From Hare to Heir (1960)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by Friz Freleng
Animation by Gerry Chiniquy, Art Davis, Virgil Ross
Music by Milt Franklyn
In Merry Olde England, things are anything but merry at Bedlam Manor where Sam, Duke of Yosemite, discovers he is penniless after his uncle, the King, discontinued his allowance. Sam takes out his anger on his accountant-servant by slamming the man’s nose in a large book.
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Horse Hare (1960)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by Michael Maltese
Animation by Gerry Chiniquy, Virgil Ross, Arthur Davis
Music by Milt Franklyn
In the Old West of 1886, Sergeant Bugs Bunny is tasked with being the sole guard on duty at Fort Lariat while the U.S. Cavalry leaves on a special mission. Once the Cavalry departs, Yosemite Sam – here known as “Renegade Sam” – leads a battalion of considerably incompetent Indian warriors in an attempt to overtake the fort. Needless to say, Bugs easily outwits these intruders while repeatedly humiliating Sam during the battle.
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Wild and Woolly Hare (1959)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by Warren Foster
Animation by Virgil Ross, Gerry Chiniquy, Art Davis
Music by Milt Franklyn
“Wild and Woolly Hare” starts off with a wonderful parody of “High Noon” as the scruffy denizens of an Old West saloon nervously await the arrival of a gunslinging villain – in this case, it is Yosemite Sam in his first cowboy cartoon since “High Diving Hare” in 1949. The bellicose Sam declares his presence by bellowing, “Any one of you lily-livered, bow-legged varmints care to slap leather with me? In case any of you get any idee-ers, ya better know yer dealin’ with. I’m the hootinest, tootinest, shootinest, bobtail wildcat in the West! I’m the fastest gun north, south, east annnnnnnd west of the Pecos!”
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“Hare-abian Nights” (1959)
Directed by Ken Harris
Story by Michael Maltese
Animation by Ken Harris and Ben Washam
Music by Milt Franklyn
Bugs Bunny is burrowing underground on his way to Perth Amboy, only to arrive in an Arabian sultan’s palace – a mistake he blames on failing to make a left turn in Des Moines. He thinks he is in a movie theater, but quickly discovers he is part of a line-up of would-be entertainers ordered to amuse the sultan. The performers work on an elevated stage with a trap door. If the sultan is not entertained, he pushes a button that drops the unlucky performers into a crocodile pit. Bugs is introduced as a “teller of tales” and quickly endeavors to stay out of the crocodile pit by recalling a few of his unlikely comic adventures.
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Knighty Knight Bugs (1958)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by Warren Foster
Animation by Gerry Chiniquy, Arthur Davis, Virgil Ross
Music by Milt Franklyn
When you consider how many cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny are now celebrated as animation classics, it is bizarre to realize that only three cartoons featuring the top star of the Warner Bros. animation studio were nominated for the Academy Award. Even more peculiar was the fact the three cartoons that were nominated – “A Wild Hare” (1940), “Hiawatha’s Rabbit Hunt” (1941), and “Knight Knight Bugs” (1958) – were far from the best of the Bugs Bunny series.
Piker’s Peak (1957)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by Warren Foster
Music by Carl Stalling and Milt Franklyn
Animation by Gerry Chiniquy, Arthur Davis, and Virgil Ross
In a small Swiss village, a competition is announced where a prize of 50,000 kronkites will be given to the first one who can climb the Schmatterhorn mountain. Yosemite Sam, dressed in Alpine mountain-climbing gear rather than his usual cowboy attire, agrees to the challenge. To Sam’s unhappiness, Bugs Bunny decides to try his luck at conquering the Schmatterhorn. Sam engages in outlandish chicanery designed to throw his competitor from the mountain, but inevitably winds up the victim of his deranged schemes
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Rabbitson Crusoe (1956)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by Warren Foster
Animation by Gerry Chiniquy, Art Davis. Virgil Ross
Music by Milt Franklyn
This riff on “Robinson Crusoe” is the rare Bugs Bunny cartoon where Bugs is mostly a supporting character, with the bulk of the comedy handled by Yosemite Sam and a one-off shark character named Dopey Dick.
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