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Broom-Stick Bunny is a 1956 Looney Tunes short directed by Chuck Jones.

Plot[]

It's Halloween night, and Witch Hazel's brewing some kind of magic potion. As she goes about her business, she pauses at her magic mirror and asks it who's the ugliest one of all. The genie in the mirror replies that she, Witch Hazel, is the ugliest one of all, "By my troth, I will avow: there's none that's uglier than thou". Hazel explains to the audience that she's "deathly afraid" of getting prettier as she gets older.

Meanwhile, Bugs Bunny's out trick-or-treating dressed as a witch, his face hidden by an ugly green mask. He calls on Witch Hazel, who, seeing his costume, mistakes him for an actual witch. "I don't remember seeing her at any of the union meetings." After making a comment about Bugs's appearance, "Isn't she the ugliest little thing", she dashes to her magic mirror and asks it a second time who's the ugliest one of all. The genie in the mirror, also not realizing that Bugs is just a rabbit in a costume, admits that he actually finds Bugs far uglier. "Thou wert the ugliest one, 'tis true. But that creep is uglier far than you."

The jealous witch hatches a plot: she invites the disguised Bugs in for tea and prepares a brew containing various beauty enhancers. Bugs is about to drink the tea when he remembers that he's still wearing his mask, and takes it off. Seeing that her "rival" is actually a rabbit, Witch Hazel dashes off to consult her potion book. Sure enough, the last ingredient for the potion she was brewing earlier is a rabbit's clavicle.

While she's gone, Bugs suspects there's trouble afoot and makes to leave ("You know, my delicate inner sense of danger warns me that there's something faintly unhealthy in the atmosphere of this cottage"), but he's stopped at the door by Witch Hazel brandishing a meat cleaver. Bugs flees, stating, "Uh, pardon me, auntie, but uh, I've got a lot of trick-or-treatin' to catch up on so I'll bid you a civil adieu!", with the cackling witch chasing him throughout her house.

She dashes to her magic broom closet to grab her flying broomstick to keep up with him, but she had accidentally grabbed her magic sweeping broom, which starts sweeping with her on it before she lets go. "Crazy me, that was my sweeping broom," she says. As Bugs hides, knowing "that old bag means to do me serious hurt!" Witch Hazel finally traps Bugs using a carrot on a fishing rod.

Back at her cauldron, Hazel prepares to kill Bugs and use him in her potion. She's about to bring her cleaver down on the trussed-up rabbit, but he plays to her sympathies, gazing back at her with tear-filled doe eyes. Hazel then bursts into tears, claiming his innocent face reminds her of Paul, her pet tarantula. Bugs tries comforting her by bringing her the cup of beauty elixir disguised as tea, which she unknowingly drinks. Witch Hazel instantly changes into a gorgeous redhead with a curvy figure (naturally, Milt Franklyn strikes up "Oh, You Beautiful Doll"), which of course horrifies her, since she was a woman known for relishing her croniness.

Horrified, Hazel dashes to her magic mirror a third time and meekly asks the genie in the mirror, in a softer, sexier tone of voice to match her beautiful new appearance, if she's still ugly. The genie, upon seeing the witch's new look, immediately falls in love with her and lunges to grab her after giving a very Bob Hope-like "ROWR, ROWR!"

Hazel flees on her actual flying broomstick, with the genie chasing her on his magic carpet, slowly gaining on her as well. Bugs, who's still at Hazel's house, promptly calls the local air raid headquarters to report "a genie with light brown hair chasing a flying sorceress!"

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Notes[]

  • Working titles according to the production notes:
    • "I'm Witch You"
    • "Hare Witch You"
    • "Witch's Hare"
    • "Hare-O-Ween"
    • "Hobgoblin Hare"
    • "Which Hare Has the Toni?"
  • This is the first Warner Bros. short for which June Foray provides the voice of Witch Hazel. Jones had wanted Foray to replicate the voice she had provided for a different Witch Hazel in Disney films when he directed the earlier "Bewitched Bunny". However, Foray initially refused, fearing that it would bother Disney producers and put her in danger of losing future jobs. Jones was forced to substitute Bea Benaderet. Similarly, when Hazel becomes beautiful near the end, she is a caricature of June Foray herself.
  • This cartoon had some of its animation be reused for the Daffy Duck cartoon "A-Haunting We Will Go".
  • This is the only Witch Hazel cartoon that recieved a Blue Ribbon reissue, alongside the first Bugs Bunny cartoon and second cartoon overall to be reissued after the closure of the original cartoon studio. Due to low budgets from DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, the original titles were not altered in the reissue.
  • This cartoon was used in the Halloween TV special Bugs Bunny's Howl-oween Special.
  • This short plays in PAL audio when shown on Cartoon Network and Boomerang.
  • Witch Hazel summons her broom by shouting, "Hi-yo, Flivver!" in parody of the Lone Ranger's catchphrase, "Hi-yo, Silver!" The short was shown with a film adaptation of The Lone Ranger starring Clayton Moore, the actor most identified with the role.
  • Vitaphone release number: 2572[2]

Gallery[]

External Links[]

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
  1. https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/27565126/boxoffice-july261965
  2. Liebman, Roy (2003). Vitaphone Films: A Catalogue of the Features and Shorts (in en). McFarland, page 320. ISBN 978-0786412792. 
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