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Chuck jones (1954)

Happy Halloween!

Bewitched Bunny is a 1954 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese. The short was released on July 24, 1954, and stars Bugs Bunny. Jones created the character Witch Hazel who debuted in this cartoon.

This short was the subject of controversy in Canada, when, in July 1998, a viewer who saw the short on an airing of The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show on Global thought Bugs’ final line (after Witch Hazel is transformed into a beautiful female rabbit, but still laughs like Witch Hazel): “Yeah, I know. But aren’t they all witches inside?” was misogynistic. Charlotte Bell, Global’s Vice-President of Regulatory Affairs at the time, wrote back, denying that there was anything misogynistic about the line. The complainant then filed a formal complaint with the Broadcast Standards Council, incorporating the Global executive who denied the claim into her analysis and cited that “Bewitched Bunny” showed women in an unflattering light and that the Global executive she talked to was lying about the claim. Eleven months and three days after it received the complaint, the Council reached its conclusion: while the ending line can be taken as sexist towards women, the short as a whole does not, in fact, show women in an unflattering light nor does it break any of Canada’s broadcasting rules and regulations. For a while, the Global version of this short aired with the allegedly misogynist “witches” line replaced with “Yeah, I know. But who wants to be alone on Halloween?” (which was taken from the American TV special Bugs Bunny’s Howl-oween Special). When the verdict that the original line wasn’t in breach of any Canadian broadcasting rules, the edited version was swiftly replaced with the original. This controversy was briefly mentioned by Eric Goldberg on the DVD commentary of the fifth volume of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD set.

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Chuck Jones & Maurice Noble (1963)

Bugs demonstrates how to handle a pesky vampire with six simple magic incantations. The title is a pun on Pennsylvania 6-5000, a song associated with Glenn Miller and referring to the now-archaic system of telephone exchange names where the first two characters of a telephone number were expressed as letters: Transylvania 6-5000 stands for “TR 6-5000” which devolves to 876-5000.

This cartoon featuring Bugs Bunny and Count Blood Count is one of my favorite Halloween-themed cartoons from childhood. I hope you enjoy it as much as I always have and that it gets you in the spirit of the spook this Halloween. Thanks for watching.

Transylvania 6-5000 is a Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on November 30, 1963, and stars Bugs Bunny. It was the last original Bugs Bunny short Jones made for Warner Bros. Cartoons before Jones left for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to found his own studio, Sib Tower 12 Productions. It was his second-to-last cartoon at Warner Bros. before moving to MGM, and the second-to-last Warner cartoon in 1963.

Animated by Bob Bransford, Tom Ray, Ken Harris, and Richard Thompson.

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Friz Freleng (1942)

In the Canadian North Woods, Bugs is wanted dead or alive and Elmer is out to bring him in with the help of the Canadian Mounties.

Fresh Hare is a Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Friz Freleng, written by Michael Maltese, animated by Manuel Perez, and produced by Leon Schlesinger. It was released to theatres on August 22, 1942.

The title is a typical Warner Bros. pun on “fresh air” that has little or nothing to do with the plot, other than being set in the crisp, frigid air of a Canadian winter. Caricatures of Adolf Hitler and Veronica Lake make appearances during the animated short.

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Chuck Jones (1939)

Two dogs hiding from the dog catcher encounter a tricky Bugs Bunny prototype.

Prest-O Change-O is a 1939 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones, and was first released on March 25, 1939 by Warner Bros. It is the only Happy Rabbit cartoon to be reissued. It marks the second appearance of Happy Rabbit, the Bugs Bunny lookalike before Bugs Bunny officially hit the scene in 1940 in the hilarious Tex Avery cartoon A Wild Hare, which is considered to be the first official Bugs Bunny cartoon. This film fell into the public domain in 1967 due to United Artists failing to renew the copyright in time within 28 years.

To see Bugs Bunny’s official debut, click this link: https://hobomooncartoons.com/2020/07/27/happy-80th-birthday-doc/

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Chuck Jones & Ken Harris (1943)

Two hungry castaways encounter Bugs Bunny on a tropical island.

