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Yankee Doodle Bugs is a 1954 Looney Tunes short directed by Friz Freleng.

Plot[]

Clyde is lying on the floor doing his history homework for an exam at school, scratching down important dates in history and getting confused. After several moments, he exclaims, "I give up!" His uncle Bugs offers to help and proceeds to tell him how rabbits made American history.

In a trade of land with the native American Indians, Bugs explains that Manhattan wasn't the bustling city you see today, but was rather, filled with Indian teepees. Bugs explains that the Statue of Liberty was "...just a little girl at the time".

Bugs interacts with Benjamin Franklin on the day that Franklin discovered electricity. "What's up, Benny?" Bugs asks. Ben states: "I'm trying to discover electricity," and asks Bugs if he can tend to his kite, with a key tied on it, naturally, and that he must get out "...ye first edition of The Saturday Evening Post", so he hands his kite string to Bugs to look after until he gets back. Bugs sees a storm cloud approach, lightning hits the kite and travels down the string and electrocutes him. Ben runs back, picks up Bugs who is flashing off and on like a light bulb, exclaiming, "I discovered electricity! I discovered electricity!" Bugs asides, "Heh... HE discovered electricity!"

Bugs explains to Clyde about the Boston Tea Party. The King is seen approaching a worker in the Royal Tea Warehouse in Boston. With a box of hardware tacks in hand, he orders the worker to "Spread these tacks on the Colonist's tea". When the worker explains: "But Your Majesty, these are carpet tacks", the King dumps the tacks all over the place in a fit of insanity and exclaims: "Well, they're tea tacks now!" and exits, laughing all the way. Bugs explains to Clyde that the Colonists refused to drink their tea with tacks and that's how the Army was formed.

George Washington gets a letter in the mailbox, opens it and exclaims, "Gadzooks! I've been drafted!" He then races on horseback to the Candy Shoppe, where he says to Martha that she'll have to look after the candy stores alone, while he's off to fight the war. He then races away yelling "Charge!"

Bugs approaches Betsy Ross' home where she is sewing an American flag (presumably after several failed design attempts, this is the first iteration of the flag - it has the thirteen red and white colony stripes and blue field). He says: "Hiya Bets - how's the flag coming along?" She opens the flag displaying it and asks, "How's this, Mr. Bunny?" but Bugs makes a comment to Betsy that something is missing in the blue field. (Note the sign at the front gate that says: "Watch your step - Geo. Washington slipped here"). Pacing back and forth thinking hard about what can go in the blue field, Bugs accidentally steps on a rake and the handle hits him in the head, forming a circle of stars around his head. He then looks at Betsy and asks: "Hey Betsy, does this give you an idea-r?" Betsy agrees, and starts sewing the stars into the blue space on the flag. That is how rabbits helped with the formation of the American flag.

Angered, the enemy storms Bunker Hill. Of course, a cannon is pointed right at them, and as soon as they get close enough, the cannon goes off surprising the enemy, who then turn around and walk in the opposite direction, their uniforms and weapons in tatters.

At the battle at Valley Forge, Bugs explains the hardships endured, including six feet of snow and frigid temperatures. An ice cream wagon is seen driving across the snow playing "Yankee Doodle", and is immediately fired upon and explodes. The practically destroyed truck turns around in the opposite direction and drives away.

Bugs explains, "The enemy fleet was all bottled up," showing two ships in a bottle in a harbor, then Bugs steers a motor boat across the Delaware River with George Washington.

After Bugs tells Clyde all of these important historical events, the school bell rings in the distance and Bugs rushes him off to school saying, "And don't forget what I told ya!" Later in the day, Clyde returns home with a sour look on his face and Bugs asks him, "Well, Clyde! How did you make out on your history exam?" Clyde puts a "Dunce cap" on his head and asks: "Does THIS answer your question?"

Caricatures[]

Censorship[]

In recent years, almost all television networks in the United States, including ABC, The WB network, Teletoon Retro, Cartoon Network, and Boomerang, cut the sequence where Bugs tells the story of how the Dutch sold Manhattan back to the Native Americans for a song, with one of the Native Americans taking the sheet music and running off yelling "Me rich chief! Me rich Superchief!" However, this scene is often edited in different ways depending on channel.

  • When aired on Cartoon Network, Boomerang, and The WB, the entire Indian scene was deleted by fading to black after the Statue of Liberty is shown as a young girl.
  • The ABC version merely cuts the scene of the Indian chief taking the sheet music and yelling, "Me rich chief! Me rich Superchief!" as he runs off by fading out after the music sheet is shown.[1]
  • MeTV has aired two different censored versions, alongside the uncensored version. When the short first aired on MeTV in 2021, the short was censored in the same manner as with the ABC version. On 16 May 2023, a second censored version was aired, cutting not only the Indian scene but also the Statue of Liberty beforehand, presumably for time reasons. On most other airings, the short is uncensored.

