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Hare Do is a 1949 Merrie Melodies short directed by Friz Freleng.

Title[]

The title is a pun on the term "hairdo," another word for a hairstyle.

Plot[]

Elmer Fudd is hunting for Bugs Bunny using his "Wabbit Detector," which he purchased from an army surplus store, in the woods and singing "A-hunting I will go, to catch a wong-eared wabbit." At first he sees a caterpillar on the screen, but then he sees Bugs in his sight and says "That's him, that's the carrot-chewing wascal!" As he is searching, Bugs is now guiding Elmer into finding him by telling him that he is getting colder, then getting warmer, and then when he gets to red hot, Elmer falls off the cliff and Bugs is seen coming out of his hole. After an exchange, Elmer gives chase to Bugs. Bugs comes on to a speeding car and hops in. Bugs says, "You gotta get up pretty early to outsmart this rabbit." And Elmer, who is driving, says "I got up at 4:45, heh-heh-heh." Then Bugs is surprised and the car stops at the movie theater where the main chase begins.

On the way in, Bugs sees that (from a sign reading "Adults: 50 cents, Children: 20 cents, Rabbits: 10 cents) he has to pay 10 cents to get in the theater. Bugs then proceeds pushing his way through the seats up in the balcony, much to the annoyance of the people in attendance. As Bugs is in the theater watching the movie, he forgets to get a snack and goes to the candy bar, pushing his way through the audience again. There in a very witty segment, they show a combination of numerous ways of getting a candy bar for 20 cents ("Insert 2 dimes, or 1 dime and 2 nickels, or 4 nickels, or 1 dime and 10 pennies, etc."); when he gets his snack, it is a carrot with two pennies taped to it [in those days, cigarette vending machines often dispensed cigarette packs with the correct change taped to them].

Back at his seat, after pushing his way through the audience for the third time, Bugs can't see without binoculars, but sees some leering eyes in the background which are Elmer's and then proceeds to get out, pushing his way through the audience yet again. Elmer then pushes his way through the audience, and comes across a little old lady, whom is getting sick of the way people are pushing in front of her and starts hitting him with an umbrella. When Elmer finds out that it is Bugs in disguise, he proceeds to choke him, but Bugs whacks him with the umbrella and calls for the usher. After Bugs (still pretending to be a little old lady) reports that Elmer is trying to annoy him, the usher throws Elmer out. Angered, Elmer vows to "get that wabbit if it's the wast thing I do!"

Back at his seat, Bugs' view is blocked by a woman with a large hat - which turns out to be Elmer. A chase begins when Elmer enters the theater's orchestra level and is greeted by a message on screen for him to come to the ticket window. When Elmer asks about the message, he is greeted with a pie in the face by Bugs. Elmer then chases Bugs into the men's room, but Bugs rushes back out and replaces the sign with the sign from the ladies' room. Bugs then calls for the usher and reports there's a man in the ladies' room. Just as Elmer comes out again, the usher throws him out again. Elmer tries to run back into the theater, but is stopped by the usher, after running into his coat.

Elmer sneaks into the theater through a back door. He tries to enter the seating area when Bugs starts to play with the "intermission"/"curtain" switch and Elmer gets run over many times (in the first scene, you will see parishioners smoking in the lobby - see "Censorship" for details on this.) Bugs tells the audience "that zany's never gonna catch me" in which Elmer retorts by saying "On the contwawy, Mr. Wabbit."

Then, Elmer chases Bugs back to the theater and then Bugs as an usher tells Elmer if he has a ticket and then tells him that there will be a lion act in the show. Little does Elmer know that he is part of the act when Elmer is blindfolded and sitting on a unicycle and then as the unicycle comes down the rope, Elmer is swallowed by the lion. Bugs pries open the lion's jaws and hears Elmer say: "Gee, I wonder if he made it." and Bugs replies "Yep, he made it." and shuts the lion's mouth.

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Notes[]

  • The final scene is a nod to the ending of 1939's "A Day at the Zoo", which featured the early Elmer Fudd being swallowed up by a lion after teasing it.
  • As is the case with other cartoons Paul Julian did the backgrounds for, there are many in-jokes hidden throughout:
    • A billboard is visible in the background with the message "Try Friz - the wonder soap - at every grocery!" This is a reference to the director.
    • “Hadley & Pert Men’s Wear”, a reference to layout artist Hawley Pratt.
    • “Champ’s Bar & Grill”, a reference to animator Ken Champin. On the floor above it is a window with animator Virgil Ross’s name.
    • “H. Love Insurance”, a reference to longtime effects animator Harry Love.
    • Animator Pete Burness is listed as the star of a movie called “Backwash”, which is said to be “A Sid Ferren Picture”. Sid Ferren was an in-betweener at the studio who never received on-screen credit.
    • Gerry Chiniquy’s last name appears on a movie poster.
  • The film on the theater marquee is "The Mighty Warner Epic / Anthony Adverse". Anthony Adverse was a real 1936 Warner Bros. movie.
  • Clips of this cartoon were used in "This Is a Life?" in 1955.

Censorship[]

On ABC two scenes from this cartoon are censored:[2]

  • The part where Elmer realizes the old lady who beat him with "her" umbrella is Bugs and strangles "her" as Bugs whacks him with the umbrella and screams for the usher was cut so that way it goes from Bugs as an old woman saying, "Oh, no you don't..." to Bugs as an old woman screaming, "Usher! This man's annoying me!"
  • The part where the people in the theater run out and trample Elmer was cut to remove the brief shot of everyone smoking cigarettes in the lobby and creating a cloud of smoke.

Gallery[]

References[]

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
Elmer Fudd Cartoons
1937 Little Red Walking Hood
1938 The Isle of Pingo PongoCinderella Meets FellaA Feud There WasJohnny Smith and Poker-Huntas
1939 Hamateur NightA Day at the ZooBelieve It or Else
1940 Elmer's Candid CameraConfederate HoneyThe Hardship of Miles StandishA Wild HareGood Night Elmer
1941 Elmer's Pet RabbitWabbit Twouble
1942 The Wabbit Who Came to SupperAny Bonds Today?The Wacky WabbitNutty NewsFresh HareThe Hare-Brained Hypnotist
1943 To Duck .... or Not to DuckA Corny ConcertoAn Itch in Time
1944 The Old Grey HareThe Stupid CupidStage Door Cartoon
1945 The Unruly HareHare Tonic
1946 Hare RemoverThe Big Snooze
1947 Easter YeggsA Pest in the HouseSlick Hare
1948 What Makes Daffy DuckBack Alley Op-RoarKit for Cat
1949 Wise QuackersHare DoEach Dawn I Crow
1950 What's Up Doc?The Scarlet PumpernickelRabbit of Seville
1951 Rabbit Fire
1952 Rabbit Seasoning
1953 Upswept HareAnt PastedDuck! Rabbit, Duck!Robot Rabbit
1954 Design for LeavingQuack Shot
1955 Pests for GuestsBeanstalk BunnyHare BrushRabbit RampageThis Is a Life?Heir-Conditioned
1956 Bugs' BonnetsA Star Is BoredYankee Dood ItWideo Wabbit
1957 What's Opera, Doc?Rabbit Romeo
1958 Don't Axe MePre-Hysterical Hare
1959 A Mutt in a Rut
1960 Person to BunnyDog Gone People
1961 What's My Lion?
1962 Crows' Feat
1980 Portrait of the Artist as a Young Bunny
1990 Box Office Bunny
1991 (Blooper) Bunny
1992 Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers
2012 Daffy's Rhapsody
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