Baby Buggy Bunny

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Baby Buggy Bunny

Directed By: Chuck Jones Produced By: Eddie Selzer (uncredited) Released: December 18, 1954 Series: Merrie Melodies Story: Michael Maltese Animation: Ben Washam Lloyd Vaughan Ken Harris Abe Levitow Layouts: Ernie Nordli Backgrounds: Philip DeGuard Film Editor: Treg Brown (uncredited) Voiced By: Mel Blanc Music: Milt Franklyn Starring: Bugs Bunny Baby Face Finster Preceded By: Sheep Ahoy Succeeded By: Pizzicato Pussycat Merrie Melodies - Baby Buggy Bunny

Baby Buggy Bunny is a 1954 Merrie Melodies short directed by Chuck Jones.

Plot

Ant Hill Harry (a.k.a. Baby Face Finster), a thirty-five-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.

Finster loses his money down Bugs' rabbit hole and gets himself unofficially adopted in order to gain it back. Multiple attempts to grab it are interpreted as a baby's typical grabbiness. Finster even pulls and fires a gun but this still does not fully register with Bugs. Finster beats Bugs with a baseball bat; he assumes the baby is having a nightmare.

Later, Bugs finds Finster is in the bathroom shaving himself, smoking a cigar, and wearing a tattoo (labeled Maisie, Singapore, 1932). A brief news story on Bugs' television makes the rabbit realize what's going on. He takes the time to torment the man, before trussing him up 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, removing the weapons he had with each blow of Bugs' hand and leaving him and the money at the police station. "We'll just HAVE to learn NOT TO PLAY WITH KNIVES and NOT to use NAUGHTY WORDS! And BELIEVE me, Finster, this hurts you MORE than it does ME!" Finster does not take it well, throwing a wild tantrum to which a visiting Bugs says to him through a barred window at Finster's Alcatraz cell, in which Finster has been locked up in a metal playpen within the cell, "Don't be such a crybaby. After all, ninety-nine years ain't forever."

Censorship

• On ABC, Cartoon Network, Boomerang, and the syndicated version of The Merrie Melodies Show, the part where Finster draws a gun on Bugs and Bugs thinks it's a toy (until he gets shot in the face) was cut. Even though the scene doesn't change during this edit, the cut is fairly obvious due to the jump on the audio track.
• ABC's version also cut Bugs shaking Baby Finster, admonishing him about playing with dirty money, sticking him in a washing machine, then hurling him into the ceiling, realizing that he has forgotten his fudge, and letting Finster fall to the ground. The ABC edited version just shows Bugs catching Finster climbing the bookshelf and the "Oh, dear, I do believe I've forgotten my fudge"/falling scene, making it look like Finster just fell off the bookshelf.
• Some syndicated versions shorten the part where Bugs shakes Finster, though the other scenes of alleged child abuse (the washing machine and hurling Finster into the ceiling) were left intact.

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'.
• Finster's tall, dark, stranger disguise was used throughout The Bugs Bunny Mystery Special with footage of the bank robbery reused. At the end, it was revealed that Porky Pig was wearing the disguise to get the story going.

Availability

• LaserDisc - Guffaw and Order: Looney Tunes Fight Crime
• DVD - Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2, Disc One
• Streaming - HBO Max

Gallery

Finster holds a pistol at an unsuspecting Bugs in an oft-censored scene. ("We'll play some nice games before beddy time. Oh, goodness! Hopalong Finster's gonna shoot the big bad guy rabbit with his toy pistol! (fires pistol) Some toy.")

"Have you seen this man? He is Ant Hill Harry, alias Baby-Face Finster. Notorious bank robber believed to have perpetrated the daring Last National Bank holdup this morning."

External Links

• Baby Buggy Bunny at SuperCartoons.net
• Baby Buggy Bunny at B99.TV
• Baby Buggy Bunny at the Internet Movie Database
• Baby Buggy Bunny on the SFX Resource