Hare-um Scare-um

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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 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

• (1992) LaserDisc - The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 2, Side 2: Early Wabbits (without the lost ending)
• (2010) DVD - Invisible Stripes (dubbed version, without the lost ending)
• (2012) Blu-ray, DVD - Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2, Disc 2 (with lost ending restored)

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.
• Boomerang airs the "dubbed version" without the lost ending since 1995, even after 2012, when the lost ending came out.^{[citation needed|date=]}

• The hunter sometimes is known as Egghead's last cartoon before Elmer Fudd, but these characters do not resemble each other other than being hunters.^{[citation needed|date=]}

Gallery

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References