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Bunker Hill Bunny

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Bunker Hill Bunny
Lobby card
Directed byI. Freleng
Story byTedd Pierce
Produced byEdward Selzer
(uncredited)
StarringMel Blanc
Music byCarl Stalling
Animation byKen Champin
Virgil Ross
Arthur Davis
Morey Reden (uncredited)
Layouts byHawley Pratt
Backgrounds byPaul Julian
Color processTechnicolor
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date
  • September 23, 1950 (1950-09-23) (United States)
Running time
7:20
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Bunker Hill Bunny is a 1950 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoon short directed by Friz Freleng and written by Tedd Pierce.[1] The short was released on September 23, 1950 and stars Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam as a Hessian mercenary in the American Revolution.[2]

Plot

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The story opens with a title card indicating a time setting of 1776, before switching to footages of the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Siege of Yorktown. The scene then transitions to the "Battle of Bagle Heights", where Bugs, dressed as an American Minuteman, is defending a wooden fort against the red-coated Sam von Schamm (or Schmamm), the Hessian, attacking from a large stone fortress. Sam's fortress is heavily armored, bristling with artillery; by contrast, Bugs' defenses are rather pathetic, with only one cannon.

Even then, Sam is the only one manning his fort, which makes capturing Bugs' difficult, considering the rabbit is able to retaliate by capturing his simultaneously. Sam attempts to continue his bombardment, but Bugs is able to put up a defense by simply catching his opponent's cannonballs with his own cannon and firing them back. When Bugs tires of that contest, he fires a large cork to plug Sam's main mortar. Sam is shot in the face by his own cannon while trying to remove the cork.

Frustrated, Sam burrows his way under his base and into Bugs' base using a pickaxe. Upon surfacing, Sam lights a match, only to find himself in a room full of TNT. An explosion occurs in a shack where the room is, with Sam stumbling out, dazed.

As the last gambit, Sam uses a keg of gunpowder in an attempt to blow up Bugs' base; unbeknownst to Sam, gunpowder falls into his back pocket due to a hole in the keg, creating a trail of gunpowder. After Sam lights the fuse, Bugs, sitting on the powder keg and munching a carrot, calmly extinguishes it and nonchalantly lights the trail of gunpowder left by Sam. Fleeing from the inevitable trail, Sam runs away from the base and up an apple tree, which eventually explodes on him.

At this setback, a thoroughly defeated Sam admits that he is a "Hessian without no aggression," and decides to defect to the rebels by saying, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." To this, Bugs and Sam march side by side in a fife-and-drum march reminiscent of the Archibald Willard painting The Spirit of '76, playing the song The Girl I Left Behind Me.

Cast

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Mel Blanc as Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam

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The Yosemite Sam Shortwave Radio Transmission

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Main article: Yosemite Sam (shortwave)

On December 19, 2004, a possible numbers station began transmitting from the desert near Albuquerque, New Mexico, using one of the quotes from the episode which is Yosemite Sam threatening Bugs Bunny: "Varmit, I'm gonna blow ya to smithereenies!". Prior to the quote, the station would use the sound of a buzzer (an 8-second data burst similar to the Russian numbers station UVB-76) later followed by the quote. This was later nicknamed the "Yosemite Sam Transmission". On December 23, 2004, the station ceased transmission for two months, before returning in February 2005 with additional frequencies on FM Radio (WWV and WWVH); but, after the broadcast location was tracked, the station ceased transmission for the second time, and this time for good. The station transmitted on the frequencies: 3,700 kHz, 4,300 kHz, 6,500 kHz and 10,500 kHz. The station was later revealed to be run by Mobility Assessment Test and Integration Center, sometimes shortened as MATIC. The location also suggested that it was a reference to a Bugs Bunny quote: "I knew I should have taken that left turn, at Albuquerque!".

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 60-61. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  2. ^ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 215. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
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Preceded by Bugs Bunny Cartoons
1950 		Succeeded by
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