Author Archives: Phil Hall

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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Apes of Wrath (1959)

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Apes of Wrath (1959)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by Warren Foster
Animation by Arthur Davis, Virgil Ross, Gerry Chiniquy
Music by Milt Franklyn

A drunk stork tasked with delivering a baby gorilla to his impatient parents loses the simian infant during a jungle stop. Unwilling to admit his negligence, the stork knocks out Bugs Bunny, dresses him in a diaper and baby bonnet, and delivers him to the gorillas. The father gorilla (named Elvis, for some reason) is appalled by the sight of Bugs as his baby and grabs a mallet to pulverize the decidedly non-gorilla-looking infant. But the mother gorilla (who has no given name) is in love with her new baby and chastises her husband (with a rolling pin to the head) for being an unkind father. Bugs decides to take advantage of this unlikely situation and antagonize the ill-tempered gorilla father, until the stork delivers the real baby and Bugs is forced to escape from the revenge-hungry gorilla that he ruthlessly annoyed.
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The Rounders (1914)

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Mr. Full (Charlie Chaplin) and Mr. Fuller (Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle) are shabby gentlemen who dress in battered formalwear. However, they are both unapologetic drunks who commit acts of mischievous violence against anyone who cross their paths. They are neighbors in a hotel, where their long-suffering wives wait for them with irritation and intimidation. The men respond to this display of spousal anger with greater agitation – Mr. Fuller going so far as to choke his spouse. The pair grow tired of their domestic chaos and steal money from their wives’ purses, heading off to a restaurant where they wreak havoc on the unsuspecting patrons. The wives and the restaurant patrons chase the duo to a park, where they abscond with a rowboat and sail off across a pond, only to fall asleep in their pilfered vessel as it slowly sinks beneath the water’s surface.

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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Hare-abian Nights (1959)

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“Hare-abian Nights” (1959)
Directed by Ken Harris
Story by Michael Maltese
Animation by Ken Harris and Ben Washam
Music by Milt Franklyn

Bugs Bunny is burrowing underground on his way to Perth Amboy, only to arrive in an Arabian sultan’s palace – a mistake he blames on failing to make a left turn in Des Moines. He thinks he is in a movie theater, but quickly discovers he is part of a line-up of would-be entertainers ordered to amuse the sultan. The performers work on an elevated stage with a trap door. If the sultan is not entertained, he pushes a button that drops the unlucky performers into a crocodile pit. Bugs is introduced as a “teller of tales” and quickly endeavors to stay out of the crocodile pit by recalling a few of his unlikely comic adventures.
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The Bootleg Files: Waiting for Godot

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BOOTLEG FILES 924: “Waiting for Godot” (2024 version of the Beckett classic).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Not cleared for home entertainment release.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Doesn’t seem likely at the moment.

At the moment, one of the hottest tickets on Broadway is the revival of Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter. But if you can’t make it to Broadway or don’t have the money to afford tickets, fear not because an inventive, enchanting, and under-the-radar version of the Beckett classic can be seen for free on YouTube.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Baton Bunny (1959)

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Baton Bunny (1959)
Directed by Chuck Jones and Abe Levitow
Story by Michael Maltese
Animation by Ken Harris, Richard Thompson, Ben Washam
Music by Milt Franklyn

Okay, raise your hand if your first introduction to classical music came while watching Bugs Bunny cartoons. Fine, you can put your hand down now. That kind of impact is something special when you consider that only six of the Bugs Bunny cartoons incorporated symphonic compositions or operas into their stories: “A Corny Concerto” (1943), “Rhapsody Rabbit” (1946), “Long-Haired Hare” (1949), “Rabbit of Seville” (1950), “What’s Opera, Doc?” (1957), and today’s offering “Baton Bunny” (1959).
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