Tag Archives: Robert McKimson

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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Bonanza Bugs (1959)

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It is a winter’s night in Dawson City during the midst of the 1896 Gold Rush when a snow-covered Bugs Bunny walks into a saloon and orders a glass of carrot juice. He is carrying a bag of large gold nuggets, but believes they have no value – he mistakes the “karats” of the rocks with the carrots that make up his diet. The villainous Blacque Jacques Shellacque – who is wanted for such crimes as for claim-jumping, pogo-sticking, and square-dance calling – makes multiple attempts to take Bugs’ bag of gold nuggets, but ultimately winds up running off a with a bag of gunpowder that Bugs ignites. Bugs ultimately admits the rocks were merely covered in paint and he drives off in a sled powered by a chihuahua.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Backwoods Bunny (1959)

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Backwoods Bunny (1959)
Directed by Robert McKimson
Story by Tedd Pierce
Animation by Warren Batchelder, Tom Ray, George Grandpré, Ted Bonnicksen
Music by Milt Franklyn

Bugs Bunny accidentally burrows his way into the Ozarks and decides it would be a fine place for a vacation. His arrival is detected by Pappy and Elvis, a father-and-son pair of buzzards. Pappy is a lazy, obese thing with flies swarming around him, while Elvis is a cheerful dimwit. Elvis volunteers to shoot the “eating rabbit” that turned up, but he is too stupid for the task and Bugs repeatedly humiliates him, to the point of tricking Elvis to repeatedly shoot Pappy.

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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Pre-Hysterical Hare (1958)

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Pre-Hysterical Hare (1958)
Directed by Robert McKimson
Story by Tedd Pierce
Animation by Ted Bonnicksen, Warren Batchelder, Tom Ray, George Grandpré
Music by John Seely

It’s rabbit season and Bugs Bunny tries to evade rifle-toting Elmer Fudd. Bugs balls into an underground cave with prehistoric wall paintings and a giant powder horn that serves as a time capsule from 10,000 BC, with instructions for an opening in 1960 AD. Bugs opens the powder horn and finds a reel of film. Bugs returns to his hole-in-the-ground residence and loads the film into a projector. The film opens with title credits announcing “A Micronesian Film Documentary in Breathtaking Cro-Magnonscope. Color by Neanderthal Color.” To Bugs’ surprise, the film focuses on his prehistoric ancestor, a saber-toothed rabbit, who is being pursued by the caveman Elmer Fuddstone.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Now, Hare This (1958)

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Now, Hare This (1958)
Directed by Robert McKimson
Story by Tedd Pierce
Animation by Tom Ray, George Grandpre, Ted Bonnicksen, and Warren Batchelder
Music by Milt Franklyn

B.B. Wolf wants to have a rabbit for dinner but lacks the brains and skills to catch Bugs Bunny through traditional means. He conspires with his giggly little nephew to outsmart the rabbit through fairy tale scenarios. The wolves first try to trick Bugs into participating in the Little Red Riding Hood story, and when that fails they seek to use the Goldilocks and the Three Bears story to trap him. Of course, Bugs is too smart to be fooled and B.B. gets battered as his plans go badly awry. In the end, B.B. manages to have a rabbit for dinner – with Bugs sharing a meal at the dining room table with a disgruntled B.B. and his giddy nephew.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Bedevilled Rabbit (1957)

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Bedevilled Rabbit (1957)
Directed by Robert McKimson
Story by Tedd Pierce
Animation by Ted Bonnicksen, Keith Darling, George Grandpré
Music by Milt Franklyn

When the Tasmanian Devil – or Taz, as his friends know him – debuted in the 1954 “Devil May Hare,” producer Edward Selzer took a dislike to the character and ordered director Robert McKimson not to use him again. However, studio chief Jack L. Warner later intervened by pointing to the surplus number of fan letters asking when Taz would be in another cartoon. Three years passed after “Devil May Hare” before he returned in “Bedevilled Rabbit,” which was the best of the Bugs-Taz pairings.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Wideo Wabbit (1956)

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Wideo Wabbit (1956)
Directed by Robert McKimson
Story by Tedd Pierce
Music by Carl Stalling
Animation by Ted Bonnicksen, Keith Darling, Russ Dyson, George Grandpré

Bugs Bunny answers a newspaper advertisement seeking a rabbit to appear on-camera at QTTV-TV. Bugs shows up and is hired, unaware that his job is to be the prey in Elmer Fudd’s television program “The Sportsman’s Hour,” sponsored by The French Fried Fresh Frozen Rabbit Company. Bugs narrowly avoids being shot by Elmer on live television and escapes through the corridors of the television studio, disguising himself as various small-screen personalities before turning tables on his predator by tricking Elmer to dress as a rabbit. Bugs then dresses up like Elmer and shoots the rabbit-suited Elmer on television.
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The Bootleg Files: Rabbit Stew and Rabbits Too!

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BOOTLEG FILES 909: “Rabbit Stew and Rabbits Too!” (1969 animated short).

LAST SEEN: On DailyMotion.com and several other sites.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A one-shot outing that came at the end of Warner Bros.’ animated theatrical run.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Maybe in a Warner Bros. anthology collection.

The last iteration of this column featured “Rabbit Habit,” an underground parody film that imagined a drug-hazed post-script for the Warner Bros. animated characters. In retrospect, “Rabbit Habit” would have been a better sign-off than “Rabbit Stew and Rabbits Too!”, a 1969 short that was completed just before the celebrated animation studio finally ended its theatrical output.
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