Baby Buggy Bunny redux

[Matt the Y]

No, not that damn Wayans Brothers movie! :p This is something else entirely.

I was thinking about this tonight and it just dawned on me. When Mike Maltese first became one of the main Hanna-Barbera storymen, he re-used/borrowed his earlier concept of "Baby Buggy Bunny" which he wrote for Chuck and adapted it for Hanna-Barbera into a Snooper & Blabber cartoon called "Baby Rattled"! In this cartoon, the basic premise is the same... a midget bank robber named Baby Pants Harry leaves himself disguised as an orphan on the doorstep of the mansion Snoop and Blab are looking after and they take him inside. The main difference in storyline is that here, Snooper and Blabber actually realize early on in the story that their "baby" is actually Baby Pants Harry and they chase after him with intent to capture but a police officer mistakes Harry for a genuine baby and protects him from Snooper & Blabber's "bullying".

As with Little Man, even some of the gags from the original (albeit by the same writer) are re-used here. One gag I remember is Harry pulling a gun on the policeman who plays along and says, "Go ahead, baby! Shoot the big bad policeman!" Harry obliges and gives it to him in the kisser. Unfazed, the cindered cop merely says, "They're sure makin' kids' toys realistic these days!"

Hey, is it just me or is the ol' reliable "Newly adapted baby is really a pint-sized criminal in disguise" premise one of the most popular among filmmakers? So far, it's been used at least three times; "Baby Buggy Bunny", "Baby Rattled", and "Little Man"! Oh well. As the saying goes, "Why change what works?" (Ooooh. Bad pun! Bad pun!:D :p ;) )

[Mr. Semaj]

I think they also used it in an 80's Jetsons episode.

[Matt the Y]

Come to think of it, I think it may have been used as the plot for a Hanna-Barbera Precious Pup cartoon as well!

How many times can they do a variation on that theme???

[mmtper]

They used it in a Little Rascals episode in the early 1930's too, I forget the name of the episode...:confused: It used 2 midget robbers disguised as babes.

[Bartman]

They used it in a Little Rascals episode in the early 1930's too, I forget the name of the episode...:confused: It used 2 midget robbers disguised as babes.

That short would be "Free Eats" and featured the first appearance of George "Spanky" McFarland. The next OUR GANG short released soon after was called "Spanky".

[Madison Carter]

And all of these have at least some debt to owe to the 1925 live-action silent film The Unholy Three, along with its 1930 sound remake of the same name.

[Matt the Y]

Wow! And all this time I thought Little Man was the only project that ripped off that formula! Of course, there are certain moments in the movie that are directly stolen from that cartoon. For example, the bit where Grandpop plays "Upsy Daisy" with the disguised gangster and throws him against the ceiling. Also, the scene near the end where the criminals take over the house, one of which puts the "baby" to bed. He turns out the lights and the midget clobbers him with a baseball bat but when the thug turns on the lights, the "baby" is sleeping soundly. After going through this again at least twice, the criminal slowly walks toward the "baby's" crib (still supposedly asleep) and says aloud, "Click!", after which the midget clobbers him with the bat yet again! The two scenes were far too much alike to be any kind of coincidence!