Bunny Hugged

Last updated
Bunny Hugged
BunnyHugged TC.png
Directed by Charles M. Jones
Story by Michael Maltese
Starring Mel Blanc
Music by Carl Stalling
Animation by Phil Monroe
Ken Harris
Lloyd Vaughan
Ben Washam
Layouts by Peter Alvarado
Backgrounds byPhilip De Guard
Color process Technicolor
Production
company
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date
  • March 10, 1951 (1951-03-10)
Running time
7:17
LanguageEnglish

Bunny Hugged is a 1951 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies short, directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese. [1] The short was released on March 10, 1951, and stars Bugs Bunny. [2] Bunny Hugged is essentially a re-working of Jones' 1948 short Rabbit Punch , substituting wrestling for boxing.

Contents

Plot

A wrestling match pits professional wrestler Ravishing Ronald, "the de-natured boy" (a parody of Gorgeous George and "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers) against current champion the Crusher. Bugs, the mascot of Ravishing Ronald ("It's a livin'"), watches from a corner as the Crusher uses Ronald, tied up in his own hairnet, as a punching bag. Worried that he will lose his meal ticket, Bugs decides to enter the match as "The Masked Terror", wearing a covering over his entire head. The Crusher sees the new opponent as "fresh meat," disposes of Ronald and goes after Bugs.

Bugs using a little "stra-geetee" to gain the upper hand on the Crusher. Bunny Hugged screenshot.png
Bugs using a little "stra-geetee" to gain the upper hand on the Crusher.

Bugs tries to wrestle Crusher, but Crusher is unfazed, toys with Bugs and, by turning Bugs' ears into a propeller, sends the rabbit flying into the crowd. When, on his return flight, Bugs is caught in Crusher's leg-scissors hold, he figures it's time to "employ a little stragety[ sic ]". Bugs rips his mask apart, causing Crusher to believe his trunks have torn. As the hulking wrestler squirms, embarrassed, in the ring, Bugs strolls back from off-screen wearing a sandwich board advertising his services as "Stychen Tyme," a tailor. Crusher tells him his problem and Bugs seemingly prepares to sew the trunks. Instead, he jabs a needle in Crusher's backside, resulting in him soaring, screaming, into the audience.

Enraged, the wrestler comes charging back, but Bugs opens the door of a safe; Crusher runs through, bounces back off the ring ropes into the now slammed shut door. A now disoriented Crusher is able to be pinned, literally. As Bugs is being declared the new champion, Crusher snaps out of it. He offers his hand in congratulations and, despite the crowd's objections (Crusher merely growls them into silence), Bugs relents. Crusher yanks on the 'arm' and bites down on it, discovering it is a stick of dynamite, which blows up in his face.

Reception

Animation producer Paul Dini writes, "Many good cartoons feature realistic human animation. But a great cartoon features humans so wildly caricatured that every motion strikes us as real. Bunny Hugged is one such cartoon." [3]

Related Research Articles

<i>Looney Tunes</i> Warner Bros. animated short film series and media franchise

Looney Tunes is an American animated franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. It began as a series of short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series Merrie Melodies, during the golden age of American animation. Following a revival in the late 1970s, new shorts were released as recently as 2014. The two series introduced a large cast of characters, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig. The term Looney Tunes has since been expanded to also refer to the characters themselves.

<i>Whats Opera, Doc?</i> 1957 animated short

What's Opera, Doc? is a 1957 American Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese. The short was released on July 6, 1957, and stars Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd.

<i>Merrie Melodies</i> Cartoon series owned by Warner Bros. (1931–1969 and 1988–1997)

Merrie Melodies is an American animated comedy short film series distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is the companion series to Looney Tunes, and featured many of the same characters. It originally ran from August 2, 1931, to September 20, 1969, during the golden age of American animation, though it was revived in 1979, with new shorts sporadically released until June 13, 1997. Originally, Merrie Melodies placed emphasis on one-shot color films in comparison to the black-and-white Looney Tunes films. After Bugs Bunny became the breakout character of Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes transitioned to color production in the early 1940s, the two series gradually lost their distinctions and shorts were assigned to each series randomly.

<i>Bugs and Thugs</i> 1954 animated short film directed by Friz Freleng

Bugs and Thugs is a 1954 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on March 13, 1954, and stars Bugs Bunny, with Rocky and Mugsy. The film is a semi-remake of the 1946 cartoon Racketeer Rabbit. It is also the first Warner Bros short to feature Milt Franklyn as a musical director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petunia Pig</span> Warner Bros. theatrical cartoon character

Petunia Pig is an animated cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros. She looks much like her significant other, Porky Pig, except that she wears a dress and has pigtailed black hair.

