Bugs Bunny Makes War

Chuck Jones' BB More Sinned Against Than Sinning In Long-Haired Hare (1949)

Directing Chuck Jones was by most accounts doing better work for Bugs Bunny, at least calming him somewhat and devising opponents who have retaliation coming, unlike straw men we tended to sympathize with over the rabbit. I'm always refreshed when Bugs gets the worst of it: am I alone in wanting to see him taken down pegs? In this case, it's opera singer "Giovanni Jones" who picks the fight, even as Bugs annoys with his backyard concertizing. "Of course, you realize this means war" became cue for mirth among Bugs-watchers then and, perhaps, now (do we laugh as much as did '49er's?). Somewhere I heard that BB purloined that line from Groucho. True? There's an interesting gag where Bugs assumes bobby-soxer disguise, fast-prattling over "Frankie" and "Perry" in a baggy shirt and too much lipstick. Guess Warner artists were old enough by now to be disdainful of teen girls slobbering over croon idols. Certainly Frank Sinatra himself came in for withering caricature whenever his enervated figure showed up in a WB short. Another that gets a rib, and had before, is Leopold Stokowski, a real-life cartoon irresistible to spoofers. Most of us know the Hollywood Bowl thanks to so many cartoons being set there. Face color change Giovanni Jones endures as he strains to sing under Bugs' baton is back to something like 1949 appearance thanks to Blu-Ray rescue by Warners.