Bowery Bugs

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = Bowery Bugs
series = Merrie Melodies


caption =
director = Arthur Davis
story_artist =Lloyd Turner, William Scott
animator = Emery Hawkins J.C Melendez Basil Davidovich Don Williams
voice_actor = Mel Blanc
Billy Bletcher
musician = Carl Stalling
producer = Edward Selzer
distributor = Warner Bros.
release_date = June 4, 1949
color_process = Technicolor
runtime = 7 mins
movie_language = English
imdb_id =0041201

"Bowery Bugs" is a Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by Arthur Davis, written by Lloyd Scott and Bill Turner, and released in mid-1949 as part of the "Merrie Melodies" series, released.Despite having been released in the 1948-1949 season, the cartoon uses 1950-1951 title sequences, until the the opening title was re-released with a Blue Ribbon opening. This was also the only cartoon animated and released in 1949.] It stars Bugs Bunny (voiced by Mel Blanc) and Steve Brody (voiced here by Billy Bletcher), who was based on the real-life Brooklyn bookmaker Steve Brodie, who claimed to have jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge.

Plot

Bugs Bunny is standing at the base of the famous Brooklyn Bridge, presumably somewhere near the Bowery of the title, telling an old man a story, in carnival-barker style, about how and why Steve Brodie jumped off the bridge.

Brodie had had a terrific run of luck -- all bad. He decided he needs a good luck charm and heads for the country -- as Bugs says, "To the forest primeval! To "Flatbush"!" -- to search for a rabbit's foot.

Brodie pulls Bugs (singing "All Is Not Gold That Glitters") out of a hole, and Bugs asks the usual, "Eh, what's up, Doc?" Brodie tells Bugs that he needs a good luck charm and that "he is it." Bugs responds by explaining why rabbits feet are "not" lucky. "Look at the life rabbits lead! Hunters, hounds, hasenpfeffer!" Bugs tells Brodie he needs help, and gives him a card for someone who can help him, a "Swami Rabbitima." Brodie says "Okay, but if me luck don't change, I'm coming back to get ya!"

The Swami (Bugs in disguise, having beaten Brodie back to Brooklyn) pulls an ancient corny joke out of the hat, asking Brodie when he was born, with Brodie responding, "I don't remember! I was pretty young then", essentially the same joke used in Chicolini's trial in "Duck Soup". The Swami tells him that he has a meeting coming up with a man wearing a carnation (also Bugs in disguise), who will be his lucky mascot at gambling. Brodie's luck does not change, though (he plays a slot machine and receives a mere three lemons for his trouble), and after being evicted from the gambling establishment by a gorilla bouncer, he heads back to Swami, who tells him that he is lucky with love. However, flirting with a "lady" (also Bugs in disguise) only nets him a beating by a police officer for being a "masher". When Brodie returns and declares he wants to "get me hands on some dough", the Swami tells him to go to 29 River Street, home of "Grandma's Happy Home Bakery", where he gets baked into a pie by a baker (Bugs yet again), who says that he is happy to oblige.

Unmasking the baker as Bugs, Brodie retraces his steps to confront the man with a carnation, the "lady", and the Swami himself, all of whom he unmasks as Bugs, leading Brodie to realize "Everybody's a rabbit!" When Brodie looks into what he thinks is a mirror (but is actually a window) and sees Bugs looking back at him, he thinks he has turned into a rabbit and snaps, hopping down the street, hysterically shouting "What's up, doc! What's up, doc!"

Seeing a police officer, apparently staring contemplatively at the river from the Brooklyn Bridge, Brodie begs (to his back) for help, declaring "I'm flippin' me lid! Everybody's turnin' into rabbits!" Turning, the officer reveals himself to be Bugs, demanding (in a thick Irish accent) "What's all this about rabbits, Doc?" Finally driven mad, Brodie leaps into the East River.

Bugs' story ends there, and the impressed old man says, "I'll take it!" and hands Bugs some money - the timeless scam / joke about "selling" the Brooklyn Bridge to a gullible tourist.

Production details

*This is the only Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by Arthur Davis (not counting Bugs's cameo in "The Goofy Gophers").
*Although Bill Scott (of Bullwinkle J. Moose fame) is credited as a co-writer, he told Keith Scott in the book "The Moose That Roared" that he had no recollection of working on this film.
*This cartoon was officially the last animated short directed by Arthur Davis. Although one of his last cartoons, "Bye Bye Bluebeard", was released in late-1949, it was animated before "Bowery Bugs".
*Art Davis' animators for the cartoon borrowed the special design used in McKimson's unit that was used for one more year after the cartoon was released. McKimson eventually used a design almost identical to the design he made for Bob Clampett's unit in 1943.

Censorship

*On ABC, two scenes involving head beatings were shortened:
**When Bugs (dressed as the swami) asks Brodie if he'd like to read the bumps on his head, Brodie protests that he has no bumps on his head, Bugs originally hit Brodie six times. On ABC, the beatings were cut down to one.
**When Brodie is sent out to charm a woman (Bugs in drag) and the "woman" cries for the police, Brodie was originally beaten by a cop's nightstick 11 times. On ABC, the beatings were drastically shortened to one and a half (with the rest covered by a fake black out into the next scene).

Availability

This cartoon is available (uncut, uncensored, and digitally remastered) on disc one of in the "Looney Tunes Golden Collection" DVD series.

References