Wackiki Wabbit is a 1943 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon, starring Bugs Bunny.

Directed by Chuck Jones

Animated by Ken Harris

Written by Tedd Pierce

Produced by Leon Schlesinger

Musical direction by Carl Stalling

Wackiki Wabbit contains experimental abstract backgrounds and its title is a play on words, suggesting both the island setting of Waikiki and Bugs’ wackiness. Elmer Fudd’s speech pronunciation of “rabbit” is also in the title, although Elmer does not appear in this picture.

This cartoon has fallen to the public domain after United Artists failed to renew the copyright on time.

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Bob Clampett (1942)

Bugs Bunny thwarts Elmer Fudd’s efforts as he prospects for gold.

The Wacky Wabbit is a Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Bob Clampett in 1942 starring Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd.

Although Bob Clampett had already started making cartoons of his own with Tex Avery’s old unit, you get the impression that Bob’s first color cartoons have sequences which are very similar to Tex Avery’s animation style, in gags and timing. Bob’s 1942 cartoons were rather silly before he completely took a different route later in the year; with edgier-paced cartoons like The Hep Cat or A Tale of Two Kitties. The shorts still contain a lot of Clampett’s style of humor, except that each short gradually builds up from the previous short.

Produced by Leon Schlesinger.

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Chuck Jones (1942)

Case of the Missing Hare is a 1942 Warner Bros. cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series, directed by Chuck Jones and starring Bugs Bunny. The short was released on December 12, 1942.

This is one of the few cartoons where Bugs Bunny does not say his catchphrase, “What’s up, Doc?”, though he does address the magician as “Doc” early in the film. It is also one of few cartoons in the character’s filmography to fall into the public domain, due to the failure of the last copyright holder, United Artists Television, to renew the original copyright within the allotted 28-year period.

Background artists Gene Fleury and John McGrew reduced most of the backgrounds to the film to patterns (stripes, zig-zags, etc.) and colored cards. The result was outlandish but Fleury recalled Leon Schlesinger congratulating them. In the theater setting of the film, these backgrounds could be rationalized to represent stage flats.

Michael S. Shull and David E. Wilt consider it ambiguous if this cartoon contained a World War II–related reference. Bugs Bunny pronounces the phrase “Of course you realize, this means war” in a gruff voice that may have been intended as an imitation of Winston Churchill, though it was also used several times in Duck Soup.

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Jeff Siergey (2011)

If only this song were true. We probably wouldn’t be in the fix we’re in, that’s for sure. Good for a laugh though.

Presidents’ Day is the fourteenth Merrie Melodies music video, the second to be sung by Lola Bunny and the first song to feature Lola without Bugs. This appears in the episode French Fries.

Written by Hugh Davidson, Larry Dorf, Ben Falcone, and Rachel Ramras.

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Tex Avery (1949)

Doggone Tired is a 1949 cartoon short directed by Tex Avery.

An energetic dog needs a night’s rest if he’s going to be ready for rabbit hunting at dawn. A crafty rabbit does everything he can to keep him awake.

Director: Tex Avery
Writers: Rich Hogan and Jack Cosgriff
Stars: Bea Benaderet and Daws Butler

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Chuck Jones & Maurice Noble (1963)

Bugs demonstrates how to handle a pesky vampire with six simple magic incantations. The title is a pun on Pennsylvania 6-5000, a song associated with Glenn Miller and referring to the now-archaic system of telephone exchange names where the first two characters of a telephone number were expressed as letters: Transylvania 6-5000 stands for “TR 6-5000” which devolves to 876-5000.

This cartoon featuring Bugs Bunny and Count Blood Count is one of my favorite Halloween-themed cartoons from childhood. I hope you enjoy it as much as I always have and that it gets you in the spirit of the spook this Halloween. Thanks for watching.

Transylvania 6-5000 is a Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on November 30, 1963, and stars Bugs Bunny. It was the last original Bugs Bunny short Jones made for Warner Bros. Cartoons before Jones left for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to found his own studio, Sib Tower 12 Productions. It was his second-to-last cartoon at Warner Bros. before moving to MGM, and the second-to-last Warner cartoon in 1963.

