Looney Tunes and the Three Bears

You know, for many decades, the Looney Tunes shorts have given us many memorable characters, and no, I'm not talking about the usual suspects--they go without saying. I'm talking about those rarely seen stars who appeared in a select few shorts; sparsely mentioned, yet very memorable, indeed. This story centers on one such set featuring some underrated stars: The Three Bears.

Now, while the family format matches the familiar fairy tale, that's the only common thread. Looney Tunes' take on The Three Bears paints them as quite a dysfunctional family, and that's a bit of an understatement. They were pretty much well ahead of their time, because we wouldn't see dysfunctional families portrayed on TV until around the 1980s. So who do we have to thank for this take on The Three Bears? None other than Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones. The same man who gave us two of the greatest cartoon rivalries of all time (Coyote & Road Runner and Bugs vs Daffy) also gave us this hilarious and wild version of The Three Bears, who were featured in five shorts in the classic era. They are as follows:

Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears (1944)

On February 26, 1944, the Three Bears debuted in this short, Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears. We were introduced to these characters and their personalities, first off, Papa Bear (whose first name is quickly revealed as Henry), shown to be loudmouthed and short-tempered. Mama Bear is quite docile and tries to reign in the insanity (and doesn't succeed). Finally, Baby Bear (often called "Junior," but shown to be misspelled as "Junyer") is the dimwitted, yet well-meaning offspring, who does love his father--despite always being on the receiving end of Papa's beratement and abuse.

This short does try to copy the fairy tale, with Papa planning to follow the story, bit by bit, only this time, they'll get the drop on Goldilocks. As Mama reports, they don't have porridge, only a bunch of carrots. So they decided to make carrot soup, which lures in Bugs Bunny. He eats all of the bowls and continues to make himself at home, but when the bears catch the "wascally wabbit," Bugs escapes and charms Mama Bear by telling her how beautiful she is. It works... a bit too well. Not only does Mama prevent her husband and son from going after Bugs, she falls for him, leaving Bugs to run away from her various advances--only to end up smothered with kisses from Mama in a very hilarious ending.

What's Brewin', Bruin? (1948)

On February 28, 1948, just over four years later, the Three Bears returned in What's Brewin', Bruin?, which centered on the bears' attempts to hibernate during the winter months. A few changes were made; for one, Papa's t-shirt changed color, from yellow to the signature green. Also, the voice cast was changed. In the first short, Papa Bear was voiced by Mel Blanc, while Baby Bear was voiced by Kent Rogers--who was killed months after the first short's release. Beginning with this second short, Papa Bear was voiced by Billy Bletcher, who is best remembered as the voice of Peg Leg Pete on various Disney cartoons, and had a number of other Looney Tunes roles as well. As for Baby Bear, he was voiced by Stan Freberg, who is best remembered as the longtime voice of Pete Puma. Bea Benaderet voiced Mama Bear in all of the bears' classic shorts.

The Bee-Deviled Bruin (1949)

The Bee-Deviled Bruin, the bears' third short, was released on May 14, 1949. The plot: after Baby Bear eats all of the honey, Papa (after decking his son) decides to go out and get more honey, while ignoring his wife's attempts to dissuade him. What follows is Papa and Baby Bear failing many times, with a number of the failures involving being chased and stung (the latter happening to Papa) by bees. The final moments involve a heavily bandaged Papa demanding ketchup, and when Mama opens the pantry, Papa is stunned to see a whole bunch of jars of honey. What follows is Papa giving a serial killer-seque glare that would make even Chucky shit his blue overalls, as he walks towards the honey. Baby Bear's scared to death (rightfully so), while Mama Bear says that she tried to tell Papa about the extra honey.

Papa lunges at the honey, and the whole pantry falls on him. Angered, humiliated, and covered in honey, Papa sobs and says, "What did I ever do to deserve such a family?," and is later visited by a bee landing on his nose, right before Baby Bear smashes the bee (and his father's face) with a shovel--for the second time. This was a wild short that completed the tone-setting for the characters. So many attributes that were featured in this short, would be repeated in this next one:

Bear Feat (1949)

Seven months later, Bear Feat (my favorite of the Three Bears cartoons) was released on December 10, 1949, and in this short, Papa sees an ad for a circus act and decides that it's the exact thing the bears need. We see various acts go wrong for both Papa and Baby Bear (more the former than the latter), and the last straw is a motorcycle act leaving Papa badly injured, with Baby Bear being the inadvertent cause (tossing a banana peel in the area). Papa later demands the newspaper, because he wants to find that ad. One problem: the paper is from 1928. Oh boy.

Now, this short has a pretty near dark ending. Papa frets and gives that same line he gave at the end of The Bee-Deviled Bruin, but then adds, "Well, there's still one way out." In a stunning shocker, Papa runs out of the house and takes a leap off a high cliff. He was about to end it all and was actually relishing being "free" from everything, only for Baby Bear to save his father by placing that tub of water right under him--and get decked for it as well. I remember I had been used to seeing that short with that ending removed, so when I saw it in full for the first time, I was so stunned!

A Bear for Punishment (1951)

A Bear for Punishment, the fifth and last short to feature the Three Bears, was released on October 20, 1951. The bears wake up to a series of loud alarm clocks, and while Papa struggles with the clocks, Baby Bear silences them by simply shushing them. After smashing his son's face with one of the clocks, Papa's about to let Mama have it, only for Mama to present Papa with a gift and tell him, "Happy Father's Day." So yeah, that was the plotline for this short: Father's Day, and Mama and Baby's failed attempts to honor their patriarch.

Honestly, the funniest moment of that short was the shaving scene. Baby prepares the razor, much to his father's fears, and in cartoons, we usually see characters test razors by pulling a hair and cutting it. In this case, this actually wrecks the razor, and Baby Bear actually attempts to shave his father with that wrecked razor, prompting a chase. The whole short is very hilarious, and it ends with a big musical number about Papa Bear, complete with all sorts of pomp and circumstance.

Other Appearances

I absolutely loved seeing the Three Bears appear on Tiny Toon Adventures, and they actually made two appearances on the show. Their first appearance was in the episode, "Bear Necessities," and it shows the family still on the dysfunctional side, but now living in the modern 90s. I loved a lot of things about this episode. For one, the voice acting. Only Stan Freberg (who passed away in 2015) returned to reprise his role as Baby Bear (aka Junior Bear). As for the parents, Papa Bear was voiced by Frank Welker, and what I loved was that Welker used the same voice (or close to it) that he utilized for Bigtime Beagle on DuckTales and McWolf on Tom and Jerry Kids. Mama Bear was voiced by Tress MacNeille, who also voiced Babs Bunny on the same show.

Secondly, I loved that the bears were in a modern setting, and I really loved that Junior Bear had matured--going from wearing a diaper to wearing the usual kid clothes. The episode was a modern retelling of the fairy tale, with Elmyra in the Goldilocks role. The bears returned to the show again in the episode, "Teddy Bears' Picnic," which also featured Elmyra performing the titular song. The Three Bears were briefly featured in 2003's Looney Tunes: Back in Action, and they were recently shown on Max's Looney Tunes Cartoons, the first time they appeared in any form since the passing of Stan Freberg in 2015.

I absolutely love the Three Bears shorts; it had to be the earliest display of a dysfunctional family in any forum. Hell, Papa Bear is basically Al Bundy without any of the charm. These shorts were just more amazing gems given to us by Chuck Jones, and they deserve all of the appreciation in the world.