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Hare-um Scare-um
Hare-um Scare-um
Directed By: Ben Hardaway
Cal Dalton
Produced By: Leon Schlesinger
Released: August 12, 1939
Series: Merrie Melodies
Story: Melvin Millar
Animation: Gil Turner
Layouts:
Backgrounds:
Film Editor: Treg Brown (uncredited)
Voiced By: Mel Blanc (uncredited)
Music: Carl W. Stalling
Starring: Happy Rabbit
Hunter
Preceded By: Wise Quacks
Succeeded By: Detouring America
Hare-Um Scare-Um

Hare-Um Scare-Um

Theatrical/LaserDisc/TV broadcast without lost ending

Hare-Um Scare-Um (1939)

Hare-Um Scare-Um (1939)

Version with lost ending restored

Hare-um Scare-um is a 1939 Merrie Melodies short directed by Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton.

Title

The title is a homonym with an old nonsense expression that has nothing to do with rabbits as such.

Plot

A man reading a newspaper comes across an article stating that meat prices have soared. Angry, he declares that he'll hunt his own meat to get back at the government for the price inflation. He takes his dog with him, revealing he is going hunting for rabbits.

In the woods, a rabbit leads the dog into a hollow log and pushes the log down a hill, where it smashes into a tree. Meanwhile, the hunter sees several rabbits hopping over a hill. He fires his gun several times and runs to where the rabbits were. When he gets there, he finds two spinning wheels with pictures of rabbits on them, giving the perception of moving rabbits.

The hunter then sees the rabbit sleeping. The hunter starts pouring salt on the rabbit, who quickly gets up and holds a stick of celery under the stream of salt. The rabbit then runs into a cave, and the hunter runs after him. Before he reaches the cave, a pair of elevator doors closes, which the hunter runs into.

The bunny then dresses female dog, successfully seducing the hunter's dog. When the dog finally realizes he's with the rabbit rather than another dog, he resumes his chase. The rabbit then pretends he's a policeman. He then sings the same song as below. The hunter then finds dog for numerous crimes (speeding, running on the wrong side of the street, intoxicated "driving", etc.).

After confusing the dog and running away, the rabbit begins singing a song about how crazy he is. When he finishes his song, he turns to find the hunter with his gun aimed at him. The rabbit, trying to gain sympathy, begs for his life, explaining how poor and sick he is. The hunter begins crying, feeling sorry for the rabbit. Despite this, the rabbit shocks the hunter with a joy buzzer. The hunter then pronounces that he can whip the rabbit and his whole family. Suddenly, a large group of rabbits surround the hunter, looking for a fight.

The rabbits then attack the hunter leaving him dazed. As the wacky rabbit returns with the hunter's gun. He throws it on the ground and bounces on his head away. The hunter, frustrated, does the exact same thing.

Transcript

Main article: Hare-um Scare-um/Transcript

Songs

The goofy song the Bugs Bunny "prototype" sings:

All the world was gay.
Swinging on its way.
Things were looking brighter day by day. (laugh)
Nothing ever wrong;
Life was just a song,
'Till that Looney Tune came along. (laugh)
Ohhh. I'm going cuckoo, woo-woo! (laugh)
Here comes the choo-choo, woo-woo! (laugh)
I'm so gooney, looney tuney, te'ched in the head...
Please pass the ketchup,
I think I'll go to bed! Hoo!
Am I the screwball, woo woo! (laugh)
Throw me the 8-ball woo woo! (laugh)
Once I knew a thing or two, but now I'm a buffer*-roo. Hinky dinky parley woo woo!(laugh)

(*): Slang meaning "square" or "mark"[citation needed|date=]


Eight years later, the song would be varied somewhat and reprised by the now fully-realized character Bugs Bunny, in "Easter Yeggs":

Here's the Easter Rabbit, hooray!
Makin' life funny, hooray!
I am gettin' Looney Tuney, touched in the head
This whole thing is gooney, I should have stood in bed.
Here's the Easter Rabbit, hooray!
The happy Easter Rabbit, hooray!
Hens would hide the eggs they'd lay, then I give them all away
Crazy Easter Rabbit, hooray!

Daffy Duck would sing a similar song at the beginning of "Boobs in the Woods".

Availability

Lost Ending/Censorship

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Prior to 2011, speculation abounded about the abrupt ending that occurs after the Egghead-esque hunter threatens to beat up the rabbit and his entire family and finds himself confronted by everyone in the rabbit's family (which is the version seen on television and most home media). Two endings of this cartoon were said to exist: one ending featured the rabbits beating up the hunter as the cartoon closed out, and another, featuring the same ending, only with a rather darkly hilarious punchline of the hunter's and his dog's head being the only thing left from the fight and rolling off into the sunset.

According to David Gerstein's blog, neither of these endings are true. The actual ending showed the hunter disheveled after getting beaten by the family of rabbits. The rabbit who's been harassing him throughout the short returns to give the hunter his busted rifle, saying, "You oughtta get that fixed. Somebody's liable to get hurt," then returns to his loony self, bouncing on his head like a pogo stick down the road. The hunter then snaps and does the same thing. Gerstein theorizes that the ending was cut before release due to its similarity to the Tex Avery cartoon, "Daffy Duck and Egghead".

Goofs

  • Before the rabbit puts the foot stamp all over the stone, notice its color changes from a very bright white-gray to a slightly darker tone.
  • As the rabbit shows the hunter his celery and begins discussing it, the white part of his feet turn gray like his fur.