<i>Robin Hood Daffy</i> 1958 animated short film by Chuck Jones

Robin Hood Daffy is a 1958 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon, directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese. The short was released on March 8, 1958, and stars Daffy Duck as Robin Hood and Porky Pig as Friar Tuck.

<i>Rhapsody Rabbit</i> 1946 animated short film by Friz Freleng

Rhapsody Rabbit is a 1946 American animated comedy short film in the Merrie Melodies series, directed by Friz Freleng and featuring Bugs Bunny. The movie was originally released to theaters by Warner Bros. Pictures on November 9, 1946. This short is a follow-up of sorts to Freleng's 1941 Academy Award-nominated Rhapsody in Rivets, which featured the "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" by Franz Liszt. The "instrument" used to perform the "Hungarian Rhapsody" in Rhapsody in Rivets is a skyscraper under construction, while this short features Bugs playing the piece at a piano while being pestered by a mouse.

<i>Hiawathas Rabbit Hunt</i> 1941 Bugs Bunny cartoon

Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt is a 1941 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. Mel Blanc voiced all characters. This film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Short Subject (cartoons), but lost to Walt Disney's Lend a Paw. This was the first Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The short makes several direct references to The Song of Hiawatha, an epic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Rabbit Seasoning is a 1952 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. Released on September 20, 1952, the short stars Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd.

<i>Haredevil Hare</i> 1948 animated short film directed by Chuck Jones

Haredevil Hare is a 1948 Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. It stars Bugs Bunny and it is the debut for Marvin the Martian — although he is unnamed in this film—along with his Martian dog, K-9. Marvin's nasal voice for this first film is different from the later one he is most known for. This is also the last pre-August 1948 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoon whose copyright was sold to Associated Artists Productions.

<i>Acrobatty Bunny</i> 1946 Bugs Bunny cartoon

Acrobatty Bunny is a 1946 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes short directed by Robert McKimson. The short was released on June 29, 1946, and stars Bugs Bunny and Nero the Lion. This was the first cartoon McKimson directed that starred Bugs Bunny.

<i>Hare Ribbin</i> 1944 animated short film by Robert Clampett

Hare Ribbin' is a 1944 animated short film in the Merrie Melodies series, directed by Robert Clampett and featuring Bugs Bunny. The plot features Bugs' conflict with a red-haired hound dog, whom the rabbit sets out to evade and make a fool of using one-liners, reverse psychology, disguises and other tricks. It was released in theaters by Warner Bros. on June 24, 1944. The title is a pun on "hair ribbon".

<i>The Abominable Snow Rabbit</i> 1961 animated short film by Chuck Jones

The Abominable Snow Rabbit is a 1961 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon directed by Chuck Jones and co-directed by Maurice Noble, with a story by Tedd Pierce. The short was released on May 20, 1961, and stars Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.

<i>Rabbit Punch</i> 1948 film

Rabbit Punch is a 1948 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoon. The short was released on April 10, 1948 and features Bugs Bunny. The work features a boxing match between "Battling McGook" and Bugs Bunny. The script reuses several gags from Baseball Bugs, which also had contributions from Michael Maltese, but was directed by Friz Freleng.

<i>Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5</i> 2007 American film

Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5 is a Looney Tunes collection on DVD. Following the pattern of one release each year of the previous volumes, it was released on October 30, 2007.

<i>Baton Bunny</i> 1959 film

Baton Bunny is a 1959 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon, directed by Chuck Jones and Abe Levitow. The short was released on 10 January 1959, and stars Bugs Bunny.

This is a listing of all the animated shorts released by Warner Bros. under the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies banners between 1940 and 1949.

<i>Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3</i> 2005 DVD compilation of Looney Tunes animated short films

Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3 is a DVD box set from Warner Home Video that was released on October 25, 2005. It contains 60 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical short subject cartoons, nine documentaries, 32 commentary tracks from animators and historians, 11 "vintage treasures from the vault", and 11 music-only or music-and-sound-effects audio tracks.

<i>Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection</i> 2020 American film

Looney Tunes: Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection is a Blu-ray Disc box-set released by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on December 1, 2020. It contains 60 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts starring Bugs Bunny and numerous bonus features and supplementary content. The set's packaging includes a slip book, a booklet, and a collectible Bugs Bunny Funko! POP doll.

References

  1. ↑ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 221. ISBN   0-8050-0894-2.
  2. ↑ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 60–61. ISBN   0-8160-3831-7 . Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  3. ↑ Beck, Jerry, ed. (2020). The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons. Insight Editions. pp. 32–33. ISBN   978-1-64722-137-9.
Preceded by Bugs Bunny Cartoons
1951		Succeeded by


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.