Bugs may have got his start as Elmer's prey, but he rose to such stardom that it was only natural for him to strike out on his own. Bugs found himself pitted against a variety of adversaries, some of whom (on rare occasions) actually get the best of him! In most cases, bugs is disturbed by his antagonist and roused from a peaceful existence where he isn't bothering anyone. But once roused, he is a force to be reckoned with. He has been inducted into the armed forces, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and is undoubtedly the Greatest Cartoon Character of All Time.

 

Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears 1.3
1944 directed by Chuck Jones
Featuring Bugs Bunny and The Three Bears

The Three Bears want something new to eat and decide to try and lure Goldilocks to them with porridge. However, all they have is carrot soup to lure Bugs Bunny instead. In an attempt to stop them from chasing him, Bugs tells Mama Bear that she's beautiful, compliments her eyes and plants a big kiss on her lips. The plan works, but Bugs now must escape from a love-stricken Mama Bear now so smitten she can't keep her hands off of him.

Trivia

• This is the first appearance of Jones' dysfunctional version of The Three Bears
  

 

The Windblown Hare 3.3
1949 directed by Robert McKimson
Featuring Bugs Bunny, The Wolf, and The Three Pigs

The Pigs, reading their own story in a book of fairy tales, decide to circumvent the story by selling both the straw house and the wooden house before the Wolf can blow them down. Bugs is persuaded to buy the houses. But the Wolf blows them down while the pgs hide out in the brick house.

Trivia

In the opening of the cartoon each of The Three Pigs is wearing a shirt that corresponds with the type of house each lives in. The Pig that lives in the straw house is wearing yellow, the wood house is wearing green, and the brick house is wearing red. By the middle of the cartoon the Pig that owns the brick house is wearing the yellow shirt.

Frigid Hare 1.3
1948 directed by Chuck Jones
Featuring Bugs Bunny

While traveling to Miami Beach for an overdue vacation from Warner Brothers, Bugs Bunny mistakenly ends up at the South Pole. While there, he meets a young penguin being pursued by an Eskimo hunter. Bugs helps him out, but Bugs may have a limit to his generousness.

Trivia

• The title is a play on frigid air, referencing the temperature at the South Pole and on the refrigerator brand Frigidaire, which was popular at the time.
  

 

8 Ball Bunny 4.1
1949 directed by Chuck Jones
Featuring Bugs Bunny

Bugs discovers a lost stage show penguin and, touched by the young bird's plight, promises to take him home. Only after making this promise does Bugs learn that a penguin is native to the South Pole.

Trivia

• Hoboken, New Jersey is a short trip from the Brooklyn Ice Palace where the film starts. Ironically, the boat in New Orleans he boards would have gotten him home.
• The boat is named Admiral Byrd after a US Navy explorer who explored both the North and South Poles.
• The guy who is down on his luck is a parody of Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, which is also the film that gives us the famous line “Badges? We don’t need no stinkin’ badges.”

Earworms

• Oooh I'm dying.
• Oooh I'm dying again!
  

 

The Bashful Buzzard 5.3
1945 directed by Bob Clampett
Featuring Killer

Killer is sent to bring home something to eat. He makes many attempts and gains questionable success.

• The opening from Bugs Bunny Gets The Boid is reused in this film.
• Killer almost swears when he fights the dinosaur. He says, "Why you shriveled up incontestable piece of shhhh..." but he catches himself and replaces the word with shoe leather.
  

 

Tortoise Beats Hare 2.1
1941 directed by Tex Avery
Featuring Bugs Bunny Cecil Turtle

Bugs wanders onto the title card munching his carrot and absent-mindedly begins reading the credits. When he finally gets to the title itself, he becomes outraged, tears apart the title card, and rushes to Cecil Turtle's house. He then bets the little, sleepy-eyed turtle ten dollars that he can beat him in a race.

Trivia

• This film is a take on the Aesop fable The Tortoise and the Hare, but even more directly, it is Avery's parody of the 1934 Disney Silly Symphony, The Tortoise and the Hare. Max Hare from the earlier Disney film is often cited as one of the inspirations behind Bugs Bunny.
  

 

Tortoise Wins by a Hare 1.3
1943 directed by Bob Clampett
Featuring Bugs Bunny and Cecil Turtle

Bugs again challenges Cecil to a race after viewing footage from their previous encounter two years earlier. Bugs then goes to Cecil's tree home disguised to ask the turtle his secret. Cecil, not in the least bit fooled by the disguise, tells him that his streamlined shell lets him win. Bugs builds a shell and prepares for a race.

Trivia

• Bugs' old man disguise is a parody of Bill Thompson's Old Timer character from the radio show Fibber McGee and Molly.
  

 

Rabbit Transit 2.1
1947 directed by Friz Freleng
Featuring Bugs Bunny and Cecil Turtle

While relaxing in a steam bath, Bugs reads about the original fable and becomes incensed at the idea of a turtle outrunning a rabbit. Cecil, also in the steam bath, claims that he could outrun Bugs, prompting Bugs to challenge him to a race.

