Release Date:

January 21, 1950

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny

Summary:

Answering a want ad in the newspaper about a hurdy gurdy and a monkey for sale cheap, Bugs Bunny decides to buy it and make money this way as an organ grinder. He fires the monkey after discovering he’s been hiding the coins he collected in his cap and decides to do the work himself. Irritated, the monkey informs his dad, a ferocious gorilla at the zoo, about what Bugs did to him, so the gorilla goes after Bugs.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1105 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue.

This is McKimson’s last Bugs Bunny cartoon to use the “chubby Bugs” design that had been used in all of the Bugs Bunny cartoons he directed up to this point. Afterwards, McKimson would use the standard Bugs like everyone else. This is also the only usage of the “chubby Bugs” in the 1950’s.

The gorilla in this cartoon shares the same character design as Gruesome Gorilla in “Gorilla My Dreams”.

The cartoon was originally titled “Hare-dy Gurdy Hare”.

At one point, Bugs refers to the gorilla as “King Kong”, referencing the monstrous ape of the same name.

Bugs’ closing line, “I sure hope Petrillo doesn’t hear about this!” refers to James C. Petrillo, who was at the time the head of the American Federation of Musicians. Petrillo disapproved of recorded music and gave his second strike against recording companies around the time this cartoon was in production.

The animator draft for the cartoon can be viewed here.

The draft also reveals a scene that was deleted from the cartoon before the animators began their work on it: the monkey would look up in a sore manner at Bugs collecting the coins before going to the zoo and entering the gorilla’s cage.

Bugs references the three B’s of classical music (Beethoven, Brahms, and Bach) at the start of the cartoon, albeit mispronouncing them.

This is one of two McKimson cartoons to have backgrounds by Philip DeGuard, with the other being “A Fractured Leghorn” (released eight months later).

What I Like About This One:

Reading the newspaper, Bugs finds a few interesting business opportunities such as “gold mine for sale” and “how to raise mink in your bathtub”. Upon seeing one for “hurdy gurdy and monkey for sale cheap”, Bugs walks along enthusiastic about the idea. “Ah. The old masters. Beet-hoven! Brams! Batch!” (animated by Charles McKimson)

Scatting to the music that the hurdy gurdy plays, Strauss’ “Artist’s Life”, Bugs pulls it along the street and gets his monkey (animated by Pete Burness) to climb the apartment building and collect the coins with his cup (animated by John Carey). Once the monkey comes back, Bugs is ecstatic about the money he’s about to receive: “Ah, here comes the gravy train now!” He is not pleased to find the monkey’s cup empty, but gets suspicious upon seeing the monkey looking away with an innocent expression. He shakes him and hears rattling: “Ah-ha!” before discovering that the monkey has hidden all of the coins in his cap. Angry, Bugs fires him: “Why, you little swindler! Ya can’t trust nobody!” After putting the coins inside the hurdy gurdy’s money container, Bugs decides, “Ah, I don’t need that little chiseler! I can do it myself!” He puts the monkey’s cap on and starts chittering like one (animated by Burness).

Bugs attempts to climb up the building only to fall back down, due to not being made to climb buildings. Using a ladder to climb up instead, Bugs attempts to collect coins from one of the tenants, only for this tenant to dump a bucket of water on him instead, as well as putting the bucket on his head (animated by Phil DeLara).

Meanwhile, the monkey is explaining to the gorilla what just happened with both talking in primate gibberish (animated by Carey). The monkey imitates Bugs in the middle of this conversation by having his ears grow long, using his tail to imitate a carrot, and saying, “What’s up, doc?” three times (animated by Charles). Angry about the firing of his son (animated by Bill Melendez), the gorilla breaks out of the cage and heads to the building as the monkey watches in glee (animated by Carey).

Bugs peeks into one of the windows only for this apartment to belong to what is seemingly a woman currently bathing as evidenced by her scream and Bugs blushing in embarrassment. He tries to politely explain, “Pardon me, I’m sure-” but she screams again so he decides not to bother with her anymore (animated by Burness).

