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Hare-abian Nights is a 1959 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Ken Harris.
Title
The title is a pun on Arabian Nights.
Plot
In an Arabian palace, a band Timbuk Two Plus 3 is playing "Sweet Georgia Brown" trying to entertain the sultan, but the performance ends with the floor being dropped out from under them, sending the band into a crocodile pit below. Next, an Elvis-like musician scared by the fate of Timbuk Two performs "Hound Camel", before meeting the same fate as Timbuk Two. Following that, Bugs, intending to travel to Perth Amboy but having missed a left turn at Des Moines, ends up in front of other prospective performers and is ordered to entertain the sultan. Assigned the role of "Teller of Tales", Bugs proceeds to tell his tale of how he ended up in the palace. Bugs recounts his problems with the bull he met there while trying to find the Coachella Valley, and Bugs' 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 recounts his encounter with Yosemite Sam in the Sahara Desert, referring to Sam as "the stupidest character of them all", while recounting Sam's unsuccessful attempts to enter a desert fort. At this point, while Bugs is chuckling at Yosemite Sam's misfortunes, the sultan, who turns out to be none other than Yosemite Sam himself, tries to press the button to drop Bugs, only to find that Bugs has shut off the mechanism with the use of a master switch, frustrating Sam. When Yosemite Sam tries to find out what is wrong, Bugs switches the master switch, dropping Sam into the crocodile pit, from which he escapes, but not before one of the crocodiles also escapes, sending Sam running off. Bugs, now dressed 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.
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 Gossamer/Rudolph a dynamite-roller "permanenenent," was completely omitted.[1]
Notes
- This cartoon 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 being "Dumb Patrol".
- Barring an episode of The Bugs Bunny Show, this is the only cartoon that Ken Harris ever directed.[2]
- It recycles footage from "Bully For Bugs", "Water, Water Every Hare", and "Sahara Hare".
- The plot of this short would later be reused in Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales, where Yosemite Sam would once again be sultan.
Gallery
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External link
- "Hare-Abian Nights" at SuperCartoons.net
| Preceded by Baton Bunny | Bugs Bunny Cartoons 1940-1964 | Succeeded by Apes of Wrath |
