Director: I. Freleng
Story: Ted Pierce
Animation: Manuel Perez
Voice Characterisation: Mel Blanc
Musical Director: Carl W. Stalling
Cast: Bugs, Sylvester the hound dog, Old Lady.
Date of release: February 22, 1944

This 1944 short was apparently the first Friz Freleng-directed Bugs Bunny cartoon to use the modern design.

From the opening shot of a house in winter snow and the sound of clarinets climbing a scale as the wind whips snow across the scene, we can guess that someone is going to end up out in the cold.

Inside a snug living room a spoiled hound dog, Sylvester, is being tucked up by an old lady by the light of a roaring open fire. There is a knock at the door and the old lady (voiced by Bea Benaderet who went on to find fame as the voice of Betty Rubble in the Flintstones!) is horrified to find a “poor little rabbit out in the cold”. She carries Bugs to the fire and Sylvester is promptly displaced.

A green rug beneath the dog, seems a bit of a problem. It vanishes reappears and shifts colour throughout the cartoon as it is sometimes on the character cell and at others drawn onto the background.

There is a sequence early on where the jealous Sylvester imagines all the dastardly ways that he could get rid of the unwelcome visitor. The rudely drawn contents of Sylvester’s thought bubble are our first indication that he rather a simple character. This is reinforced by the hound’s simpleton voice characterisation, by writer Ted Peirce as Sylvester throws Bugs out into the cold for the first time.

So the set up of the entire cartoon is established here after 1 minute 45 seconds.

While Bugs is building a frozen likeness of himself to trick his way back into the house he launches into a timelessly funny monologue.  During this scene a peculiar discrepancy in the Sylvester design can be noted. As the dogs listens to Bug catching “pneumonia” his head becomes huge. Presumably to emphasise the wide eyes as Sylvester becomes wracked with guilt at Bugs’ “demise”.

According to Wikipedia the version of this cartoon that aired on TBS cut the part where as Sylvester the Dog is sobbing over melting the snowman likeness of Bugs, believing he killed him. Bugs says to Sylvester, “You’re really in a jam now, Doc. It’s the hot seat for you, sure.”

The rest of the cartoon is filled with various pranks and gags cantering around Sylvester and Bugs’ frantic struggle for domestic supremacy. A couple of highlights for me were the scene when Bugs places the frozen stiff Sylvester in front of the fire and hastily pretends to draw him. The old lady is fooled into thinking Sylvester is posing for the artistic rabbit (who is drawing his thumb) and tiptoes back up stairs leaving the now thawed out Sylvester to continue his battle with Bugs.

There a sublimely well-placed punch to Sylvester’s rear that illustrates brilliantly the animation principle of “Squash and Stretch”.

The short ends superbly as the action ratchets up with a simple repetition of Bugs and Sylvester taking it in turns to be ejected through the open doorway, finally culminating in the ejection of the old lady herself. We are treated to a final short of the reconciled Sylvester and Bugs relaxing, undisturbed in front of the open fire. Bugs gets the last laugh by breaking down the fourth wall and addressing the audience directly with “Ain’t I a stinker!”

Aside from the rather random title (the cartoon has nothing to do with the Air Force) it is filled with some really nice Bugs Bunny characterisation. While Sylvester the dog is a likable boob it is hard to believe that he would ever manage to get one over on Bugs.