Having made it to the building, the gorilla climbs up the drainpipe and gets onto the ledge Bugs is on (animated by DeLara). Realizing the gorilla is now next to him, Bugs asks, “Eh, what’s up, doc?” with the gorilla answering with a roar. Noticing how muscular he is, Bugs asides, “Hmm. Obviously a barbell boy” (animated by Charles). When the gorilla leans in Bugs’ face, Bugs pushes him away: “Hey, quit pushin’! Come on, shove off, King Kong! I’m workin’ this side of the street!” The gorilla attempts to punch Bugs, but Bugs ducks, causing the gorilla to create a hole in the wall. Bugs tells him, “That’s a pretty good trick, doc. But can ya do this?” He blows with his finger in his mouth, allowing him to be in mid-air for a few seconds. The gorilla does the same with Bugs encouraging, “That’s it, doc. Keep blowin’” before he pushes the floating gorilla off the ledge, with the gorilla oblivious to this, but still in mid-air. Bugs chides him, “You’re a big boy now. Take your finger out of your mouth”. Once the gorilla does, he falls (animated by DeLara).

It’s revealed that the impact of the gorilla’s fall made a gorilla-shaped hole in the ground. He emerges with a flower on his head before growling in anger and climbing back up (animated by DeLara). Bugs tells him he didn’t do so bad on his last trick, but asks him if he can do something else: Bugs jumps down and lands on the canopy bouncing back up to the ledge as if it’s a trampoline. The gorilla attempts to do it but his weight causes him to smash through the canopy and fall underground where he gets hit offscreen by the subway. He comes back up with a broken window-frame from the subway labeled “Bronx Express”. Imitating a conductor, Bugs pushes the gorilla back down into the hole where he is hit by another subway (animated by Melendez). “Ain’t I a devil?”, Bugs asks (animated by Charles).

Back on the ledge, Bugs is again confronted by the gorilla, who furiously breathes heavily. Bugs warns him, “Back again, eh? Well, if you can’t take a hint, I’ll have to get tough. And another thing…. stop breathing in my cup!!!!” (animated by Melendez) Bugs asides, “I’ll bet this kid won’t take much more of this guff” (animated by Charles). The gorilla begins to chase Bugs, who peeks into the bathing woman’s window one more time, and is greeted with another scream from her (animated by Burness).

Bugs attempts to descend a ladder on the ledge but the gorilla brings it down to the ledge below so that Bugs comes toward him rather than running away from him. He does the same thing when Bugs attempts to ascend the ladder. After the gorilla moves the ladder to where Bugs will end up going to him again (animated by DeLara up to here), Bugs decides, “I’ve seen you before. I never forget a face. But in your case, I’ll make an exception” (animated by Charles). Eventually, Bugs climbs up all the way to an upper ledge without the ladder after the gorilla moves it one more time (animated by DeLara). “So long, Gargantua!”, he taunts but the gorilla jumps up onto the ledge next to him (animated by Burness).

Bugs enters a nearby open window and starts cementing a brick wall in front of it (animated by Burness). The gorilla attempts to get in in the middle of Bugs constructing the wall, so Bugs quickly completes the wall, leaving the gorilla trapped in it. To add insult to injury, Bugs shoves an explosive cigar in his mouth. After the explosion, the gorilla breaks out of his brick prison (animated by Carey) as Bugs puts a door in front of the hole where the window once was. Bugs tricks him into running out the door. Figuring he’s rid of the gorilla, Bugs figures, “Well, that’s that” (animated by DeLara), but upon opening the door to the apartment hallway, Bugs is confronted by the gorilla in bandages and crutches, with them being removed once he roars again (animated by Melendez).

Bugs runs into another room and shuts the door. Trying to find a way out, he instead finds a violin and remembers, “Ah! They say music calms the savage beast” and starts playing Strauss’ “Artist’s Life” just as the gorilla breaks down the door. The gorilla’s roaring rage is turned to him calmly dancing to Bugs’ playing (animated by Emery Hawkins). Realizing “this kid sure loves music”, Bugs gets an idea (animated by Charles).

In the end, the gorilla, who is still charmed by the music, is now a big organ grinder’s monkey who is smashing windows to get dollars instead of coins (animated by Hawkins). With Bugs and the little monkey shown to have made amends, it’s also revealed that they’ve managed to make tons of money with this new method (animated by DeLara). Happily typing away on his cash register, Bugs confides, “I sure hope Petrillo doesn’t hear about this!” (animated by Charles)

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½