Baseball Bugs
Encyclopedia
Baseball Bugs is a Warner Brothers Looney Tunes
theatrical cartoon short released on February 2, 1946 starring Bugs Bunny
. It had a similar theme to MGM
's 1944 Batty Baseball, which was directed by former WB cartoon director Tex Avery
.
and written by Michael Maltese
. Voice characterizations were performed by Mel Blanc
, with additional uncredited performances by Bea Benaderet
as Lady Liberty and the screaming baseball, and Tedd Pierce
as the stadium announcer and several of the Gas-House Gorillas.
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.
Clips from Baseball Bugs were later used in the 1951 Bugs Bunny cartoon His Hare-Raising Tale
.
game is going on in New York City
, at the Polo Grounds
(although the rooftop facade is more suggestive of Yankee Stadium), between the visiting "Gas-House Gorillas" and the home team, the "Tea Totallers
". The game is not going well for the Tea Totallers, as the Gorillas, a bunch of oversized, roughneck players, are not only dominating the Tea Totallers, made up of old men, but intimidating the umpire by knocking him into the ground like a tent peg after an unpopular judgment. The Gorillas' 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 Tea Totallers is heard above the roar of the crowd. From his rabbit hole, wearing a straw hat and eating a carrot on a hot dog bun
, Bugs talks trash against the Gorillas, claiming that he could win the game single-handed with an endless barrage of home runs. He loses a bit of his bravado when he suddenly finds himself surrounded by the Gorillas. His challenge is forced on him by the Gorillas and, as a result, Bugs now has to play all the positions on the opposing team, including speeding from the mound to behind the plate to catch his own pitches. Furthermore, he must pick up where the Tea Totallers left off: scoreless and down by about 95 runs.
Bugs (as pitcher) first throws his fastball so hard that it zips by the opposing batter but also knocks Bugs (who has outraced the ball to home plate to be catcher as well as pitcher) off-screen and into the backstop with a loud crash as he catches it. In the course of his dual role, Bugs shouts encouraging words to the "pitcher" before rushing back to the pitcher's mound to make the next pitch, then returning to home plate to catch it.
Bugs then "perplexes" the Gorillas with his slow ball
, accompanied by a sputtering engine sound, a gravity-defying pitch so slow that the players can't seem to connect with it. Three batters standing in line wail at it in vain, as the umpire counts "1, 2, 3 strikes, you're out" against each of the three in quick succession (the third one wearing a Derby
hat instead of a baseball cap for some unknown reason), finally ending the inning.
Bugs takes his first at-bat, and selects a bat from the stack brought out by the "batboy" who literally has bat wings. Bugs starts smacking the ball as promised. On the first pitch, he makes a long hit, dashing around the bases while also showing off for the crowd, only to find a grinning Gorilla holding the ball just ahead of the plate. Bugs then pulls out a pin-up poster, distracting the player and allowing Bugs to score his first run. The scoreboard now shows the Gorillas as the home team, still with 95 runs, and with Bugs batting in the top of the fifth with one run so far.
Bugs hits another one deep, and while rounding the bases, a Gorilla ambushes the plate umpire and puts on his uniform. Bugs slides into home, obviously safe, but the fake umpire calls him out. Bugs gets in his face and argues the call, pulling his time-honored word-switching gag, resulting in the umpire declaring, "I say you're safe! And if you don't like it, you can go to the showers!" Bugs gives in, but the faux-umpire gets wise too late as the board flashes another run.
Bugs knocks the next pitch deep. A Gorilla comes running in, yelling, "I got it! I got it! I got it!" The ball hits him so hard in the face that it drives him under the ground, and a tombstone pops up with the epitaph "He got it." Another run appears on the board for Bugs.
Bugs lines another one deep. This outfielder, who is smoking a cigar while playing the field, also takes it in the face, smashing the cigar and driving the fielder up against the fence, in front of a billboard that reads "Does your tobacco taste different lately?" Another run on the board for Bugs.
Bugs hammers the next pitch on a line drive that bounces off each Gorilla with a ping sound as with a pinball
game. The scoreboard then blinks a random series of numbers and the word "Tilted".
