Show Biz Bugs (1957) User Reviews

A Subdued Bugs Makes Daffy Self-Destruct

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 27 April 2007]

It's the battle of egos and who is the real show business star: Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck. The marquee bills Bugs as the star but Daffy will have none of that. He confronts the manager, who says Bugs has "more drawing power." Daffy replies, "Oh, yeah? That rabbit couldn't draw flies if he was covered with syrup. Okay, this performance will show I am the star!"

With that, the two go on stage with their vaudeville act, beginning with the tap dance duo number, complete with the top hat, tails and canes. By the way, the artwork in this cartoon is exceptional: great drawings and startling color.

Daffy's solo tap dance is terrific and I also laughed at his trained "pigeon act." Mostly though, it's just the duck's comments that evoke the most laughter. I was amazed how straight Bugs played it in this cartoon. It's really not his but Daffy's cartoon. Bugs actually plays a low-key, nice guy. I think this would have been better had Bugs had a little more of his spark to him, although obviously it was smarter to just say little and let the egotist duck make a fool of himself.

"Dance, if you're not a coward!"

[utgard14 · 7/10 · 10 July 2016]

Fun Bugs and Daffy short directed by Friz Freleng. This one has Bugs and Daffy both performing at a theater, where Daffy is upset to learn that Bugs is getting top billing. When he's told this is because Bugs is the bigger star, Daffy sets out to upstage his rival. A very funny series of gags follows as Daffy tries one thing after another to get over with the crowd. The animation is good, with bright colors and nicely-drawn characters and backgrounds (although the backgrounds are of that slightly sketchy, slightly off-kilter style that was becoming popular in the mid-to-late '50s). Excellent voice work from the great Mel Blanc. The music is bouncy and lively. This is a fun short that any fan of Bugs or especially Daffy will like. The Bugs/Daffy rivalry was rarely funnier than it is here.

The concept elevates some old jokes for a solid short

[phantom_tollbooth · 7/10 · 1 October 2008]

Friz Freleng's 'Show Biz Bugs' is a great cartoon largely due to its premise. Drawing on the Bugs and Daffy rivalry established by Chuck Jones, 'Show Biz Bugs' places the two characters in a show biz context as they perform for an audience. However, no matter how extravagant a show Daffy puts on, the audience refuse to applaud him, only clapping whenever Bugs comes out. This idea for a story draws on the bafflement of many animation insiders regarding Bugs's popularity with the public over the more versatile Daffy. As a long term Daffy fan, I can very much sympathise with this and 'Show Biz Bugs' depicts it beautifully. Bugs does practically nothing at all in the cartoon, acting as mere motivation for Daffy's antics and still garnering the appreciation of the audience. A hoofing routine in which the pair do exactly the same dance in exact unison side by side (beautifully animated, by the way) highlights the injustice of the public's reaction. The greatest irony, of course, is that the cartoon is called 'Show Biz Bugs' despite Daffy doing all the work and garnering all the laughs! There are a couple of old, well-worn gags in 'Show Biz Bugs' but they are well executed and the context improves them too. The final, explosive gag that close the short is not only very funny but also makes a greater point about the frustrated artist: he can only achieve the acclaim he deserves after he dies.

Wonderfully animated and lots of fun with a brilliant Daffy

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 6 September 2012]

I have always adored Looney Tunes, and Show Biz Bugs is a big example of why. While not one of my absolute favourites, I still love it for many reasons. The animation is wonderful, everything is drawn with great smoothness and the colours are gorgeous. The standout sequence in this regard was the Tea for Two sequence, not in a while have I seen animation so elegant. The music is energetic, characterful and full of lush orchestration. The humour is just as effective. You may have seen some of the gags before, but I still find them hilarious. I especially like the gag with the xylophone and the explosive. The dialogue has its usual wit, with Daffy getting the best lines. The dancing is beautifully choreographed, Daffy's tap dance is quite nifty and one does wonder why he didn't garner the applause he ought to have done. I do agree that it is Daffy who steals the show, I just love how overly-competitive he is. Of course there are shorts that are more effective at seeing him at his best, which is mainly in manic mode, but he is still funny here. That is not to say that Bugs isn't good, he still outsmarts his foil, here it is Daffy, as you'd expect, but here is a Bugs who plays it straight rather than the crafty and arrogant Bugs we are more familiar with. For a cartoon with his name in it, he is not as prominent as Daffy which is why the title is somewhat ironic. Mel Blanc's vocals are superb as always. All in all, lots of fun. 9.5/10 Bethany Cox

Classic

[Tina-45 · 26 May 2000]

Although Bugs plays the title role, Daffy is the real star of this show and gets the most screen time. Bugs fans, of course are happy because once again Bugs outsmarts Daffy. But Daffy fans will enjoy the true genius of the Duck. Bugs may have more charisma but Daffy has more heart. Daffy is more like a human being, flawed yet lovable while Bugs seems to be too much of an ideal character.

