Funny Little Bunnies (1934)

Friends, I am going to have to apologize for running a little late with the second article for this evening – had to deal with some work issues that kept me from sharing this Easter related classic theatrical short earlier. I thought for this Toon In offering it might be best to go with a Silly Symphony cartoon entitled Funny Little Bunnies, which was originally released on March 24th of 1934. It is a cute little bit of animation with an extremely simple premise – as the opening song explains, for those that believe in the Easter bunnies, they can visit the dell where they create all of those wonderful chocolate treats, colorful eggs, and engage in playful shenanigans. Speaking of that opening song for Funny Little Bunnies – it was performed by the Rhythmettes, a trio of female singers made up of Dorothy Compton, Mary Moder, and Mae Questel. Moder and Compton happened to provide the voices for Fiddler Pig and Fifer Pig in the extremely popular Three Little Pigs theatrical short which had been released the previous year. Mae Questel might be best known for providing the voice for Betty Boop and Olive Oyl for the Fleischer Studios – in the case of the former she voiced the character in over 150 animated shorts.

Funny Little Bunnies was directed by Wilfred Jackson, who besides also helming the Academy Award winning The Old Mill three years later, would also direct the memorable A Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria segment for Fantasia in ’40. Going by what I could find on the Internet Movie Database, it appears that Wilfred directed over 40 classic Walt Disney theatrical shorts – all uncredited. Jackson would go on to direct Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, as well as Lady and the Tramp.

In closing out this article – we hope that each and everyone of you had a safe and happy Holiday and thank you for taking the time to enjoy Funny Little Bunnies from 1934. I do want to point out however in the short there is about three seconds of blackface humor that was sadly common of the time.