Animated by Bob Bransford, Tom Ray, Ken Harris, and Richard Thompson.

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Friz Freleng (1942)

The Wabbit Who Came to Supper is a 1942 Merrie Melodies cartoon featuring Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. It was released on March 28, 1942 and directed by Friz Freleng. Elmer Fudd and his dogs are hunting for Bugs Bunny in the woods. As Fudd is about to shoot Bugs, he receives a telegram telling him that his uncle is leaving him three million dollars on the condition he doesn’t harm any animals. The title is a reference to the 1942 Warner Brothers film version of the 1939 George S. Kaufman Broadway comedy The Man Who Came to Dinner, in which an overbearing house-guest threatens to take over the lives of a small-town family.

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Bob Clampett (1943)

A Corny Concerto is a 1943 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies directed by Bob Clampett. The short was released on September 25, 1943, and stars Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd and Daffy Duck. They perform a parody of Disney’s Silly Symphony cartoon series and specifically his 1940 feature Fantasia. The film uses two of Johann Strauss’ best known waltzes, “Tales from the Vienna Woods” and “The Blue Danube”.

Fantasia was marketed to highbrow music fans; the Looney Tunes staff responded by violating the ivory tower of classical music and concert hall culture. A Corny Concerto parodies Fantasia’s Silly Symphonies-derived balletic approach to storytelling. Elmer Fudd stands in for Deems Taylor, and in an anti-highbrow gag, his starched shirtfront keeps erupting from his shirt to hit him on the face.

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Chuck Jones (1946)

Hair-Raising Hare is a Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon, released in 1946. It was directed by Chuck Jones and written by Tedd Pierce. It stars Bugs Bunny and features the first appearance of Chuck Jones’ imposing orange monster character, unnamed here, but in later cartoons named “Rudolph” and then “Gossamer”.

Animation director J. J. Sedelmaier writes, “It’s interesting to see how different Bugs’ character is in this film, from, say, the cool and calm Bugs in Rabbit Seasoning (1952). He’s much more the Groucho Marx type in this short; in fact, I doubt you’ll find another cartoon in which he does the Groucho walk more than here. The other unique aspect that has always grabbed me about this particular cartoon is the design of the monster. Where do his hands and arms go when we don’t see them? Why the sneakers? It’s this sort of stuff that reminds me why I love good cartoons: You don’t care about this stuff. You just enjoy it.”

Story by Tedd Pierce

Music by Carl Stalling

Animated by Ben Washam, Ken Harris, Basil Davidovich, and Lloyd Vaughan

Backgroungs by Robert Bribbroek

Starring Mel Blanc

Technicolor

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Chuck Jones (1957)

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.

The story features Elmer chasing Bugs through a parody of 19th-century classical composer Richard Wagner’s operas, particularly Der Ring des Nibelungen, Der Fliegende HollĂ€nder, and TannhĂ€user. It borrows heavily from the second opera in the “Ring Cycle” Die WalkĂŒre, woven around the typical Bugs–Elmer feud. The short marks the final appearance of Elmer Fudd in a Chuck Jones cartoon.

It has been widely praised by many in the animation industry as the greatest animated cartoon that Warner Bros. ever released, and has been ranked as such in the top 50 animated cartoons of all time. In 1992, the Library of Congress deemed it “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry, the first cartoon to receive such honors.

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Tex Avery (1940)

A Wild Hare is a 1940 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon supervised by Tex Avery. The short subject features Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny. The short is Bugs Bunny’s first official appearance.

Bugs’s nonchalant stance, as explained many years later by Chuck Jones, and again by Friz Freleng and Bob Clampett, comes from the 1934 movie It Happened One Night, from a scene where Clark Gable’s character is leaning against a fence eating carrots more quickly than he is swallowing (as Bugs would later do), giving instructions with his mouth full to Claudette Colbert’s character. This scene was so famous at the time that most people immediately saw the connection.

