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A Wild Hare is a 1940 Merrie Melodies short directed by Tex Avery.

Title[]

The title is a play on "a wild hair", the first of many puns between "hare" and "hair" that would appear in Bugs Bunny titles. The pun is carried further by a bar of "I'm Just Wild About Harry" playing in the underscore of the opening credits.

Plot[]

Elmer approaches one of Bugs' holes, puts down a carrot, and hides behind a tree. Bugs' arm reaches out of the hole, feels around, and snatches the carrot. He reaches out again and finds the business end of Elmer's shotgun. His arm quickly pops back into the hole before returning to drop the eaten stub of Elmer's carrot before apologetically caressing the end of the barrel. Elmer shoves his gun into Bugs' hole, with a tug of war resulting in the barrel being bent into a pretzel.

Elmer frantically digs into the hole while Bugs emerges from a nearby hole with another carrot in his hand. He lifts Fudd's hat and raps the top of his head until Elmer notices, then chews his carrot a bit before delivering his definitive line, "What's up, Doc?" Elmer explains that he's hunting "wabbits", and Bugs chews his carrot while asking what a wabbit is. Bugs teases Elmer by displaying every aspect of Fudd's rabbit description until Elmer begins suspecting that Bugs is a rabbit, saying to the audience "You know, I beweive this fella is an R-A-B-B-I-T." Bugs draws Fudd close and says, "Listen, Doc, don't spread this around, but, uh... confidentially..." before yelling "I AM A 'WABBIT'!" (a variation of Mischa Auer's line "Confidentially, she stinks" from 1938's You Can't Take It with You, a then-well-known catchphrase used in other Warner Brothers cartoons).

Bugs hides behind a tree, then sneaks up behind Elmer, covers his eyes and asks "Guess who?" Elmer tries the names of contemporary screen beauties whose names exploited his accent: "Hedy Wamaw" for Hedy Lamarr, "Cawowe Wombawd" for Carole Lombard, "Wosemawy Wane" for Rosemary Lane, and "Owivia de Haviwand" for Olivia de Havilland, before he arrives at "Say, you wouldn't be that scwewy wabbit, would you?" Bugs responds "Hmm..... Could be!", kisses Elmer, and dives into a hole. Elmer sticks his head into the hole and gets another kiss from Bugs, so wet that Elmer needs to wipe his mouth for a bit before deciding to set a trap. Bugs puts a skunk in the trap and Elmer assumes that he's caught the rabbit. Fudd blindly grabs the skunk and carries it over to the watching Bugs to brag to the bunny about how he outsmarted him. As Elmer comprehends the situation, Bugs gives him a smooch on the nose. Fudd looks at the skunk, who winks and nudges Elmer while saying "Confidentially... uh, hmm, you know..." Fudd winces and gingerly sends the skunk on his way.

Bugs then offers to let Elmer have a free shot at him. After Elmer fires, Bugs fakes an elaborate heart attack death scene and plays dead, leaving Elmer sobbing. Bugs then sneaks up behind the despairing Fudd, kicks him in his rear, shoves a cigar into his mouth, and tiptoes away, ballet-style.

Finally, the frustrated Elmer, driven to distraction by the rabbit's antics, walks away sobbing about "wabbits, cawwots, guns", etc. Bugs asides to the audience, "Can ya imagine anybody acting like that? Ya know, I think the poor guy's screwy!" Bugs then begins to play his carrot like a fife, playing the tune "The Girl I Left Behind Me", and marches with one stiff leg towards his rabbit hole, as with the fifer in the painting The Spirit of '76.

