424. Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears (1944)

Warner cartoon no. 423.
Release date: February 26, 1944.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Chuck Jones.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Henry, Bugs Bunny), Kent Rogers (Junior Bear), Bea Benaderet (Ma Bear).
Story: Ted Pierce.
Animation: Robert Cannon.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: The three bears attempt to lure Goldilocks with carrot soup, but only Bugs Bunny arrives at the household.

If Disney mastered in evoking fairy-tale fantasy for his features and Silly Symphonies; then Warners certainly mastered in satirising them. Several adaptations had been done on Goldilocks and the Three Bears in animated cartoons, particularly Ub Iwerks and Terrytoons. Tex Avery directed a "semi-epic" version, in The Bear's Tale.

For this cartoon, it's an unwholesome take on the more endearing tale. The three bears are portrayed as a dysfunctional family, each having a distinctive personality and defect. Papa Bear (or Henry) is depicted as the smallest sized of the clan, who bears (no pun intended) a Napoleon complex. Junior Bear is simply an overgrown, differently-abled child (a la Lennie Small), whilst Ma Bear is the long-suffering, passive wife, burdened with a deadpan expression.

The family portrayal is more cynical than the "ideal American family" image audiences might expect to see in a Andy Hardy picture. In this case, the three bears are the kind of family one might find in a rough and disreputable neighbourhood. One could say it's a prototype to the dysfunctional family comedy, long before Matt Groening popularised it in The Simpsons.

Animation by Bobe Cannon.

The opening scene introducing the three bears living in poverty is pure exposition. Their situation is already established based on their expressions: frustrated and hopeless. This is clarified through held poses for each characters; save Pa Bear drumming his fingers. Carl Stalling's wholesome rendition of In an 18th Century Drawing Room  nicely contradicts the sour atmosphere of the household.


Junior breaks the ice as he wails, "Dad, I'm hungry"; retaliating the abusive Henry to clobbering him on the head, yelling: "Shuddup, Junior! Can't ya see I'm thinkin'?" Already, the audience are aware of how run-down the family are.

Truck in on Henry as he ponders and thinks - (wouldn't it have been easier and less confusing to omit the mouth movement, since dialogue isn't called for?) And so, he pitches his new plot to his family: "Remember the story of the Three Bears? Well, why can't we do the same thing? But when Goldilocks goes upstairs to sleep...WHAM!"

But, Ma informs Henry that there isn't porridge for "Goldilocks" and only a handful of old carrots - a nice piece of foreshadowing on Bugs' part. Infuriated, Pa is forced to compromise: "Well then, make carrot soup!"

This scene, and like so many in this cartoon, suffers from poor assistant and cleanup work. Bobe Cannon's work in this sequence isn't met with justice and it's evident that his work needed a more skilled assistant. For example, the animation of Pa Bear on the table lacks weight and has a floating feel.

The following sequence explores the personalities further, based on how the three bears interpret their line readings during their reenactment of them having carrot soup. In the line: "My soup's too hot"; Ma delivers it in a scatterbrained manner, whereas Henry half-asses his line unenthusiastically. Junior Bear, however, slurps his soup sloppily and delivers the wrong line: "Somebody's been sleeping in my bed."


The timing of Pa hitting Junior with a spoon works to a tee, and the abusive comedy opens for some gag opportunities; which were used several more times throughout the short.

And so, Ma Bear awkwardly delivers her lines, "Now, let's all go for a...walk. And when we return, the--porridge will be--just right." Hysterically, the bears stroll out and back in the house; even putting on a performance that they're a healthy and functioning family. They end the masquerade once they hide behind a curtain under the stairs.

The scent of carrot soup soon lures Bugs Bunny inside the cottage and he starts to guzzle the soups on the table - forcing the bears to disguise themselves as bear rugs. It's a relatively slow-paced sequence on Bugs' part whose calibre isn't fulfilled. The only source of humour appears when Bugs calls for ketchup, and Junior unconsciously walks over to a nearby shelf and passes the ketchup to Bugs. In this case, the humour is coming from Junior, and not so much Bugs.

