Person to Bunny

Since I took some interest in Edward R. Murrow after "Good Night, and Good Luck" came out, it's good that I've now seen "Person to Bunny". This cartoon portrays Edward R. Murrow - or someone based on him - interviewing Bugs Bunny about the latter's career. But Daffy Duck doesn't like Bugs getting all the attention, and Elmer Fudd (voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan for the last time) gets up in arms when Bugs badmouths him.

Yes, it's always great to see Bugs making mincemeat out of Daffy and Elmer. And this one is compounded with a look at old-style TV; I hope that most people agree that Edward R. Murrow was better than the likes of Bill O'Reilly. A really neat cartoon.

Bugs Bunny? Daffy Duck? Elmer Fudd? Already three ingredients for a good(at least) cartoon. But for some as much as I love these three characters Person to Bunny seemed lacking. It does have a number of good things about it. Apart from some colours that were a little too bright, the animation does look lovely, it's fluid and all the characters are well drawn. The music has the right amount of energy and jaunty orchestration, while the dialogue has its funny moments like Elmer's IQ getting insulted and Bugs trying to shout over Daffy's gibbering(though I do think there have been much wittier endings before) and there are some decent sight gags with Daffy getting the worst of it. Bugs is still sharp-witted, smart, arrogant and likable, and when Bugs insults him you can't help feeling sympathy for Elmer. Mel Blanc's vocals are full of zest, Arthur Q.Bryan in his last cartoon before his sudden death is also perfect and Daws Butler, while not having dialogue much of note, is nicely understated. Against all this, I don't think Person to Bunny was very balanced. I realise it was a spoof, but while there were some funny moments in the interplay between the three leads the interview parts seemed half-baked and failed to make much of an impact. A great idea that could have been explored better. I was disappointed in Daffy also. Daffy at his best is every bit as smart as Bugs, but here he is very dumbed down and even stupider than Elmer. Some of the pacing sags as well, not badly but it lacks that extra-crisp and witty sort of pacing that the best of Looney Tunes had. Overall, quite good, and a lot better than what was to come later with the Speedy and some of the Roadrunner vs. Coyote cartoons, but there are better around. 7/10 Bethany Cox

I decided to come out of spectator status on these Bugs Bunny cartoons and offer up a review. I didn't think there was much more for me to add. Yet after seeing reviewers critique Bugs Bunny and say the cartoons are anything less than brilliant is absurd. This cartoon isn't a masterpiece. Gags have been done better by Warner Brothers elsewhere. Still it's a Bugs Bunny short from the 1950s to early 60s when Warner Brothers did its best work. And I never tire of Daffy Duck getting blasted. Bugs always knows how to take care of him.

This short is a take-off on the interview program done by Edward R. Murrow. As a spoof of television, it isn't bad, but more time is spent watching Bugs Bunny handle Elmer Fudd and Daffy Duck than in the "interview". Typical short which makes use of dialogue to compensate for not as many sight gags, as the later entries tended to do. Very good cartoon, well worth watching. Recommended.

Remember the infamous Clint Eastwood quote from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly(1966)?

"There are two kinds of people in the world, my fella: Those with a rope around the neck, and the people who have the job of doing the cutting"

This is taken from Edward R. Burrows talk show in 1959 TV. Although no one recalls how the original quote was prompted on live TV, by today; we have a clue from Person To Bunny(1960):

During the late Spaghetti Western Action flick era, director Sergio Leone noted that there are 3 genuinely Humane faces in Hollywood from Burrows' vision of critique:

3. Overexcited know-all hand clappers (The Ugly) - Daffy Duck

2. Hidden banquet sitters and cash flow counters (The Bad) Producer-Interviewer on his couch

1. Actors who can't hold their mouth and pay the price overcharged (The Good) Bugs Bunny=Clint Eastwood

Timelessly speaking if you are ever in Hollywood and if you have a face number 4, then YOU ARE FAKE, you will not last long.

All these 3 faces are real life and all come ever brand new with the true-hearted mistakes they always do and keep doing; like Bugs Bunny can't hold his mouth and talk down about his audience so Elmer Fudd takes it personally and comes to throw stones to his face, illiterally. That's how everything ever is: illiteral.

Burrows both in real life and in this animation leaves a legacy equal everlasting lesson for all of us to take on how to stay genuine (if you were ever genuine at least once) in this industry.