Rabbit Punch

The other day, I was watching some Warner Bros. cartoons I had on my computer to pass the time. One of the cartoons I came across was Chuck Jones' Rabbit Punch (1948).

I came up to the scene where Bugs tricks the Champion into thinking he broke his leg, disguises himself as a doctor, traps him in bandages, winds his punch ( ala Popeye's "twisker" punch) & socks him. 

But the animation of the punch itself took me completely by surprise. 

"What the hell was THAT?"

I went back a few seconds & looked at it frame by frame. Looking at the individual frames, I couldn't believe my eyes. Hands down, this has got to be the most stylized punch animation I've ever seen.

Bugs measures up...

anticipates...

accents the anticipation...

here's the windup...

(20 inbetweens on 2's - 40 frames later)

(24 frames later) & the pitch!

WHAM!

HO-LY COW!

I love how his fist turns into an inner tube. & what great swirly dry-brush lines on that, too. Does anybody know who animated that scene? I know most Chuck Jones animators are usually easy to identify, but I forget my bearings sometimes. Maybe Ken Harris?

I have a Quicktime clip of the animation, but I don't know how to put it up here on the blog. I don't want to upload it to Youtube or through the Blogger Video service, just a link to the clip in its own separate window. John K. does it all the time, does he use a pay service? Can anyone help me out with this problem?

Questions, Questions, Questions....