“Overture, curtains, lights. This is it, the night of nights.
No more rehearsing and nursing a part – we know every part by heart!
Overture, curtains, lights. This is it, you’ll hit the heights.
And, oh, what heights we’ll hit – on with the show, this is it!”
If you recognize those lyrics, you were blessed to have a childhood that included “The Bugs Bunny Show,” either in its original version or in the various iterations that were broadcast over the decades.
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False Hare (1964)
Directed by Robert McKimson
Story by John Dunn
Animation by Warren Batchelder, George Grandpré, Ted Bonnicksen
Music by Bill Lava
B.B. Wolf and his giggly nephew conspire to trap Bugs Bunny by creating Club Del Conejo, a phony social club designed exclusively for rabbits. Bugs, of course, is wise to the antics of these lupine predators but plays along, inevitably causes B.B. to fall victims to his extravagant booby-traps.
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BOOTLEG FILES 941: “Uncle Tom’s Bungalow” (1937 animated short directed by Tex Avery).
LAST SEEN: On Vimeo.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: An excerpt was featured in a 1989 VHS video release.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It was withdrawn from circulation.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: None.
The slavery era represented one of the most painful chapters of American history, and the idea of making a comedy out of this tragedy is incomprehensible. Incredibly, the Warner Bros. animation unit thought it would be a fun idea to take Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery landmark “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and turn it into a breezy, irreverent romp.
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Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare (1964)
Directed by Robert McKimson
Story by John Dunn
Animation by Ted Bonnicksen, Warren Batchelder, George Grandpré
Music by Bill Lava
The denizens of the forest are in a panic with the approach of the Tasmanian Devil, but Bugs Bunny is unaware of the peril because he is taking a soapy bath in a pond. Taz tastes the soap covering Bugs’ body, but dislikes it and washes it off with a bucket of water – and then the bucket gets dumped on Bugs’ head. When Taz pours ketchup on Bugs’ head in preparation of eating him, Bugs becomes melodramatic and insists he’s bleeding. He sends Taz off for medical assistance, not realizing that he is soon dealing with Bugs in multiple disguises as a general practitioner, a psychiatrist, a maternity ward nurse, and a surgeon.
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Jessie and the gang of Bonnie’s toys face a new challenge in a Lilypad tablet in Pixar’s Toy Story 5, written and directed by Andrew Stanton and McKenna Harris.
The Dumb Patrol (1964)
Directed by Gerry Chiniquy
Story by John Dunn
Animation by Virgil Ross, Bob Matz, Lee Halpern, Art Leonardi
Music by Bill Lava
This cartoon takes place in France of 1917. World War I is still raging and Captain Smedley (Porky Pig) is chosen to confront the German pilot Baron Sam Von Shpamm (Yosemite Sam). But ahead of his mission, the captain in knocked out by his colleague Bugs Bunny, who tells the viewer he can’t allow Smedley to take the assignment because “he has a wife and six piglets.” Bugs takes to the air in his biplane and engages the baron in multiple dogfights that end with the German’s aircraft being destroyed. Ultimately, the baron’s luck finally expires and he dies in combat. As the baron ascends to Heaven wearing a devil’s costume while playing a harp, an astonished Bugs tells the viewer, “I’ve heard of Hell’s angels, but I never thought I’d see one.”
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A pair of warriors and a princess travel a land of sword & sorcery in Ralph Bakshi & Frank Frazetta’s 1982 animated team-up Fire and Ice, now on an updated 4k UHD & Blu-ray from Blue Underground and MVD.