Sunday, March 30, 2014

Bugs Bunny Routs Red Ryder


Bob Clampett Loads Up On Radio References in Buckaroo Bugs (1944)

A hard-charging Bob Clampett go at Bugs Bunny, and done during wartime for maximum noise and putting action in our faces. An OTR expert should study WB cartoons and list lifts from radio of the day. I'm beginning to think every voice was a steal from someone's broadcast, but how to know them all with minimal knowledge of what came over airwaves then? Clampett said he listened constant when not haunting theatres to look at rival cartoons, him a sponge for spillings off pop culture. Aren't we as much so for catch-phrasing picked up from view of WB's since? Helpful too was Clampett and team being young enough to enjoy novelty of then-popular trends. At what age did animators get jaded? Aggression was welcome in wartime cartoons, too much of it a good thing so far as combat-ready audiences went. I'm thinking Bugs Bunny got a biggest boost from servicemen who dug his brio. Trouble is, times do change, as does saturation point for come-on-strong characters, thus Bugs at high pitch can offput. His opponent is "Red Hot Ryder," such a "maroon" that you wish to heaven BB would stop picking on him. The rabbit walked a tightrope over our sympathies, and for me in this instance, fell off it.
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2 comments:

  1. John McElwee4:58 AM

    Donald Benson considers cartoon hardship:


    I can't recall any toons where I had trouble with Bugs Bunny's conduct. Even in this one, Red Hot Rider is officially hunting for Bugs and hunters are always fair game.


    I had more trouble with Chip and Dale occasionally destroying Donald Duck's home and/or livelihood, even if the duck was being a complete jerk. And Famous/Paramount cartoons had a disturbing habit of making characters look like they were in actual pain (Katnip the moron cat, the wolf pitted against Baby Huey, and even Bluto).


    Also, cartoons about hunger or starvation could play as grim instead of funny. "Fun and Fancy Free" has the "Mickey and the Beanstalk" sequence, where Mickey, Goofy and Donald, looking genuinely miserable, make dinner of a single carved bean and bread sliced thin enough to be transparent. Contrast to "Der Fuhrer's Face", where the duck gleefully hoards his sorry rations.

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  2. Reg Hartt9:05 AM

    Bob told me that during the War they made their cartoons fast and furious as the Wartime mood left no time for reflection.

    After the War the artists realized that attitude had changed. Now they had to set a solid basis for Bugs to react from.

    Hence the first half of the post World War Two cartoons establishes that Bugs is being trespassed upon.

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