Baby Buggy Bunny
| Baby Buggy Bunny | |
|---|---|
| Merrie Melodies (Bugs Bunny) series | |
 |
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| Directed by | Charles M. Jones |
| Produced by | Edward Selzer |
| Story by | Michael Maltese |
| Voices by | Mel Blanc |
| Music by | Milt Franklyn |
| Animation by | Ken Harris Abe Levitow Lloyd Vaughan Ben Washam |
| Layouts by | Ernest Nordli |
| Backgrounds by | Philip DeGuard |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Release date(s) | December 18, 1954 (USA premiere) |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 7:05 |
| Language | English |
Baby Buggy Bunny is a Merrie Melodies animated short film directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese in 1954. The story is about a dwarf gangster named "Babyface" Finster (a play on words on Baby Face Nelson) who, after a clever bank robbery, loses his ill-gotten gains down Bugs Bunny's rabbit hole, forcing him to don the disguise of an orphan baby to get it back.
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[edit] Plot
Finster (AKA Ant Hill Harry), a 35-year-old man who resembles a baby, makes a successful robbery of the Last National Bank by the swift use of stilts, dark clothes, a carriage and baby clothing. With him dressed in Baby attire, he easily evades the police.
Finster loses his money down Bugs' rabbit hole (the carriage rolls down a hill and strikes a bump) and he gets himself unofficially adopted in order to gain it back. Multiple attempts to grab it (in one instance Finster whacks Bugs with the bag of money) are interpreted as a baby's typical grabbiness. Finster even pulls and fires a gun but this still does not fully register with Bugs. Just as Bugs is putting the 'baby' to bed, Finster beats Bugs with a baseball bat; he assumes the baby is having a nightmare. A supposedly remorseful Finster grabs Bugs and hugs him saying "dada!"
Later, Bugs is trying to watch TV when he gets distracted by a buzzing noise in the bathroom. Looking inside, Bugs finds Finster is in the bathroom shaving himself, smoking a cigar, and wearing a tattoo (labeled Maisie, Singapore, 1932). A brief news clip about the bank robbery and an APB for the robber finally makes the rabbit realize what truly is going on.
He takes the time to torment the bank robber, before trussing him up in a basket like a baby (At one point, Finster tries to stab Bugs but stabs himself in the rear. He murmurs inaudible obscenities, causing Bugs to spank him and remove the weapons he has) and leaving him and the money at the police station. Finster does not take it well, throwing a wild temper tantrum while locked up in a baby sized playpen in the State Prison. Bugs ends the cartoon, telling the angry bank robber, "Don't be such a crybaby, after all 99 years isn't forever!"
[edit] Notes
- The 2006 film Little Man, employs a similar storyline, and on January 22, 2007, was given a Razzie nomination for Worst Remake or Rip-off for shamelessly ripping off this storyline, which it went on to 'win'.[1]
- Finster's tall dark stranger disguise was used throughout The Bugs Bunny Mystery Special and, at the end, it was revealed that Porky Pig was wearing the disguise.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Lumber Jack-Rabbit |
Bugs Bunny Cartoons 1954 |
Succeeded by Beanstalk Bunny |
