Bowery Bugs

Steve Brody jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge in 1886. Bugs Bunny is talking to an elderly man and describes how he made Steve do it. Steve was hunting for a lucky rabbit's foot and Bugs turned it around on him.

There was a real Steve Brodie with a different spelling. Apparently, it was a dare and he survived. I do remember this cartoon especially the last minute or so. The middle part does not necessarily make sense to me. I would do different tricks to give Brody a Kafkaesque experience. Maybe, I would go too surreal for the regular audience. I'm just not in love with that part of the cartoon.

What a beautiful animated rendering of the Brooklyn Bridge! We get a little history of it and a comment about "Steve Brody making his sensational leap from it into the East River." Bugs is looking at the sign commemorating the event when an old-timer asks him, "What in tarnatiion did he do that fer?"

Bugs tells him in flashback form. Suddenly we see the Bower back in 1886. What artwork! This looks prettier than a postcard. Anyway, Bugs relates the story of Brody.

Brody, looking for a rabbit's foot to change his luck, is even dumber than Elmer Fudd. Have you noticed how Bugs' foes are always about the dumbest people on earth. They make our bunny look like Albert Einstein, in comparison. Even Bugs remarks near the end, "What a tara-ra-goon-de-ay," which I assume means "big, stupid goon."

To me, the best feature of his animated short was that colorful and well-drawn artwork. Kudos to animators Basil Davidovich, Philip DeGuard, Emery Hawkins, Bill Melendez and Don Williams, along with director Arthur Davis.

Arthur Davis directed a humorous Bugs Bunny cartoon with the talents of Billy Bletcher (Steve Brody). It is worth noting that this is the only Bugs Bunny short directed by Arthur Davis.

I enjoy the scene in the cartoon where Steve believes everyone in town is turning into rabbits and jumps off the Brooklyn Bridge. This marks the end of the flashback portion and is quite humorous. Another favorite scene is when Steve seeks help from "Swami Rabbitina" to improve his luck streak after receiving the business card from Bugs. Then we heard a voice saying, "Enter, Oh seeker of knowledge." A punching-bag pendulum hits Brody across the head and... *WHOMP!* "THAT'S YOU, FATHEAD!"

In conclusion, this Bugs Bunny cartoon is another favorite of mine.

Bowery Bugs is a thoroughly enjoyable Looney Tunes cartoon, without it being the best. The music is as usual energetic and quirky, the sight gags are clever, the pacing is brisk and the dialogue a vast majority of the time is hilarious("that's you fathead"). The best part of Bowery Bugs though is the animation, it is brilliant with the colours especially impressive. Bugs is still rascally, arrogant yet likable, while Brodie is a good adversary who takes Bug's wisecracks well. And then there is the voice work from Mel Blanc and Billy Bletcher, which is nothing short of superb, then again that didn't surprise me as such as the voice work is always good in the Looney Tunes cartoons. Overall, hugely enjoyable and excellent cartoon, making the most of a slightly unexceptional story. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Bugs tells the story of the luckless Steve Brodie who, in 1886, decided he needed a good luck charm to break his run of bad luck. There is a plaque by Brooklyn Bridge to commemorate him jumping from there - an event, we learn, that was caused by Bugs outwitting him when Brodie decided he would adopt a rabbit's foot as his charm.

Bugs Bunny doing his well loved wise cracking, tricky stuff is always worth seeing and here it is pretty much the saviour of a cartoon that trades almost entirely on Bugs' New York mannerisms and con-appeal. The plot sets time back simply to set up the punchline (which works well so no problem), and the material is the usual stuff we've come to expect from Bugs. He dresses up, he is everywhere at once and he runs rings out the luckless Brodie. It is pretty funny but it doesn't quite have as much in the way of imagination as one would hope for from Bugs.

Bugs is the saviour here and he really carries the short himself. He is omnipresent, one step ahead and very funny. Brodie is OK as a big Irish thug but I prefer Bugs' partners to have a bit more to them that simply being a patsy.

Overall this is still worth seeing as Bugs is on good form - it's just a shame the material lacks the spark and imagination that so many of his cartoons thrive on.