Bugs is now pitching again and delivers a fastball at the Gorilla. He hits Bugs' pitch and it seems that he just scored another run. But Bugs just appears at home base with a ball in his hand. He tags the Gorilla so hard that he is knocked out and the umpire yells "Yerrr OUT!" As the Gorilla is hallucinating, Bugs holds up a sign that says "Was this trip really necessary?"
Jump ahead to the final inning, announced by a radio-style jingle (What's the score, boys, what did Bugs Bunny do, what's with the Carrot League baseball today?), with Bugs leading 96-95, the Gorillas having lost a run somewhere along the way. The radio booth has also lost its original play-by-play announcer and Blanc's voice is now heard as the announcer. With two outs in the last of the ninth, 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 me paste this pathetic palooka with a powerful, paralyzing, poifect, pachydoimous, percussion pitch." He proceeds with a tremendous wind-up and lets the pitch go, but the ball is crushed and rockets out of the ballfield. Startled, Bugs goes chasing after it desperately, clear out of the stadium, is almost led astray by a Gorilla driving a taxi, jumps out and 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 and manages to catch it. The Gorilla batter arrives by stairs just as the umpire (apparently no longer intimidated) climbs over the ledge and yells, "Yerrr OUT!" The Gorilla yells back, "I'm OUT?!" to which the Statue of Liberty
(voiced by an uncredited 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 as the iris closes around Bugs.
Instead of Porky Pig
and "That's all, folks!", the cartoon ends with one of Bugs' rare closing appearances, popping through a drum, munching a carrot, announcing, "And that's the end!". In television airings of the dubbed version of the cartoon, the logo and music fade out a few seconds before it could be completed.
This version of the drum was also seen on the previous cartoon, Hare Tonic
.
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
theatrical cartoon short released on February 2, 1946 starring Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
. It had a similar theme to MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
's 1944 Batty Baseball, which was directed by former WB cartoon director Tex Avery
Tex Avery
Frederick Bean "Fred/Tex" Avery was an American animator, cartoonist, voice actor and director, famous for producing animated cartoons during The Golden Age of Hollywood animation. He did his most significant work for the Warner Bros...
.
Overview
Baseball Bugs was directed by Friz FrelengFriz Freleng
Isadore "Friz" Freleng was an animator, cartoonist, director, and producer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros....
and written by Michael Maltese
Michael Maltese
Michael "Mike" Maltese was a long-time storyboard artist and screenwriter for classic animated cartoon shorts.-Career:...
. Voice characterizations were performed by Mel Blanc
Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
, with additional uncredited performances by Bea Benaderet
Bea Benaderet
Bea Benaderet was an American actress born in New York City and raised in San Francisco, California. She is best remembered for her wide variety of television work, which included a starring role in the 1960s television series Petticoat Junction and Green Acres as Shady Rest Hotel owner Kate...
as Lady Liberty and the screaming baseball, and Tedd Pierce
Tedd Pierce
Tedd Pierce , was an American animated cartoon writer, animator and artist. Pierce spent the majority of his career as a writer for the Warner Bros. "Termite Terrace" animation studio, working alongside fellow luminaries such as Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese. Pierce also worked as a writer at...
as the stadium announcer and several of the Gas-House Gorillas.
The cartoon's title is a double play on words
Double entendre
A double entendre or adianoeta is a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways. Often the first meaning is straightforward, while the second meaning is less so: often risqué or ironic....
. "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.
Clips from Baseball Bugs were later used in the 1951 Bugs Bunny cartoon His Hare-Raising Tale
His Hare-Raising Tale
His Hare-Raising Tale is a 1951 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies short, directed by Friz Freleng and written by Warren Foster. This cartoon consists primarily of clips from five previous cartoons: Baseball Bugs ; Stage Door Cartoon ; Rabbit Punch ; Falling Hare ; and Haredevil Hare .All five cartoons...
.
Plot
A baseballBaseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
game is going on in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, at the Polo Grounds
Polo Grounds
The Polo Grounds was the name given to four different stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used by many professional teams in both baseball and American football from 1880 until 1963...
(although the rooftop facade is more suggestive of Yankee Stadium), between the visiting "Gas-House Gorillas" and the home team, the "Tea Totallers
Teetotalism
Teetotalism refers to either the practice of or the promotion of complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages. A person who practices teetotalism is called a teetotaler or is simply said to be teetotal...