Ironically, as the cartoon's title suggests, Bugs is downplayed considerably in this cartoon, who functions like a prop. One questions whether Chuck Jones or Ted Pierce wanted to fully explore comical possibilities on the three bears more, but were saddled with Bugs based on the number of cartoons required to make on the studio's most popular star.

This cartoon is notable for its unusual use of long continuous shots - only ten cuts occur through the duration of this short. Was Chuck Jones experimenting artistically or was this an economical practice? After all, his previous cartoon Tom Turk and Daffy is bombarded with fast cuts that possibly ate up its budget.

A fine example of Chuck's long continuous shots is the bedroom sequence, starting with Bugs walking to the room wearing a nightgown, and singing King For a Day. It's a remarkably long piece of character animation tailor-made for Ken Harris, who usually assigned the hardest scenes for Chuck. The scene is 123 feet long, and its all a continuous performance. Surviving animation drawings reveal that this scene was animated in separate levels. Imagine the workload that had to be finished at a set time! And here's the breakdown of the rather long scene:

After Bugs' exit, the bears bump into the door and Pa yells, "Now don't forget your lines!" - followed by another of Junior's comic foils. Like the soup eating sequence, the bears reenact the story up to its point. The bears find Bugs Bunny sleeping in Junior's bed and they pounce on top of him for a beating.

A camera pan, however reveals Bugs to be unharmed. Ma Bear finds Bugs and confronts him, but he bluffs by expressing fake admiration and kisses her - in standard Bugs fashion. It's also the only moment in the cartoon when Bugs contributes something substantial and

Personally, I feel the long continuous action marred the cartoon's pacing in earlier scenes, but it's used effectively and busily for this sequence. It's a stellar performance from Ken Harris, whose work is the cartoon's one saving grace from its somewhat sub-standard animation.

Animation by Ben Washam.

It's clear by the time of this cartoon's production that Bugs Bunny already evolved fast as a character. To resolve the cartoon in a less predictable manner, his wits get the better of him. Bugs' fake flattery to Ma Bear consumes her to blinded affection. She protects Bugs from Pa and Junior, and hopelessly attempts to seduce him: "Tell me more about my eyes?".

And so, Bugs awkwardly tries to back away form Ma's seductive moves towards him. He attempts to turn her down gently, "Now take it easy, you've got me wrong! Just a passing fancy, etc." Blanc takes Bugs into an emotional arc during his dialogue, as Bugs finally has enough and yells: "Stop it! People are looking at us! Compose yourself! Stop!".

It's nicely written dialogue, performed to a fine standard by Mel Blanc, but unfortunately ruined by awkward character animation. The timing of Bugs cringing at Ma's advances towards him, in particular, is executed sloppily and the animation acting lacks clarity. Washam's timing and posing of Ma Bear is frankly not strong, and at times, confusing. Ma Bear comes across as lifeless from her expressions and the surplus of spastic, unrelated movement over Bugs' animation is rather distracting.

The cartoon's ending has the standard pacing and energy of a classic Warner Bros. short as Bugs attempts to escape from the nymphomaniac Ma. Door to door, he finds Ma posing in seductive, saucy outfits. The scene is timed well and Bugs' penetration through the wall is nicely executed.


Bugs escapes safely inside his rabbit hole until Ma's off-screen voice reveals she's hiding inside, once again saying: "Tell me more about my eyes" and kissing him. Mel Blanc delivers some wonderful, hilarious hysteria as Bugs leaps from his hole and runs into the horizon - screaming and panicking.

As entertaining as the sequence is alone, it feels out of place compared to the more uneventful and sluggish sequences seen earlier in the cartoon. Based on Pierce's philandering reputation, it's possible that the ending is a scenario of life imitating art.

Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears is a cartoon I want to appreciate more for its dysfunctional take on the three bears, that definitely had the potential for comedy gold, but it wasn't fully realised in this cartoon. The satire is there, but only marginally. The sluggish pacing throughout this cartoon proved to be a missed opportunity with the concept. The short isn't clear on whether Bugs or the Three Bears should be the focus; when you take into account on how relatively underplayed Bugs is. A healthy portion of the cartoon's gags evolves around the Three Bears, who by far, are the cartoon's scene-stealers. Despite the cartoon's flaws, the comedic opportunities for the three bears wouldn't be missed, when Chuck Jones (and Mike Maltese) would later return to the characters and turn out master-works (i.e. A Bear for Punishment, Bear Feat).

Rating: 2.5/5.

422. Meatless Flyday (1944)

Warner cartoon no. 421.
Release date: January 29, 1944.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Friz Freleng.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Cy Kendall (Spider), Mel Blanc (Air Raid Warden).
Story: Michael Maltese.
Animation: Jack Bradbury.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: A fat, jolly spider attempts to catch a fly for prey; but his traps are consistently foiled.

THE COBWEB HOTEL
(Fleischer, 1936).

The premise of a malicious spider preying on helpless flies was already a cliche in cartoons, by the time Meatless Flyday was in production. The source material can be traced back to John Heywood's pseudo-epic poem, The Spider and the Flie in 1556. Mary Howitt's opening line in her poem of the same name: "Will you come into my parlour? said the spider to the fly", remains one of the most recognisable quotes in English poetry.

Courtesy of Devon Baxter.

By the early 1940s, the Schlesinger studio began inserting twists to old cartoon formulas, ranging from cat-and-canary shorts like Puss 'N Booty. The "victims" were being portrayed as hecklers to the antagonist, which called for stronger gag dynamics and hilarious characterisation.


Michael Maltese's take on the spider vs. fly formula is enriched by some aesthetic characterisation for the short's antagonist. The spider is portrayed as a jolly, loveable rogue - whose sinister motive marks as a deliberate contradiction to his personality.

His persona echoes Tex Avery's laughter and mannerisms, that he previously portrayed in shorts like The Bear's Tale and Ghost Wanted. Tex had already settled at MGM in 1941; so the character's voice is performed by Cy Kendall. Kendall is best remembered as a prolific character performer for over a hundred features, and his Tex "impersonation" works fine. A part of myself suspects that the characterisation has traces of Thockmorton P. Gildersleeve, despite the lack of his signature laugh.

The opening scenes establish conventional traps plotted by the spider, but his bubbly personality almost overlooks them. His first plot is to entice the fly with a sugar cube, attached to a string. He jovially laughs: "Come and get it". It's already indicated that the mute fly is a heckler to the spider, as he advances towards the sugar cube to pick it up. The spider, holding onto the piece of string, is caught by the force of the fly, who holds the cube on top of the ceiling.


In an impressive 3/4 down shot, the spider is hanging perilously from the thread. But, the spider cuts the rope with scissors - leading to the spider's fall as his head is clobbered by several sugar cubes. The spider's jovial personality increases his likability by laughing off his foiled plan and addressing to the audience: "Caught me off my guard."


The following sequence sets up another scenario, only to be foiled again by the heckling fly. The spider is seemingly watching the fly perform a trapeze act with the kitchen hooks - and awaiting his fate. The spider still finds some humour in the scenario as he mocks the fly, "Look at him, tryin' to heckle me! A poor man's Bugs Bunny". So, he laughs some more!

In the spider's first attempt to eat him, the fly narrowly escapes a close call. He stretches his tongue like a rubber band and releases it, causing him to stagger. In the second attempt; the spider is hanging onto one of the hooks; and momentarily traps him. A la Bugs Bunny, the fly kisses the spider and gives him the hot-foot.