Caricatures[]

Production[]

  • Bugs' nonchalant carrot-chewing stance, as explained many years later by Chuck Jones, and again by Friz Freleng and Bob Clampett, comes from the movie It Happened One Night, from a scene where Peter Warne (played by Clark Gable) is leaning against a fence eating carrots more quickly than he is swallowing (as Bugs would later often do), giving instructions with his mouth full to Ellie Andrews (played by Claudette Colbert), during the hitch-hiking sequence. This scene was so famous at the time that most people immediately got the connection.[4][5]
  • The line "What's up, Doc?" was added by director Tex Avery for this short. Avery explained later that it was a common expression in Texas where he was from, and he didn't think much of the phrase. But when this short was screened in theaters, the scene of Bugs calmly chewing a carrot, followed by the nonchalant "What's Up, Doc?", went against any 1940s audience's expectation of how a rabbit might react to a hunter and caused complete pandemonium in the audience, bringing down the house in every theater. Because of the overwhelming reaction, Bugs eats a carrot and utters some version of the phrase in almost every one of his cartoons after that, sometimes entirely out of context as compared to this original use.[6]

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Censorship[]

  • In the original version, during Bugs' game of "Guess Who?" with Elmer, Elmer's second guess was "Carole Lombard." (Carole Lombard was a blond, comic actress of the 1930s and 1940s who died in a plane crash in 1942). In the re-release of this short, "Carole Lombard" was replaced with "Barbara Stanwyck" (who was still alive at the time of the rerelease). The "Barbara Stanwyck" version is the one shown a lot on American television (mostly in syndication and on the Ted Turner-owned networks TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, and Boomerang) and most home video, LaserDisc, and DVD releases. The original "Carole Lombard" version was thought to be lost forever, until it appeared on TNT's 1990 special What's Up, Doc? A Salute to Bugs Bunny. However, the "Carole Lombard" version was not given a home video release until years later, as part of The Golden Age of Looney Tunes: Volume 4 LaserDisc, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection and The Essential Bugs Bunny DVDs and the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection, Volume 2 Blu-ray. The "Carole Lombard" version is also available on the Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection Blu-ray and is currently streaming on both the Boomerang app and Max.

Goofs[]

  • When Elmer is about to come out of Bugs' home, his eyes were not colored in a single frame.
  • Throughout the cartoon, Elmer's nose is pink. When Elmer is hiding behind a tree waiting for Bugs to trigger the rabbit trap, his nose is the color of his skin.

Notes[]

  • When this short was re-released as a Blue Ribbon, the title was changed to "The Wild Hare".
  • Although the official release date of this short is listed as 27 July 1940, it was reportedly out in theaters as early as 23 July.[7]
  • After the cartoon was re-released, a 16mm Eastmancolor print of the original titles was later found in ownership by a private collector. It was present in Bugs Bunny: Superstar, What's Up Doc? A Salute to Bugs Bunny and The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, although with the opening theme incorrectly replaced with the 1941-45 rendition of "Merrily We Roll Along".[8] When the cartoon was restored with its original titles for Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection, the print sourced had a splice during the shield zoom, so the rings were recreated with the ones from "A Gander at Mother Goose", resulting in the incorrect WB shield being used in the opening sequence. In addition, part of the opening title cue (immediately after the shield zooms) resembles the beginning of the closing title cue due to this recreation.
    • It is currently the first known cartoon to use the 1940-42 Warner Bros. shield, which would be used up to "The Bird Came C.O.D.".
  • "A Wild Hare" is credited by many film historians to be the first "official" Bugs Bunny short.[9][10] Various directors at the Warner Bros cartoon studio had been experimenting with cartoons focused on a hunter pursuing a rabbit since 1938, with varied approaches to the characters of both rabbit and hunter.[11]
  • Although the animators continued to experiment with Elmer's design for a few more years, his look here proved the basis for his finalized design.[4]
    • This is the only Elmer Fudd cartoon directed by Tex Avery after Elmer's redesign.
    • Elmer Fudd's character design in Looney Tunes Cartoons is based off his design from this short.
  • Bugs is unnamed in this short, but would be named for the first time in his next short, "Elmer's Pet Rabbit", directed by Chuck Jones. The opening lines of both characters—"Be vewy, vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits" for Elmer, and "Eh, what's up Doc?" for the rabbit—would become catchphrases throughout the other shorts.
  • The short was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons.[12] Another nominee was "Puss Gets the Boot" (the first Tom and Jerry cartoon), directed by William Hanna and produced by Rudolf Ising. Both nominations lost to "The Milky Way", another MGM Rudolf Ising production.
  • The design and character of Bugs Bunny would continue to be refined over the subsequent years, but the general appearance, voice, and personality of the character were established in this cartoon. An animator of this cartoon, Virgil Ross, gave his first-person account of the creation of the character's name and personality in an interview published in Animato! Magazine, #19 (1989).[13]
  • This and "Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt" were the only Bugs Bunny shorts that ended up in the a.a.p. package to be reissued as Blue Ribbons[14] (excluding cartoons which Bugs makes cameo appearances such as "Odor-able Kitty" and "The Goofy Gophers"). This is because WB started making theaters pay more to show Bugs Bunny cartoons (excluding reissues) than other WB cartoons.[citation needed] (August 2017)
  • An in-between frame of Bugs turning around after screaming in Elmer's ear became an internet meme around June 2020, under the name "Communist Bugs Bunny".[15]
  • On July 27, 2024, Warner Bros. Classics YouTube channel livestreamed the original 1940 theatrical version of the short, complete with the original titles and the original "Carole Lombard" line, on repeat for 24 hours straight to celebrate Bugs Bunny's 84th birthday.[16]

