Bowery Bugs

I think that I'd heard of Steve Brody before I'd seen Arthur Davis's "Bowery Bugs", but I wish to call this cartoon the coolest way to know him. The plot has Brody suffering a bout of bad luck, so he decides to find himself a rabbit's foot. While we should immediately be able to guess which rabbit he tries to get it from, we still haven't seen what Bugs Bunny makes the poor sucker do! It goes to show that Bugs was a New Yorker all the way.

Truth be told, what Bugs does to the guy towards the end reminds me of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", how Kevin McCarthy's character starts finding that everyone has been taken over by the aliens and doesn't know whether or not he can trust anyone. But that's just me.

While I have to admit that Arthur Davis is not the Warner animation director who first comes to my mind, he did helm some fairly interesting cartoons during his few years as a director: "Mexican Joyride", "The Stupor Salesman" and "Porky Chops" are the ones that I know aside from this one. All in all, this is one that you're sure to like.

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.

Bugs Bunny tells a story to an old man.It is a story about a man who jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge back in 1886 and survived.This man, called Steve Brody, was a down-on-his-luck gambler and needed a rabbit's foot.For good luck, you know.And Bugs, being a rabbit and all...But Bug's foot ain't for sale.And Bugs assures the man rabbits' feet aren't lucky.He tells him to go see Swami Rabbitima.He can help him become luckier.But he looks awfully much like Bugs...Bowery Bugs (1949) is directed by Arthur Davis.Mel Blanc provides the voices for Bugs, Old Man and Little Pool Hall Man.Billy Bletcher is the voice of Steve Brody.This is pretty funny Bugs Bunny short, where we can see Bugs wearing a few disguises (including Bugs in drag).But Bugs may have been too rough on that poor fellow.In one scene he hits Brody- six times- so that he can read the bumps on his head.That's a funny scene, but was it necessary to hit him six times? Wouldn't five have been enough?

Director Arthur Davis's solitary Bugs Bunny outing has the rascally rabbit telling an elderly man that he's giving a tour of the Brooklyn Bridge to the story of an Irish gambler who wanted the foot of his because he hopes for it to bring him good luck. The rabbit who kind of likes to keep his foot, attempts to con the simpleton. Amazing that Davis with ONE Bugs short under his belt, what Robert McKimson couldn't do in years, which is of course make a really good cartoon starring the famous rabbit. This is never laugh out loud funny but is very humorous and has a good story to boot. This animated short can be found on Disk 1 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 3 and includes an optional commentary by Micheal Barrier.

My Grade: A

At least to me. I loved this one as a kid, seeing it air on TV, and This cartoon is surely going to give you some laughs all around, It is the Definitive Bugs bunny Costume persona Short. The animation is Fast, Witty, and Needs to be, because with such a complex story of why someone jumped off a bridge, the story that gets you to that point needs to grab your attention with comedy and good animation, especially when its Bugs bunny. This is a pretty unique setting for him as well, a City isn't always the spot you'll see bugs in. The Villain Character for this one is also quite funny, and must have been fun to animate, and Mel blancs voice acting is absolutely perfect, No kidding.

All in All, Well done Davis, you've made a Classic In My book.

9.8/10.