 

Hare Conditioned 2.1
1945 directed by Chuck Jones
Featuring Bugs Bunny

Bugs is on display in the Stacey's Department Store window, helping to advertise camping gear. With that particular sales campaign over, the store manager takes Bugs to another department. The man tells the rabbit he will look splendid after he has been stuffed. But Bugs isn't quite ready to retire.

• The title is a play on air-conditioned. Before air conditioning became widely used, it was sometimes advertised as incentive for the public to visit department stores.
• At one point, Bugs distracts the manager by telling him he "sounds just like that guy on the radio: The Great Gildersneeze!" The voice is actually an imitation of Harold Peary's character on a radio show called The Great Gildersleeve, which is noted as being the first spin off series in broadcasting.
• During the elevator scene, Bugs rattles off items such as rubber tires, sugar, bourbon, butter, and then finishes with "...and other picture postcards." This joke refers to the rationing that took place during World War II, where the items mentioned were in severe shortage due to the war effort, although pictures of them could be had.
  

 

Super Rabbit 3.4
1943 directed by Chuck Jones
Featuring Bugs Bunny

A professor is creating a super carrot. Bugs is his test subject, and immediately wolfs down the carrot, which now gives him super-abilities, such as invulnerability and flight, but only temporarily. He must eat another one from time to time, to replenish his powers. Bugs pulls out a newspaper article about Cottontail Smith, a hunter in Texas who wants to hunt down all rabbits. Seeing a need, Bugs gathers up the super carrots, stashes them in a cigarette case, gives the professor a kiss on the nose and flies off to heroically vanquish the villain.

Trivia

• The cartoon opens with a similar opening to the 1940s Superman cartoons, radio shows, and later movie serials and television show.
• The professor is a parody of Richard Haydn's radio character Edwin Carp on the Burns and Allen radio show.
• The town Deepinaharta Texas is a recurring WB gag inspired by the 1941 song Deep in the Heart of Texas by June Hershey and Don Swander.
• The U.S. Marine Corps was so flattered that Bugs Bunny decided to become a Marine in this film that they insisted that the character be officially inducted into the force as a private, complete with dogtags. The character was regularly promoted until Bugs was officially discharged at the end of World War II as a Master Sergeant.

Earworms

• Bricka bracka firecracker sis boom bah, Bugs bunny bugs bunny rah rah rah!
  

 

Rabbit Punch 3.4
1948 directed by Chuck Jones
Featuring Bugs Bunny

The World's Championship Fight is about to begin in a gigantic boxing stadium built near Bugs Bunny's hole in the countryside. Tonight's fight features the battle between the Champ, Battling McGook also known as The Crusher, and his challenger Dispectic McBlaster. During the fight, Crusher doesn't even give his challenger a sporting chance. This prompts Bugs Bunny to heckle Crusher and when Bugs calls to Crusher to pick on somebody his own size, Crusher decides Bugs will do, and throws him through the Dressing Room. Bugs gets a pair of boxing gloves and some boxing shorts, and a shot at the title.

Trivia

• First appearance of Crusher
• The steam locomotive 1043 Crusher drives mirrors the articulated steam locomotives that ran on American railroads during the 1940s and 1950s. The number also refers to the production number of this cartoon.
• The title refers to a rabbit punch, which is a blow to the neck or to the base of the skull. It is considered dangerous because it can damage the cervical vertebrae and subsequently the spinal cord, which may lead to serious spinal cord injury or even death. The punch's name is derived from the use of the technique by hunters to kill rabbits with a quick, sharp strike to the back of the head, for instance using a blunt object such as a steel pipe.
• A rabbit punch can also be a blow directly to the kidney region. This can often cause internal bleeding and often leads to cardiac arrest.
  

 

Bunny Hugged 2.1
1951 directed by Chuck Jones
Featuring Bugs Bunny

A wrestling match pits professional wrestler Ravishing Ronald against current champion The Crusher. Bugs, the mascot of Ravishing Ronald, watches from a corner as The Crusher uses Ronald as a punching bag. Worried that he's losing his bread and butter, Bugs enters the match as The Masked Terror. Will brains prevail over brawn?

Trivia

• Ravishing Ronald is a parody of George Raymond Wagner (known as Gorgeous George) and Buddy Rogers (known as Nature Boy) both famous professional wrestlers of the 40s and 50s.
  

 

Gorilla My Dreams 2.1
1948 directed by Robert McKimson
Featuring Bugs Bunny

On the island of Bingzi-Bangzi - Land of the Ferocious Apes, Mrs. Gruesome Gorilla is sad that she doesn't have any children, though her husband couldn't care less. When Mrs. Gruesome spots Bugs floating in a barrel, she takes him back to her treetop. Mrs. Gruesome wants Bugs to be her baby. Mr. Gruesome has other ideas.