Gallery[]

References[]

Preceded by
Elmer's Candid Camera
Bugs Bunny Cartoons
1940
Succeeded by
Elmer's Pet Rabbit
Bugs Bunny Shorts
1938 Porky's Hare Hunt
1939 Prest-O Change-OHare-um Scare-um
1940 Elmer's Candid CameraA Wild Hare
1941 Elmer's Pet RabbitTortoise Beats HareHiawatha's Rabbit HuntThe Heckling HareAll This and Rabbit StewWabbit Twouble
1942 The Wabbit Who Came to SupperAny Bonds Today?The Wacky WabbitHold the Lion, PleaseBugs Bunny Gets the BoidFresh HareThe Hare-Brained HypnotistCase of the Missing Hare
1943 Tortoise Wins by a HareSuper-RabbitJack-Wabbit and the BeanstalkWackiki WabbitFalling Hare
1944 Little Red Riding RabbitWhat's Cookin' Doc?Bugs Bunny and the Three BearsBugs Bunny Nips the NipsHare Ribbin'Hare ForceBuckaroo BugsThe Old Grey HareStage Door Cartoon
1945 Herr Meets HareThe Unruly HareHare TriggerHare ConditionedHare Tonic
1946 Baseball BugsHare RemoverHair-Raising HareAcrobatty BunnyRacketeer RabbitThe Big SnoozeRhapsody Rabbit
1947 Rabbit TransitA Hare Grows in ManhattanEaster YeggsSlick Hare
1948 Gorilla My DreamsA Feather in His HareRabbit PunchBuccaneer BunnyBugs Bunny Rides AgainHaredevil HareHot Cross BunnyHare SplitterA-Lad-In His LampMy Bunny Lies over the Sea
1949 Hare DoMississippi HareRebel RabbitHigh Diving HareBowery BugsLong-Haired HareKnights Must FallThe Grey Hounded HareThe Windblown HareFrigid HareWhich Is WitchRabbit Hood
1950 Hurdy-Gurdy HareMutiny on the BunnyHomeless HareBig House BunnyWhat's Up Doc?8 Ball BunnyHillbilly HareBunker Hill BunnyBushy HareRabbit of Seville
1951 Hare We GoRabbit Every MondayBunny HuggedThe Fair Haired HareRabbit FireFrench RarebitHis Hare Raising TaleBallot Box BunnyBig Top Bunny
1952 Operation: RabbitFoxy by Proxy14 Carrot RabbitWater, Water Every HareThe Hasty HareOily HareRabbit SeasoningRabbit's KinHare Lift
1953 Forward March HareUpswept HareSouthern Fried RabbitHare TrimmedBully for BugsLumber Jack-RabbitDuck! Rabbit, Duck!Robot Rabbit
1954 Captain HareblowerBugs and ThugsNo Parking HareDevil May HareBewitched BunnyYankee Doodle BugsBaby Buggy Bunny
1955 Beanstalk BunnySahara HareHare BrushRabbit RampageThis Is a Life?Hyde and HareKnight-Mare HareRoman Legion-Hare
1956 Bugs' BonnetsBroom-Stick BunnyRabbitson CrusoeNapoleon Bunny-PartBarbary-Coast BunnyHalf-Fare HareA Star Is BoredWideo WabbitTo Hare Is Human
1957 Ali Baba BunnyBedevilled RabbitPiker's PeakWhat's Opera, Doc?Bugsy and MugsyShow Biz BugsRabbit Romeo
