“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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In 1956, nearly 72% of all American homes had televisions. In that year, the nation’s living rooms had Jackie Gleason, Ed Sullivan, and Liberace as regular visitors through the television screen. And also joining the home-based entertainment line-up was Bugs Bunny.
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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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The Iceman Ducketh (1964)
Directed by Phil Monroe and Maurice Noble
Story by John Dunn
Animation by Bob Bransford, Tom Ray, Ken Harris, Richard Thompson, Bob Matz, Alex Ignatiev, Harry Love
Music by Bill Lava
Daffy Duck is a would-be hunter in the Klondike who is eager to cash in on the trade for animal furs. However, he begins his quest just as the snowy winter sets in. He hopes to snag Bugs Bunny’s soft furry coat for profit, but the rascally rabbit constantly outwits the neurotic and increasingly agitated duck.
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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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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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Transylvania 6-5000 (1963)
Directed by Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble
Story by John Dunn
Animation by Bob Bransford, Tom Ray, Ken Harris, Richard Thompson
Music by Bill Lava
Bugs Bunny is burrowing his way to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but winds up in Pittsburghe, Transylvania. After engaging in a brief conversation with a two-headed lady vulture, he ventures to an eerie castle (which he mistakes for a motel) in search of a telephone to call his travel agent. The castle belongs to the vampire Count Bloodcount, who convinces Bugs to spend the night. Unable to sleep, Bugs finds a book of magic phrases and begins to read them aloud, not realizing that he is changing Count Bloodcount into a bat and then back into his human form – always at the worst possible moment.
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