Baseball Bugs
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| Baseball Bugs | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Friz Freleng |
| Written by | Michael Maltese |
| Starring | Mel Blanc (voice) |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 1946 |
| Running time | Short: 7 min. |
| Country | U.S.A. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Baseball Bugs is a Warner Brothers Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon short released on February 2, 1946 starring Bugs Bunny.
Contents |
[edit] Crew
"Baseball Bugs" was directed by Friz Freleng and written by Michael Maltese. Hawley Pratt and Paul Julian did the layout and backgrounds, while Manuel Perez, Ken Champin, Virgil Ross and Gerry Chiniquy headed the team of animators. Mel Blanc provided voice characterizations, with a cameo by Bea Benaderet. Carl W. Stalling was the music director.
The cartoon's title is a double play on words. "Bugs" was then a common nickname for someone who was considered to be crazy, erratic, or fanatical. In addition to its adjective form being the indirect inspiration for the Bunny's name, the noun form was sometimes applied to sports fans.
[edit] Plot synopsis
A baseball game is going on, at the Polo Grounds, between the Gas-House Gorillas and the Tea-Totalling Teetotalers. Actually, a game is putting it mildly, since the Gas-House Gorillas, a bunch of oversized players, are dominating the opposing team, made up of old men ("I'm only 93 and a half years old!", a joking reference to a radio catchphrase "I'm only 3 and half years old"). The old man's uniform style, complete with flat-topped cap, also suggests something from the 19th century. Their home runs go screaming out of the ballpark (literally) and the batters form a conga line, with each hitter knocking a ball out.
Deep in the outfield, a lone fan of the Teetotalers is heard...Bugs Bunny. From his rabbit hole, eating a carrot in a hot dog bun, he talks trash against the Gorillas, saying how he'd go "Wham! A homer! Wham! Another homer!" However, his challenge is soon accepted by the Gorillas and, as a result, Bugs now has to play all the positions on the opposing team. Furthermore, he must pick up where the Teetotalers left off, i.e. scoreless and down by a lot.
Bugs first uses his fastball, which he throws so hard that it zips by opposing batters but also knocks him over and into the backstop as he tries to catch it. Bugs then befuddles the Gas House Gorillas (using his 'slow ball', accompanied by a 'sputtering engine' sound, a pitch so slow that the players can't seem to connect with it), then steps up to the plate and hits home runs against the Gas House Gorillas (at one point, pulling out a pinup poster to distract a player who is covering home plate), thus quickly catching up on the scoreboard. By the end of the game, Bugs is up 96-95 with two outs. However, a Gorilla is on base and another is up at bat, having just fashioned a bat out of a large tree and swinging it menacingly.
Unintimidated, Bugs asks the audience to watch him "paste this pathetic palooka with a powerful, paralyzing, perfect pachydermous percussion pitch" and lets the pitch go, but the ball is crushed and rockets out of the ballfield. Bugs goes chasing after it, is almost led away by a Gorilla in a taxi, catches a bus (where he spends the trip casually reading a newspaper and checking on the flight of the ball), goes to the top of the "Umpire State Building", climbs a flagpole, throws his glove in the air (which is actually against the rules) - and manages to catch it. The umpire climbs over the ledge, yelling, "Yer OUT!" The Gorilla yells, "I'm out?" to which the Statue of Liberty (Bea Benaderet) comes to life, saying "That's what the man said, you heard what he said, he said that!" (a popular line from a radio show), with Bugs echoing her words to close out the cartoon.
[edit] Notes
- This short was an answer to MGM's 1944 "Batty Baseball" which was directed by Tex Avery.
- The outfield wall ad for "Mike Maltese, Ace Detective" refers to writer Michael Maltese.
- The outfield wall ad for "Filboid Studge" refers to a fictional breakfast cereal mentioned in a short story by Saki.
- The total score shown on the scoreboard for the Gorillas in the fourth inning, in which they somehow end up batting twice, is 94. They bag two more during the course of the game for a total of 96. During the final at-bat the announcer, however, gives the score as 96-95 in favor of Bugs, allowing him to win by recording the last out.
- The voice of the radio announcer is initially provided by an uncredited actor. For unknown reasons, Mel Blanc suddenly takes over the role in the latter half of the film.
- Although set in the Polo Grounds and clearly taking place in New York City, the stadium does not fully correspond to any specific major league ballpark. It has elements of several, such as the facade on the grandstand roof which is more suggestive of Yankee Stadium.
