post

Cool Cat (1967)

Notable for introducing the first new characters in the brief (1967-69) era of Warner Bros.-Seven Arts cartoons, “Cool Cat” debuted the eponymous feline and his predator, the bumbling Briton Col. Rimfire, in a variation of the Bugs Bunny-Elmer Fudd hunting romps. The only difference here is that Cool Cat is blissfully unaware that Col. Rimfire is pursuing him. Even more peculiar, the feline star mistakes the colonel’s vehicle – a metallic pink elephant on wheels – for being a real pachyderm and he has a running one-way conversation with the machine.
Continue reading

post

Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Lighter Than Hare (1960)

Lighter Than Hare (1960)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by Friz Freleng
Animation by Gerry Chiniquy, Arthur Davis, Virgil Ross
Music by Milt Franklyn

From a human resources perspective, one must admire Yosemite Sam’s occupational versatility. Originally conceived as a desperado, he later worked as a pirate ship captain, a prison guard, a Hessian mercenary, a sheik, a medieval knight, and in “Lighter Than Hare” he is an extraterrestrial invader. Nice work if you can get it, eh?
Continue reading

post

Every Bugs Bunny Ever: People Are Bunny (1959)

People Are Bunny (1959)
Directed by Robert McKimson
Story by Tedd Pierce
Animation by Warren Batchelder, Tom Ray, Ted Bonnicksen, George Grandpré, David R. Green
Music by Milt Franklyn

Daffy Duck is watching television and dials into “The QTTV Sportsman Hour” where the host promises $1,000 for the first viewer who brings a rabbit into the station. Daffy tries to lure Bugs with free tickets to a television show, but when Bugs declines Daffy grabs a rifle and forces him to travel to QTTV. Once at the station, Bugs and Daffy have separate experiences with game shows – Bugs enjoys a profitable outcome while Daffy’s excursion ends painfully.
Continue reading

post

Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Backwoods Bunny (1959)

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.

Continue reading

post

I’ve Got to Sing a Torch Song (1933)

During the 1930s, several animated shorts presented silly caricatures of celebrities in unlikely situations. The 1933 Warner Bros. offering “I’ve Got to Sing a Torch Song” is among the most interesting of this mini-genre, with some genuinely amusing gags involving the big names of the day.

Continue reading

post

Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Bedevilled Rabbit (1957)

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.
Continue reading

post

Every Bugs Bunny Ever: A Star is Bored (1956)

A Star is Bored (1956)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by Warren Foster
Animation by Art Davis, Virgil Ross, Gerry Chiniquy
Music by Milt Franklyn

Daffy Duck is the malcontented janitor at a movie studio where Bugs Bunny is the reigning screen star. Annoyed at the attention Bugs is receiving, Daffy marches into the office of the casting director to demand a crack at stardom. Daffy is cast as Bugs’ stunt double in an ongoing production and is dressed in a rabbit suit but soon discovers to his frustration he is being assigned the most dangerous stunts.
Continue reading