Updated Animator Breakdown: "Hot Cross Bunny" (1948) (Patreon)

In my debut post for Cartoon Research, I should have mentioned where these “animator breakdowns” originated. Back in 2006, Thad Komorowski presented a blog that offered insight into which animators were responsible for their scenes in an animated short cartoon from the Golden Age. This information had often carried over from different experts in the animation field with a keen eye for animators’ styles, such as Mark Kausler and Mike Kazaleh. When such posts became infrequent, I thought it best to continue with the tradition in order to share what possibly had not been seen to some members of the classic animation community, but mostly through animator drafts. During production on a short or feature, the directors used a sheet, or a series of sheets, that listed animators with their designated shots in order to calculate the total screen footage. Around this same time as Thad’s blog, animator/historian Hans Perk launched his own, sharing such production materials from Walt Disney’s studio, sourced from his own collection. 

The animated films of Walt Disney, both shorts and features, are plentiful with documentation of this sort, since they are housed within the Disney Archives. Non-Disney studio drafts, particularly Warner Bros., had been more difficult to obtain. In the late 1970s, Dave Butler researched and interviewed Bob McKimson for an upcoming book that never materialized. During their interaction, Dave acquired many artifacts including a cache of animation drafts saved by McKimson, which had been circulated and photocopied to some animator historians and scholars overtime. Bob Clampett, known for saving a wealth of material from the studio, housed a similar collection as McKimson’s; two animation drafts from the collection (Get Rich Quick Porky and A Tale of Two Kitties) had been shared on Cartoon Research, but the rest is still unknown as of this writing. 

What of the other principal directors like Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng or even Frank Tashlin? With the exception of Chuck Jones’ directorial debut The Night Watchman (1938), it can be assumed these materials were ultimately destroyed. A few accounts recalled that the Warner Bros. animation department kept an immense archive in a warehouse building with its production materials housed and catalogued floor to ceiling. When Kinney National acquired Warner Bros. from Seven Arts sometime around 1969, the studio was close to not producing theatrical short cartoons any longer. After a while, Kinney National then decided to incinerate its inventory to save storage costs. Of course, not every piece had been a casualty of this liquidation—a large amount of animation drawings, layout drawings, background paintings, preliminary lobby cards and model sheets, still survive from the studio today.

Now, onto the cartoon! 

Under its working title “The Rabid Rabbit”, Mel Blanc recorded his vocals for Hot Cross Bunnyon June 15, 1946. During the film’s production, there seemed to be a few changes in the animation staff at Warner Bros. As seen under the main opening titles, three mainstay animators—Manny Gould, Charles McKimson and Phil De Lara—are credited for their work. Indicated by the various production drafts detailing films released before and after this production, this is the last known Warners cartoon with animation by Izzy Ellis. In the late 1930s, Ellis started as one of the main animators in the “Katz unit”, a separate studio run by producer Schlesinger’s brother-in-law Ray Katz which produced the black-and-white Looney Tunes, usually with Bob Clampett as director; a presumed departure for more lucrative work might account for his lack of credit.

In the cartoon, Bugs is subject to a scientific experiment that would transfer his characteristics into a chicken, and vice versa. This occurs inside of the medical building of the Paul Revere Foundation, with a touch of dark humor for its slogan derived from the Longfellow poem, “Hardly a man is now alive.” Bugs is unbeknownst to the purpose of his stay, reclining comfortably in bed, enjoying “the life of Riley”. The production draft denotes a few scene additions that display the advantages of his pampered surroundings—which also include pin-ups of female rabbits—shown in static background paintings. Scene 6F does not list an animator, but it seems to be a continuation of scene 6, credited to Charles McKimson. After requesting a rabbit nurse of all accommodations, Bugs instead has to undergo a physical examination. His response to the French physician who is heading the experiment—“Oh, Doctor!”—is an amusing double intendre as Bugs coquettishly bats his eyelashes and tucks his legs under the covers.

What follows is a brief series of gags involving Bugs’ examination, mostly animated by Russian-born Anatole “Tolly” Kirsanoff. Though the doctor appears much taller than the experimental rabbit in previous scenes, there seems to be an issue with size relation in scene 11, where he appears to be almost shorter than Bugs (an inconsistency that seems to continue throughout much of the cartoon). The sequence concludes with a great capper as Bugs reads an eye chart—the undetectable bottom line of the union disclaimer! Like Izzy Ellis, Hot Cross Bunny is also the last known cartoon that Kirsanoff animated for Warners. He was an in-betweener at Walter Lantz’s studio around 1938 where he was given the nickname “Jolly Tolly”. He moved to the “Katz unit” by August 1939 as an assistant animator and was promoted to full animator by the fall of 1944. However, Kirsanoff never received credit for his work. He moved to UPA by 1948, indicated by a staff photograph where he has been identified. 

