Every time I go to the Hollywood Bowl -- which is not that often -- I'm reminded of my very favorite Bugs Bunny cartoon.
Different people have different favorite Bugs cartoons. Some put "What's Opera, Doc?" at the top of the list. The Elmer/Daffy/Bugs Hunter trilogy often ranks in the top ten. "The Rabbit of Seville" is very popular. For me, the best Bugs Bunny cartoon of all time is "Long-Haired Hare." In my opinion, it's one of the only "perfect" cartoons ever made.
Without spoiling its "perfection," I'll say that I greatly appreciate how the final frames of "Long-Haired Hare" recall the opening frames. It's Chuck Jones' direction at its best, plus the added thrill of a caricature of Jones as the villain. The script is by Mike Maltese. Bugs is at his (1948) apex, doing a great "Leopold Stokowski" impression, dressing up as a bobby soxer, and justifiably "getting even" like never before or since. I also will always love Bugs' delivery of the line expressing his admiration for the Hollywood Bowl: "Acoustically poifect."
Bugs Bunny, Looney Tunes (c) Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.
I haven't watched a Bugs Bunny cartoon in forever, I believe I remember this episode though.
ReplyDeleteI never really had a favourite personally (probably because I could never recall any episode names from memory).
I loved this short, one, it was Bugs at his best, two, 1948 was easily the height of animation directed by Chuck Jones. This, Rhapsosy Rabbit, and Buggs Bunny rides again are some of my favorite Bugs Bunny cartoons outsidr of Tex Avery's shorts.
ReplyDeleteWow, that last frame looks like it's moving all on it's own o.o
ReplyDelete"my favorite Bugs Bunny cartoons outside of Tex Avery's shorts."
ReplyDeleteInside of Tex Avery's shorts...don't go there.
Wow! Where can I find this short? It looks/sounds great.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Bugs Bunny cartoon would have to be Chuck Jones' "Rabbit Rampage," because it's so funny and surreal and I love its predecessor ("Duck Amuck").
You can find "Long-Haired Hare" on the first disc of Volume 1 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection. This Disc One is titled "The Best of Bugs Bunny."
ReplyDeleteWow Tom, way to make the King of Cartoons (no, not the one from Pee Wee's playhouse) seem really scary.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, allyson, it's also on the spotlight collection volume one if you don't want to spend the cha ching for the golden collection....except for the second golden collection...why is that one so cheap anyway
ReplyDeleteLuke
ReplyDeleteIt was the perfect set-up line.
I must crack wise.
This is my job.
A few of my favourite Bugs Bunnys cartoons are 'Slick Hare', 'Baton Bunny' and 'What's Opera Doc?'.
ReplyDelete;)
Oh I LOVE that one! The funniest part i when Bugs starts playing the tuba s that guy tries to sing! XD
ReplyDeleteNext time Bugs Bunny at the symphony or broadway or whatever the next incarnation is that plays at the Bowl - GO SEE IT! So amazing!
ReplyDeletePlus kinda trippy if you sit far enough back. They played that cartoon & matched the coloring of the Bowl lighting. From far enough back it looked like Bugs was really directing the orchestra! the conductor even mimicked some of Bugs' poses!
They also played a Tom & Jerry short this year (last time it was all LT shorts) that was the same thing. They matched the lighting so the actual Bowl looked like the toon Bowl. SO COOL! Highly recommend it.
Good pick, Tom. (^_~)
ReplyDelete"Rabbit of Seville" was another great Jones Bugs cartoon. I think my personal favorite has to be, if any, "The Heckling Hare". It's one of Tex's entries and I think it shows his personality the best out of all of his cartoons.
Tex was great. He certainly shaped Bugs' personality in the early 40's.
ReplyDelete"Heckling Hare" (1941) was Bugs Bunny's fifth cartoon.
"Long-Haired Hare" was released 8 years later, in 1949, and is Bugs 60th cartoon. By then, the rabbit's personality had been further shaped and molded by the hands of other animation greats like Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng, Frank Tashlin, Bob McKimson and of course Chuck Jones. So, by the time Jones started making Long-Haired Hare, Bugs had evolved into the unflappable self-preservationist rabbit we know today.
TOTALLY agree, and have done so since childhood!
ReplyDeleteLong-Haired Hare(1949), The Warners' homage to Leopold Stokowski even more so than Fantasia(1940) alone, has always been for me the quintessential Bug Bunny don't-p!ss-off-the-little-guy take, which is what Bugs Bunny was created for.
The short is both unbelievably hilarious after all these years, and was in fact based on reality, as Stokowski really did eschew (reject) the baton when he was conducting.
Bugs was skewering the pretentions of every opera goer (and singer) in the piece, an activity dominated by the rich at the time, and in many ways still is.
Thank you for dedicating an entire web page to something that has sustained many of us in our professional lives. I think it has coloured my whole life.
...."Meh, ...Shrug, ...Of course, you realise THIS means WAR!" :)
Easily one of my favorites. Probably the first one I truly loved. "Dat's da nice, fat opera singer!"
ReplyDeleteI also really like Friz Freleng's "Slick Hare" (1947) and "Rhapsody Rabbit" (1946) and Bob Clampett's "Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid". If I were to tell somebody which BB cartoons were the most essential, those would be my picks (besides, you know, "What's Opera, Doc?", "Rabbit of Seville", the Hunting Trilogy, etc.)
Having gone on from my childhood to take voice lessons from a little lady named Ona Metrick and sing opera, I really like this one. I remember the whispered urgent "Leopold!" What a great performance!
ReplyDelete