Bowery Bugs

Bowery Bugs is a 1949 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Arthur Davis, and written by Lloyd Turner and Bill Scott.

[2] The cartoon tells the story of Steve Brodie, who reportedly jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge in 1886 and survived.

[3] Bugs Bunny is standing at the base of the famous Brooklyn Bridge, (about half a mile from the southern end of the actual street called the Bowery), telling an old man a story, in carnival-barker style, about how and why Steve Brody jumped off the bridge in July 1886 in the form of pictures: Brody had a terrific run of luck...all bad.

Brody, holding a knife, pulls Bugs (singing "All that glitters is not gold") out of his home and tells him that he needs a good luck charm and that "he is it".

Brody angrily starts chasing Bugs who quickly deals out playing cards for cartomancy.

Furious, Brody tries to attack Bugs and is promptly kicked out of the gambling establishment by a gorilla bouncer.

He tells Brody that it means he is lucky with love, but his flirting with a "lady" (also Bugs in disguise) only results in a multiple bonking by a policeman for being a "masher".

Seeing a police officer staring contemplatively at the East River from the middle of the bridge, Brody comes up behind him and begs for help.

Turning, the officer reveals himself to be Bugs, demanding (in a thick Irish accent) "What's all this about rabbits, Doc?".

The scene freezes with Brody in mid-air to a poster seen behind Bugs who apparently rushed out to save him off-screen.

He first came to the attention of the local press as a teenager in 1879, when he was reportedly an influential figure among fellow newsboys and bootblackers.