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Portrait of the Artist as a Young Bunny is a 1980 Looney Tunes short directed by Chuck Jones and Phil Monroe.

Title[]

The title is a play on James Joyce's 1916 novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and its 1977 film adaptation.

Plot[]

On the last day of school, children emerge from a one-room schoolhouse, gushing with joy about summer vacation. Bugs Bunny separately shares this enthusiasm but then quickly realizes how silly this is, considering he's an adult, and not in school anymore. While wondering aloud how absurd all this is, he crashes into a tree and falls unconscious.

In a dream sequence, a young Bugs is excited about a school-free summer when he runs into a young Elmer Fudd who also got out of school. The young Elmer uses the summer to hunt after rabbits. He meets up with Bugs, who asks what's in it for him. The confused Elmer thinks that he has to pay Bugs a nickel, to which Bugs blames Elmer for bribery. "I wonder if some of you out there would like to contribute to the delinquency of a minor. After all, you wouldn't want me to work my way to reform school. Just send all contributions to Bugs Bunny-" Elmer realizes that he has been tricked and tries to blast him with a popgun rifle. Bugs then fakes out a death which later causes him to ride Elmer like a horse in distance. After Elmer recovers, he tries to fire a cork cannon, which Bugs rides on and turns around back on Elmer. As Elmer runs off a cliff, Bugs tells him that gravity would take effect on him, but Elmer walks safely to the other side as the class hasn't studied gravity yet.

Bugs then places a book about gravity for Elmer. As Elmer is reading, he walks off the same cliff and now knows the effects of gravity. As Elmer falls, Wile E. Coyote sets Elmer aside so Wile E. can fall down first. After seeing the impact, Elmer realizes that the fall is going to "sting", but is saved by Bugs with a spring. "Don't worry, spring is here." Despite being saved, Elmer, being the fanatic he is, still wants to shoot Bugs. As he comes back to Bugs, Bugs says that Elmer's line is his and that Bugs should be shooting him. Although Elmer turns back and says that it is indeed his "wine", this convinces Bugs that Elmer is trying to offer him wine and mockingly tries to tell the authorities. "I'll go to weform school... well, he certainly can't infowm the authowities if he kicks the bucket first." Bugs then slams a bucket on Elmer's head and kicks it.

After being smooched in the nose, have his hat pulled down, and kicked by Bugs, Elmer throws a tantrum before realizing he can cut down and not eat rabbit again. Shortly after, Bugs convince him to eat another rabbit, which causes Elmer to snap and say "That's wight! One wittle wabbit! No one will ever know! I can always quit again!" Elmer obtains a machine gun, which actually fires corkscrews, and shoots Bugs repeatedly after he crashes into a tree. The dream ends, and the adult Bugs - conscious and apparently never having felt the effects of his own injury - remarks about how he and Elmer probably were "the youngest people to ever start chasing each other." Of course, Bugs may be wrong about this claim, however - as a young infant Wile E. Coyote runs by, chasing after a young unhatched Road Runner.

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Quotes[]

  • "No more classes! No more books! No more teachers' dirty looks!!!"

Notes[]

  • The cartoon was part of the television special Bugs Bunny's Bustin' Out All Over.
  • This is the first time Phil Monroe directed a Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies short since 1964.
  • Young Bugs is styled and shares the same mannerisms as Bugs' nephew Clyde.
  • The title card uses the opening music cue from "Don't Give Up the Sheep".
  • This cartoon bore little continuity with the "real" Bugs and Wile E. canon from the classic Looney Tunes shorts, as in the flashback Wile E. is depicted as a grown adult far older than both Young Bugs and Young Elmer, and in the ending Bugs as depicted as a grown adult far older than both infant Wile E. and prematurely-hatched Road Runner, unlike in the classic shorts where Bugs, Elmer, Wile E. and Road Runner are depicted as roughly the same age. Wile E. also does not speak in both instances.

Gallery[]

TV Title Cards[]

