Easter Yeggs is a 1947 Looney Tunes theatrical animated short. The cartoon was released on June 28, 1947, and features Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. The title is a play on "Easter eggs" and on "yegg", a slang term for a burglar or safecracker. The voice and characterization of the Easter Bunny in the short is a reference to a character that Mel Blanc performed on the Burns and Allen radio show, the morose Happy Postman, even including the character's catch phrase, "Remember, keep smiling."

Plot

While reading How to Multiply, Bugs overhears moaning that turns out to be a depressed Easter Bunny, who tricks Bugs into filling in for him (a trick the Easter Bunny plays on unsuspecting rabbits every year). Initially, Bugs accepts the job with pleasure, which quickly evaporates when his encounter with a Dead End Kid (and his gun-toting caretakers), who delights in demolishing Easter eggs, sours him on the task. The Easter Bunny sends a now-angry Bugs toward Elmer Fudd, who has set a trap hoping to cook the Easter Bunny for "Easter rabbit stew." Thus commences the classic chase and gags until Bugs is finally able to stop Elmer by painting Elmer's head like an Easter egg and unleashing the Dead End Kid on him.

A disappointed Easter Bunny picks up a large egg Bugs dropped, which is actually a bomb. Bugs lights the fuse and the bomb explodes, propelling the Easter Bunny into a tree. Bugs looks up and, with triumphant schadenfreude, reminds the Easter Bunny of his own instruction: "Remember, keep smiling!"`

Reception

Comic book and animation writer Earl Kress writes, "Daffy Doodles, Robert McKimson's directorial debut, and Easter Yeggs are the director's very best... There are plenty of gags and nice pacing here that make this cartoon one of my favorites."

Home media

Easter Yeggs is available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3 DVD box set and on Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 3 Blu-ray set.

See also

External links

Preceded byA Hare Grows In ManhattanBugs Bunny Cartoons 1947Succeeded bySlick Hare