Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears is a Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies

Merrie Melodies

Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...

theatrical cartoon short released in 1944, directed by Chuck Jones

Chuck Jones

Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...

 and written by Tedd Pierce

Tedd Pierce

Tedd Pierce , was an American animated cartoon writer, animator and artist. Pierce spent the majority of his career as a writer for the Warner Bros. "Termite Terrace" animation studio, working alongside fellow luminaries such as Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese. Pierce also worked as a writer at...

. This short marks the first appearance of Jones' dysfunctional version of The Three Bears, and of course is a parody of the old fairy tale, Goldilocks and The Three Bears

The Three Bears

"The Story of the Three Bears" is a fairy tale first recorded in narrative form by British author and poet Robert Southey, and first published anonymously in a volume of his writings in 1837...

.

Mel Blanc

Mel Blanc

Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...

 provides the voices of Bugs and Papa Bear (for the latter using a raucous voice similar to Yosemite Sam

Yosemite Sam

Yosemite Sam is an American animated cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The name is somewhat alliterative and is inspired by Yosemite National Park...

 only a little higher-pitched). Mama Bear is voiced by Bea Benaderet

Bea Benaderet

Bea Benaderet was an American actress born in New York City and raised in San Francisco, California. She is best remembered for her wide variety of television work, which included a starring role in the 1960s television series Petticoat Junction and Green Acres as Shady Rest Hotel owner Kate...

, while Kent Rogers

Kent Rogers

Kent Rogers was a Hollywood impressionist who appeared in several live-action shorts and features and a voice actor for Warner Bros..-Career:...

 voiced dim-witted Junior. Stan Freberg

Stan Freberg

Stanley Victor "Stan" Freberg is an American author, recording artist, animation voice actor, comedian, radio personality, puppeteer, and advertising creative director whose career began in 1944...

 is often credited with voicing the character of Junyer Bear in this short, but Junyer was actually voiced by actor Kent Rogers. The cartoon was released four months before Rogers' death in the crash of a training flight at Pensacola, Florida

Pensacola, Florida

Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...

, while he was in the military during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

Plot

The Three Bears are hungry and want something to eat, and plan on luring Goldilocks to them with porridge. They find, however, that all they have is carrot soup, which would only be useful in bringing Bugs Bunny

Bugs Bunny

Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...

 to them. A plot derived from that of the traditional Goldilocks and the Three Bears story unfolds, with Bugs Bunny as the unwitting guest in the home of the three bears.

Trivia

• While Bugs is making himself at home in the bears' house, he hums part of the melody and sings the title line of the song "King for a Day", composed by Ted Fio Rito.