Looney Tunes: "Easter Yeggs"

Premiered June 28, 1947.

"Every year, I get some dumb bunny to do my work for me."
-The Easter Rabbit (Mel Blanc)

Bugs Bunny (Mel Blanc) is relaxing, reading a book when he hears someone crying.

It's the Easter Rabbit.  He's says he's "supposed to be happy and gay" while delivering eggs, but his feet are killing him.  Bugs is sympathetic and offers to deliver the "technicolor hen fruit" for him.  As Bugs hops away, the Easter Bunny breaks the 4th wall and tells us that every year he gets another rabbit to do his work for him.

Bugs' first stop is the home of a child known as "Dead End Kid".

Yikes!

The child immediately attacks Bugs, when Bugs tries to retaliate, Dead End Kid's family shows up armed to the teeth and turns their guns on Bugs.

YIKES!!

Bugs goes back to the Easter Rabbit and tells him he's changed his mind.  The Easter Rabbit convinces Bugs to try again.  The next home he visits is the residence of Elmer Fudd (Arthur Q. Bryan), who says he will turn the Easter Rabbit into "wabbit stew".

 
Bugs is prepared this time and smashes an egg in Fudd's hands.  They engage in a battle of wits, with Bugs enraging Fudd, causing him to pull a rifle on our hero.

While this is going on, the Easter Rabbit watches and keeps encouraging Bugs to deliver the eggs.  
Will Bugs stick with it?


J.A. Morris says:

I've mentioned in prior reviews that I'm a huge fan of classic Warner Brothers cartoons.  But I have mixed feelings about Easter Yeggs.

It gets off to a good start, with Bugs reading a book called How To Multiply.  And it gives us another great gag, with the classic "Bugs outline" as he runs out the door.

And the animation is great as usual.  Mel Blanc and Arthur Q. Bryan are always fun to hear voicing Bugs and Elmer.

The portrayal of the Easter Bunny as lazy was certainly cynical.  It was also somewhat refreshing compared to other holiday cartoons.  But the same cynicism and the presence of more guns than usual means it probably shouldn't be shown to very young children.

Lobby card for Easter Yeggs.

But I have one big problem with Easter Yeggs.  Bugs Bunny should NEVER lose a fight to a little boy (even one who sucks on a gun!).  And if he does, he should go back to the house and triumph in the end.  I'm aware that Robert McKimson specialized in "unconventional" Bugs shorts (his Rebel Rabbit is one of my favorites), but this cartoon goes too far.

Easter Yeggs has been released on DVD.  It can be found on Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 3. 

If you want a dash of cynicism in your Easter programming, check out this short.  But Bugs' defeat by Dead End Kid costs it an egg.

J.A. Morris' rating:

2 and a half Easter Eggs.

RigbyMel says:

There is lots of anarchic fun to be had in this Warner Brothers short and as J.A. Morris says, the lazy, cynical Easter Rabbit's conning of Bugs is an interesting deviation in tone from the typical holiday cartoon.

That being said,  I cannot get behind the Dead End Kid being shown sucking on a gun like a bottle.   It's a gag that just doesn't play well to my mind.    Like J.A. Morris, I was also disappointed that Bugs didn't get to give the Dead End Kid (or at least his family) some kind of comeuppance.  Maybe Warner Brothers was hesitant to have Bugs Bunny wreck havoc on a child?

 I did not see this short when I was a child, but if I had, I think I might also have been a bit upset by the notion of Elmer Fudd wanting to shoot the Easter Bunny!  So this is not a Looney Toons short that I would recommend for very young children.

Bugs turns Fudd into an Easter Egg!

That being said, there are enough silly gags and Easter anarchy to make this worthwhile for older children and for adult cartoon connoisseurs.

RigbyMel's rating:

2 and a half Easter Eggs.

Looney Tunes: "The Stupid Cupid"

Premiered November 25, 1944.

"Say, keep your arrows out of other people's businessesses... buster! You shot me last year, and look what happened. Tied down. No more fun. Now look at me. A has-been. A hen-pecked duck. A canvasback Cassanova. And it's your fault, you bare-backed bandit. So beat it, bub. Take a powder. Scram!"
-Daffy Duck

Cupid (Frank Graham), who bears a striking resemblance to Elmer Fudd, is flying around, shooting his arrows at males of various species.

They all turn into love-struck Romeos.

Cupid eventually tracks down Daffy Duck (Mel Blanc).

But Daffy had enough of Cupid's arrow last year.  He was shot, got married, had a bunch of kids and is "tied down".

But Cupid nails him again, prompting Daffy to fall for a chicken.  She's not interested, but Daffy chases her around the coop.

In the middle of the chase, her husband, a muscle-bound rooster shows up and is out for blood.

J.A. Morris says:
This is a great Looney Tunes short.  I'm a huge fan of the old Warner Brothers cartoons, but this is one I haven't seen many times.

It was directed by Frank Tashlin, who later went on to helm live action films like The Girl Can't Help It and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?  Tashlin was a master of sight-gags, and this cartoon is full of them, as these screen caps indicate.

Check out this sequence below.  A bluebird is shot by Cupid's arrow.

We see him morph into an airplane.

 

Great stuff.

 


There are some aspects of this toon that haven't aged well.  We try not to judge works of the past by today's standards, but these aspects keep me from giving it a higher rating.  My co-blogger goes into this in more detail below.
The animation in The Stupid Cupid is outstanding and Stupid Cupid is must-see for Daffy fans and all fans of classic cartoons.

J.A. Morris' rating:

3 Valentine Hearts.

RigbyMel says:

This is great classic Looney Tunes, as J.A. Morris says.    The animation is top-notch and the gags (mostly) still play well.

Cupid takes aim at Daffy

That being said, I have two issues with it, both of which stem from it having been produced in the 1940s when cultural mores were a little different than they are in the early 21st century.  

Bulldog struck by Cupid's arrow whilst chomping on cat

First, there is a gag involving a dog chasing a cat.   The dog gets shot with one of Cupid's arrows and wishes to be amorous with the cat in a very Pepe Le Pew fashion.   The cat's reaction is to pull out a gun and shoot himself in the head nine times (thus, taking out all nine lives).    This feels very uncomfortable on a number of levels.

Secondly,  I feel kind of bad for Mrs. Daffy and the chicken who is the recipient of Daffy's new amorous attentions.  They didn't do anything wrong.  I guess we can blame that on Cupid's arrows?   Love is strange.

That being said,  this is a fun, silly cartoon and worth checking out if you're a fan of classic Warner Brothers animation.

RigbyMel's rating:

2 1/2 Valentine Hearts.