1958 Hare-Less WolfHare-Way to the StarsNow, Hare ThisKnighty Knight BugsPre-Hysterical Hare
1959 Baton BunnyHare-abian NightsApes of WrathBackwoods BunnyWild and Woolly HareBonanza BunnyA Witch's Tangled HarePeople Are Bunny
1960 Horse HarePerson to BunnyRabbit's FeatFrom Hare to HeirLighter Than Hare
1961 The Abominable Snow RabbitCompressed HarePrince Violent
1962 Wet HareBill of HareShishkabugs
1963 Devil's Feud CakeThe Million HareHare-Breadth HurryThe UnmentionablesMad as a Mars HareTransylvania 6-5000
1964 Dumb PatrolDr. Devil and Mr. HareThe Iceman DuckethFalse Hare
1979 Bugs Bunny's Christmas CarolFright Before Christmas
1980 Portrait of the Artist as a Young BunnySpaced Out Bunny
1990 Box Office Bunny
1991 (Blooper) Bunny
1992 Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers
1995 Carrotblanca
1997 From Hare to Eternity
2004 Hare and Loathing in Las VegasDaffy Duck for President
Elmer Fudd Cartoons
1937 Little Red Walking Hood
1938 The Isle of Pingo PongoCinderella Meets FellaA Feud There WasJohnny Smith and Poker-Huntas
1939 Hamateur NightA Day at the ZooBelieve It or Else
1940 Elmer's Candid CameraConfederate HoneyThe Hardship of Miles StandishA Wild HareGood Night Elmer
1941 Elmer's Pet RabbitWabbit Twouble
1942 The Wabbit Who Came to SupperAny Bonds Today?The Wacky WabbitNutty NewsFresh HareThe Hare-Brained Hypnotist
1943 To Duck .... or Not to DuckA Corny ConcertoAn Itch in Time
1944 The Old Grey HareThe Stupid CupidStage Door Cartoon
1945 The Unruly HareHare Tonic
1946 Hare RemoverThe Big Snooze
1947 Easter YeggsA Pest in the HouseSlick Hare
1948 What Makes Daffy DuckBack Alley Op-RoarKit for Cat
1949 Wise QuackersHare DoEach Dawn I Crow
1950 What's Up Doc?The Scarlet PumpernickelRabbit of Seville
1951 Rabbit Fire
1952 Rabbit Seasoning
1953 Upswept HareAnt PastedDuck! Rabbit, Duck!Robot Rabbit
1954 Design for LeavingQuack Shot
1955 Pests for GuestsBeanstalk BunnyHare BrushRabbit RampageThis Is a Life?Heir-Conditioned
1956 Bugs' BonnetsA Star Is BoredYankee Dood ItWideo Wabbit
1957 What's Opera, Doc?Rabbit Romeo
1958 Don't Axe MePre-Hysterical Hare
1959 A Mutt in a Rut
1960 Person to BunnyDog Gone People
1961 What's My Lion?
1962 Crows' Feat
1980 Portrait of the Artist as a Young Bunny
1990 Box Office Bunny
1991 (Blooper) Bunny
1992 Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers
2012 Daffy's Rhapsody
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