''Apes of Wrath'' is a 1959

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animated comedy short film series distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was part of the ''Looney Tunes'' franchise and featured many of the same characters. Originally running from August 2, 1931, to Septem ...

'' animated short directed by

Friz Freleng Isadore "Friz" Freleng (; August 21, 1905May 26, 1995), credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, Film director, director, Film producer, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons ...

. The short was released on April 18, 1959, and stars

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is a cartoon character created in the late 1930s at Warner Bros. Cartoons (originally Leon Schlesinger, Leon Schlesinger Productions) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the ' ...

with a cameo from

Daffy Duck Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character created by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett for Leon Schlesinger Productions. Styled as an anthropomorphic black duck, he has appeared in cartoon series such as ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Me ...

at the end. This cartoon recycles the plot from the 1948 cartoon '' Gorilla My Dreams''. The title is a parody of

John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck ( ; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social percep ...

's novel ''

The Grapes of Wrath ''The Grapes of Wrath'' is an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939. The book won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and it was cited prominently when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize ...

''. This cartoon was featured in '' Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales'', but with a few slight changes, since the plot features Bugs and Daffy trying to sell books.

Plot

An inebriated

stork Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons and ibise ...

, tasked with delivering a baby gorilla in the jungle, loses the infant during a break. Fearing repercussions, the stork seeks a replacement and spots Bugs Bunny roasting a carrot and singing. He incapacitates Bugs, dresses him in baby clothes, and delivers him to the gorilla parents. Initially delighted, the gorilla parents, "Mama" and Elvis, are horrified upon seeing the "baby." Elvis attempts to eliminate the "ugly" baby, but Mama intervenes, insisting they accept him, no matter what he looks like. Upon regaining consciousness, Bugs realizes his predicament and while Mama immediately loves her new "baby", Elvis doesn't, roaring at Bugs when Mama attempts to get him to kiss him. Faking crying, which results in Mama hitting Elvis with a rolling pin as punishment, Bugs decides to manipulate the situation for his own amusement. Bugs then proceeds to make Elvis's life miserable, knowing Elvis cannot retaliate without facing Mama's wrath and her rolling pin. Eventually though, the stork arrives with the real baby gorilla, revealing the charade and horrifying Bugs as he now knows the jig is up. Elvis, eager for revenge, chases after Bugs with murderous intent. As Elvis prepares to drop a boulder on Bugs from a cliff, the bunny runs off and Mama unwittingly enters the danger zone, resulting in her being struck by the boulder instead. Elvis is left speechless and sobbing before Mama soundly thrashes him offscreen, much to Bugs’ amusement ("I'd like to see him 'eeh-ooh-aah-ooh' and 'but' his way outta this one!") Suddenly, the drunken stork mistakenly congratulates Bugs on becoming a mother and hands him a bundle containing

, who, dressed as a baby and sporting a lump on his head which suggests a parallel to him and Bugs, calls Bugs "mummy" and kisses a disgruntled Bugs as the cartoon ends.

Home media

"''Apes of Wrath''" is available, uncensored and uncut, on the '' Looney Tunes Super Stars' Bugs Bunny: Hare Extraordinaire'' and '' Looney Tunes: Unleashed'' DVDs. However, in both cases it was cropped to widescreen. It was also included in the '' Stars of Space Jam: Bugs Bunny'' DVD, but this time in the ratio in which it was originally animated (fullscreen aspect ratio).

References

External links

* {{Friz Freleng 1959 films 1959 animated short films Animated films about gorillas Short films directed by Friz Freleng Bugs Bunny films Daffy Duck films Merrie Melodies short films Warner Bros. Cartoons animated short films Films scored by Milt Franklyn 1950s Warner Bros. animated short films Films with screenplays by Warren Foster