As a Looney Tunes cartoon, Stage Door Cartoon is a very enjoyable if not entirely exceptional one. The title I did find somewhat misleading, and the transition from the traditional hunting-season opening to the stage antics with Bugs humiliating Elmer was a little rushed. However, the animation is colourful and lively enough, and there is a nice music score as well. The dialogue is sharp and witty, but even better were the often hilarious sight gags. Not to mention the surprise ending, which was so clever and unexpected. Bugs is still his cool, arrogant and witty self, while Elmer shows a sense of naivety and I kind of felt sorry for him as he was humiliated. Watching him change colour was not a pretty sight really. The voice work from Mel Blanc and Arthur Q.Bryan is superb as per usual, and I see I am not the only person who thought the Southern Sheriff sounded a lot like Yosemite Sam. Overall, unexceptional but amusing. 8/10 Bethany Cox
9 Reviews
Making A Fool Of Elmer In Public
ccthemovieman-127 April 2007
A takeoff on "Stage Door Canteen," this begins out in the wilds with the typical Bugs Bunny- making hunter Elmer Fudd-into an idiot routine. Finally, Elmer chases Bugs into the city and to a stage door of a vaudeville theater act that is going on.
To avoid being shot by Elmer, Bugs comes out on stage and tap dances. Each time he wants to get off stage, Elmer is there so Bugs has to keep dancing, and then play the piano since he sees Elmer inside with the shotgun pointed at him.
The real laughs of this cartoon start from that point as Bugs turns the tables on Elmer and makes a fool of him in front of the audience. He even cons the dumb Fudd into doing a striptease and then getting arrested. The surprise ending was good, one that fooled a lot of people, I'm sure. Bugs was one clever dude.
This can be seen as part of Volume Two of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection.
To avoid being shot by Elmer, Bugs comes out on stage and tap dances. Each time he wants to get off stage, Elmer is there so Bugs has to keep dancing, and then play the piano since he sees Elmer inside with the shotgun pointed at him.
The real laughs of this cartoon start from that point as Bugs turns the tables on Elmer and makes a fool of him in front of the audience. He even cons the dumb Fudd into doing a striptease and then getting arrested. The surprise ending was good, one that fooled a lot of people, I'm sure. Bugs was one clever dude.
This can be seen as part of Volume Two of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection.
It's Bugs and Elmer in action again in Stage Door Cartoon
tavm22 March 2010
Just rewatched this Bugs Bunny/Elmer Fudd cartoon on the Hollywood Canteen DVD 25 years after first seeing this on cable station WTBS back in the early '80s. In this one, the wabbit keeps trying to escape from Elmer's shotgun by going to a theater backstage and performing skits with the hunter an unwilling assistant. This was a highly amusing, if not completely hilarious, cartoon that brought a constant smile on my face especially when the familiar gags and music were being played. Also later on, Bugs disguises himself in costume and a voice that would later be used on another nemesis named Yosemite Sam. The title above might be a bit misleading for anyone expecting soldiers dancing with pretty women but otherwise, I heartily recommend Stage Door Cartoon.
"What wight on yonder window bweaks!"
slymusic17 January 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Directed by Friz Freleng, "Stage Door Cartoon" is an excellent Bugs Bunny/Elmer Fudd picture. Friz was apparently very cautious about using Elmer Fudd in the cartoons he directed, so his treatment of Elmer is somewhat respectful in that no matter where Bugs runs off to, Elmer is there with his shotgun waiting for him. In this case, Elmer chases Bugs into a vaudeville theatre, where Bugs cleverly maneuvers Elmer on stage and gets him in all kinds of trouble.