Michael Maltese's lighthearted approach to the spider enhances the comedy to more the standard scenarios, seen in the earlier sequences. The spider finds himself in greater peril compared to the previous scene, once he's falling from the hook with his burning feet.

Even when facing calamity, he continues to find amusement from it. He laughs and speaks to the audience: "Look folks, I'm a Zero!". It serves as a funny metaphor that implies the spider is portrayed as a kamikaze pilot, plummeting to disaster. Instead of destruction, he's clobbered again by sugar cubes.

For the following sequence; Friz Freleng's use of direction and dynamics turn to a more menacing approach. The first few shots puts emphasis on the spider's hand preparing another plot for the fly: which involves painting a buckshot, to disguise it as candy. It's nicely executed in staging to emphasise peril.


For a moment, the plan succeeds as the fly gulps a handful of buckshots down his mouth. The weight of the buckshots make it incredibly difficult for the fly to leap out of sight - resulting in a small chase scene.

Freleng's crisp timing starts to takes its course, once the spider casually holds a magnet out for the fly. As he attempts to resist, the power of the magnet increases to the point when a door forcefully opens; leading to knives and other cutlery speeding towards the spider. Freleng's timing turns to a brutal effect as the knives supposedly finishes the spider off.


The camera pans to reveal that the spider narrowly evaded his end. Friz adds an additional piece of horrific value, when a meat cleaver supposedly slices off a part of his leg. In a close-up, the audience are reassured that his toes remain intact, as they pop up from his partly-cut shoe one-by-one.

Freleng's timing solution works to great effect in a detonation gag. The spider spots the fly posing as a figurine in the ambiguous feature of a wedding cake in a household. The spider poses next to the fly's disguise as a groom, and cackles with cruel irony: "Hello, Sweetie-Face". The scene is at first depicted in close-up of the spider, but the camera trucks back to reveal a firecracker the fly replaced off-screen. The spider menacingly says, "How about a little kiss?" to the "fly", unbeknownst to him. As the spider kisses in anticipation, the cracker detonates. A classic testament of how comedy is executed through clarity and staging.

Friz Freleng's masterful timing is highlighted in an elaborate chase sequence, of the spider and the fly's chase through an electrical conduit. The chase is comically interpreted through effects animation. The fly is visually represented as a yellow light; and the spider being red.

Some wonderful touches are added for comedic effect; such as the fly's take, which reads as "Yipe!". The pair chase run down the conduit separately, creating a figure eight until they crash into each other.

Soon, the effects animation depicting the chase becomes more absurd. At the center of a conduit, random pieces of imagery like flowers and other assorted things start to flash to Carl Stalling's score. The gag is reminiscent of a neon billboard gag, seen in Freleng's Light's Fantastic. It also serves as a forerunner for the mine sequence in Chuck Jones' Beep Beep, many years later. 

The multicoloured flashing lights catches the attention of an air raid warden, who yells: "Put out that light!". And so, the lights flickers out in succession - leading the pair back inside the house. It's probably an animated highlight of the entire cartoon. It's beautifully elaborate and funny, to the credit of Freleng and Stalling; and the effects animation.

For the closing sequence; the spider finally catches the fly. The scene fades in to reveal the spider scraping his knife, ready to feast on the fly. The audience are expecting a twist that intervenes with the fly's demise. But, the payoff is a tad disappointing and predictable. The fly points a calendar to the spider, which reveals the date to be "Meatless Tuesday": a WW2 government campaign to encourage the public by rationing their meat for the war effort.


The spider responds with great irritation and angst, that he takes the matter over to the U.S. Capitol. The final shot of the Capitol's window depicts the spider's off-screen complaints to government officials: "You can't do this to me! You just can't!".

It's a satisfying and humorous gag to close the cartoon, but a part of the problem of its predictability is that it links to the cartoon's parodying title: Meatless Flyday. The payoff would've been executed had a different title been suggested. Despite my nitpicking, it's plausible that WW2 audiences overlooked that detail.