The line, “What’s up, Doc?”, was added by director Tex Avery for this film. Avery explained later that it was a common expression in Texas where he was from, and he didn’t think much of the phrase. But when this short was screened in theaters, the scene of Bugs calmly chewing a carrot, followed by the nonchalant “What’s Up, Doc?”, went against any 1940s audience’s expectation of how a rabbit might react to a hunter and caused complete pandemonium in the audience, bringing down the house in every theater. As a result of this popularity, Bugs eats a carrot and utters some version of the phrase in almost every one of his cartoons; sometimes entirely out of context.

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Ryan Kramer (2020)

When Bugs Bunny wants to take a ride on the roller coaster, Yosemite Sam, the carnie, claims no rabbits are allowed, so Bugs tries to get on anyway.

Ryan Kramer is known for his work on Uncle Grandpa, Ben 10, and Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness. He enjoys making comics, raising kids, meditation, fitness, philosophy, and breakfast burritos. You can find him on Twitter @ToonholeRyan.

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Kenny Pittenger & David Gemmill (2020)

Please enjoy this short from the new series “Looney Tunes Cartoons”.

Starring the cherished Looney Tunes characters. Looney Tunes Cartoons echoes the high production value and process of the original Looney Tunes theatrical shorts with a cartoonist-driven approach to storytelling. Marquee Looney Tunes characters will be featured in their classic pairings in simple, gag-driven and visually vibrant stories. The new series from Warner Bros. Animation is comprised of animated shorts that vary in length and includes adapted storylines for today’s audience.

Looney Tunes Cartoons is an American animated web television series developed by Peter Browngardt and produced by Warner Bros. Animation, based on the characters from Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. The series made its worldwide debut at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival on June 10, 2019, and will premiere on HBO Max on May 27, 2020.

On June 11, 2018, Warner Bros. Animation announced that a new series, which would “consist of 1,000 minutes spread across 1–6 minute shorts”, would be released in 2019 and that it would feature “the brand’s marquee characters voiced by their current voice actors in simple gag-driven and visually vibrant stories”. The style of the series is to be reminiscent to those of Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Robert McKimson, Bob Clampett and others. President of Warner Bros. Animation, Sam Register (creator of Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi), along with Peter Browngardt (the creator of Secret Mountain Fort Awesome and Uncle Grandpa), serve as executive producers for the series.

The series will bring all of the Looney Tunes characters together under one roof, including marquee characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester Cat, Tweety Bird, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner, Taz, Foghorn Leghorn, Beaky Buzzard, and PepĂ© Le Pew. Who else might show up? You’ll have to watch to find out.

Kenny Pittenger is known for his work on SpongeBob SquarePants and David Gemmill is known for his work on Teen Titans Go!

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Warner Bros. (2020)

Join the all new adventures of the Looney Tunes pals including Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck and friends!

Looney Tunes Cartoons is an American animated web television series developed by Peter Browngardt, creator of Cartoon Network’s Secret Mountain Fort Awesome and Uncle Grandpa, and produced by Warner Bros. Animation, based on the characters from Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. It made its worldwide premiere at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival on June 10, 2019. This show is the successor to New Looney Tunes. The series will be publicly released on HBO Max on May 27, 2020.

On June 12, 2019, a short titled Dynamite Dance was uploaded on YouTube. It served as a trailer for the series starring Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd.

On June 11, 2018, Warner Bros. Animation announced that a new series, which would “consist of 1,000 minutes spread across 1–6 minute shorts”, would be released in 2019 and that it would feature “the brand’s marquee characters voiced by their current voice actors in simple gag-driven and visually vibrant stories”. The style of the series is to be reminiscent to those of Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Robert McKimson, Bob Clampett, and others. President of Warner Bros. Animation Sam Register  along with Pete Browngardt serve as executive producers for the series. The shorts will bring all of the Looney Tunes together under one roof, including more obscure members like Pete Puma, Beaky Buzzard, Hubie and Bertie, Petunia Pig and Cicero Pig.