Availability[]

Notes[]

  • This cartoon's premise is very reminiscent to that of "Old Glory", as both shorts feature a child character being educated about American history by their respective father figures after struggling to learn about it on their own, albeit more comedic and with a completely different subject matter of American history. In fact, the opening scene where Clyde struggles with his history homework is very similar to the opening scene from that short.
  • At the start of this cartoon, Bugs is seen reading a Bugs Bunny comic book.
  • This cartoon was used in the TV Special Bugs Bunny: All American Hero.
  • This cartoon incorrectly depicts Betsy Ross as an elderly lady. If Betsy Ross did, in fact, design the First American Flag in 1777, she would have been only twenty-five years old (having been born in 1752).
    • Betsy Ross in this cartoon bears a slight resemblance to Granny, but it is not the same character.

Gallery[]

References[]

External Links[]


Bugs Bunny Shorts
1938 Porky's Hare Hunt
1939 Prest-O Change-OHare-um Scare-um
1940 Elmer's Candid CameraA Wild Hare
1941 Elmer's Pet RabbitTortoise Beats HareHiawatha's Rabbit HuntThe Heckling HareAll This and Rabbit StewWabbit Twouble
1942 The Wabbit Who Came to SupperAny Bonds Today?The Wacky WabbitHold the Lion, PleaseBugs Bunny Gets the BoidFresh HareThe Hare-Brained HypnotistCase of the Missing Hare
1943 Tortoise Wins by a HareSuper-RabbitJack-Wabbit and the BeanstalkWackiki WabbitFalling Hare
1944 Little Red Riding RabbitWhat's Cookin' Doc?Bugs Bunny and the Three BearsBugs Bunny Nips the NipsHare Ribbin'Hare ForceBuckaroo BugsThe Old Grey HareStage Door Cartoon
1945 Herr Meets HareThe Unruly HareHare TriggerHare ConditionedHare Tonic
1946 Baseball BugsHare RemoverHair-Raising HareAcrobatty BunnyRacketeer RabbitThe Big SnoozeRhapsody Rabbit
1947 Rabbit TransitA Hare Grows in ManhattanEaster YeggsSlick Hare
1948 Gorilla My DreamsA Feather in His HareRabbit PunchBuccaneer BunnyBugs Bunny Rides AgainHaredevil HareHot Cross BunnyHare SplitterA-Lad-In His LampMy Bunny Lies over the Sea
1949 Hare DoMississippi HareRebel RabbitHigh Diving HareBowery BugsLong-Haired HareKnights Must FallThe Grey Hounded HareThe Windblown HareFrigid HareWhich Is WitchRabbit Hood
1950 Hurdy-Gurdy HareMutiny on the BunnyHomeless HareBig House BunnyWhat's Up Doc?8 Ball BunnyHillbilly HareBunker Hill BunnyBushy HareRabbit of Seville
1951 Hare We GoRabbit Every MondayBunny HuggedThe Fair Haired HareRabbit FireFrench RarebitHis Hare Raising TaleBallot Box BunnyBig Top Bunny
1952 Operation: RabbitFoxy by Proxy14 Carrot RabbitWater, Water Every HareThe Hasty HareOily HareRabbit SeasoningRabbit's KinHare Lift
1953 Forward March HareUpswept HareSouthern Fried RabbitHare TrimmedBully for BugsLumber Jack-RabbitDuck! Rabbit, Duck!Robot Rabbit
1954 Captain HareblowerBugs and ThugsNo Parking HareDevil May HareBewitched BunnyYankee Doodle BugsBaby Buggy Bunny
1955 Beanstalk BunnySahara HareHare BrushRabbit RampageThis Is a Life?Hyde and HareKnight-Mare HareRoman Legion-Hare
1956 Bugs' BonnetsBroom-Stick BunnyRabbitson CrusoeNapoleon Bunny-PartBarbary-Coast BunnyHalf-Fare HareA Star Is BoredWideo WabbitTo Hare Is Human
1957 Ali Baba BunnyBedevilled RabbitPiker's PeakWhat's Opera, Doc?Bugsy and MugsyShow Biz BugsRabbit Romeo
1958 Hare-Less WolfHare-Way to the StarsNow, Hare ThisKnighty Knight BugsPre-Hysterical Hare
1959 Baton BunnyHare-abian NightsApes of WrathBackwoods BunnyWild and Woolly HareBonanza BunnyA Witch's Tangled HarePeople Are Bunny
1960 Horse HarePerson to BunnyRabbit's FeatFrom Hare to HeirLighter Than Hare
1961 The Abominable Snow RabbitCompressed HarePrince Violent
1962 Wet HareBill of HareShishkabugs
1963 Devil's Feud CakeThe Million HareHare-Breadth HurryThe UnmentionablesMad as a Mars HareTransylvania 6-5000
1964 Dumb PatrolDr. Devil and Mr. HareThe Iceman DuckethFalse Hare
1979 Bugs Bunny's Christmas CarolFright Before Christmas
1980 Portrait of the Artist as a Young BunnySpaced Out Bunny
1990 Box Office Bunny
1991 (Blooper) Bunny
1992 Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers
1995 Carrotblanca
1997 From Hare to Eternity
2004 Hare and Loathing in Las VegasDaffy Duck for President
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