To conclude: Meatless Flyday, despite being relatively short, serves as a nice potboiler; enriched by funny characterisation. Michael Maltese's forward-thinking approach to story makes a somewhat tired formula feel fresh and inventive. A portion of the gags are heavily themed with wartime references, but the premise itself has a timeless quality. As discussed, the electrical conduit sequence wonderfully showcases Friz Freleng and Carl Stalling's timing - which is a challenging feat from a lot of levels. Despite the jolly, Tex Avery-persona used several times in cartoons - it never fails to charm.

Rating: 3/5.

421. What's Cookin', Doc? (1944)

featuring BUGS BUNNY
Warner cartoon no. 420.
Release date: January 8, 1944.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Bob Clampett.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Bugs Bunny); Robert C. Bruce (Narrator).
Story: Michael Sasanoff.
Animation: Bob McKimson.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: Bugs Bunny demands a recount from the Academy voting during the Oscars ceremony.

The Oscars are a mixed bag of opinions. Some will consider it a prestigious ceremony that sets the standards by which all movies are judged. Others might see it as politically driven or biased - especially Bugs Bunny in this Bob Clampett cartoon.

The Warner Bros. cartoon studio didn't win an Oscar until 1947, for Tweetie Pie. The shorts had been nominated beforehand, but were always overthrown from the multiple Oscars won by Disney during the 1930s, and MGM's Tom and Jerry series throughout most of the 40s and 50s.

What's Cookin' Doc feels like a subtle allusion to the studio's lack of success with the Oscars; with Bugs Bunny portrayed as a symbol of disdain. I don't doubt a lot of cartoon studios felt that competition was biased - as expressed from Bugs' words; "It's sa-boh-ta-gee". For the film's premise; Bugs Bunny is competing for an Oscar awarding the Best Actor in a lead role - but angrily demands a recount after the category is awarded to Jimmie Cagney. Cagney had won an Academy Award a year prior for Yankee Doodle Dandy.

The Oscars as a subject of satire in a Warner Bros. has comedy merit - with Bob Clampett being an interesting choice for director. Unfortunately, it appears this short is a victim of Clampett's haphazard management skills. It's no secret Clampett was typically a cartoon or two behind the studio's schedule. His wartime filmography consists of both masterpieces and "cheater" shorts.

This cartoon is frustrated by its obvious use of cutting corners. New animated footage is reduced extensively - with stock live-action footage and extended clips from older cartoons compensating the cartoon's screen time - and likely its costs.


The first two minutes are made up of newspaper/magazine cuttings and live-action footage taken from establishing shots of Hollywood, featured in David Selznick's A Star is Born (1937). Technicolor footage from the film works effectively enough in its attempt to deceive audiences from the idea of stock footage.

Bob Bruce's narration serves primarily as exposition surrounding the Academy Awards presentation and hype around Hollywood. The prolonged opening feels forced in its attempt to narrow new animated footage.

Despite economic constraints hampering the cartoon - Clampett at least tries to benefit this with the occasional gag. In one scene, a wolf howls at the night sky; a deliberate misplacement from night shots of Hollywood landmarks. The narrator gets caught up in the moment: "Well, how did he get in here?"

Later in the cartoon, a clip from an early Bugs Bunny/Friz Freleng cartoon: Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt eats up a part of the running time. The clip is meant to showcase Bugs Bunny's "best scenes"; which involves Hiawatha attempting to cook Bugs - whose crudely drawn in one of his earliest cartoons. Of all Bugs Bunny shorts prior to 1944 - is this really the best example of Bugs' funniest moments? Unless, in Clampett's case - it could be savagely ironic.

Bob Clampett portrays Bugs Bunny as arrogant and egotistical, in a similar vein to Tortoise Wins by a Hare. Both shorts showcased Bugs' frustration and delusion. Clampett experimented with different personalities and behaviours for Bugs, for the sake of his directing style - that either worked or backfired. For this short, at least Bugs' ego problem is built from strong characterisation.


