Release Date:

March 22, 1947

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny

Summary:

Interviewed by offscreen gossip columnist Lola Beverly, Hollywood star Bugs Bunny gives a recap of his teen years in New York where he outwitted a gang of tough bulldog thugs, their leader in particular, who made the mistake of trying to pick on him.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1020 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

This is one of seven cartoons released in 1947 to not be reissued. The others are the other three Bugs Bunny cartoons from 1947: “Rabbit Transit”, “Easter Yeggs”, and “Slick Hare” while the three non-Bugs cartoons of 1947 that were spared from reissue are Jones’ “A Pest in the House” and two of Davis’ masterpieces, “Mexican Joyride” and “Catch As Cats Can” (however, a few reissued cartoons from 1947 have had their original titles found, but we will get to those later). As Bugs Bunny cartoons were often excluded from being reissued due to someone making the very wise decision of having theatrical re-runs of them booked elsewhere, every cartoon with the wascally wabbit survives with their opening credits intact.

This is the first of two cartoons where Bugs is a Hollywood star telling of events from his past. The other is McKimson’s “What’s Up Doc” (1950).

The cartoon’s premise of Bugs recapping a specific event from youth was based off of a short autobiographical piece that appeared in a Coronet magazine in December 1945 where Bugs was given his name by his parents due to his funny antics. It’s also revealed that his parents wanted him to be the magic rabbit for the magician, the “Great Presto”. However, he decided to leave for Hollywood where he “arrived just in time to save the movies from the hams who was overrunning it”.

Other than writing this cartoon, Tedd Pierce and Michael Maltese also voice a few of the bulldog thugs.

The cartoon is in the 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons book.

A partial storyboard from the cartoon can be seen here.

The title is a reference to the book, “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”, which is also used as the final gag.

What I Like About This One:

Bugs’ estate has several fancy things you’d see on an estate like a swimming pool, statuary, and formal garden, but his “home sweet home” is of course, a rabbit hole.

Beverly calls for Bugs to come out of his hole just as he’s waking up. Realizing the presence of the press, he goes back down and comes back dressed in a very elegant outfit (animated by Virgil Ross).

Claiming, “Well, Lolly, you know how I hate to talk about myself”, he begins his story of how he was born in the east side of New York. In a flashback, baby Bugs comes out of a rabbit hole in a garden windowsill and sucks on a carrot instead of a milk bottle (animated by Ross).

“In no time at all, I grew into sturdy young rabbithood” where we flash forward into his teen years as Bugs dances through town and sings a jaunty tune called “The Daughter of Rosie O’Grady”: “She’s the daughter of Rosie O’Grady, a regular old-fashioned girl. She isn’t crazy for diamond rings. Silkens and satins, and fancy things. She’s just a sweet little lady, and when you meet her, you’ll see. Why I’m glad I call it the Daughter of Rosie O’Grady” (marvellously animated by Gerry Chiniquy).

Noticing Bugs, the bulldogs all slide into the backs of each other as the leader tells them, “Well, for crying out loud, get a load of this” (animated by Chiniquy).

Still dancing through town, Bugs is cornered by the dogs (animated by Chiniquy), and they start mockingly wondering if he’s a giraffe. The leader tells them that he’s not as a giraffe has a long neck, to which he stretches Bugs’ neck. When they realize it’s a rabbit, they decide “dog pile on the rabbit”, only for Bugs to end up on top of them and chant “Dog pile on the rabbit” over and over while jumping on them. Getting wise, the leader tells his cronies to “Hey, get off!” With Bugs now only jumping up and down on the leader, he leans down in his face and says “Peek-a-boo!” and gives the leader a wacky kiss after the latter responds, “I see you!” (animated by Ross).

Running on his ears, Bugs ducks into a manhole. The leader attempts to jump in after him, but Bugs puts the cover on top of the hole, resulting in the leader bashing his face against the cover and leaving the cover’s “NYC” and tile imprint on his face. Bugs then appears next to the leader who after Bugs asks, “Whatcha lookin’ for, doc?”, tells him he’s looking for a rabbit. After Bugs asks about the characteristics of a rabbit- long ears, fuzzy tail, and hopping around on all fours- he then asks the leader if there was a tough-looking mug chasing him while wearing a derby, a turtleneck sweater, and a big cigar while taking all of them off of the leader before imitating him by barking on all fours and then punching him. “And when you ain’t lookin’, does he let ya have it like this?” The derby-less, clothes-less, and cigar-less leader tells him that that’s the guy before getting wise: “Hey, wait a minute. Which way did he go?” Bugs takes off the leader’s clothes and responds, “Sorry, mac. Haven’t seen him”. Realizing he was tricked, the leader puts everything back on, including the complicated way of putting his derby back on before his sweater (animated by Ken Champin).

Passing by the Daily News building, the leader wonders where that screwy rabbit is, and turns around to see the words, “He went that way” appearing on the flashing sign above the building and pointing in Bugs’ direction (animated by Chiniquy).

Bugs then runs into the “StorkKlub”, where literal storks hang out and then into an automat where he asks the leader for a nickel before pieing him in the face with a lemon pie. Bugs apologizes while wiping the leader’s face, “Oh, I’m terribly sorry. I’ve made an awful mistake. You wanted CHERRY pie!” and splats him with said cherry pie (animated by Manuel Perez).

After an elevator chase, the bulldog finds Bugs posing in a neon sign advertising Egyptian cigarettes through various slides that also involve Egyptians giving each other hotfoots and once discovered, Bugs does Egyptian-like dances while trying to get away (animated by Chiniquy).

Bugs tricks the leader into running off the building by having him “get the stick”, resulting in the leader falling (animated by Chiniquy) before suspending his fall by catching on to a clotheswire. Bugs pops out of a pair of longjohns and plays “This Little Piggy” with the leader’s fingers by plucking them off. “Uh oh, what do you know? Wan out of piddies”. To add insult to injury, the leader is then tangled up in baby clothing and lands in a baby’s stroller before doing the “running finger across lips” bit while shaking a baby rattle (animated by Perez).

Bugs continues his dancing through town but turns into a bookstore corner where the whole bulldog gang shows up and corners him (animated by Chiniquy).

In the present, Bugs becomes dramatic: “There I was, trapped, overwhelmed by superior numbers!” When asked by Beverly how he got out of this, Bugs continues: “Well, I grabbed the nearest thing I could get my hands on (animated by Ross), determined to make their victory a costly one!” The flashback continues where Bugs grabs a nearby book and prepares to hit the dogs with it but they become ecstatic about what’s on the cover and run over to Brooklyn. Bugs sees the title for himself: “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” and walks into town, deciding to read it (animated by Champin).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