Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears is a 1944 Merrie Melodies short directed by Charles M. Jones.
Plot[]
The Three Bears want something new to eat and decide to try to lure Goldilocks to them with porridge. However, all they have is carrot soup, which lures Bugs Bunny instead. In an attempt to stop them from chasing him, Bugs tells Mama Bear that she's beautiful, compliments her eyes, and plants a big kiss on her lips. His plan works too well that Bugs now must escape from a love-stricken Mama Bear, now so smitten she can't keep her hands off of him. "Now, now, cut it out! Stop it! Hey, people are lookin' at us! Compose yourself!! STOP!!!"
Mama Bear hugs him, tries to kiss him, and runs her fingers up and down his arms. Bugs tries to get away, but Mama Bear is behind every door he opens. She tries to seduce him while wearing a loose-fitting nightgown with a brown wig and a curve-hugging green evening gown with a blonde wig (a la Veronica Lake), and finally appears before him in a bathtub, taking a bubble bath. Bugs plows through a wall to escape. He makes it back to his hole to find Mama Bear already there. She giggles like a school girl and says, "Tell me more about my eyes!" She has her way with him, kissing him several times off-screen. Bugs appears out of the hole, his face covered in red lipstick marks. Bugs runs away into the horizon screaming hysterically, visibly traumatized. Mama Bear pops out of the hole, wearing a thick layer of red lipstick, looking very content and pleased by her make-out session with Bugs.
Caricatures[]
Music Cues[]
- "The Muffin Man" (by Ella Fitzgerald)
- Plays during the opening credits.
- "In an 18th Century Drawing Room" (by Raymond Scott)
- Plays when the bears are introduced.
- "Mutiny in the Nursery" (by Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer)
- Plays when Papa Bear suggests his family lure Goldilocks.
- "A Vision of Salome" (by J. Bodewalt Lampe)
- Plays when the scent of carrot soup lures Bugs Bunny.
- "King For a Day" (by Ted Fio Rito, Sam Lewis, and Joe Young)
- Performed by Bugs Bunny (Mel Blanc).
- "Autumn Nocturne" (by Josef Myrow and Kim Gannon)
- Plays when Bugs Bunny kisses Mama Bear and later when she tries to seduce him.
Availability[]
(Associated Artists Productions print)
Cartoon Moviestars: Bugs!
Cartoon Moviestars: Bugs! and Elmer!
Bugs Bunny Collection: Bugs Bunny's Greatest Hits
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes: Vol. 3, Side 2: Bugs Bunny
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1, Disc Three (restored with DVNR)
Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 1, Disc 1 (restored with DVNR)
Looney Tunes Collection All Stars Volume 1
Looney Tunes Collection All Stars Volumes 1 & 2, Disc 1
Looney Tunes Collection Mini Volume 1
3 Spooky DVD Treats
Looney Tunes Center Stage Volume 1
Looney Tunes Center Stage
Looney Tunes Triple Feature
Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection Volumes 1-3 Repack
Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection, Disc 1 (restored without DVNR)
Streaming[]
Censorship[]
- On MeTV, the shot of Mama Bear trying to seduce Bugs Bunny while wearing a see-through nightgown with a brown wig was cut when the short premiered; presumably due to time reasons. Since September 2021, the scene has been reinstated.[2]
Goofs[]
- In the opening titles, the bylines "WARNER BROS.", "Present", and the copyright information subtly shift downward a bit, but before the Merrie Melodies logo fades in, they switch back to place, likely due to an editing error in the opening titles. Due to this being captured on the camera negative and not a result of a faulty print, this error is present in all theatrical and television prints in circulation, including the Associated Artists Productions print, the 1995 Turner prints, and both restored prints.
Notes[]
- This short marks the first appearance of Chuck Jones' dysfunctional version of the Three Bears from "Goldilocks and the Three Bears", of which the short parodies.
- After Kent Rogers died in an accident while air training, Stan Freberg voiced Junyer Bear in subsequent appearances, and Billy Bletcher voiced Papa.
- Bletcher was originally going to voice Papa in this cartoon, but his recordings are not used.[3]
- While Bugs Bunny is making himself at home in the bears' house, he hums part of the melody and sings the title line of the song "King for a Day", composed by Ted Fio Rito.
- Throughout most of the first half of the cartoon, there is a nude photo of a woman visible on the wall calendar in the background, most notably in the opening scene and when the titular Three Bears are gathered around the dining table to eat their carrot soup.
- The plot device of an older woman falling for and chasing after a younger man to the point where he finds it difficult to escape from her loving embraces and passionate kisses has been featured in other cartoons such as "Red Hot Riding Hood" and "Swing Shift Cinderella", "A Fine Feathered Frenzy", and "Red Riding Hoodlum". Donning several outfits in attempts to seduce these younger men, along with appearing behind every door they open, are similar tactics that these women use.
- This is the only Three Bears short not to be reissued, so it survives with its original titles and color rings.
- This is one of the few cartoons where Bugs loses to his antagonists in the end. The others include: "Tortoise Beats Hare", "Tortoise Wins by a Hare" and "Rabbit Transit" (all three featuring Cecil Turtle), "Hare Brush", "Rabbit Rampage" and "What's Opera, Doc?" (all three featuring Elmer Fudd), "Falling Hare" (featuring The Gremlin), "Rhapsody Rabbit" (featuring an unnamed mouse), and "Baton Bunny" (featuring an unnamed fly).
- Of all the aforementioned cartoons, this cartoon is unusual in the fact that despite Bugs dealing with not one, but three antagonists in the same cartoon, he defeats two of them (in this case Papa Bear and Junyer Bear), but loses to one of them in the end (in this case Mama Bear).
Gallery[]
Videos[]
References[]
- ↑ https://archive.org/details/catalogofc19723261213libr/page/66/mode/1up?view=theater
- ↑ https://www.intanibase.com/forum/Posts/t4767-MeTV-launching--Toon-In-With-Me--and--Saturday-Morning-Cartoons--in-2021/page18
- ↑ (3 October 2022) Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, Vol. 2 (in en). BearManor Media, page 62.