“Porky in Wackyland” - Bob Clampett, 1938. Incredible, almost surreal animation.
“Falling Hare” - Bob Clampett, 1943. Bugs meets a gremlin who’s trying to sabotage a plane.
“Book Revue” - Bob Clampett, 1946. Has Daffy Duck imitating Danny Kaye’s skat singing and Russian shtick. “Nothing could be feener than to be in Caroleena in the mo-o-or-nink!”
“Hare Remover” - Frank Tashlin, 1946. Elmer mixes up a potion which he hopes will change Bugs into a monster a la Jekyll and Hyde. It doesn’t, and Bugs tricks Elmer into sampling it. Bugs addresses the audience and says “I think Spencer Tracy did it a lot better, don’t you, folks?” LOL!
“The Rabbit of Seville” - Chuck Jones, 1950. He sticks very close to the Rossini overture, making for very tight pacing. Very clever and creative gags.
“What’s Opera, Doc?” - Chuck Jones, 1957. I like this, but not as much as the previous entry. This is a mish-mash of Wagner music, characters, and situations. It depends on the rather obvious humor in the silly incongruities of Bugs and Elmer in Wagner roles. Funny, but not great.
Except for the previous two, I don’t care for Looney Tunes after about 1948. The animation became simpler and less interesting. Also, I think the plots and pacing aren’t as tight and the jokes aren’t as clever.
Forgot to mention “Buccaneer Bunny” - Friz Freleng, 1948. The background music in the scene where Bugs goes in and out the ship’s cabin doors is the song “When My Dreamboat Comes Home”, keeping with the nautical theme!
“Porky in Wackyland” was also released as “Dough for the Dodo”. This has to rate as one of the all time greats. Be careful about which version you see. I’m not sure which one (color or the earlier B&W), but one of them contains references to everything from Salvador Dali to The Three Stooges. It is quite obvious that the animators were having a busman’s holiday with this little number.
“What’s Opera Doc” is worthy of mention if only for the radical departure in production values that it represents. In his recent video biography, “In Animate Terms”, Chuck Jones revealed that whereas most of the WB cartoons required storyboards of approximately 100 panels, “What’s Opera Doc” consumed over 200 of them to sketch out the plot. It also used monochrome shaded backgrounds in non-normal colors like purple and red for the first time. All in all, it was light years ahead of the competition.
I’m surprised that no one has mentioned “Buckaroo Bugs”, if only for the near psychedellic coloration of the opening sequences. Definitely a stunning example of classic cartoon animation at its zenith. Few if any other productions will ever equal the quality of these early works of American animation art.
As to the theme song:
IIRC, the correct title is “Merry Go Round Broke Down”. I love to use that one to win bar bets. Everyone recognizes the tune, but few can ever name it. Sort of like the Alfred Hitchcock theme.
And finally, let us pay a moment’s tribute to Mel Blanc. Without him none of these cartoons would have had the verve and fabulously idiosyncratic characters that they were blessed with. To this day Mel Blanc remains one of my all-time heros. It is with great pride that I am able to readily produce easily identifiable impressions of many of his voice characterizations.
Ok, I’m coming in late and my favorites have been mentioned (“The Rabbit of Seville”, “Duck Amuck”, “Rabbit Seasoning”) but one forgotten classic (because, well…it’s apparently politcally incorrect) is “Bushy-Haired Bunny” (or something like that)
Bugs ends up in Australia, and meets an Aborigine. Bugs keeps referring to him as “Nature Boy”. In one funny sequence, Bugs tries to speak with Nature Boy, knowing nothing of the language:
Bugs (tenatively): Unga-bunga-bunga?
NB (corrects him): UNGA-bunga-bunga!!
Bugs (questioning): Unga-bunga-bango?
NB (furious): UNGA-BUNGA-BINGO!
Bugs (taunting): Unga-bunga-bunga-binga-binga-bunga-bunnnnnnn-ga!
NB goes insane, running in circles, shrieking, and waving his spear.
Bugs: What did I say?
“Monsters are such IN-teresting people (bobbie pins, please).”
