“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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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REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It was withdrawn from circulation.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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Wet Hare (1962)
Directed by Robert McKimson
Story by David Detiege
Animation by Keith Darling, Ted Bonnicksen, Warren Batchelder, George Grandpre’
Music by Milt Franklyn
Bugs Bunny lives at the base of a waterfall that he uses as a shower. When the French-Canadian roughneck Blacque Jacque Shellacque dams the river and declares ownership of the water source, Bugs engages in an ongoing effort to destroy Jacque’s dams and let the water flow.
Prince Violent (1961)
Directed by Friz Freleng and Hawley Pratt
Story by Dave Detiege
Animation by Gerry Chiniquy, Virgil Ross, Art Davis, Bob Matz
Music by Milt Franklyn
The Viking Sam the Terrible makes a one-man invasion of a Dark Ages countryside, causing its inhabitants to flee for safety within a castle. Bugs Bunny, who views the Nordic invader as “broken loose electric can opener,” takes it upon himself to repel Sam, who makes repeated but disastrously futile efforts to gain access the castle.
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The Abominable Snow Rabbit (1961)
Directed by Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble
Story by Tedd Pierce
Animation by Ken Harris, Tom Ray, Richard Thompson, Bob Bransford, David R. Green
Music by Milt Franklyn
Bugs Bunny burrows underground on a trip to Palm Springs, with Daffy Duck following him. Somehow, they wind up in the Himalayas. Daffy is exasperated by Bugs’ poor sense of direction and decides to burrow his way home, but winds up encountering the Abominable Snowman. This oversized creature is strong but cheerfully dimwitted, and he is too eager to have a pet rabbit that he wants to name George.
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