As the lights dim on Warner Bros. animation, a final burst of brilliance

[amberol · 10/10 · 5 December 2006]

In spite of the late-1950s atmosphere of shrinking budgets and apathy toward theatrical shorts, Friz Freleng pulled off a comedy masterwork here. Yes, some of the gags have been used before, but like other old masters who rework favorite themes during their autumn years, Freleng and Co. distill and focus on the essentials to make this film a highlight of the entire Looney Tunes series. Set in the theatrical milieu Freleng used repeatedly during his Warners tenure, Show Biz Friz responds with a Bugs-Daffy outing that for sheer enjoyment can take its place alongside the Chuck Jones "trilogy" of B&D epics. Note also the animation in the wabbit and duck's "Tea for Two"; such elegance would soon be sacrificed at the altar of Hanna-Barbera and other Saturday morning TV fodder factories.

Sophocles once observed that there are just 12 jokes . . .

[pixrox1 · 7/10 · 2 August 2021]

. . . known to Man for comedians to continually tweak and recycle, so it should not be surprising to see one of the 1,100 "Classic" Merry Loon Tunes grabbing ALL of its punch lines from earlier entries in the series. (Perhaps it's beside the point to add that Plato dictated that "There's nothing nude under the sun," since he'd never been to Black's Beach in La Jolla, CA.) Putting all Naturalists aside, SHOW BIZ BUGS continually explodes with high hat humor. Cane-wielding Water fowl and Lepus dancing in top hats and tuxes--even Shakespeare would admit nothing could be more freshly humorous than that!

One of Freleng's finest

[nnwahler · 10/10 · 8 April 2017]

As a young adult buff of the Warner cartoons, I felt that this was #5 on my personal list of Freleng's greatest Bugs films….that was a couple of years before I saw more of the greatest pre-1948 cartoons when I re-subscribed to cable. Man. There were biggies like "Stage Door Cartoon," "Bugs Bunny Rides Again," and "Slick Hare"—prompting me to revise somewhat my list of Freleng faves.

I've always been befuddled by cartoon buffs' downgrading a short because it uses gags utilized before. If it's a "cheater" film, that's a different matter. But nearly all the animation here's genuinely new, including Gerry Chiniquy's exemplary execution of Bugs's and Daffy's dances. Also, I for one never penalized, say, Benny Hill for using the same dozen or so gags multiple times: he always makes me feel I'm experiencing it and laughing at it for the first time because he always puts some new wrinkle in.

Similary, then, I don't penalize Freleng for borrowing wholesale several scenes and jokes from his earlier "Curtain Razor" and "Ballot Box Bunny" because, despite the fact he's aware of that, he now is doing all those gags in DEFINITIVE form.

"Show Biz Bugs" also benefits from the work of new backgrounds man Boris Gorelick. He was at Warner's for only a year, and contributed to the success of some of Freleng's finest (this one, and " Birds Anonymous"). The signature part of Gorelick's style was his use of portions of art apparently crayoned or charcoaled over sandpaper (or maybe a miniature pebble garden). Gorelick apparently crumbled early on, over Freleng's frequent and legendary temper tantrums.

relies too often on re-used gags, yet still watchable

[movieman_kev · 7/10 · 1 November 2005]

Daffy Duck is in a vaudeville act with Bugs Bunny which he detests because of all the accolades that Bugs gets, and the lack of them that he gets. Which leads him to drastic measures to win the audience over. Some re-used famous gags cause this short to be less than what it could have been, but using the old saying that "any Looney Tunes is Good Looney Tunes", I can't really dislike this one either. This animated short can be seen on Disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2 and also features an optional commentary by Greg Ford (as well as vintage sound clips and unused musical scores)

My Grade: B-

There's no business like rabbit business!

[lee_eisenberg · 10/10 · 28 November 2006]

Another instance of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck getting on each other's nerves, this time as they perform on stage and Bugs gets all the applause while Daffy gets none. As always, Daffy tries to undermine Bugs's integrity, but always gets his just desserts, most notably with the xylophone gag (these cartoons sure had a way with dynamite).

I noticed that some of the tricks in "Show Biz Bugs" were yanked out of the Porky Pig vehicle "Curtain Razor", namely the end. But even so, it's always a treat to see what happens to Daffy when he tries to harm Bugs, sort of like what happens to Wile E. Coyote when he tries to get Road Runner. Another classic.

As with talent scout Porky Pig's last Auditioner in a previous . . .

[oscaralbert · 8/10 · 17 April 2016]

. . . Looney Tunes animated short, an equally desperate Daffy Duck guzzles a gallon of gasoline, a bottle of nitroglycerin, a pint of gun powder, and (in a new wrinkle), some Uranium 238 to go out with a bang, and then laments (from the Other Side, of course) "I can only do it once." Earlier, after "magician" Bugs Bunny has literally sawed Daffy in half, the hapless duck mutters, "Good thing I have Blue Cross." I'm not so sure. I assume Daffy has a small-businessman's policy, like my self-employed next-door neighbor. Blue Cross bamboozled him into thinking that he was signing up for a policy which included the rest of his state's small business folks in a large insurance pool. It turned out that Blue Cross had subdivided his state into tiny geographic and demographic slices, so that my neighbor (and, presumably, the rest of my state's small business people) were "groups" unto themselves. Each year, Blue Cross raised its annual "group" premiums to double the total amount of medical care my neighbor's family had used the previous year--including all the deductibles he was forced to pay out of pocket himself! Due to an ill child, Blue Cross premiums were quadruple this guy's mortgage payments when he was finally priced out of health insurance. (This was BEFORE Obamacare, but it will likely worsen when Cruzcare kicks in.) Poor deluded Daffy!

