing them one by one. (Best scene of the picture, right there.) Herc gets his revenge by swinging an I beam into Bugs’ face, which sends him on a dazed walk where in the classic cartoon way, he is saved by various machinery before falling into a rain barrel.

Bugs devises a clever plan, and drops a red-hot rivet which travels along a complex path before landing on a rope, burning said rope, and dropping a huge piece of machinery on Hercules. He concedes defeat and agrees to give his home back. The building gets built still, but now it’s built around Bugs rabbit hole.

Personal Rating: 4

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A Hare grows in Manhatten

“I’ll moidalize ya!”

We begin with a voice identified as Lola Beverly. She is in Hollywood and aims to interview the stars. Naturally, we come to Bugs. He tells his life story which begins with him being born in New York. He grows up, and one day runs into a gang of dogs. (Yep. That one with the derby is Spike.) They think they spy an easy target and “dogpile on the rabbit” (with Bugs being the one on top.)

Bugs ducks into a sewer and when Spike tries to follow, he smacks his head on the manhole. Bugs pulls the ole “Does the rabbit have big ears, a fluffy tail, and hops” gag, with a great response from Spike that I’m not about to spoil.  After catching on, the chase continues. Bugs hides in a cigarette ad, which rats him out, so he sends Spike over the edge of the building with a stick. Spike grabs on to a clothes line, but Bugs plays Tweety and slowly removes his toes. (Apparetnly Spike was Bug’s 30th dog that day.)

Bugs walks on, thinking he’s rid of the canines, when they corner him in an alley. He grabs a book to defend himself but there’s no need. The dogs leave when they read the title: “A tree grows in Brooklyn”

Personal Rating: 4

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Porky In Wackyland

“Ex-tree! Ex-tree! Porky off on dodo hunt!”

This.. is my favorite cartoon ever! Heck, it’s my favorite bit of animation ever. Is it the humor? The sureality? The b/w charm? The fact that I consider it the epitome of cartoons? All that and whatever too! It’s great no matter how you slice, saute and butter it! And that’s why this site shares its name.

Like its successor this cartoon has Porky is off to find the last of the dodo birds. Its worth a lot of money. He arrives at the best place ever put to film: Wackyland! While searching, Porky sees many of the denizens that call this crazy landscape home. Or at least a condo. (Look! Bob Clampett and his animators created Catdog)

Amidst the bizarre, he finds the bird of his dreams. And the chase is on. The bird is tricky, and Porky has to disguise himself to get his hands on him. He succeeds in his capture but the dodo reveals something about himself. He may be the last of his species but that doesn’t mean he’s the only one left… (That’s a victory for Mother Earth, at least.)

Personal Rating: 5 (And I really feel that way too.)

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Mouse Wreckers

“What’d I do? What’d I do?”

Hubie and Bertie are happy to find a new place to call home, but there’s one problem with it: Claude. According to all those trophies, he’s a champion mouser and the mice are going to have to get rid of him if they are to live there. They hide on the roof, and Hubie lowers Bertie down the chimney to the cat, to torment him and get away quickly. They use sticks, bellows, and even a dog to drive Claude crazy. They even tie a rock to his tail and throw it off the roof, dragging him along with it.

Claude is shaken to say the least, but he convinces himself it was all a dream. While he sleeps the mice try their coupe-de-gracie. They nail all the furniture to the ceiling, somehow get the celing lamp to point upward and put it on the floor, and wake up Claude. He is scared to find himself on the ceiling but freaks out even more when he climbs into the next room, and finds its right side up, but the windows show upside down horizons and underwater scenery. He runs screaming from the house as the mice get comfortable

Personal Rating: 3

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Cheese Chasers

“There’s nothing left to live for!”

It’s Hubie and Bertie’s last cartoon! To commemorate, they decide to eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat all the cheese they can! After eating (possibly literally) tons of the stuff, they feel they can never stomach it again. (I hate when this happens to me) Figuring that suicide is the only answer, they climb into Claude’s mouth.

