No bugs bunny3/17/2023 ![]() De Lara continues to handle the sequence, with Bugs’ crash-landing onto the Caliph and his refusal to give him Aladdin’s lamp. Phil De Lara animates the first scenes of Caliph Hassen Pheffer (to add further to the amount of rabbit-based puns in the film) reclining comfortably in his royal palace, as he smokes a hookah. He departed the studio for Jerry Fairbanks Productions by the fall of 1947, before the film’s release. Manny Gould’s animation raised the vitality of McKimson’s cartoons in the late 1940s, but it did not last long. In a nice comic touch, Bugs pops his head out of the lamp, with an indignant expression, before Smokey encloses the lid. He also animates Bugs throwing his two newly acquired carrots aside, as he inadvertently wishes for a journey to Baghdad, which Smokey grants by placing him inside of the lamp. Scene 8, staged in a low angle, also uses hand gestures for Bugs and foreshortens them close to the camera. In the third instance, Smokey answers, “Oh, heavens to Gimbels, NO!”, another catchphrase obtained from Backus’ Hubert Updike character. The sequence further displays Gould’s strengths as an animator when Bugs is denied several wishes before he can articulate them. Gould also accentuates the character acting within Bugs’ reaction-first, in awe of the mythical spirit, then grows annoyed as Smokey continues his showy introduction, and pulls on his vest to bring him closer. In scene 4A, Smokey the genie appears out of the lamp, and announces his arrival, in Gould’s trademark usage of exaggerated arm flailing and hand gestures. Manny Gould, the dominant animator of the film, handles the extended sequence of Bugs meeting Smokey, the “Genie with the Light Brown Hare” in perhaps his finest work for McKimson. Bob’s brother Charles McKimson animates the opening scenes of Bugs finding Aladdin’s lamp buried underground, and, as with many of his cartoons, he is given much of the tight close-ups of Bugs throughout the film. In this cartoon, McKimson assigned two principal animators to the first half of the film, with Bugs in the woods, and the second half, set in Baghdad, to the remainder. Around the same time the dialogue track was recorded, Backus appeared as a weekly regular on Mel Blanc’s own starring radio program-which aired on CBS from 1946-47-where he played the egotistical womanizer Hartley Benson. (Here is an example of the parallel between Hubert Updike III and Smokey the Genie.) The recording session between Mel Blanc and Jim Backus for A-Lad-in his Lamp occurred on October 5th, 1946. In the following scene, Smokey claims “I’ve got millions!” in terms of granting wishes to Bugs, comparable to how Updike would brag about his riches. ![]() Other catchphrases from the The Alan Young Show were borrowed for A-Lad in His Lamp when Smokey introduces himself with a quip to Bugs Bunny, he remarks, “That was a witty one!” followed by a conceited, hearty laugh. When Smokey emerges from Aladdin’s lamp, he announces: “I’m here! I’m here!” similar to how Updike would make his presence known on the radio program. McKimson modeled the Genie, whom Bugs calls Smokey (derived from studio cameraman/projectionist Hank “Smokey” Garner) after Backus’ millionaire playboy Hubert Updike III on The Alan Young Show. In a letter to author Graham Webb ( The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons), Bob McKimson stated, in an air of satisfaction, that he was the first animation director to hire radio actor Jim Backus before his success as the voice of Mister Magoo for UPA. “Hey- look, fellas, I’m a hare-plane!” Travel with Bugs Bunny to Baghdad in this cult classic from Bob McKimson… ![]()
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