Title Card
Everybody's turning into rabbits!
Bowery Bugs is a 1949 cartoon starring Bugs Bunny and the only Bugs Bunny cartoon to be directed by Arthur Davis.
Plot
Bugs relates the story as to why Steve Brody jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge in 1886.
Summary
Bugs Bunny is standing at the base of the famous Brooklyn Bridge, (about 1/2 mile from the southern end of the actual street called the Bowery), telling an old man a story, in carnival-barker style, about how and why Steve Brody jumped off the bridge in July 1886 in the form of pictures: Brody had a terrific run of bad luck. He decided he needed a good luck charm - ideally, a rabbit's foot - and the place he hoped to find it was in the country forest.
At this point the story is animated. Brody cycles to Flatbush and finds Bugs' house. Brody holding a knife, pulls Bugs (singing "All That Glitters Is Not Gold") out of a hole. Brody tells Bugs that he needs a good luck charm and that "he is it". Bugs responds by explaining why rabbits feet are not lucky. Bugs directs Brody to "Swami Rabbitima". Brody decides to chance it on condition he'll come back for Bugs if it doesn't work.
The Swami (Bugs in disguise) asks Brody if he wants his palm read. When he says yes, Bugs paints his right palm the color red. Then Bugs asks if he wants him to read the bumps on his head. Brody says he has none, so Bugs takes a hammer and makes bumps. Brody, angry at Bugs starts to chase him but Bugs starts dealing out playing cards for cartomancy. He tells Brody that he has a meeting coming up with a man wearing a carnation (also Bugs in disguise), who will be his lucky mascot at gambling.
Brody's luck does not change, though - Bugs plays craps, he shoots a 7 but it turns up snake-eyes. Next he plays a slot machine and receives a mere three—literal--lemons for his trouble). After being kicked out of the gambling establishment by a gorilla bouncer, he heads back to Swami. Bugs asks Brody when he was born, but Brody doesn't remember. Bugs then spins a zodiac wheel then when it lands on the sign of the wolf. He tells Brody that he is lucky with love. However, flirting with a "lady" (also Bugs in disguise) only nets him a multiple bonking by a policeman for being a "masher". When Brody returns to the Swami and clarifies why he wants his luck to change ("So I can get me hands on some dough!), Bugs tells him to go to 29 River Street, home of "Grandma's Happy Home Bakery", where a baker (Bugs yet again) gladly provides him "a mess of dough", in which he bakes Brody into a pie.
Unmasking the baker as Bugs, Brody retraces his steps to unmask Bugs' previous disguises, leading Brody to believe "Everybody's a rabbit!". When Brody looks into what he thinks is a mirror (but is actually a window) and sees Bugs looking back at him, he thinks he has turned into a rabbit and snaps, hopping down the street, hysterically shouting "What's up, doc?!".
Seeing a police officer, apparently staring contemplatively at the river from the Brooklyn Bridge, Brody begs (to his back) for help. Turning, the officer reveals himself to be Bugs, demanding (in a thick Irish accent) "What's all this about rabbits, Doc?". Finally driven mad, Brody leaps into the East River apparently as suicide. The scene freezes of Brody jumping off to a poster seen behind Bugs. Bugs' story ends there, and the impressed old man says: "That's enough, son! I'll buy it!" and hands Bugs some money.
Video
External Links
Bowery Bugs at SuperCartoons.net
Bowery Bugs at B99.TV