Claude is suspicious as to why natural prey of his would want to die. He tries to bribe them into leaving him be with cheese but he just freaks out more when they refuse to eat it. With the rodents acting so strange, Claude figures he can never enjoy mice again. He decides to end it all at the hands of a bulldog. (Marc Antony making his FIRST appearance) The dog wonders why Claude wants to die, and freaks out even more when the mice want the same thing. In the end, the dog chases a dog catcher’s van… with Claude and the mice in hot pursuit.

Personal Rating: 3

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Tortoise beats Hare

“I tell ya, it just don’t make sense.”

Sorry for the delay. Christmas came and with it, Looney Tunes. I have been watching a lot of new ones and now I am ready for more action!

This is an early Bugs Bunny cartoon, number 3 for him. It was also one of the few made by Tex Avery. (I just noticed, he directed Daffy, and Bugs’ first cartoons.) Back on topic, Bugs comes out and reads the title and credits. (Pronouncing them wrong) When he gets to the title, he freaks out and demands a race with the tortoise. Winner gets ten bucks.

When the race begins, Bugs is off and Cecil calls nine other turtles to help him cheat. Bugs is still running and passes one of them. Needless to say, he is dumbstruck. He leaves him behind, but no matter how fast he goes, he keeps finding a tortoise ahead of him. He tries leaving various debris in the path, and destroying a bridge, but when he comes to the end, Cecil is already there.

Bugs gives him the money and wonders if he was tricked. Cecil and the turtles (each holding a dollar) tell him its a possibility. (I should have talked about this one before the second one.)

Personal Rating: 4

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Gorilla my Dreams

“I ain’t an ape, I’m a rabbit”

Sorry for lack of update. Went to Disneyland. (What? Looney Tunes fanboys can enjoy it too.)

Back in full swing now. (Pun intended.) We see Bugs in a barrel boat. How did he get here? Who knows, who cares, enjoy the cartoon already, you moron. The current is carrying him to the island of Bingzi Bangza which is home to ferocious apes. However, they seem to be good parents. One couple has no children to the dismay of the mother. (This being her and her husband’s first appearance.)

The father wants no kids, so she heads out to sob. But while she is crying, she finds Bugs. She adopts him (he only agrees to make her stop crying) and takes him home to meet his father. Deciding to do the “little” one in. He takes him out for a walk, where Bugs almost immediately catches on. A lovely chase scene (with Raymond Scott’s “Dinner music for a pack of hungry cannibals” is playing) climaxes with Bugs trapped against a cliff. He allows Gruesome to pound him but the big brute can’t. He’s too worn out from chasing him.

Personal Rating: 3

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Space Jam

“You guys are nuts.”

“Correction, we’re Looney Tunes”

I love this movie, but then again, I am a Looney Tunes fanboy. It’s sad most of the world seems to hate it. I think that is bull crap. This is a masterpiece if ever there was one. At least it did great at the box office.

The history is that people made commercials with Bugs and Michael Jordan advertising basketball shoes. So they figured making a movie was a good idea. (I think it was.) Our plot is that a theme park in outer space, (it is not specified which planet, but I think the whole park is its own planet) sucks. (How can people say that? Didn’t you ever want to ride an Astro-orbiter wannabe that shoots at you? Oh yeah, me neither) The owner decides they need new attractions and figures that the Looney Tunes are just the thing. I’d come.

However, Bugs tricks them into thinking they need to give the toons a chance to defend themselves. Since the aliens are short and have tiny limbs, basketball seems like a shoe in. However the aliens have the ability to steal the ability from five NBA players. Luckily, Jordan was retired at this time. So they don’t nab him. The toons get him for their side and we get the greatest game in all history!

This also introduced us to Lola. She did not have much of a personality in this movie, save for being someone for Bugs to be attracted to. Seems she was popular though, as she appeared in “Baby Looney Tunes”, “Tweety’s High Flying Adventure”, and “The Looney Tunes Show.”

Bottom line if you hate this you have no taste and at the very least you have to watch it once. (There must be more who love this, I know it!) “Tune” in next time where I will name all the Looney Tunes who appear in the film as well as some interesting facts. Woo hoo hoo hoo! Woo hoo!

Personal Rating: 3. (Unless you’re one of those people who can’t stand anything Looney that came out after the Golden age. For you, it’s a 2.)