# Cartoons where Bugs takes a beating **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 2, 2005, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoons-where-bugs-takes-a-beating/329049 "2005-11-02T05:21:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoons-where-bugs-takes-a-beating/329049/21 "2005-11-03T05:40:24Z")
> [@Yumblie](#): > > There was one cartoon I remember where Bugs is playing the Hungarian Rhapsody at a recital, and a mouse keeps messing him up. He plays the song while at the same time trying to get the mouse. I forget how it ended but I’m pretty sure in this one Bugs was the antagonist at the losing end. Indeed he was. The mouse brought out his own piano and finished the song, leaving Bugs to play the final three notes while muttering to himself angrily under his breath. (Interestingly, there was a Tom and Jerry cartoon made the same year with exactly the same plot. Both cartoons ended up nominated for an Oscar that year. I heard Bill Hanna- or maybe it was Barbera?- tell a story about the screening once. The Tom and Jerry cartoon was shown first- and won- and when the Bugs Bunny cartoon started, the audience laughed. Friz Freling, who directed Bugs’s cartoon, yelled that he came up with the idea first.) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoons-where-bugs-takes-a-beating/329049/22 "2005-11-03T09:58:58Z")
I can’t believe I’m the first to cite _What’s Opera Doc?_ which ends with Elmer & his magic helmet killing Bugs. “What do you expect in an opera - a happy ending?” ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoons-where-bugs-takes-a-beating/329049/23 "2005-11-03T11:25:09Z")
> [@Peter Morris](#): > > I can’t believe I’m the first to cite What’s Opera Doc? which ends with Elmer & his magic helmet killing Bugs. “What do you expect in an opera - a happy ending?” Spear and Magic Helmet! ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoons-where-bugs-takes-a-beating/329049/24 "2005-11-03T15:24:44Z")
> [@anyrose](#): > > there’s one that came out after Duck Amok, similar scenerio with Elmer as the artist and Bugs as his victim. > Bugs is carted off to Alcatraz in the one where Elmer thinks he’s a rabbit. _Hare Brush_, directed by Friz Freleng. \*"Repeat after me: “I am Elmer J. Fudd, millionare. I own a mansion and a yacht.” \* Freleng had used a similar device in an earlier short, _The Hare-Brained Hypnotist_, where Elmer tries to get the best of Bugs using eye-crackling mesmeric powers. Bugs quickly picks up the knack as well, and decides to teach Elmer a lesson by making him believe he’s a rabbit. Elmer, of course, proceeds to inflict on Bugs all the indignities he’s had to endure over the years, plus a couple new ones (I especially enjoyed the carrot gag). Bugs is incensed by this sudden reversal (_"Who’s da comedian in dis picture, anyway?!_") and an apocalyptic battle of wills ensues. Ultimately, Bugs prevails… _or does he?_ In yet another Freleng-directed short, _Hyde and Hare_, Bugs is adopted by the milquetoasty Dr. Jekyll, whose ugly addiction problem manifests itself frequently and unpredictably throughout the picture. Jekyll only transforms out of Bugs’ line of sight, though, so Bugs never picks up on the relationship. Bugs therefore spends the entire cartoon vainly trying to rescue the mild-mannered doctor while dodging the attacks of the giant apelike maniac who somehow keeps appearing out of nowhere. Eventually he just gives up and exercises the better part of valor-- a rare and humiliating rout for the normally perceptive lagomorph. \*Hyde and Hare \* also features what I believe is the only example of Bugs Bunny actually behaving like a real rabbit, albeit briefly, twitching his nose and scampering timidly about on all fours. It’s a vaguely disturbing sight. ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoons-where-bugs-takes-a-beating/329049/25 "2005-11-03T17:45:17Z")
Actually, **Terrifel** , I was referring to two separate cartoons (I guess I should have made that clear) I _think_ \*Hare Brush \* is the on where Elmer is the artist. But if so, what is the name where Elmer starts out in an asylum (Bugs: Ewww. Nasty medicine teaspoon) ? ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoons-where-bugs-takes-a-beating/329049/26 "2005-11-03T18:32:00Z")
> [@anyrose](#): > > Actually, **Terrifel** , I was referring to two separate cartoons (I guess I should have made that clear) > I _think_ \*Hare Brush \* is the on where Elmer is the artist. > But if so, what is the name where Elmer starts out in an asylum (Bugs: Ewww. Nasty medicine teaspoon) ? Nah, I misunderstood you; \*Hare Brush \* was the asylum cartoon-- Freleng was never too discriminating about how apropos the title punnery was. Chuck Jones’ “similar scenario” to \*Duck Amuck \* was _Rabbit Rampage_, which came out the same year (1955). It’s interesting how much funnier \*Hare Brush \* is than _Rabbit Rampage_– Freleng obviously didn’t see anything wrong with tearing into Bugs once in a while, whereas Jones was clearly uncomfortable with the notion. As **CalMeacham** points out, he never tried anything like it again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoons-where-bugs-takes-a-beating/329049.md?page=1)