". The game is not going well for the Tea Totallers, as the Gorillas, a bunch of oversized, roughneck players, are not only dominating the Tea Totallers, made up of old men, but intimidating the umpire by knocking him into the ground like a tent peg after an unpopular judgment. The Gorillas' home runs go screaming out of the ballpark (literally) and the batters form a conga line
Conga Line
The conga line is a Cuban carnival march that was first developed in Cuba and became popular in the United States in the 1930s and 1950s. The dancers form a long, processing line. It has three shuffle steps on the beat, followed by a kick that is slightly ahead of the fourth beat...
, with each hitter knocking a ball out.
Hot dog bun
A hot dog bun is a type of soft bun shaped specifically to contain a hot dog. The original purpose of this bun was to make it possible to eat hot dogs without burning ones hands....
, Bugs talks trash against the Gorillas, claiming that he could win the game single-handed with an endless barrage of home runs. He loses a bit of his bravado when he suddenly finds himself surrounded by the Gorillas. His challenge is forced on him by the Gorillas and, as a result, Bugs now has to play all the positions on the opposing team, including speeding from the mound to behind the plate to catch his own pitches. Furthermore, he must pick up where the Tea Totallers left off: scoreless and down by about 95 runs.
Bugs (as pitcher) first throws his fastball so hard that it zips by the opposing batter but also knocks Bugs (who has outraced the ball to home plate to be catcher as well as pitcher) off-screen and into the backstop with a loud crash as he catches it. In the course of his dual role, Bugs shouts encouraging words to the "pitcher" before rushing back to the pitcher's mound to make the next pitch, then returning to home plate to catch it.
Bugs then "perplexes" the Gorillas with his slow ball
Eephus pitch
An Eephus pitch in baseball is considered a junk pitch with very low speed. The delivery from the pitcher has very low velocity and usually catches the hitter off-guard. Its invention is attributed to Rip Sewell of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1940s. According to manager Frankie Frisch, the...
, accompanied by a sputtering engine sound, a gravity-defying pitch so slow that the players can't seem to connect with it. Three batters standing in line wail at it in vain, as the umpire counts "1, 2, 3 strikes, you're out" against each of the three in quick succession (the third one wearing a Derby
Bowler hat
The bowler hat, also known as a coke hat, derby , billycock or bombin, is a hard felt hat with a rounded crown originally created in 1849 for the English soldier and politician Edward Coke, the younger brother of the 2nd Earl of Leicester...
hat instead of a baseball cap for some unknown reason), finally ending the inning.
Bugs takes his first at-bat, and selects a bat from the stack brought out by the "batboy" who literally has bat wings. Bugs starts smacking the ball as promised. On the first pitch, he makes a long hit, dashing around the bases while also showing off for the crowd, only to find a grinning Gorilla holding the ball just ahead of the plate. Bugs then pulls out a pin-up poster, distracting the player and allowing Bugs to score his first run. The scoreboard now shows the Gorillas as the home team, still with 95 runs, and with Bugs batting in the top of the fifth with one run so far.
Bugs hits another one deep, and while rounding the bases, a Gorilla ambushes the plate umpire and puts on his uniform. Bugs slides into home, obviously safe, but the fake umpire calls him out. Bugs gets in his face and argues the call, pulling his time-honored word-switching gag, resulting in the umpire declaring, "I say you're safe! And if you don't like it, you can go to the showers!" Bugs gives in, but the faux-umpire gets wise too late as the board flashes another run.
Bugs knocks the next pitch deep. A Gorilla comes running in, yelling, "I got it! I got it! I got it!" The ball hits him so hard in the face that it drives him under the ground, and a tombstone pops up with the epitaph "He got it." Another run appears on the board for Bugs.
Bugs lines another one deep. This outfielder, who is smoking a cigar while playing the field, also takes it in the face, smashing the cigar and driving the fielder up against the fence, in front of a billboard that reads "Does your tobacco taste different lately?" Another run on the board for Bugs.