To watch the new Looney Tunes Cartoons short Dynamite Dance click on the link below:

https://hobomooncartoons.com/2019/06/30/looney-tunes-cartoons-dynamite-dance/

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Friz Freleng (1945)

Hare Trigger is a 1945 Merrie Melodies short directed by Friz Freleng and stars Bugs Bunny. The short featured the first appearance of Yosemite Sam, as well as the first short to credit the whole animation staff who worked on the short.

The short is also the first to use the shortened version of the song Merrily We Roll Along that played from 1945 to 1955.

Yosemite Sam is an American animated cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons produced by Warner Bros. Animation. His name is taken from Yosemite National Park. Along with Elmer Fudd, he is an adversary of Bugs Bunny. He is commonly depicted as an extremely aggressive gunslinging prospector, outlaw, pirate, or cowboy with a hair-trigger temper and an intense hatred of rabbits — Bugs in particular.

Animator Friz Freleng introduced the redesigned or renamed character in the 1945 cartoon Hare Trigger. With his grumpy demeanor, fiery temper, strident voice and short stature, and fiery red hair, Sam was in some ways a caricature of Freleng.

Other characters with Sam-like features appear in several Merrie Melodies shorts.

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Chuck Jones (1948)

After Bugs Bunny had begun to outwit Yosemite Sam â€“ the creation of the senior director Friz Freleng â€“ director Chuck Jones decided to create the opposite type of character, one who was calm and soft-spoken, but whose actions were legitimately dangerous. Marvin the Martian was the result, and made his debut in 1948’s Haredevil Hare. Marvin is the quietest of the Looney Tunes villains, and is very clever and competent in general. However, he is also comedic.

Marvin’s design was based on a style of armor usually worn by the Roman god Mars. “That was the uniform that Mars wore — that helmet and skirt. We thought putting it on this ant-like creature might be funny. But since he had no mouth, we had to convey that he was speaking totally through his movements. It demanded a kind of expressive body mechanics.”

Marvin was never named in the original shorts – he was referred to as the Commander of Flying Saucer X-2 in The Hasty Hare in 1952. However, in 1979, once the character apparently attracted merchandising interest, the name “Marvin” was seen in The Bugs Bunny Road Runner Movie—more than 30 years after his birth!

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Warner Bros. (2019)

Looney Tunes Cartoons Coming Soon From Warner Bros. Animation.

In Annecy, France, Warner Bros. Animation premiered its raucous new slate of Looney Tunes shorts, screening more than 10 of them in front of a packed house of 1,000 enthusiastic festival attendees. The program was introduced by WBA’s vp of series Audrey Diehl, joined by executive producer Pete Browngardt and supervising producer Alex Kirwan who about the production process of the new shorts in between the screening of the films.

The shorts are part of the studio’s commitment to creating 1,000 minutes of new Looney Tunes animation. When WB announced the project at last year’s Annecy festival, the studio touted that the shorts would take a “cartoonist-driven approach to storytelling,” and they’ve stayed true to that mission.

In fact, these cartoons are truly unlike any recent incarnation of Looney Tunes television projects – the characters felt true to their personalities, the cartoons were visually driven with each one reflecting the distinct humor of its directors and board artists, and the gags were inventive and outrageous, in some cases outrageous enough to make one wonder, How did they get away with that in 2019?

Among the shorts that received the strongest reaction at the screening was Basket Bugs, also directed by Gemmill. Two of the gags in that film were so well constructed (and unexpected) that they received applause from the audience, and as anyone who watches a lot of animated shorts in theaters can tell you, it’s a rare occasion when an audience cheers for individual gags in the middle of a film.

Warner Bros. still hasn’t announced how it will release its new Looney Tunes content – there could be as many as 200-plus shorts of varying lengths when all is said and done – but wherever they put them out, a lot of viewers are going to be pleasantly surprised by this one-of-a-kind project

–by Amid Amidi of Cartoon Brew

Below are stills from two more of the shorts that premiered today at Annecy: Wet Cement and Mummy Dummy.

Wet Cement

Mummy Dummy