Trivia

• The title is a play on the expression "Girl o' My Dreams."
• The story is a parody of the many jungle movies that were prominent in the 1930s and 40s, including the Tarzan movies.
• The song Bugs sings in his barrel is Tradewinds, made popular by Bing Crosby at the time.
• TV broadcasts removed the part where Bugs is reading an Esquire Magazine because it was considered an adult magazine at the time.
  

 

The Grey Hounded Hare 4.1
1948 directed by Robert McKimson
Featuring Bugs Bunny

Bugs Bunny explores a dog track and falls madly in love with the rabbit they chase and attempts to rescue her. He contends with the dogs to save his new love interest, only to find the most shocking thing about new love is the sparks that fly.

 

The Heckling Hare 2.1
1941 directed by Tex Avery
Featuring Bugs Bunny

Bugs is hunted by a dog but the dog falls for every trap Bugs sets for him until they both fall off a cliff at the end.

Trivia

• This is the cartoon that led to Tex Avery leaving Warner Bros. and moving to MGM. The final gag of this cartoon originally had Bugs and the dog falling off two cliffs, with Bugs telling the audience after the first tumble, "Hold on to your hats, folks. Here we go again!" The producer, Leon Schlessinger, intervened for reasons that are not known with certainty. One story is that the "Hold on to your hats" line referred to an off-color joke that was then in circulation. The other story is that Schlesinger feared that Tex Avery had killed off Bugs Bunny by ending the cartoon with Bugs falling off the cliff without a clear indication of whether or not he survived. The film was edited so that the characters only fall off a cliff once. Avery was enraged, and walked out of the studio. He was promptly suspended, and during his suspension, he was hired by MGM.
• The Merrie Melodies opening sequence also featured the first usage of the Warner Bros. shield logo zooming in with a carrot-munching Bugs Bunny lying on top of it and Bugs pulls down the Merrie Melodies title screen like it is a shade.
• This short is considered to contain the longest fall in the history of cinema.
  

 

Forward March Hare 4.1
1952 directed by Chuck Jones
Featuring Bugs Bunny

The mailman has delivered a letter to B. Bonny, but when the truck pulls out, the exhaust from the tailpipe causes the letter to drift out of the mailbox and drop into Bugs Bunny's hole. Bugs sees the letter and assumes it's for him. Reading the letter, he's shocked to find out he's been drafted!

Trivia

• The title is an amalgamation of the army command Forward March and the Alice in Wonderland character The Mad March Hare.
  

 

Lumber Jack Rabbit DVD2
1953 directed by Chuck Jones
Featuring Bugs Bunny

As the story opens a narrator recalls the character Paul Bunyan and his exploits and states that many people still question the giant's existence. Just then Bugs Bunny come walking by touting a hobo pack and singing Blue Tail Fly. He comments on the unusual looking trees he passes, oblivious to the fact that they are abnormally large asparagus and that he has entered a rather large vegetable garden. He then finds an oversized carrot and lays next to it for a nap under the pretense that it is a boulder. But he quickly rises up and points out that he smells carrots. Turning his attention to the so-called boulder he's propped against, and scratches some of the contents onto his finger and tastes. Suddenly he ecstatically comes to the conclusion that he has discovered a carrot mine and starts to frantically dig through the carrot. On the other end of the garden Paul Bunyan leaves his log cabin for work with his dog Smidgen following behind. Paul instructs the dog to watch over the garden. Smidgen find Bugs in the garden and attempts to rid the carrot field of this pest.

Trivia

• It is the only Warner Bros. cartoon short produced in 3D. It was originally featured with the Warner Bros. 3-D feature The Moonlighter.
• The WB shield was animated especially to appear as if it zoomed up close to the audience. It was the only concession they made to the 3-D format. The shield springs much farther forward than normal before returning to its usual position. The effect is heightened by a much different sounding sound effect before the Looney Tunes theme plays.
• The closing sequence is modified as well with the That's All Folks! script fading in rather than being written out.
  

 

Foxy by Proxy Downloads
1952 directed by Friz Freleng
Featuring Bugs Bunny

Bugs is provoked by a pack of foxhounds and their hunters stampeding over his hole, so he gets out his Halloween costume from last year (a fox suit) and sets out to lead the dogs on a merry chase. The stupidest of the dogs, whose objective is to cut a fox's tail off, becomes his main victim; Bugs tricks him into chasing a train instead. He eventually tricks the dog pack into running off a cliff, but the stupid dog ends up with Bugs' tail.

 

Rebel Rabbit 3.1
1949 directed by Robert McKimson
Featuring Bugs Bunny

Having found out that the bounty for rabbits are only 2 cents, Bugs wants to know why. The game department official explains to him that rabbits are perfectly harmless, so Bugs vows to prove that rabbits are the most dangerous animals around.

Trivia

• The angry congressman is a parody of Senator Beauregard Claghorn, a popular radio character voiced by Kenny Delmar on the Allen's Alley segment of The Fred Allen Show.
• This is one of those rare instances where Bugs is the aggressor and he loses in the end.

Earworms

• Stop steaming up my glasses!
• Could it be that I carried this thing just a little too far?