"Pardon me, but could you help out a fellow American who's down on his luck?"
— Humphrey Bogart to Bugs Bunny, repeatedly
8 Ball Bunny is a 1950 Chuck Jones cartoon starring Bugs Bunny and is the second of two appearances of Playboy the Penguin (the first being Frigid Hare).
The cartoon starts with the Ice Frolics skating show packing up and leaving after a run at the Brooklyn Ice Palace, accidentally leaving behind their star attraction, Playboy the Penguin. He tries to follow the trucks, but slips down a hill and falls into Bugs Bunny's rabbit hole, waking him up. Bugs is annoyed at Playboy disturbing his rest, but he quickly apologizes when he realizes Playboy is lost, and offers to help him find his way home, reading a book and deducing that he has to take him all the way to the South Pole.
And so begins an extended journey as they hop a freight train to New Orleans (fending off a hungry hobo who shows interest in eating one or both of them), where Bugs puts Playboy on what he thinks is a boat to Antarctica but which turns out to be headed for Brooklyn. After Bugs rescues Playboy from being eaten for a second time, they swim to Martinique, where Playboy builds a boat that carries them to the Panama Canal, from which they proceed on foot across South America, dodging cannibal tribes and crocodiles before finally crossing the Southern Ocean to Antarctica. But there's something Playboy hasn't told Bugs about himself...
Tropes:
- All for Nothing: Bugs does quite a lot of life-endangering efforts to take Playboy to the South Pole only to discover that Playboy was supposed to go to Hoboken instead.note Bugs has a nervous breakdown right then and there.
- Borrowed Catchphrase:Bogart: Hey, pardon me, but—
Bugs: But could you help a fellow American who's down on his luck? - Bowdlerization: When the short aired on ABC, the part where Bugs and Playboy are captured by South American natives is edited to remove the shots of one native running to warn the group of "Bwana" Humphrey Bogart coming and of the group repeating the “Bwana” in terror. These were replaced with a reused shot of Bogart's feet (from slightly later in the scene) while the sound of the natives’ shouting was heard.
- Captured by Cannibals: Bugs and Playboy are briefly captured and are about to be cooked by a colony of cannibals note , but they're scared off by Humphrey Bogart.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Somehow it didn’t occur to Playboy Penguin to try and tell Bugs that he was supposed to be going to Hoboken instead of the South Pole until they arrive on the continent.
- Downer Ending: Playboy is taken to the completely wrong place in the world, and Bugs loses his mind when he finds out. It's Played for Laughs, though. Though it might be a happy ending for Bogart who'll likely get a reward for returning Playboy to Hoboken.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Upon promising to help Playboy get home, Bugs looks up what kind of bird he is in the dictionary and learns that he's a 'pen-ga-in', which come from the South Pole.Bugs: (Doing a Wild Take) SOUTH POLE?! Oooh, I'm ddyyyiiinnn!
- For Want Of A Nail: Bugs and Playboy’s arduous journey through South America (see Captured by Cannibals and Travel Montage) could have been avoided had Bugs simply chosen to pay the 25 cent charge to go through the first lock of the Panama Canal (something that’s especially apparent today thanks to 25 cents being worth far less now than it did in 1950).
- Go Mad from the Revelation: Bugs loses it when he realizes that Playboy Penguin was raised in captivity in Hoboken and his quest to take him to the South Pole was all for nothing.
- Hostile Hitchhiker: Bugs and Playboy hop on a cargo train and share the car with a hobo who decides to try to eat them both. Worse yet, the guy goes on a tangent about how eating Playboy is going to be a Mercy Kill, but when Bugs points out that a rabbit would be a better meal, the hobo yells "I love rabbit stew!" and blindly charges at Bugs.
- I Gave My Word: Bugs goes through a lot of trouble (admittedly not without grousing about it) to get Playboy home as promised.
- Instant Ice: Just Add Cold!: In a gag recycled from Frigid Hare, Playboy's tears turn into ice cubes at the South Pole.
- Joisey: Playboy was actually born and raised in Hoboken.
- Meat-O-Vision: A starving Bugs sees Playboy as a roast chicken.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: The recurring man who asks Bugs for change is a caricature of actor Humphrey Bogart as Fred C. Dobbs in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
- Now You Tell Me: Bugs has this reaction upon learning that Playboy's home is actually in Hoboken.
- Offscreen Teleportation: Humphrey Bogart is somehow able to keep up with or stay ahead of Bugs and Playboy in their worldwide travels.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Playboy is adorable looking.
- Rule of Three: Humphrey Bogart randomly shows up at Bugs and Playboy's locations three times. The first two times, he asks Bugs if he can help "a fellow American who's down on his luck", and Bugs flips him a coin to get rid of him. The third time, Bugs asks Bogart if he can help a fellow American who's down on his luck before shoving Playboy into his hands and going Laughing Mad as he runs toward the horizon.
- Running Gag:
- Bugs saying "Oooh, I'm dyin'!" after discovering how far he has to take Playboy to return him home.
- Humphrey Bogart popping up to ask Bugs Bunny for spare change.Bogart: Say, pardon me, but could you help a fellow American who's down on his luck?
- Sanity Slippage: The normally cool and collected Bugs Bunny is reduced to a raving lunatic in the end when he realizes his efforts were all in vain.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: After swearing he would help Playboy get home (after regretting making him cry), he finds out that penguins come from the South Pole ("South Pole?! Ooh, I'm dyin'!"). He tries to help Playboy to the Antarctic, going through hell and high water to do so, only to find out when he finally gets there that this was a domesticated performing penguin who lived in Hoboken ("Hoboken?! Ooh, I'm dyin' again!"), and he just dragged him several thousand miles for nothing.
- Short Cuts Make Long Delays: After Bugs and Playboy are captured by a native tribe in the South American jungle and put into a giant pot to cook, Bugs glares at Playboy and mutters, "You and your short cuts!" Keep in mind, it was Bugs’ choice for them to walk through South America in the first place to avoid paying 25 cents to go through the Panama Canal, see For Want Of A Nail.
- Shout-Out:
- The ship Bugs puts Playboy on is called Admiral Byrd, a reference to the real-life Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd, Jr.
- Humphrey Bogart's appearances are based on his role in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and more specifically on the opening sequence in which he begs for spare change from the same person (a cameo by the film's director, John Huston) three times.
- The Speechless: Playboy has no dialogue at all.
- Spit Take: When Bugs and Playboy arrive in New Orleans, Playboy is loaded onto the Admiral Byrd, which Bugs assumes is bound for Antarctica. As he relaxes at an outdoor cafe with a glass of carrot juice and says he might stay on for "the Madree Grass", two sailors at a nearby table comment on the departure of the Admiral Byrd, bound for Brooklyn...note Bugs: [spits out his mouthful of carrot juice and coughs and splutters for a moment] BROOKLYN!?
- Stewed Alive: Bugs and Playboy are caught by natives and put in a pot.
- Tastes Like Chicken: The hobo who tries to eat Playboy says that "penguins is practically chickens".
- Travel Montage: As Bugs and Playboy make their way to the South Pole. Initially, we just see a line being drawn down the length of South America, but when it reaches the foothills of the Andes, it stops and turns around, resulting in the cannibal tribe scene. When the montage resumes, the line on the map is superimposed over scenes of Bugs and Playboy swinging through the jungle on vines, swimming away from a crocodile, climbing a mountain, and crossing the Southern Ocean in a tiny boat.
- Twist Ending: Playboy turns out to have been raised in captivity and wasn't born in the South Pole.