Bugs hammers the next pitch on a line drive that bounces off each Gorilla with a ping sound as with a pinball
Pinball
Pinball is a type of arcade game, usually coin-operated, where a player attempts to score points by manipulating one or more metal balls on a playfield inside a glass-covered case called a pinball machine. The primary objective of the game is to score as many points as possible...
game. The scoreboard then blinks a random series of numbers and the word "Tilted".
Bugs is now pitching again and delivers a fastball at the Gorilla. He hits Bugs' pitch and it seems that he just scored another run. But Bugs just appears at home base with a ball in his hand. He tags the Gorilla so hard that he is knocked out and the umpire yells "Yerrr OUT!" As the Gorilla is hallucinating, Bugs holds up a sign that says "Was this trip really necessary?"
Jump ahead to the final inning, announced by a radio-style jingle (What's the score, boys, what did Bugs Bunny do, what's with the Carrot League baseball today?), with Bugs leading 96-95, the Gorillas having lost a run somewhere along the way. The radio booth has also lost its original play-by-play announcer and Blanc's voice is now heard as the announcer. With two outs in the last of the ninth, 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 me paste this pathetic palooka with a powerful, paralyzing, poifect, pachydoimous, percussion pitch." He proceeds with a tremendous wind-up and lets the pitch go, but the ball is crushed and rockets out of the ballfield. Startled, Bugs goes chasing after it desperately, clear out of the stadium, is almost led astray by a Gorilla driving a taxi, jumps out and 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
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...
", climbs a flagpole, throws his glove in the air and manages to catch it. The Gorilla batter arrives by stairs just as the umpire (apparently no longer intimidated) climbs over the ledge and yells, "Yerrr OUT!" The Gorilla yells back, "I'm OUT?!" to which the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...
(voiced by an uncredited Bea Benaderet
Bea Benaderet
Bea Benaderet was an American actress born in New York City and raised in San Francisco, California. She is best remembered for her wide variety of television work, which included a starring role in the 1960s television series Petticoat Junction and Green Acres as Shady Rest Hotel owner Kate...
) 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 as the iris closes around Bugs.
Looney Tunes drum with Bugs Bunny
Porky Pig
Porky Pig is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his star power, and the animators created many critically acclaimed shorts using the fat little pig...
and "That's all, folks!", the cartoon ends with one of Bugs' rare closing appearances, popping through a drum, munching a carrot, announcing, "And that's the end!". In television airings of the dubbed version of the cartoon, the logo and music fade out a few seconds before it could be completed.
This version of the drum was also seen on the previous cartoon, Hare Tonic
Hare Tonic
Hare Tonic is a 1945 Warner Bros. cartoon in the Looney Tunes series, directed by Chuck Jones and written by Tedd Pierce. It stars Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd making this the second cartoon directed by Jones to co-star the two . Voice characterizations are by Mel Blanc and Arthur Q...
.
Billboards
- The outfield wall ad for "Mike Maltese, Ace Detective" refers to writer Michael MalteseMichael MalteseMichael "Mike" Maltese was a long-time storyboard artist and screenwriter for classic animated cartoon shorts.-Career:...
. - The outfield wall ad for "Filboid Studge" refers to a fictional breakfast cereal mentioned in a short story by SakiSakiHector Hugh Munro , better known by the pen name Saki, and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirised Edwardian society and culture. He is considered a master of the short story and often compared to O. Henry and Dorothy...
. - The ad next to "Filboid Studge" is for "Culvert Gin", a take-off on "Calvert Gin."
- The wall ads on the third base side are for "Manza Champagne", "Lausbub's Bread" and "Ross. Co. Finer Footwear for the Brats" named for animator Virgil Ross.
- The ads on the left field wall are for Camuel's (a reference to Camel Cigarettes) and "Urbo."
- Another outfield reading "Daltol" refers to animator Cal DaltonCal DaltonCal Dalton was a cartoon director at Warner Brothers. Dalton's first commercial animation work was on an animated short version of The Wizard of Oz that was produced by Ted Eshbaugh's independent animation studio in 1933. Afterwards, Dalton left to work at the Warner Brothers animation studio,...
. A product named "Chi-Chi" is on a sign to the left.
See also
- List of Bugs Bunny cartoons
- Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography (1940–1949)