Bugs Bunny is deluded to believe that the voting system is rigged - as he demands a recount to the Academy voters. Bugs' pathetic attempt in staying humble is wonderfully felt as he says: "I'll leave it up to youse intelligent people in this audience, whether I deserve the Oscar or not!".

Bugs' arrogance is displayed comically as he charades across the stage - in a desperate attempt to plead the audience. He starts off in boisterous fashion as he bangs on a drum, reading: "Let Bugs Have It"; and soon showers them with free cigars. But, the audience "give it to him" by throwing an abundance of fruit and vegetables at Bugs.

The minimal use of animation in this cartoon is blessed by Bob McKimson's top-notch draftsmanship. Like Falling Hare, McKimson's gives Bugs at the dining table humanistic qualities through his animation. Bugs' interaction with the audience is believably communicated. Beautiful little touches like Bugs acknowledging the ceremonial fanfare to the audience, is enough to give him your undivided attention.

Bugs is self-confident by the thought of winning an Oscar, "it's in da bag; I'm a cinch to win". Bugs begins mimicking iconic Hollywood stars like Katherine Hepburn, Edward G. Robinson and Jerry Colonna, not only by their mannerisms - but in caricatured form, too.

Animating caricature is difficult enough, but McKimson's ability to morph Bugs' face into movie stars, without losing its appeal, is an astounding effort! For a character that consists of familiar stock poses, it's a surrealistic, unorthodox gag only Clampett would dare to tackle, and quite possibly achieve - thanks to McKimson's draftsmanship!

McKimson's animation continues to shine in the following sequence of Bugs self-assuringly insisting the host's comments of "consitently high performances" are directed at him. The host, seen in silhouette, points out the "actor's" attributes for drama, comedy, romance and being "equally good in character roles".

Bugs' over-confident nature shines by wanting to prove he fits that profile through his zany charades. At one point, Bugs morphs and mimics the mechanical traits of Boris Karloff in Frankenstein. And so, Bugs breaks into a flabbergasted take when it's revealed that the Oscar was been awarded to James Cagney instead. Much of the attributes indeed fit with Cagney's screen persona - who had a knack for melodramatic performances, like The Public Enemy, or comedy such as The Bride Came C.O.D.

Some of Clampett's more dirtier gags goes unscathed in this cartoon. When Bugs tosses pile a film cans to "Smokey" (a nod to cameraman Smokey Garner); a "stag reel" is projected on the screen. The gag itself has aged through the years as attributed to many factors like the sexual revolution; but its context remains risque.


Bugs' defensive reaction as he yells, "HEY!" is priceless in capturing Bugs' embarrassment and pervertedness. To fool the censors; an illustration of a deer stag for the title card is a funny touch to hide its suggestive scenario.

For the final scene; Bugs is given a "boozy prize" Oscar, shaped in the form of Bugs himself. Bugs cherishes and caresses the statue; by romantically saying: "I'll even take you to bed with me every night". The statue comes to life, quoting Bert Gordon's Mad Russian, "Do ya mean it?", and puckers Bugs on the lips. Clampett's rapid firing spontaneity provides charm to that innuendo.

The newly animated sequences contains elements of Bob Clampett's eye for entertainment. Bob McKimson's animation is sublime for refining Bugs' egotistical persona. Despite some of its values, the cartoon holds up as a lacklustre in comparison to Clampett's better works. Its economical factors involving the forced use of stock footage and an old clip brings this short down in that retrospect. Clampett attempts to make up for it with some entertaining sequences of Bugs - framed in a way to make a cheater cartoon worth watching. Not a terrible short by all means, but without Bugs' appearance, there really isn't much to recommend in this cartoon. Despite what the title suggests, consider this an underwhelming short.

Rating: 2/5.