Release Date:

November 11, 1950

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny

Summary:

Bugs Bunny ends up floating away with an Italian balloon vendor’s balloons when the latter asks him to hold the balloons while he’s tying his shoes. The next day, he bumps into the stork delivering a baby kangaroo to Australia, causing him to end up being delivered to a mother kangaroo. After befriending her, he ends up facing off against a very aggressive Aborigine whom he calls “Nature Boy”.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1131 and was released as a Looney Tune.

The cartoon contains yet another Internet misconception as it likes to say the baby kangaroo in this cartoon is Hippety Hopper. However, he clearly isn’t because Hippety’s ears are round and this kangaroo’s are pointy. He also has a line of dialogue in the end, while Hippety never speaks. It’s also not included on the Looney Tunes Super Stars Sylvester and Hippety Hopper Marsupial Mayhem DVD set which as mentioned yesterday in “Pop ‘im Pop”, contains Hippety’s entire filmography.

The cartoon rarely airs on television due to Nature Boy being an Aborigine stereotype (it was one of the 12 omitted from the “June Bugs” marathon in the early 2000’s that was supposed to air every Bugs Bunny cartoon in chronological order). However, it isn’t really offensive since Boomerang aired this cartoon one time in August 2016 and MeTV also airs it occasionally. It is also available on the Looney Tunes Super Stars Bugs Bunny Hare Extraordinaire DVD set as one of the few cartoons presented properly and is also available to stream on Tubi. While I’m glad to have a restored copy of this one (I do own every essential Looney Tunes DVD and Blu-ray release after all, with those being all six Golden Collections, seven of the eight Super Stars DVDs (as one of them only has previously released cartoons) all three Platinum Collections, Mouse Chronicles, Porky Pig 101, Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection, the four Collector’s Choice volumes, Collector’s Vault and other releases that are worth buying for specific cartoons), it’s also more proof as to why Warner’s inconsistency with making cartoons with stereotypes available on disc restored is frustrating.

The title is a pun for “bushy hair”, which presumably refers to an Afro.

Nature Boy is somewhat of a precursor to Taz (introduced four years later in “Devil May Hare”) in that they are both aggressive antagonists created by McKimson.

The mother kangaroo in this cartoon resembles Gracie from yesterday’s cartoon, “Pop ‘im Pop”.

This is a rare instance where Bugs ends up in an unfamiliar place in a different way rather than the usual wrong turn.

While not available to view on its own, the animator draft for the cartoon can be viewed here (if you have very good vision like I do, you’ll be able to read the draft clearly).

“The Tunnel of Love” gag is reused from “Easter Yeggs”.

McKimson would reuse the blowpipe gag eight years later in “Pre-Hysterical Hare”.

What I Like About This One:

The very catchy rendition of “Reckon I’m in Love” over the opening credits.

In the Golden Gate Park, Bugs comes up out of his hole finishing singing “California Here I Come”. He then walks along singing “While Strolling Through the Park One Day” before coming face to face with the balloon vendor in the middle of singing it, “I was taken by surprise by a pair of roguish eyes-I-I-I” (animated by Bill Melendez). The balloon vendor asks Bugs to hold his balloons while he ties his shoelaces (animated by Charles McKimson).

With both oblivious to the fact that the large amount of balloons has enabled Bugs to float up into the air with them, Bugs starts talking about how one can’t be careful about shoelaces: “You could trip and break a leg. I read where there’s more accidents in the home than on the highway. People slippin’ on soap in the bathtub. Some people get dizzy on ladders. Too high for ‘em. Yeah, I’m like that. I’m scared to death of high places”. He realizes now that he’s sailing high into the air with the balloons and after he shoos a passing bird away in annoyance he holds onto the strings of the balloons while sitting on the handle attached to them (animated by Phil DeLara).

After sailing past the full moon at night (animated by Rod Scribner) and then over the ocean the next day (animated by John Carey), Bugs sings “How Dry I Am” before confiding, “And I AM dry too. I got cotton in my mouth” as he pulls a literal box of cotton from his mouth. “Provisions runnin’ low. Down to my last carrot. Somethin’s gotta happen pretty soon” (animated by Charles). As he floats into a cloud, a stork carrying the baby kangaroo flies into the same cloud and due to poor vision in the cloud, bumps into Bugs (animated by Carey), now carrying him instead (animated by Charles) while the baby kangaroo gleefully floats away with the balloons (animated by Scribner). Bugs tells us, “Heh. And I always thought that story about storks was just a gag” (animated by Carey).