Here are the highlights from this wonderful cartoon (don't read any further until after you have seen it). After Bugs does a delightful tap dance with a hat and cane, he bangs away at a grand piano while Elmer hides inside the soundboard and subsequently gets struck in the face by the hammers. Elmer causes the audience to roar with laughter during his long fall into the glass of water and during his reluctant entrance in a violet outfit that Bugs hastily dresses him in. And at the closing of this short, Elmer gets arrested by a southern sheriff (perhaps a precursor to Yosemite Sam), but when the theatre shows a Bugs Bunny cartoon on the big screen, the sheriff decides to pause and get a good laugh before turning Elmer in. And, of course, what would a Warner Bros. cartoon be without the music of Carl W. Stalling? During the film's opening credits, the familiar "What's Up, Doc?" theme can be proudly heard. When Bugs disguises himself as a female cancan dancer, a lively Parisian theme accompanies, and Stalling used this theme in other cartoons such as "For Scent-imental Reasons" (1949) and "Daffy Duck Hunt" (1949). During Bugs' tap dance, we hear a very familiar Stalling dance number, also heard in "Bugs Bunny Rides Again" (1948) and in "(Blooper) Bunny!" (1991). And during Elmer's "striptease," the song we hear is "If I Could Be with You One Hour Tonight," also prominently heard in the Warner Bros. cartoon "Goofy Groceries" (1941).
For awhile, I wasn't sure about the significance of the title "Stage Door Cartoon" until, as a professional jazz musician, I recently made a small discovery. I had read in a very well-written jazz resource about an all-star revue picture titled "Stage Door Canteen" (1943), which features such great bandleaders as pianist Count Basie and clarinetist Benny Goodman. "Stage Door Cartoon" must have been a takeoff of "Stage Door Canteen."
Here are the highlights from this wonderful cartoon (don't read any further until after you have seen it). After Bugs does a delightful tap dance with a hat and cane, he bangs away at a grand piano while Elmer hides inside the soundboard and subsequently gets struck in the face by the hammers. Elmer causes the audience to roar with laughter during his long fall into the glass of water and during his reluctant entrance in a violet outfit that Bugs hastily dresses him in. And at the closing of this short, Elmer gets arrested by a southern sheriff (perhaps a precursor to Yosemite Sam), but when the theatre shows a Bugs Bunny cartoon on the big screen, the sheriff decides to pause and get a good laugh before turning Elmer in. And, of course, what would a Warner Bros. cartoon be without the music of Carl W. Stalling? During the film's opening credits, the familiar "What's Up, Doc?" theme can be proudly heard. When Bugs disguises himself as a female cancan dancer, a lively Parisian theme accompanies, and Stalling used this theme in other cartoons such as "For Scent-imental Reasons" (1949) and "Daffy Duck Hunt" (1949). During Bugs' tap dance, we hear a very familiar Stalling dance number, also heard in "Bugs Bunny Rides Again" (1948) and in "(Blooper) Bunny!" (1991). And during Elmer's "striptease," the song we hear is "If I Could Be with You One Hour Tonight," also prominently heard in the Warner Bros. cartoon "Goofy Groceries" (1941).
For awhile, I wasn't sure about the significance of the title "Stage Door Cartoon" until, as a professional jazz musician, I recently made a small discovery. I had read in a very well-written jazz resource about an all-star revue picture titled "Stage Door Canteen" (1943), which features such great bandleaders as pianist Count Basie and clarinetist Benny Goodman. "Stage Door Cartoon" must have been a takeoff of "Stage Door Canteen."
Given a title like STAGE DOOR CARTOON . . .
oscaralbert15 May 2016
Warning: Spoilers
. . . one would expect that this Warner Bros. animated short from the World War Two years would parrot the format of the live-action, War Bond-selling, cameo-laden features upon which it seems to be based, the STAGE DOOR CANTEEN franchise. Such a parody might include (Horrors!) "surprise" guest appearances popping up by Popeye, Donald Duck, and that Evil Rodent Himself, Steamboat Willie (a.k.a., "Mickey Mouse"). Fortunately, such an expectation sells the genius of the Looney Tuners short. Instead of "filler" material from a mugging Mickey or Donald, Warner presents us with a Bugs Bunny taking on the role of Yosemite Sam in a cartoon-within-a-cartoon. It practically goes without saying that Bugs' Southern Drawl as Sam is spot-on, and that this is NOT the final plot twist. Since Elmer Fudd is revealed as a Dirty Old Man in STAGE DOOR CARTOON's early chorus line scene, it's Poetic Justice when Bugs turns the tables and forces Fudd into an impromptu on-stage strip tease act.