A cartoon ahead of its time.

[runar-4 · 3/10 · 27 February 2005]

This cartoon shows that Friz Freling was ahead of his time - a recycler before anybody know the word. Nearly every gag in this cartoon is recycled from other cartoons, such as Ballot Box Bunny (the bomb gag). Freling was seldom an innovator, though he was competent. I've never been able to tell whether his tendency to re-use gags in cartoons was economy or laziness. The tendency outlived his time at Warner's, with material returning even in his DePatie-Freling days. That feeling of deja vu you might have gotten watching a Pink Panther cartoon was very real. He also never seemed to have gotten himself out of the 1920's, but when this cartoon was made, he could still expect some of the audience to have actually seen a vaudeville-type show.

"WHAT?!? That rabbit's name over MINE?!"

[slymusic · 24 March 2006]

Directed by Friz Freleng, "Show Biz Bugs" is a fantastic Warner Bros. cartoon that may be the definitive rivalry between the nonchalant Bugs Bunny and the insanely jealous Daffy Duck. In this classic cartoon, Bugs and Daffy are vaudeville stars, and Bugs rarely has to do anything on stage to receive applause, whereas Daffy bends over backwards to entertain the crowd, only to be rewarded with complete silence (or the all-too-familiar cricket sounds). As proved in the earlier "hunter trilogy" from director Chuck Jones ("Rabbit Fire" [1951], "Rabbit Seasoning" [1952], and "Duck! Rabbit, Duck!" [1953]), Daffy is constantly frustrated whenever he has to compete with Bugs. But Daffy finally receives his share of applause at the end when he blows himself up after drinking some highly dangerous substances and swallowing a lit match. This painful sequence is not exactly the kind of material intended for children.

Here are my favorite highlights from "Show Biz Bugs." Daffy's jealousy toward Bugs is evident right from the opening scene when Daffy notices Bugs' huge name in lights above Daffy's puny name. Daffy's anger is further enhanced (after he and Bugs tap dance together to Milt Franklyn's nicely-orchestrated version of "Tea for Two") by Bugs' simple "Shave and a Haircut" dance receiving enthusiastic applause, and yet, when Daffy engages in his fastest, flashiest soft-shoe dance to "Jeepers Creepers," the audience's response does not even come close. Daffy sets up a few miniature circus objects for his trained pigeons, but when they all immediately fly out the window upon being released from their cage, Daffy has no choice but to smile and shuffle off the stage! And finally, a great musical gag that I've seen in other Warner Bros. cartoons involves Daffy secretly attaching an explosive underneath one of the wooden bars of Bugs' xylophone; as Bugs begins to play "All Those Endearing Young Charms," he repeatedly misses the explosive note, which completely frustrates Daffy, who finally runs out on stage, shoves Bugs away, plays the song correctly, and triggers the explosive!

I love "Show Biz Bugs" because of Daffy's overly-competitive nature, which causes him to get his butt whipped every time. Just about the only thing missing from this short is a line that I remember Daffy saying to Bugs in another cartoon in which they portray vaudevillians: "Anything you can do, I can do better. Yes I can. Yes I can! YES I CAN!!!"

Friz Freling's Bugs Vs. Daffy Masterpeice!!!

[mjsmith · 10/10 · 20 April 1999]

And, this one shows that Bugs can even outsmart Daffy again, even if it's from different directors!

This one is my favorite Bugs Vs. Daffy cartoon from Friz Freling!!!

Relies on the characters rather than material and just about gets away with it

[bob the moo · 5 May 2004]

Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck are a dancing double act in a vaudeville theatre. However Daffy is not content for equal billing and wants to have all the glory for himself. He challenges Bugs that whatever he can do, Daffy can do better. Bugs does his stuff on stage to great acclaim from the audience, but everything Daffy tries is greeted with all the appreciate of a f*rt in a lift. As the stakes continue to rise, Daffy increasingly pulls out all the stops.

I love Daffy Duck a great deal but much prefer him when he is in full-on wacky mode rather than the more greedy duck of his later cartoons. In this short we see Daffy being his greedy self but him being pushed to crazy limits reminds me of whom he once was. The material is not that good when I think about it and some of the gags are a little under whelming but it still manages to be pretty amusing. The ending is OK but it has been done elsewhere to better effect with Porky Pig and a wolf.

What makes this short work past the average material is the characters. Bugs' delivery is pretty fun although he isn't really his usual tricky self - all he's doing is being a good dancer. Daffy is also good and it is his jealous rage that makes the material much better than it should be. His big finish is not as good as he deserved but up till that point he is funny even if he is not the Daffy that I prefer.

Overall this is enjoyable enough but that's it. The material is average enough and is pretty thin but thankfully the two famous characters both do good work to make it better than it really is.