Hare Brush (1955)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by Warren Foster
Animation by Ted Bonnicksen, Art Davis, Gerry Chiniquy
Music by Milt Franklyn
Not unlike last week’s entry “Sahara Hare,” “Hare Brush” gets off to a great start with original humor but strangely falls flat midway through with dull and tired gags.
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Beanstalk Bunny (1955)
Directed by Chuck Jones
Story by Michael Maltese
Animation by Ken Harris, Richard Thompson, Abe Levitow, Keith Darling
Music by Carl Stalling
A cute idea with a meh execution, “Beanstalk Bunny” reimagines the fairy tale with Daffy Duck as Jack, Elmer Fudd as the giant, and Bugs Bunny as an interloper who joins in the mayhem. Bugs went up the beanstalk before with “Jack-Wabbit and the Beanstalk” (1943) and found himself in a land of giants when he challenged Paul Bunyan’s dog in “Lumber Jack-Rabbit” (1953), so it was a bit strange to have him back for a third time in this type of a setting.
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BOOTLEG FILES 908: “Rabbit Habit” (1975 parody of the Warner Bros. cartoons).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube and Internet Archive.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A wildly unauthorized use of copyright protected material.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.
Over the years, this column has occasionally featured underground cartoons that wickedly parodied beloved animated characters – “Apocalypse Pooh,” “Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown,” “A Charlie Brown Kwanzaa” and “Mickey Mouse in Vietnam” were among best titles that I’ve celebrated. However, I must apologize for taking so long to highlight a true masterpiece of this micro-genre: the 1975 “Rabbit Habit,” which imagines the Looney Tunes icons as drug dealers and addicts.
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Robot Rabbit (1953)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by Warren Foster
Animation by Ken Champin, Manuel Perez, Arthur Davis, Virgil Ross
Music by Carl Stalling
Carrot farmer Elmer Fudd is frustrated at having Bugs Bunny pilfering his harvest, but his attempts to fatally shoot the long-eared miscreant amounts to naught. Elmer places a call to Acme Pest Control and quickly receives a robot designed to obliterate irritating varmints. The robot initially gets the best of Bugs with a solid punch to the face and by digging him out of his hole, the rascally rabbit uses a mix of old and new tricks to speed the demise of his metallic foe.
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Duck! Rabbit! Duck! (1953)
Directed by Charles M. Jones
Story by Michael Maltese
Animation by Ken Harris, Abe Levitow, Richard Thompson, Lloyd Vaughan, Ben Washam
Music by Carl Stalling and Milt Franklyn
The final entry in the “Hunting Trilogy” that pits Bugs Bunny against Daffy Duck against Elmer Fudd, “Duck! Rabbit! Duck!” is the weakest of the three films due to joke repetition and an uneven balance among the characters.
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Upswept Hare (1953)
Directed by Robert McKimson
Story by Tedd Pierce
Animation by Charles McKimson, Herman Cohen, Rod Scribner, Phil DeLara
Music by Carl Stalling
Wealthy amateur botanist Elmer Fudd discovers a rare flower during a drive through the desert and decides to add it to his floral collection at his penthouse apartment. Elmer digs around the flower to ensure it remains in its native soil, but he inadvertently digs up Bugs Bunny who is sleeping in his hole just under the flower’s roots and transplants him with the flower in a large planter. Bugs awakens the next morning and is initially baffled at being in a swanky penthouse, but he quickly makes himself at home – much to Elmer’s consternation. Elmer’s effort to evict his unwanted guest results in him being tricked by Bugs to jump off the penthouse, where he plummets into a sidewalk popcorn vending machine.
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Rabbit Seasoning (1952)
Directed by Charles M. Jones
Story by Michael Maltese
Animation by Ken Harris, Lloyd Vaughan, Ben Washam, Richard Thompson, Abe Levitow, Harry Love
Music by Carl W. Stalling
The second of the “Hunting Trilogy” featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd in a triangular adversarial relationship, “Rabbit Seasoning” has been viewed by some prominent animation scholars as the best film of the trio. I respectfully disagree and view “Rabbit Seasoning” as a verbose retread of the more effective first entry in the series, “Rabbit Fire” from 1951.
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