Show Biz Bugs
Encyclopedia
Show Biz Bugs is a Warner Bros.
animated
short
originally released to theaters on November 2, 1957. It is billed as a Looney Tunes
cartoon
and stars Bugs Bunny
and Daffy Duck
as its main characters. Show Biz Bugs is notable for portraying the modern interpretation of Daffy in a more sympathetic light: In this film, Daffy is a jealous and arrogant competitor to Bugs, but his shabby treatment by the theater management and audience is depicted as being unfairly out of proportion to the genuine talent he possesses.
The basic setting and conflicts of this film were reprised for the linking footage for The Bugs Bunny Show
television series.
gag was previously used in the Private Snafu
short Booby Traps and the Bugs/Yosemite Sam
short Ballot Box Bunny
(and later in Rushing Roulette
), only in both cases the instrument used was a piano. The song used in each case, as in Show Biz Bugs, is Believe Me, if All Those Endearing Young Charms
.
This final act has been used in an earlier Porky Pig cartoon called Curtain Razor
in which a fox does the same act Daffy does attempting to show Porky he is a star, and, much like "Show Biz Bugs", the final act in Curtain Razor has been censored on Cartoon Network to remove him ingesting gasoline (the syndicated version of The Merrie Melodies show also cuts the gasoline-drinking and edits it even further by cutting out the fox swallowing a match).
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
animated
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
short
Short subject
A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...
originally released to theaters on November 2, 1957. It is billed as a Looney Tunes
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...
cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
and stars 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...
and Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, often running the gamut between being the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny...
as its main characters. Show Biz Bugs is notable for portraying the modern interpretation of Daffy in a more sympathetic light: In this film, Daffy is a jealous and arrogant competitor to Bugs, but his shabby treatment by the theater management and audience is depicted as being unfairly out of proportion to the genuine talent he possesses.
The basic setting and conflicts of this film were reprised for the linking footage for The Bugs Bunny Show
The Bugs Bunny Show
The Bugs Bunny Show is a long-running American television anthology series hosted by Bugs Bunny, that was mainly composed of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons released by Warner Bros. between August 1, 1948 and the end of 1969. The show originally debuted as a primetime half-hour program on...
television series.
Censorship
The scene at the end of this cartoon where Daffy performs his final act by drinking dangerous chemicals is almost always edited on TV, but in different ways:- The ABC version in the 1980s and 1990s, the WB version, and the BBC version of the cartoon ends with a fake fade-out on the shot of Daffy black and smoldering after getting frustrated by Bugs missing the final note on the booby-trapped xylophone and deciding to do it himself.
- The BBC version also adds applause after the exploding xylophone gag just before the cartoon ends. On "The Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie" version, the sound of an audience member laughing was used.
- Cartoon NetworkCartoon NetworkCartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....
has, at times, aired the original ending uncensored. When censoring, CN typically aired the original ending, but edited it by removing Daffy drinking the gasoline and replace it with a frozen shot of Bugs staring at something from off-stage. Starting in 2003, CN had used the BBC and WB version of the ending (minus the addition of audience applause or laughter). The syndicated Merrie Melodies version, several local station airings, and the version that aired on ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's "Bugs Bunny and Tweety ShowThe Bugs Bunny ShowThe Bugs Bunny Show is a long-running American television anthology series hosted by Bugs Bunny, that was mainly composed of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons released by Warner Bros. between August 1, 1948 and the end of 1969. The show originally debuted as a primetime half-hour program on...
" left in the ending, but cut Daffy drinking the gasoline, so that way it looks as if he drinks the nitroglycerin first. This is also how the short is shown on the Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie. However, as of 2011, CN has recently shown Daffy's final act at the end. - Nickelodeon'sNickelodeon (TV channel)Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
version aired this cartoon with the original ending, but cut the part where Daffy strikes the match, asides to the audience "Girls, you better hold on to your boyfriends," and swallows the match (making it seem as if he exploded from "shaking well" after swallowing the uranium 238). - When The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny MovieThe Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny MovieThe Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie is a 1981 Looney Tunes film with a compilation of classic Warner Bros. cartoon shorts and animated bridging sequences produced by Friz Freleng, hosted by Bugs Bunny...
(which includes clips from this cartoon as the climax) aired on The Disney Channel, Daffy's death defying act was edited so severely that the only scenes left were Daffy holding the bottle of nitroglycerin and the explosion from after the match swallowing (making it seem as if Daffy's holding the nitroglycerin caused the explosion).
Previous Film References
The xylophoneXylophone
The xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets...
gag was previously used in the Private Snafu
Private Snafu
Private Snafu is the title character of a series of black-and-white American instructional cartoon shorts produced between 1943 and 1945 during World War II. The character was created by director Frank Capra, chairman of the U.S. Army Air Force First Motion Picture Unit, and most were written by...
short Booby Traps and the Bugs/Yosemite Sam
Yosemite Sam
Yosemite Sam is an American animated cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The name is somewhat alliterative and is inspired by Yosemite National Park...
short Ballot Box Bunny
Ballot Box Bunny
Ballot Box Bunny is a 1950 animated Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoon short released in 1951, directed by Friz Freleng and written by Warren Foster.-Plot:...
(and later in Rushing Roulette
Rushing Roulette
Rushing Roulette is a 1965 Merrie Melodies cartoon starring Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner. It was directed by Robert McKimson, and was the second Road Runner cartoon directed by someone other than Chuck Jones, who had exclusively used the characters since their debut in 1949...
), only in both cases the instrument used was a piano. The song used in each case, as in Show Biz Bugs, is Believe Me, if All Those Endearing Young Charms
Believe Me, if All Those Endearing Young Charms
"Believe Me, if All Those Endearing Young Charms" is a popular folk song of early 19th century Ireland and America. Irish poet Thomas Moore wrote the words to a traditional Irish air in 1808. His lyrics are as follows:**...
.
This final act has been used in an earlier Porky Pig cartoon called Curtain Razor
Curtain Razor
Curtain Razor is a 1949 Looney Tunes short directed by Friz Freleng and starring Porky Pig. It is notable as a showcase of the voice talent of Mel Blanc.- Plot :...
in which a fox does the same act Daffy does attempting to show Porky he is a star, and, much like "Show Biz Bugs", the final act in Curtain Razor has been censored on Cartoon Network to remove him ingesting gasoline (the syndicated version of The Merrie Melodies show also cuts the gasoline-drinking and edits it even further by cutting out the fox swallowing a match).
Availability
- Show Biz Bugs is available (uncensored and uncut) on Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2 is a DVD box set that was released by Warner Home Video on November 2, 2004. It contains 60 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons and numerous supplements.-Related releases:...
, Disc 4.