2023 marks the 85th Anniversary of Bug Bunny’s first animated appearance in 1938’s “Porky’s Hare Hunt.” Debuting originally as Happy Rabbit, Bugs eventually became one of the most iconic animated characters of all time. In honor of the landmark anniversary, we’re discussing every animated appearance by Bugs Bunny. We’re big fans of Bugsy and we hope that you are, too.
Follow us on this massive journey where we discover and re-discover Every Bugs Bunny Ever.
Hold the Lion, Please (1942)
Directed by Chuck Jones
Written by Ted Pierce
Music by Carl W. Stalling
Animation by Ken Harris
“Hold the Lion, Please” is one of the many shorts where we’d meet a one and done villain for Bugs Bunny. In 1942 he was still being developed and despite Elmer Fudd, none of the big guns have appeared quite yet. The shorts would shuffle through a lot of potential villains here and there, but it’d be a few years yet until anything solidified. What we do get is Leo the Lion, a pretty fun and funny one and done (though, technically he’d appear in other Looney Tunes films decades later) overall nemesis to Bugs Bunny. “Hold the Lion, Please” writer Ted Pierce does a bang up job playing the soft spoken middle aged lion who is seeking to prove himself once and for all.
The set up is that Leo the Lion is a middle aged lion is mocked by his animal friends for being over the hill and lazy. Angered by their relentless taunting he challenges them that he can kill any animal. Even a rabbit. So he ventures out in to the jungle looking for a rabbit to eat, and he inevitably comes across Bugs Bunny. Bugs is, of course, just minding his business and has to fight off Leo, who is dead set on killing him. Bugs sees this as an opportunity to teach him a lesson and he puts the predatory cat through the wringer time and time again. There’s a hilarious gag involving a door where Bugs plays the Lion’s sense of dimension, and a great moment when the pair stop fighting for a moment to break down in to hysterical laughter.
This is sparked by the sight of Leo wearing a large feminine hat he got stuck with after pursuing Bugs. This prompts Bugs pull out a sign reading “Silly, Isn’t He?” Jones’ animation really is unique with a lot of the signature facial distortions and double takes fully acing the comic timing for every joke. At one point Bugs even kind of has a nervous breakdown and the process of facial expressions he goes through really is a master class in expressive animation. It’s also really damn funny. One caveat though is the introduction of Leo who is being taunted by his fellow animals. As the scene shifts, the laughing animals transform in to rustling bushes.
So were they just Leo’s imagination or was this just a very radical shift to a different scene? In either way, this moment always confused me. Leo the Lion is a fine enough villain who really pops thanks to writer Ted Pierce who lends Leo a raspy soft spoken voice. Incidentally, “Hold the Lion, Please” bears the distinction of not only having a pretty fun one and done villain for Bugs Bunny (but Bugs would face another lion, a few years later), but it also has the honor of introducing the prototype for a female Bugs Bunny. Identified as “Mrs. Bugs Bunny” by a hilariously placed sign off screen, we get definite verification that there is, or was at one time been a Mrs. Bugs Bunny.
And she makes a brief appearance in the finale. She’s there to help land a funny gag involving Leo the Lion and his own submission to his wife, sure, but it kind of foreshadows the emergence of Lola Bunny in the nineties. Lola Bunny (who debuted in “Space Jam”) is essentially female Bugs Bunny when all is said and done. Only more sexualized. You could also argue that Mrs. Bugs Bunny is a bit of a funny little poke at Disney who, at the time, had Mickey and Minnie, Donald and Daisy, and Goofy and Petunia. And in comes Mrs. Bugs Bunny, who appears in a dress with a long skirt, so it’s very likely this is the animators’ way of mocking Disney.
I think a bow would have been too on the nose, but I wouldn’t be surprised if her initial sketches involved a bow on her ears. Warner and MGM always had a good time taking the piss out of Disney animation, and I’d venture to guess someone at Warner thought this would be a neat poke at them. Either way, I love it. Mainly for the way it just alludes to so much in such a small amount of time, and the Disney animated shorts department was never as good as Warner or MGM.
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