Notes

  • This cartoon marks the third appearance of Happy Rabbit and the first time he, thanks to a redesign by Charlie Thorson[1], appears as a grey rabbit instead of a white one.
  • Happy Rabbit has a laugh similar to that of Woody Woodpecker, a character also voiced by Mel Blanc during his first few appearances.
  • All of Happy Rabbit's family members look identical to each other.
  • This is the final cartoon where WARNER BROS. was on a banner.
  • Porky Pig makes a cameo appearance in a billboard during the Hare-Um Scare-Um song sequence.
  • First and only time Happy Rabbit dresses in drag.

Gallery


References

Preceded by
Prest-O Change-O
Happy Rabbit Cartoons
1939
Succeeded by
Elmer's Candid Camera
Bugs Bunny Cartoons
1938 Porky's Hare Hunt
1939 Prest-O Change-O • Hare-um Scare-um
1940 Elmer's Candid Camera • A Wild Hare
1941 Elmer's Pet Rabbit • Tortoise Beats Hare • Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt • The Heckling Hare • All This and Rabbit Stew • Wabbit Twouble
1942 The Wabbit Who Came to Supper • The Wacky Wabbit • Hold the Lion, Please • Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid • Fresh Hare • The Hare-Brained Hypnotist • Case of the Missing Hare
1943 Tortoise Wins by a Hare • Super-Rabbit • Jack-Wabbit and the Beanstalk • Wackiki Wabbit • Falling Hare
1944 Little Red Riding Rabbit • What's Cookin' Doc? • Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears • Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips • Hare Ribbin' • Hare Force • Buckaroo Bugs • The Old Grey Hare • Stage Door Cartoon
1945 Herr Meets Hare • The Unruly Hare • Hare Trigger • Hare Conditioned • Hare Tonic
1946 Baseball Bugs • Hare Remover • Hair-Raising Hare • Acrobatty Bunny • Racketeer Rabbit • The Big Snooze • Rhapsody Rabbit
1947 Rabbit Transit • A Hare Grows in Manhattan • Easter Yeggs • Slick Hare
1948 Gorilla My Dreams • A Feather in His Hare • Rabbit Punch • Buccaneer Bunny • Bugs Bunny Rides Again • Haredevil Hare • Hot Cross Bunny • Hare Splitter • A-Lad-In His Lamp • My Bunny Lies over the Sea
1949 Hare Do • Mississippi Hare • Rebel Rabbit • High Diving Hare • Bowery Bugs • Long-Haired Hare • Knights Must Fall • The Grey Hounded Hare • The Windblown Hare • Frigid Hare • Which Is Witch • Rabbit Hood
1950 Hurdy-Gurdy Hare • Mutiny on the Bunny • Homeless Hare • Big House Bunny • What's Up Doc? • 8 Ball Bunny • Hillbilly Hare • Bunker Hill Bunny • Bushy Hare • Rabbit of Seville
1951 Hare We Go • Rabbit Every Monday • Bunny Hugged • The Fair Haired Hare • Rabbit Fire • French Rarebit • His Hare Raising Tale • Ballot Box Bunny • Big Top Bunny
1952 Operation: Rabbit • Foxy by Proxy • 14 Carrot Rabbit • Water, Water Every Hare • The Hasty Hare • Oily Hare • Rabbit Seasoning • Rabbit's Kin • Hare Lift
1953 Forward March Hare • Up-Swept Hare • Southern Fried Rabbit • Hare Trimmed • Bully For Bugs • Lumber Jack-Rabbit • Duck! Rabbit, Duck! • Robot Rabbit
1954 Captain Hareblower • Bugs and Thugs • No Parking Hare • Devil May Hare • Bewitched Bunny • Yankee Doodle Bugs • Baby Buggy Bunny
1955 Beanstalk Bunny • Sahara Hare • Hare Brush • Rabbit Rampage • This Is a Life? • Hyde and Hare • Knight-Mare Hare • Roman Legion-Hare
1956 Bugs' Bonnets • Broom-Stick Bunny • Rabbitson Crusoe • Napoleon Bunny-Part • Barbary-Coast Bunny • Half-Fare Hare • A Star Is Bored • Wideo Wabbit • To Hare Is Human
1957 Ali Baba Bunny • Bedevilled Rabbit • Piker's Peak • What's Opera, Doc? • Bugsy and Mugsy • Show Biz Bugs • Rabbit Romeo
1958 Hare-less Wolf • Hare-Way to the Stars • Now, Hare This • Knighty Knight Bugs • Pre-Hysterical Hare
1959 Baton Bunny • Hare-abian Nights • Apes of Wrath • Backwoods Bunny • Wild and Woolly Hare • Bonanza Bunny • A Witch's Tangled Hare • People Are Bunny
1960 Horse Hare • Person to Bunny • Rabbit's Feat • From Hare to Heir • Lighter Than Hare
1961 The Abominable Snow Rabbit • Compressed Hare • Prince Violent
1962 Wet Hare • Bill of Hare • Shishkabugs
1963 Devil's Feud Cake • The Million Hare • Hare-Breadth Hurry • The Unmentionables • Mad as a Mars Hare • Transylvania 6-5000
1964 Dumb Patrol • Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare • The Iceman Ducketh • False Hare
1979 Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol • Fright Before Christmas
1980 Portrait of the Artist as a Young Bunny • Spaced Out Bunny
1990 Box Office Bunny
1991 Blooper Bunny
1992 Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers
1995 Carrotblanca
1996 From Hare to Eternity
2004 Hare and Loathing In Las Vegas • Daffy Duck for President
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