''Buddy's Bug Hunt'' is an American

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

, released June 22, 1935.Maltin, Leonard. ''Of Mice and Magic: a History of American Animated Cartoons''. Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1980. p. 406 It is a ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series ''Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation.

'' cartoon, featuring

Buddy Buddy may refer to: People *Buddy (nickname) *Buddy (rapper), real name Simmie Sims III (1993–Present) *Buddy Rogers (wrestler), ring name of American professional wrestler Herman Gustav Rohde, Jr. (1921–1992) *Buddy Boeheim (born 1999), Amer ...

, the second star of the series. It was supervised by Jack King; and musical direction was by Norman Spencer.

Summary

Young bug-catcher Buddy merrily chases an insect with a net, eventually leading it into his "Bug House," a backyard shack in which he collects and studies bugs. Buddy then removes a happy

spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

from its web and etherizes it upon a table, so that he might examine it with his

microscope A microscope () is a laboratory instrument used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Microscopy is the science of investigating small objects and structures using a microscope. Microscopic means being invisibl ...

. As the spider cries, Buddy dispenses more ether. The ether, running off, sends Our Hero spiraling off to

unconsciousness Unconsciousness is a state in which a living individual exhibits a complete, or near-complete, inability to maintain an consciousness, awareness of self and environment or to respond to any human or environmental Stimulus (physiology), stimulus. ...

. Buddy starts

dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...

ing. The spider breaks free of the microscope and laughs to see its captor straddled about the floor, helpless. The spider leaps to a table on which a jar containing several other spiders are kept, and frees its fellows. One spider proceeds to free a

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

trapped in a bottle; almost no time has passed, and several spiders already have a wakeful Buddy suspended beneath a web. The freed frog directs the contents of a box of "Reducing Pills" into a glass of water, then sucks up the water with a straw, and spits it into the struggling Buddy's mouth, by way of a funnel there placed. Our Hero shrinks almost instantly to the size of one of his captives. The creatures laugh, applaud in derision, point at their captive, and

sing Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

of their victory. A

hornet Hornets (insects in the genus ''Vespa'') are the largest of the eusocial wasps, and are similar in appearance to their close relatives yellowjackets. Some species can reach up to in length. They are distinguished from other vespine wasps by th ...

leads Buddy to the place of his trial: a repurposed

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

. By way of some flypaper and alphabet soup letters, the insects announce: "Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Buddy will be tried in court for cruelty to insects!" All are commanded to be silent for the approach of the judge, a

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyly, monophyletic lineage within the ...

that emerges from a

cuckoo clock A cuckoo clock is, typically, a pendulum clock that strikes the hours with a sound like a common cuckoo call and has an automated cuckoo bird that moves with each note. Some move their wings and open and close their beaks while leaning forwards ...

, who swears all to the truth. The first witness was a grasshopper who approaches Buddy, he claims that he yanked off his leg. The next is a female butterfly, an orphan child, who reportedly had her parents taken from her by Buddy and was left to die. Another female insect was widowed by the defenseless

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the p ...

. Through all this, the judge continues to smack Buddy's head with his gavel. Following the testimony of the witnesses, the

jury A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartiality, impartial verdict (a Question of fact, finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence (law), penalty o ...

finds Buddy guilty as charged. As punishment for his crimes, they set the flame of a cigar lighter to Buddy's behind. Our Hero screams for help and awakens from his dream to find a magnifying glass reflecting sunlight onto his backside, setting his trousers aflame. Buddy dashes over to a tub of water, in which he sits to relieve the problem. Then, onto business, he goes. He opens all the cages, sets all of his prisoners free, and shuts the door of Buddy's Bug House. The shutdown is indeed forever, for the entire structure crumbles around him as he does so. Two frogs play before him, on a plank of wood, as though it were a

see-saw A seesaw (also known as a teeter-totter or teeterboard) is a long, narrow board supported by a single pivot point, most commonly located at the midpoint between both ends; as one end goes up, the other goes down. These are most commonly found a ...

ACME Trademark

This is the first Warner Bros. cartoon to display the iconic

Acme Corporation The ACME Corporation is a name for the fictional corporation appearing in various Warner Bros. cartoon shorts, where it was used as a running gag due to their wide array of products that are dangerous, unreliable or preposterous. Origin The n ...

trademark. The trademark appears on a box early in the dream sequence, and is also the brand of the

flypaper Flypaper (also known as a fly ribbon, fly strip, fly capture tape, or fly catcher) is a fly-killing device made of paper coated with a sweetly fragrant, but extremely sticky and sometimes poisonous substance that traps flies and other flying inse ...

used by the insects for their declaration.

That's All Folks!

The traditional ''Looney Tunes'' benediction, "That's all, folks!", given by

Bosko Bosko is an animated cartoon character created by animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising. Bosko was the first recurring character in Leon Schlesinger's cartoon series and was the star of 39 ''Looney Tunes'' shorts released by Warner Bros. He ...

, and

Porky Pig Porky Pig is an animated character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his celebrity, star power, and the animators created ma ...

, is here, and for the first time (despite the original ending card of the short being lost through time), delivered by Beans the Cat. At the time of the release of ''Buddy's Bug Hunt'', Beans had already made his first appearance (alongside Porky) in the '' Merrie Melody'' ''

I Haven't Got a Hat ''I Haven't Got a Hat'' is a 1935 animated short film, directed by Isadore Freleng for Leon Schlesinger Productions as part of the ''Merrie Melodies'' series. Released on March 2, 1935, the short is notable for featuring the first appearance of sev ...

'', and, presumably, was already anticipated as (or considered) the new star of Warner Bros.'s cartoons. Beans appeared in nine shorts before he was entirely displaced by Porky Pig, to whom the duty of the ending salute would most famously pass.

References

External links

* * {{Jack King 1935 films 1935 animated films 1930s American animated films 1930s animated short films American black-and-white films American courtroom films Animated films about insects Films scored by Norman Spencer (composer) Films about dreams Films about spiders Films directed by Jack King Buddy (Looney Tunes) films Looney Tunes shorts Films about size change