Manny Gould’s animation dominates much of the scenes that constitute the middle of the cartoon. As Bugs is escorted by wheelchair to the operation theater, he is instantly struck by the vast audience of doctors and assumes the role of a stage theater performer. In a long stretch of footage by Gould, Bugs does an impersonation of Lionel Barrymore, where several references to his storied career are mentioned in the dialogue. Barrymore starred in a radio program entitled Mayor of the Town, which debuted in 1942 and was still broadcast during the cartoon’s production; it ended in July 1949. He ends the performance with a nod to his Dr. Gillespie character from the series of Dr. Kildare films (1938-42), which later spun off into Gillespie’s own movies (1942-47). As for the utterance of “Gentlemen of the jury...” it might be an allusion to the alcoholic defense attorney Barrymore portrayed in A Free Soul (1931), which earned him an Academy Award. 

However, the consultation of “sourpuss doctors” is not impressed, as indicated by a still background of their grimacing faces, used three times in the cartoon. Bugs remarks the crowd is nothing like “St. Joe” and there is a brief introspective moment where he reminisces about the adoring crowd there. This was a reference to a line on The Jack Benny Program, which Benny repeated on several of the shows. Evidently, Benny was a success during his time in vaudeville at the town of St. Joseph, Missouri above others. 

After a magic act involving a top hat fails to generate applause, Bugs dons the hat and does a soft-shoe dance, animated by Fred Abranz; like “Tolly” Kirsanoff, Abranz was never credited for his animation at Warners. This sequence is a direct lift (in animation and Carl Stalling’s original “showstopper” cue) from Friz Freleng’s Stage Door Cartoon (1944). However, another film in production around the same time as Hot Cross Bunny used this routine where it became more notable, Bugs Bunny Rides Again (1948), also by Freleng.

Still with an unresponsive audience, Bugs is determined to try once more with an “all-out” job. In one of Gould’s finest scenes as an animator, he does a scat-singing performance, a la Danny Kaye in his  “Melody for 4-F” song number, originated in the MGM musical Up in Arms (1944). Daffy Duck had done a similar routine, dressed as “Danny Boy”, in Bob Clampett’s Book Revue (1946). In this version, Gould accents each last note with Bugs bringing his upper body (and his backside in one occurrence) close to the camera. His excessive performance is cut short when the physician carries him away and subdues him with a mallet. Before the experiment can be executed, Bugs takes on the role of motor-mouthed hot dog vendor at a sporting event, animated by Izzy Ellis. Perhaps, since he is deemed unsuccessful as a stage actor, he is now set with a menial occupation, though he still takes pride in it. 

Bugs is struck with a mallet a second time, and the doctor is ready to begin the science experiment to switch his characteristics into a chicken. As he regains consciousness, Bugs overhears these intentions and runs off, leading to a chase into the laboratory. A few scenes later, as animated by Fred Abranz, the doctor sprays laughing gas on Bugs and it takes immediate effect, as the helpless rabbit is carried back to the operating table. The doctor places the helmet on Bugs’ head and he flips the switch, displaying some remarkable effects animation of airbrushed electrical sparks. Somehow, in this same shot (animated by Phil De Lara), the doctor now has a helmet on his head, even though throughout the cartoon, it is established two subjects—with the same number of helmets—are intended for this experiment. It makes the finale of the cartoon questionable, but it is quite possible audiences did not take notice. 

The musical score for Hot Cross Bunny occurred sometime around July 1947, with its ASCAP cue sheet approved a few months later on October 21. Carl Stalling incorporates Ella Fitzgerald’s swing rendition of the old English nursery rhyme “The Muffin Man”—popularized around the early 1940s—under the opening titles. The introductory scenes of Bugs lounging in bed is accompanied by Gus Kahn and Walter Donaldson’s “Carolina in the Morning”, which made its debut on Broadway revue The Passing Show of 1922. As Bugs enjoys the luxury of being escorted down the corridor by wheelchair, Stalling uses a more recent tune, the Oscar-nominated “Some Sunday Morning” (Ray Heindorf/M. K. Jerome/Ted Koehler), introduced in the 1945 WB Western film San Antonio. During Bugs’ magic act, Johann Strauss’ “Frühlingsstimmen" (or “Voices of Spring”) plays in the underscore—a tune well fitted for such a performance. 

Hot Cross Bunny was released two years after the first initial voice recording session on August 21, 1948. The film was re-issued under the “Blue Ribbon” banner a decade later—without the usual “Bugs Bunny in” title card—on November 21, 1959, which is the version most common today. However, a new restoration, currently on HBO Max, uses the titles from the original 1948 release. 

(Thanks to Jerry Beck, Mark Kausler, Keith Scott, Andrew Gilmore and Greg Duffell for their help.)