Baby Buggy Bunny (1954)
Directed by Charles M. Jones
Story by Michael Maltese
Animation by Ken Harris, Abe Levitow, Lloyd Vaughan, Ben Washam
Music by Milt Franklyn
Of all the adversaries who challenged Bugs Bunny, Baby Face Finster was arguably the most inventive concept of a villain. The idea of an adult (and rather butch) midget disguising himself as a baby was pure genius, and Finster’s fracas with Bugs was among the most original and invigorating in the history of the character’s films.
“Baby Buggy Bunny” starts with gusto – a tall, shadowy figure in a trench coat robs a bank and flees down alleyways as sirens blare. In an alley, the miscreant opens his coat to reveal he is a midget on stilts. The crook throws his bag of stolen money into a baby carriage, dons the clothing of a toddler, and climbs into the carriage. As the cops race down the alley, he displays a face of pure innocence – the cops ignore him in pursuit of the tall bank robber.
Finster’s first mistake is getting out of the carriage to check that the cops are out of sight. In leaving the carriage, he accidentally sets it off down a steep hill. Finster gives chase, but the carriage hits a rock and the bag of money sails through the air and into Bugs Bunny’s hole-in-the-ground residence. Bugs gives off a shout of pain – the bag obviously bonked his head – but then he pops out holding handfuls of money while crowing about his newfound wealth.
Finster infiltrates Bugs’ subterranean home by setting himself up as an abandoned baby in a basket. Bugs’ paternal instinct kicks in and he takes Finster into his bachelor home – which, inexplicably, has a high-chair, playpen, toys and a cradle. (Our long-eared hero also doesn’t see anything wrong with a rabbit raising a human baby.)
Bugs takes a long time to figure out something is odd with this foundling – Finster shoots him at point-blank range, bangs the satchel of money over his head and whacks him with a baseball bat when Bugs turns off the light for Finster’s bedtime. Yet despite this violence, Bugs thinks little Finster is “a cutie.” Even when Bugs discovers Finster’s secret – he peeks through a bathroom keyhole to find a tattooed, muscular Finster shaving and smoking a cigar – Bugs still thinks Finster is a baby. It isn’t until a TV news broadcast about the police search for “Ant Hill Harry, alias Baby Face Finster” that Bugs realizes the infant is a dangerous imposter.
And that’s the beauty of “Baby Buggy Bunny” – Bugs is played for a good-natured chump for too long, and when he gets his revenge it is deliciously cruel. Bugs violently shakes Finster for misbehaving, drops him in a washing machine, tosses him high until his head hits the ceiling and then lets him fall face-down on the floor. After Finster tries to stab Bugs – he stabs his own backside and curses over the mistake – Bugs gives Finster a vigorous over-the-knee spanking causing the crook’s guns and bullets to fall from his baby clothing.
Credit needs to go to writer Michael Maltese and director Chuck Jones for resisting the obvious and not giving Finster any significant dialogue outside until the cartoon’s closing, when Finster demands his release from prison – he is seen wearing convict stripes and locked in a playpen-sized cell. If the adult Finster spoke during his time in Bugs’ home, the impact would have been spoiled. Instead, Finster has baby babble and one brief exclamation of “Dada” while underground with Bugs – this is the perfect example of achieving more with less.
Likewise, Mel Blanc’s voice performance as Bugs is among his best work, with a diverse range of inflections ranging from his joyful hysteria at his unexpected wealth to his baby-talking playfulness as the unlikely surrogate parent to his bewildered agony at Finster’s assaults to the revenge-tinged calling “Oh Finster, oh Finster baby” after realizing he was played for a fool to the final facetious tinge when he reminds the incarcerated Finster that “99 years isn’t forever.”
Two quickie trivia notes: “Baby Buggy Bunny” is the rare cartoon where most of the action takes place in Bugs’ home, and it is the first time that television is part of the story – remember, these cartoons were made for theatrical release, and in 1954 it was uncommon for a character in a movie to be seen watching television.