Big House Bunny

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Big House Bunny Looney Tunes (Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam) series
The title card of Big House Bunny.
Directed by	I. Freleng
Produced by	Eddie Selzer
Story by	Tedd Pierce
Voices by	Mel Blanc
Music by	Carl Stalling
Animation by	Virgil Ross Arthur Davis Gerry Chiniquy Ken Champin
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date(s)	April 22, 1950 (USA)
Color process	Technicolor
Running time	7 minutes
IMDb profile

Big House Bunny is a 1948 Looney Tunes Bugs Bunny cartoon, released in 1950 and directed by Friz Freleng.

1 Plot
2 Censorship
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Plot

Needing to get away from hunters, Bugs digs a tunnel and accidentally winds up in Sing Song Prison (a clear reference to Sing Sing Prison). As he tries walking away, prison guard Yosemite Sam (here called Sam Schultz, presumably as a character role, possibly a reference to Dutch Schultz) beats Bugs with a billy club, telling him, "Trying to pull an escape, 777174, huh?" To which Bugs replies, "I'm not 777174 - I'm only 3 1/2." Sam finds this fine, and soon Bugs is in a prison uniform, breaking rocks, with the prison number "3 1/2" (as Bugs says, "Eh, my mother told me there'd be days like this.")

When Sam tells Bugs he'll be in prison for 50 years (reasons not known but likely for the offenses committed in Rebel Rabbit, or simply for whatever got the never-seen #777174, whom Sam thinks Bugs is, put there), Bugs tries to make an escape, telling Sam that a different prisoner is escaping over the wall. Bugs puts his own ball which he's chained to in the cannon, which Sam fires, causing Bugs to leave. Sam chases after Bugs and brings him back.

When Sam attempts to put Bugs into a jail cell, Bugs manages to pull a switch on Sam, causing Sam to be locked up instead. When this ploy fails, Sam vows to place Bugs in solitary confinement for 99 years, to which Bugs replies "You wouldn't be so tough if you weren't wearing that uniform!" Sam takes the bait and doffs his jacket and cap, while Bugs, in striped prison tunic and hat, does the same. After a few fight gestures from Sam, Bugs concedes and dons Sam's guard uniform, leaving Sam to unthinkingly don the prison garb, at which point Bugs summons the guards and gets Sam beaten up and locked up instead. Although now free to leave through his tunnel, Bugs is having too much fun to quit outsmarting Sam so soon, and, posing as a sympathetic guard, hands Sam an 'escape kit', complete with map and pickaxe. Sam winds up digging into what appears to be a jungle, but turns out to be oversized plants in the office of the warden, who yells at Sam before he's kicked out.

After a few more attempts at getting Bugs (including mistaking Bugs for the warden, and soon after the actual warden for Bugs), Sam has finally had enough. He opens the door, yelling for Bugs to get out. With Bugs gone, Sam is delighted... until he hears the warden over the intercom, "SCHULTZ! OFFICE!" The next scene is of Sam in a prison uniform, breaking rocks, wondering who was the 'stool pigeon' who squealed on him. We then see Bugs standing on a stool, acting like a pigeon and cooing.

[edit] Censorship

The original cartoon included a sequence where Bugs runs up to the gallows and presses a button which takes him down an elevator. Sam tries the same thing, but ends up hanged on a noose and momentarily curses (which comes out as high pitched squealing) before being called into the warden's office. This was removed from the cartoon when it aired on Nickelodeon, ABC, and Cartoon Network (and also when shown as part of The Bugs Bunny Mystery Special), but it has been restored in the DVD edition.
ABC also cut the scene where Bugs (as the warden) offers Sam a cigar and tells him to pull up a chair (which turns out to be the electric chair). Bugs then offers Sam a light (which turns out to be the switch connected to the electric chair).
The syndicated Merrie Melodies Show also edited out the noose gag that was cut on ABC, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon. Also cut was a scene where Bugs sneaks in a prison escape kit for Sam and Sam tunnels his way into the warden's office.