Easter Yeggs

Easter Yeggs (1947) is a 1946 Looney Tunes animated short originally released theatrically on June 28, 1947. Story by Warren Foster, with Layouts by Cornett Wood, and ackgrounds by Richard H. Thomas. Animation by Charles McKimson, Dick Bickenbach, and I. Ellis. Directed by Robert McKimson. It is that director's second Bugs Bunny effort (following the previous year's Acrobatty Bunny), and his first Bugs & Elmer cartoon. (Arthur Q. Bryan plays Elmer; all other voices are by Mel Blanc.)

The title is a play on "Easter eggs" and on "yegg", a slang term for a burglar or safecracker.

This was the 500th cartoon short released by Warner Bros., they would release exactly 500 more after this.

Plot
Bugs Bunny finds the Easter Bunny (also called the "Easter Rabbit" throughout this cartoon) sitting on a rock, crying. The Easter Bunny tells Bugs that his feet are sore, so he cannot deliver the Easter eggs. Bugs takes up the job, not knowing that, every year, the Easter Bunny gets some "dumb bunny" to do his work for him.

The first house the "joyous bunny" visits bears a name by the door: Dead End Kid, and the mean little red-haired kid who lives inside throws the egg at Bugs' face, bites him and beats Bugs up before body slamming him on the floor. Bugs loses his cool and grabs the kid's arm. Unfortunately, Dead End Kid screams and three huge thugs rush in on Bugs while aiming guns at him. Bugs barely escapes the hail of bullets. When Bugs rushes back to the Easter Bunny telling him he quits, the Easter Bunny gets him to "try once more".

Unfortunately, the next house is that of Elmer Fudd, the veteran wabbit-hater. Fudd sets up an elaborate welcome and, disguised as a baby, hides his gun in a bassinet and climbs in. Just then Bugs arrives, but this time he's prepared for toddler resistance: he cracks the egg in Elmer's hands. Thus commences the classic chase until Bugs manages to sic Dead End Kid on Elmer (who beats Elmer on the head repeatedly with a hammer). Finally, Bugs plants a bomb painted like an easter egg and leaves it for the Easter Bunny. When he picks it up to finish his job, Bugs lights the fuse, proclaiming to the audience "it's the suspense that gets me," and the bomb explodes on the Easter Bunny, leaving the hapless hen-fruit handler hanging high up in a tree. Bugs' parting shot: "Remember, Doc, keep smiling!" The cartoon irises out as Bugs starts laughing.