Bugs Bunny Shorts
1938 Porky's Hare Hunt
1939 Prest-O Change-OHare-um Scare-um
1940 Elmer's Candid CameraA Wild Hare
1941 Elmer's Pet RabbitTortoise Beats HareHiawatha's Rabbit HuntThe Heckling HareAll This and Rabbit StewWabbit Twouble
1942 The Wabbit Who Came to SupperAny Bonds Today?The Wacky WabbitHold the Lion, PleaseBugs Bunny Gets the BoidFresh HareThe Hare-Brained HypnotistCase of the Missing Hare
1943 Tortoise Wins by a HareSuper-RabbitJack-Wabbit and the BeanstalkWackiki WabbitFalling Hare
1944 Little Red Riding RabbitWhat's Cookin' Doc?Bugs Bunny and the Three BearsBugs Bunny Nips the NipsHare Ribbin'Hare ForceBuckaroo BugsThe Old Grey HareStage Door Cartoon
1945 Herr Meets HareThe Unruly HareHare TriggerHare ConditionedHare Tonic
1946 Baseball BugsHare RemoverHair-Raising HareAcrobatty BunnyRacketeer RabbitThe Big SnoozeRhapsody Rabbit
1947 Rabbit TransitA Hare Grows in ManhattanEaster YeggsSlick Hare
1948 Gorilla My DreamsA Feather in His HareRabbit PunchBuccaneer BunnyBugs Bunny Rides AgainHaredevil HareHot Cross BunnyHare SplitterA-Lad-In His LampMy Bunny Lies over the Sea
1949 Hare DoMississippi HareRebel RabbitHigh Diving HareBowery BugsLong-Haired HareKnights Must FallThe Grey Hounded HareThe Windblown HareFrigid HareWhich Is WitchRabbit Hood
1950 Hurdy-Gurdy HareMutiny on the BunnyHomeless HareBig House BunnyWhat's Up Doc?8 Ball BunnyHillbilly HareBunker Hill BunnyBushy HareRabbit of Seville
1951 Hare We GoRabbit Every MondayBunny HuggedThe Fair Haired HareRabbit FireFrench RarebitHis Hare Raising TaleBallot Box BunnyBig Top Bunny
1952 Operation: RabbitFoxy by Proxy14 Carrot RabbitWater, Water Every HareThe Hasty HareOily HareRabbit SeasoningRabbit's KinHare Lift
1953 Forward March HareUpswept HareSouthern Fried RabbitHare TrimmedBully for BugsLumber Jack-RabbitDuck! Rabbit, Duck!Robot Rabbit
1954 Captain HareblowerBugs and ThugsNo Parking HareDevil May HareBewitched BunnyYankee Doodle BugsBaby Buggy Bunny
1955 Beanstalk BunnySahara HareHare BrushRabbit RampageThis Is a Life?Hyde and HareKnight-Mare HareRoman Legion-Hare
1956 Bugs' BonnetsBroom-Stick BunnyRabbitson CrusoeNapoleon Bunny-PartBarbary-Coast BunnyHalf-Fare HareA Star Is BoredWideo WabbitTo Hare Is Human
1957 Ali Baba BunnyBedevilled RabbitPiker's PeakWhat's Opera, Doc?Bugsy and MugsyShow Biz BugsRabbit Romeo
1958 Hare-Less WolfHare-Way to the StarsNow, Hare ThisKnighty Knight BugsPre-Hysterical Hare
1959 Baton BunnyHare-abian NightsApes of WrathBackwoods BunnyWild and Woolly HareBonanza BunnyA Witch's Tangled HarePeople Are Bunny
1960 Horse HarePerson to BunnyRabbit's FeatFrom Hare to HeirLighter Than Hare
1961 The Abominable Snow RabbitCompressed HarePrince Violent
1962 Wet HareBill of HareShishkabugs
1963 Devil's Feud CakeThe Million HareHare-Breadth HurryThe UnmentionablesMad as a Mars HareTransylvania 6-5000
1964 Dumb PatrolDr. Devil and Mr. HareThe Iceman DuckethFalse Hare
1979 Bugs Bunny's Christmas CarolFright Before Christmas
1980 Portrait of the Artist as a Young BunnySpaced Out Bunny
1990 Box Office Bunny
1991 (Blooper) Bunny
1992 Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers
1995 Carrotblanca
1997 From Hare to Eternity
2004 Hare and Loathing in Las VegasDaffy Duck for President
Elmer Fudd Cartoons
1937 Little Red Walking Hood
1938 The Isle of Pingo PongoCinderella Meets FellaA Feud There WasJohnny Smith and Poker-Huntas
1939 Hamateur NightA Day at the ZooBelieve It or Else
1940 Elmer's Candid CameraConfederate HoneyThe Hardship of Miles StandishA Wild HareGood Night Elmer
1941 Elmer's Pet RabbitWabbit Twouble
1942 The Wabbit Who Came to SupperAny Bonds Today?The Wacky WabbitNutty NewsFresh HareThe Hare-Brained Hypnotist
1943 To Duck .... or Not to DuckA Corny ConcertoAn Itch in Time
1944 The Old Grey HareThe Stupid CupidStage Door Cartoon
1945 The Unruly HareHare Tonic
1946 Hare RemoverThe Big Snooze
1947 Easter YeggsA Pest in the HouseSlick Hare
1948 What Makes Daffy DuckBack Alley Op-RoarKit for Cat
1949 Wise QuackersHare DoEach Dawn I Crow
1950 What's Up Doc?The Scarlet PumpernickelRabbit of Seville
1951 Rabbit Fire
1952 Rabbit Seasoning
1953 Upswept HareAnt PastedDuck! Rabbit, Duck!Robot Rabbit
1954 Design for LeavingQuack Shot
1955 Pests for GuestsBeanstalk BunnyHare BrushRabbit RampageThis Is a Life?Heir-Conditioned
1956 Bugs' BonnetsA Star Is BoredYankee Dood ItWideo Wabbit
1957 What's Opera, Doc?Rabbit Romeo
1958 Don't Axe MePre-Hysterical Hare
1959 A Mutt in a Rut
1960 Person to BunnyDog Gone People
1961 What's My Lion?
1962 Crows' Feat
1980 Portrait of the Artist as a Young Bunny
1990 Box Office Bunny
1991 (Blooper) Bunny
1992 Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers
2012 Daffy's Rhapsody
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