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Baseball Bugs is a 1946 Looney Tunes short directed by Friz Freleng.
Plot
A baseball game in New York City was in progress. The two teams playing were the visiting Gas-House Gorillas, consisting entirely of big, aggressive, hulking tough guys, and the home team, the Tea Totallers, consisting entirely of weak and frail elderly men. By that point, the visiting team was dominating team the entire game and the Tea Totallers were being pushed around. One of the Gorillas even belted the umpire into the ground after disagreeing with his call (he first said "BALL" but after the beat down, he changed it to "STRIKE", said that he was sorry and didn't know what had come over him, and then fainted and fell into a hole). Shortly after, the Gorillas went into a conga line making hit after hit after hit.
Bugs Bunny, who was watching the game from hole on the field, was fed up with the game and the Gas-House Gorillas playing dirty. He started to trash talk that he could beat them all, all by himself. The Gorillas heard him and accepted his challenge. And now Bugs is playing the entire team, with the scoreboard having Bugs' name replacing the Tea Totallers name.
First, Bugs was pitching and catching and after two pitches and catches, he quickly gave the Gorillas three outs thanks to his slow ball.
Next he went up at bat. On his first time hitting the ball, the Gorilla that accepted Bugs' challenge was about to tag him out, but he whooped & hollered at the sight of a pin-up picture, giving Bugs a safe run home and thereby scoring his first run. On his second hit while running the bases, that same Gorilla grabbed the umpire and took his place in an attempt to put Bugs out. That obviously didn't work as they went into an argument, which ended with Bugs pulling his time-honored word-switching gag so that the umpire demands that he accept the safe call or go to the showers. He gives in, but the faux-umpire gets wise too late as Bugs scores his second run. Thirdly, another Gorilla runs to catch the ball ("I got it! I got it!! I GOT IT!!", he yells). The ball hits him so hard in the face that it drives him under the ground, and a tombstone pops up with the epitaph "He got it." Fourth hit saw another Gorilla smoking a cigar also taking it in the face, smashing the cigar and driving the fielder up against the fence, in front of a billboard that reads "Does your tobacco taste different lately?" Last hit had the ball hit each Gorilla player like they were elements from a pinball game. The scoreboard even flashes numbers and lights up the word "TILTED".
Bugs is back on the pitching and catching side. He just made a pitch and the tricky Gorilla hit it and ran around the diamond. But Bugs is waiting for him and tags him. As the Gorilla is hallucinating, Bugs holds up a sign that says "Was this trip really necessary?"
A little song asking for the current scores was played and the scores show that Bugs is now in the lead 96-95.
Now in the last half of the ninth, according to the announcer, the Gorillas can win with a home run. The tricky Gorilla chops down a tree and making it a makeshift bat instead of using a normal bat. Bugs attempted to paste this pathetic palooka with a powerful paralyzing perfect pachydermous percussion pitch, but it is to no avail as the ball is hit. In desperation, Bugs chases after it. Bugs first takes a cab, but the tricky Gorilla is driving it and steers Bugs away from the flying ball. So Bugs quickly gets out and takes the bus which takes him to the Umpire State Building (Empire State Building). Bugs goes up an elevator, goes up a flagpole, throws his baseball glove in the air and finally catches the ball. The tricky Gorilla comes to the top of the building as well and corners Bugs. But the umpire also reaches the top by climbing and calls the Gorilla "You're out!" This causes the Gas-House Gorillas to be disqualified for cheating and makes Bugs Bunny's team win. The Gorilla yells back at him, to which the Statue of Liberty comes to life, replying to the Gorilla, "That's what the man said, you heard what he said, he said that, you...!" with Bugs echoing her words.
Transcript
For a complete transcript, click here.
Availability
- (1988) VHS - Cartoon Moviestars: Bugs!
- (1988) LaserDisc - Cartoon Moviestars: Bugs! and Elmer!
- (1999) VHS - Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition Volume 9, A Looney Life (1995 USA Turner Dubbed Version)
- (2003) DVD - Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1, Disc One
- (2010) DVD - The Essential Bugs Bunny, Disc 1
- (2011) Blu-ray, DVD - Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc One
- (2017) Streaming - Boomerang App
- (2020) DVD - Looney Tunes Bugs Bunny Golden Carrot Collection, Disc 1
- (2020) Streaming - HBO Max
Notes
- According to animation historian Michael Barrier, there was a notable change in formula in Bugs' cartoons before and following World War II. Early Bugs cartoons depict Bugs' enemies as haplessly stupid pushovers whom are easily duped (such as Elmer Fudd and Beaky Buzzard). In this film and others by Freleng, the enemies are dangerous, brutal and aggressive - tough figures that make outwitting them more delicious. In this case, the enemies are the Gas-House Gorillas. "A whole team of interchangeable ... hulking, blue-jawed, cigar chewing monsters".[1]
- The sign held by Bugs after the second out stating "Was this trip necessary" refers to gas rationing during WWII.[2]
- A future baseball cartoon called "Gone Batty" followed a similar premise, even recycling this cartoon's slowball gag.
- The American Turner 1995 dubbed version has no borders in the opening credits and uses the original end card with red borders and the Turner disclaimer fades in at the end. Meanwhile, the European Turner 1995 dubbed version has red borders in the opening credits and replaces the original ending card with the 1942-1944 Porky Pig drum ending with Leon Schlesinger credit with the Turner disclaimer at the bottom.[3]
- Bugs launches a fastball from the pitcher's mound, accelerates past it, and moves in position at home plate to catch it. This is a demonstration of cartoon physics, since such acceleration would be impossible in real life.[4]
- The copyright was renewed in 1973.
- The “screaming liner” joke is recycled from "Porky's Baseball Broadcast".
- This marks the first time Bugs Bunny wins an argument with reverse psychology, though Daffy had used it prior to this in "Duck Soup to Nuts". Bugs would win again in reverse psychology arguments with Daffy in Chuck Jones' "hunting trilogy" cartoons later in the early-1950s.
Gallery
Add a photo to this galleryReferences
- ↑ Barrier (1999), p. 471
- ↑ http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1754-9434.2009.01174.x/abstract
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gSCVRsf_VI
- ↑ Ripper (2002), p. 4
External Links
- "Baseball Bugs" at SuperCartoons.net
- "Baseball Bugs" at B99.TV
