Hare Do

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = Hare Do
series = Merrie Melodies/Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd


caption =
director = I. Freleng
story_artist = Tedd Pierce
animator = Gerry Chiniquy
Manuel Perez
Ken Champin
Virgil Ross
voice_actor = Mel Blanc
Arthur Q. Bryan (uncredited)
producer = Eddie Selzer
distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures
The Vitaphone Corporation
release_date = January 16, 1949 (USA)
color_process = Technicolor
runtime = 7 min (one reel)
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0041444

"Hare Do" (1949) is a Merrie Melodies Cartoon starring Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. It is one of the few Bugs Bunny/ Elmer Fudd pairings directed by Friz Freleng that was released after Hare Trigger, the debut of Yosemite Sam (all of whose appearances were in cartoons directed by Freleng). The title of the cartoon is an obvious pun on the term "hairdo," another word for a hairstyle.

Plot

Elmer Fudd is hunting for Bugs Bunny using his "Wabbit Detector" (which he admitted to purchasing from an army surplus store) in the woods and singing "A-hunting I will go, to catch a wong-eared wabbit." At first he sees a caterpillar on the screen, but then he sees Bugs in his sight and says "That's him, that's the carrot-chewing wascal!" As he is searching, Bugs is now guiding Elmer into finding him by telling him that he is getting colder, then getting warmer, and then when he gets to red hot, Elmer falls off the cliff and Bugs is seen coming out of his hole. After an exchange, Elmer gives chase to Bugs. Bugs comes on to a speeding car and hops in. Bugs says, "You gotta get up pretty early to outsmart this rabbit." And Elmer, who is driving, says "I got up at 4:45, heh heh heh." Then Bugs is surprised and the car stops at the movie theater where the main chase begins.

As Bugs is in the theater watching the movie, he forgets to get a snack and goes to the candy bar. There in a very witty segment, they show a combination of numerous ways of getting a candy bar for 20 cents ("Insert 2 dimes, or 1 dime and 2 nickels, or 4 nickels, or 1 dime and 10 pennies, etc."); when he gets his snack, it is a carrot with two pennies taped to it. Back at his seat, Bugs can't see with a hat blocking his way and then come to find out it is Elmer, and then a chase begins with Elmer going to the restroom and Bugs changing the signs of the Men's and Ladies' restroom where Bugs yells to the usher that someone is in the ladies' room and then Elmer gets thrown out. Elmer comes back, and then is greeted by a message on screen for him to come to the ticket window. When Elmer asks about the message, he is greeted with a pie in the face by Bugs. Elmer vows to "get that squewy wabbit if it's the wast thing I do!"

Bugs comes back to watch the movie — and then realizes he can't see without binoculars, but sees some leering eyes in the background which are Elmer's and then proceeds to get out. Bugs then is disguised as a little old lady and then starts hitting him with an umbrella. When Elmer finds out that it is Bugs under that disguise, he proceeds to choke him and then Bugs calls for an usher and then the usher throws him out for good.

Elmer sneaks back into the theater and proceeds to go in when Bugs starts to play with the intermission/ curtain switch and Elmer gets run over many times. In the first scene, you will see parishioners smoking in the lobby. (See "Censorship" for details on this.) Bugs tells the audience that he has more fun than humans, and that "that "Sadie" is never gonna catch me" in which Elmer retorts by saying "On the contwawy, Mr. Wabbit."

Then Elmer chases Bugs back to the theater and then Bugs as an usher tells Elmer if he has a ticket and then tells him that there will be a lion act in the show. Little does Elmer know that he is part of the act when Elmer is blindfolded and sitting on a unicycle and then as the unicycle comes down the rope, Elmer is swallowed by the lion. Bugs pries open the lion's jaws and hears Elmer say: "Gee, I wonder if he made it." and Bugs replies "Yep, he made it." and shuts the lion's mouth.

Censorship

The most notable scenes that were edited when this cartoon aired on ABC were:

*The part where Elmer strangles Bugs (dressed as an old lady) and Bugs beats him with an umbrella as he's screaming for the usher.
*The shot of the theater patrons smoking cigarettes during intermission after Elmer gets trampled.

External links

*imdb title|0041444