I’m partial to Daffy Duck, just because he was such a jerk half the time. My favorites include Daffy as the salesman of the home of the future - “Why go up stairs, when you can bring the upstairs, downstairs?” “NO NO NO - Don’t ever push the Red Button!”, Daffy agreeing to fake being shot by Elmer Fudd and ending up in the freezer “It was 40 below, but the serum had to get through! It was mush, mush, mush all the way! Suddenly, the glacier breaks! AHHHHHHHHHH”, and Daffy and Bugs competing for Alladin’s lamp (with the genie having Jim Backus’ voice: “Oh sweet spirits of camphor! What must a genie do to get some piece and quiet around here?”
Daffy as Robin Hood is a good one, too - “Ha, ha, ho, ho, hee, hee - it is to laugh.”
For me, it’s “Little Red Riding Rabbit” with the obnoxious Bobby Soxer Red singing “The Five O’Clock Whistle” at the beginning. (Rumor has it that the voice of Red the Bobby Soxer was none other than Bea Benaderet!) Bugs and the wolf mix it up at Grandma’s, who’s off working the swing shift at Lockheed. I could watch this cartoon a hundred times and would laugh out loud each time Bugs gets the wolf to sing “Put on Your Old Grey Bonnet!”
I think my all-time favorite would have to be the one where Bugs and Elmer are doing the opera…“Kill the wabbit…kill the wabbit…” I don’t know the name of the cartoon OR the opera, but Bugs looks great in braids & horns.
I also love the one(s)? where Yosemite Sam is a Rebel soldier during the Civil War and Bugs is a Southern Belle. They show the Mason-Dixon line actually painted on the ground, and everything to the South is a beautiful lush green, while everything to the North is a wasteland.
There’s also one that I haven’t seen in years (I don’t know if they don’t show it for some reason or if I just keep missing it) where Bugs is in the Army. At one point he is taking a bath in an Army helmet. At the end he is testing shells by hitting them with a hammer and writing “dud” on them if they don’t explode. Can anybody help on that one?
I love the one where Daffy Duck plays “Boston Quackie”. The bit about the Dragon Lady was great. “Why do they call you Dragon Lady?” (Dragon Lady shoots fire at Daffy out of her mouth) Daffy answers, “Oh.”
I also love the cartoons where Yosemite Sam is a pirate up against Bugs. And I can’t believe nobody’s mentioned “My name is Elmer J. Fudd, I own a mansion and a yacht.”
“Merry Go Round” is the theme for Looney Tunes, and “Merrily We Roll Along” is the theme for Merrie Melodies.
Some more cartoon IDs:
Bugs meets “Nature Boy” in Australia: Bushy Hare(1950-now banned, sadly)
Bugs in the Army: Forward March Hare(1953)
Avery cartoon about man speaking in slang: Symphony in Slang(Actually an Avery MGM, 1951)
Daffy as Sherlock Holmes (or Dorlock Homes, if you will): Deduce, You Say(1956)
“I am Elmer J. Fudd, millionaire, I own a mansion and a yacht:” Hare Brush(1955)
Sylvester chases Tweety in Venice: A Pizza Tweety Pie(1958-yes, this is the one with the sign that says “Ducka You Head-Lowla Bridgeada”)
Oh, and if you Warner cartoon fans don’t have a copy of Jerry Beck and Will Friedwald’s Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons, get one. You’ll thank me for it. The two took their time to watch EVERY cartoon made by Warners up to the publication date (1989), and compiled the information and plot desciptions into a little, 9"x6", 390-page, US$15.95, published by Henry Holt and Co., ISBN 0-8050-0894-2 book (that should be enough information for you to be able to order it). I can see why people call it “the Looney Tunes bible.”
I’ll try to figure out what my favorite ones are, so I’ll actually have something to post that BELONGS in this thread!
Yes yes yes, by trying to get the cat to eat them. Who immidiately gets suspicious and decides now he’s seen it all and tries to get the dog to eat him. Who freaks out. Sits them all down and whips out his counting machine and finds that “It just don’t add up!” and decides he’s gonna chace the dog catcher, heeheehee.
I’ve also loved Frigid Hare, which is now banned, when that little penguin cries ice cubes, teeheehee
And lastly Tortoise Beats Hare heeheehee, and the other Tortoise-Rabbit race. When Bugs gets the arrested, teeheehee, sighhhgigglesnort
Didn’t it have an Eskimo guy that was after them? I think I remember Bugs calling him an Eskimo pie-head at the end. Considering people are so hyper sensitive about any portrayal, whether it’s really offensive or not, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was banned. Too bad, it was one of my favorites.
