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Hare-abian Nights is a 1959 Merrie Melodies short directed by Ken Harris.

Title[]

The title is a pun on Arabian Nights.

Plot[]

A band called Timbuk Two Plus 3 plays "Sweet Georgia Brown" to entertain the sultan in his palace. The performance ends when the unimpressed sultan opens a trapdoor in the floor beneath the band, sending them into a crocodile pit below. The next musician, scared by what happened to the others, performs an Elvis-inspired "Hound Camel,” before meeting the same fate.

Meanwhile, Bugs, intending to travel to Perth Amboy but having missed a left turn at Des Moines, emerges from his tunnel in front of other prospective performers and is ordered to entertain the sultan.

Assigned the role of "Teller of Tales,” Bugs tells how he arrived in the palace. Bugs recounts his problems with the bull he met at a bullfighting ring while trying to find Coachella Valley, and his outsmarting the bull with a hidden anvil. The sultan is prepared to press the button to send Bugs into the pit, but then Bugs recounts his experiences with Rudolph the monster, when Bugs impersonated a hairdresser to outsmart Rudolph. Bugs also describes his encounter in the Sahara Desert with Sam, "the stupidest character of them all,” and Sam's unsuccessful attempts to enter a desert fort.

While Bugs is chuckling at Yosemite Sam's misfortunes, the sultan turns out to be Yosemite Sam himself; Sam presses the button to drop Bugs, but Bugs has shut off the mechanism with the master switch. When Sam tries to find out what is wrong, Bugs turns it back on, dropping Sam into the crocodile pit. Sam escapes, but so does one of the crocodiles, chasing Sam off. Bugs, now with turbans covering each ear, describes Sam's act as a "don't call us, we'll call you" act, along with some other remarks.

Caricatures[]

Transcript[]

For this short's transcript, see Hare-abian Nights/Transcript.

Availability[]

Censorship[]

  • When this cartoon aired on ABC's The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show, the excerpt from "Water, Water Every Hare,” in which beautician Bugs gives to Rudolph a dynamite-roller "permanenenent," was cut, though the same show on the same network left the same scene unaltered in "Water, Water Every Hare".[2]

Goofs[]

  • As with several 2020 restorations of Bugs Bunny cartoons released after "Wideo Wabbit", there is reversed animation on Bugs eating his carrot from when the "Bugs Bunny In" title card fades in. This error is only present in the restored print on the Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection Blu-ray.

Notes[]

  • This is one of only two shorts in the Golden Age of American animation starring Yosemite Sam not directed by Friz Freleng, although sequences from a Freleng cartoon are used in this short; the other short is "Dumb Patrol" (1964), which was instead directed by Gerry Chiniquy of the Friz Freleng unit.
    • This is the only Yosemite Sam cartoon from the classic era which had no involvement at all from the Friz Freleng unit, and the only Yosemite Sam cartoon from the classic era which the Chuck Jones team worked on. Jones himself never directed any Yosemite Sam cartoons until "From Hare to Eternity" (1996), which was ironically the final cartoon he ever directed during his lifetime. That cartoon was done as a dedication to Freleng, who died a year before that cartoon's release.
  • Barring an episode of The Bugs Bunny Show, this is the only cartoon that Ken Harris ever directed.[3]
  • The short recycles footage from "Bully for Bugs", "Water, Water Every Hare", and "Sahara Hare".
    • This also marks the only Toro the Bull and Gossamer cartoon in the Blue Ribbon program. However, the titles were not altered, akin to most reissues past the 1963-64 season.
  • The plot of this short was reused in Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales, where Yosemite Sam was once again sultan; it also reuses footage from previous Looney Tunes shorts, this time featuring not just Bugs Bunny, but also other characters.

Gallery[]

TV Title Cards[]

References[]

External Link[]

Preceded by
Baton Bunny
Bugs Bunny Cartoons
1940-1964
Succeeded by
Apes of Wrath
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
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