The stork flies into Australia (animated by Carey) and drops Bugs into the waiting arms of the mother kangaroo, who immediately starts smothering him with kisses. Bugs tells her to cut it out (animated by DeLara), “I’m not your baby, lady. I’m a full grown rabbit. It’s a case of mistaken idemnity. Yeah (animated by Charles).” He starts to walk away, “Well, nice meeting ya. Hasty banana!” but feels guilty upon hearing the mother kangaroo crying. Feeling guilty at having hurt her feelings, Bugs goes back up to her and apologizes before begrudgingly referring to her as “Mother”. Once he does, the mother kangaroo puts Bugs in her pouch (animated by Scribner) as he sulks, “Me and my big fat mouth” before she pushes him down into her pouch and zips it up (animated by Charles).

She starts bouncing around with Bugs in her pouch as he demands her to stop and claiming he’s scared of the dark just as Nature Boy appears out of a tree with a spear and a boomerang and sneaks up on them. After the jumping around ends, the mother kangaroo unzips her pouch as Bugs comes out hopping like a kangaroo in a dizzy manner (animated by Scribner). Bugs tells her, “Look, lady. I don’t mind being your baby if it’ll make you happy. But that pouch deal is out!” (animated by Melendez)

Nature Boy throws his boomerang to which Bugs mistakes as, “Hm. A little early for mosquitoes”. Seeing the boomerang caught nothing, Nature Boy throws it again (animated by Manuel Perez) just as Bugs begins to walk away from the mother kangaroo claiming he’ll do his own walking as he’s a “big boy now”. He gets hit by the boomerang and assuming the mother kangaroo threw it, he scolds, “Look, Mother. If you want to chastise me, try psychology. And let’s get rid of THIS thing”, throwing the boomerang back: “That thing could give you a conclusion of the brain!”. The mother kangaroo ducks the boomerang coming back before it hits Bugs offscreen (animated by Melendez).

Bugs walks back to the mother kangaroo in an annoyed manner before Nature Boy suddenly jumps out in front of him. After he asks, “What’s up, doc?”, Nature Boy yells in Aborigine gibberish. Bugs challenges him to who can better chant, “Unga Bunga Bunga” before he calmly beats Nature Boy with, “Unga Bunga Bunga Inga Binga Binga Buuuuunnnnnga”. Nature Boy starts yelling ferociously while dancing around in anger (animated by Melendez) as Bugs wonders, “What’d I say? What’d I say?” (animated by Charles)

Nature Boy starts growling at Bugs while pointing his spear towards him as Bugs warns, “Now look, Nature Boy. Don’t give me no trouble” before bashing him on the head with the boomerang. Nature Boy then throws his spear (animated by Scribner) and while running away from it, Bugs feels how sharp the spear is before he dives into a hole near a tree, with the spear getting stuck in said tree. As Bugs comes out the other hole, Nature Boy starts jabbing his spear down into the hole he thinks Bugs is in as Bugs comes behind him and goes into a hammy torture routine: “Yeow! (groans) Ya got me, Nature Boy. Right in my epiglottis. (animated by Carey) Oh, agony, agony. Just go away and let me die in pieces”. Nature Boy then proves how outright savage he is as he jabs down the hole quicker while laughing fiendishly. Irritated at this, Bugs kicks him in the rear, resulting in Nature Boy landing headfirst into the hole with only his feet sticking out, as Bugs tickles Nature Boy’s toes (animated by Charles).

Nature Boy prepares a blowpipe to shoot a poisonous ball at Bugs but just as he’s about to blow it, Bugs blows into it first, sending the poisonous ball down Nature Boy’s throat as his skin turns green and his tongue turns yellow (animated by Perez).

Bugs runs to a canoe and attempts to flee in it only to find that Nature Boy is behind him in the same canoe. They both paddle faster which ends with them both coming out of a “Tunnel of Love” with Bugs in Nature Boy’s arms: “Gosh, Nature. I didn’t know you cared!” Realizing this, Nature Boy chases Bugs (animated by Carey) all the way up the mountain trail (animated by Perez).

Having been looking for Bugs, the mother kangaroo finds Bugs running towards her and saying, “Coming, mother!” before diving into her pouch. Nature Boy dives in after him and they fight inside her pouch. Nature Boy comes out dazed before the mother kangaroo disposes of him by kicking him off the mountain. She and Bugs then look up to see the real baby kangaroo floating down towards them still holding on to the balloons, landing in the mother kangaroo’s pouch (animated by Scribner).

With the US being 7500 miles away, the mother and baby kangaroo have offered to give Bugs a ride back home. “Gee, it’s swell of ya to give me a lift. It would’ve been an awful long swim”. The mother kangaroo acts like a boat with an outboard motor attached to her tail that Bugs, wearing an admiral’s hat, starts up as he and the baby kangaroo ride in the pouch (animated by DeLara). Bugs imitates a captain giving out ship instructions such as “batten down the hatches!” The baby kangaroo replies, “I DID batten ‘em down!” Bugs retorts, “Well, batten ‘em down again. We’ll teach those hatches!” (animated by Charles)

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½