these cartoons had to make use of their vaudeville roots sooner or later
lee_eisenberg3 October 2007
Watching the classic Looney Tunes cartoons, one can see a definite vaudeville influence (which eventually meant old-school). So it's no surprise that "Stage Door Cartoon" portrays an actual vaudeville performance. Specifically, Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny are doing their usual stuff (Elmer hunts Bugs but Bugs makes a fool out of him at every turn), when they run into a theater where there's a vaudeville-style performance taking place. Bugs subsequently puts on a series of acts to avoid getting shot...but what happens at the end really blows everything out of the water! OK, so maybe this cartoon was a place holder in between the really famous cartoons, and people today probably don't know "Stage Door Canteen". But seriously, how can you not like Bugs's gags and Elmer's embarrassment? As far as I'm concerned, as long as these cartoons entertain us, they're doing their job. Worth seeing.
far from my favorite
movieman_kev1 November 2005
Elmer Fudd chases Bugs Bunny into a theater were both of them are forced to act. This isn't my favorite Looney Tunes short by far. It all seems a little off to me somehow and there's no doubt it could have been funnier then it was. More over the ending is a tad on the weak side and I really didn't like Fudd that much in this one, which is a shame as I usually do like him (well more so than I did here). Bugs Bunny isn't really up to par in this short either, for that matter. This animated short can be seen on Disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2.
My Grade: C
My Grade: C
Stage Bore Cartoon
phantom_tollbooth1 October 2008
Friz Freleng's 'Stage Door Cartoon' is awkward, clunky and often a little bit ugly (watching Elmer Fudd change colour again and again is especially grotesque). Opening like a normal Bugs Bunny/Elmer Fudd hunting picture, the cartoon very abruptly segues into a theatre where the chase leads onto a stage in front of an audience. From here, Bugs manipulates Elmer into performing a number of humiliating and painful acts as part of an improvised show. The set up has promise but the problem with 'Stage Door Cartoon' is it simply isn't funny. It's made up of lots of overlong, feebly executed and unfunny gags which are either completely predictable or utterly anticlimactic. Unlike the Warner studio at its usual best and most beautiful, 'Stage Door Cartoon' looks like a rush job written and knocked out in double quick time. Having just watched it prior to writing this review, I can genuinely say I only laughed once (when Bugs slams the piano lid on Elmer). The rest of the time I was just looking forward to it being over, the rarest of rare feelings for me to encounter when watching Warner Bros. shorts
Rather lacklustre Bugs film
bob the moo20 March 2004
Elmer Fudd is out hunting rabbits - Bugs Bunny in particular. When Bugs runs for cover, the two of them end up going in the stage door of a local theatre. With Fudd training the shotgun on him at all times, Bugs is forced to perform to avoid being shot.
With a title that sounds like it was a working title rather than a title meant to be used as the real title; certainly it isn't anywhere near the usual puns and such - and if you are able to remember the film Stagedoor Canteen, then you likely won't be watching this! The film starts out appearing to be an early Bugs in the way that he is quite slimly drawn and smart mouthed without too much of the later stuff. As an early Bugs (I assume!) this is OK but it is hardly the best example of Bugs' talents.
The material is a little weak and isn't really as funny as it should have been - certainly we have seen much better cartoons that involve Bugs and Elmer on a stage of some sort. The conclusion to the film is daft and not very funny - although the sheriff appears to be a first draft of Yosemite Sam.
Overall, this has the basic elements of Bugs that we all love but there are plenty of shorts of his that use the basic premise much better than this one.
With a title that sounds like it was a working title rather than a title meant to be used as the real title; certainly it isn't anywhere near the usual puns and such - and if you are able to remember the film Stagedoor Canteen, then you likely won't be watching this! The film starts out appearing to be an early Bugs in the way that he is quite slimly drawn and smart mouthed without too much of the later stuff. As an early Bugs (I assume!) this is OK but it is hardly the best example of Bugs' talents.
The material is a little weak and isn't really as funny as it should have been - certainly we have seen much better cartoons that involve Bugs and Elmer on a stage of some sort. The conclusion to the film is daft and not very funny - although the sheriff appears to be a first draft of Yosemite Sam.
Overall, this has the basic elements of Bugs that we all love but there are plenty of shorts of his that use the basic premise much better than this one.
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