Hare Remover is a 1946 Merrie Melodies short planned by Frank Tashlin and finished by Robert McKimson.
Title[]
The title is another obvious play on "hair", and on patent medicines that had the opposite effect of a "hair tonic".
Plot[]
Elmer tries his best to make one of those "Jekyll and Hyde potions" that "changes a normal character into a devilish fiend", but his experiments always end in failure, causing his test animals to run for the hills and eat grass. “Experimental Dog” Roger was his last remaining victim. He decides to trap a rabbit as his next subject. After he traps him, Elmer forcefully gives Bugs the potion, again with no success. Elmer gets a little upset with a little frustration until Bugs gives him one of the potions, giving Elmer the same initial looney side effects the other animals had experienced. Bugs comments, "I think Spencer Tracy did it much better. Don't you, folks?" while watching Elmer act funny. As Elmer experiences the looney side effects of the potion, Bugs flashes rebus picture cards at Elmer showing a "screwball," a "crackpot," a "drip," "bats in the belfry," and so on off-screen before Elmer runs outside and eats grass with Roger, himself still eating grass.
When a bear enters the lab from the nearby forest, both Bugs and Elmer think the potion changed the other one into a bear and unsuccessfully attempt to "cure" each other with potions, until they discover that the bear is real. Elmer plays dead to fool the bear and is saved by his bad odor. Elmer thinks he's safe until he thinks he hears the bear again, but it's Bugs this time, imitating the bear. Meanwhile, the bear is standing on the side of the room watching them, convinced that both Elmer and Bugs are crazy, flashing rebus picture cards just like Bugs did earlier.
Caricatures[]
- Spencer Tracy - mentioned by Bugs
Availability[]
Streaming[]
Notes[]
- Elmer seldom referred to his perennial co-star by name, but typically only as "that scwewy wabbit" or similar expressions. This cartoon is one of the few in which Elmer actually acknowledges the bunny's name. When he sees the bear munching a carrot and assumes that it's the rabbit transformed by his drug, Elmer cries with joy, "Bugs Bunny!" In the reverse situation, when Bugs mistakes the bear for Elmer, Bugs still calls him "Doc!"
- In the original release of this cartoon, there is an abrupt jump cut that occurs between Elmer celebrating Bugs' capture and Elmer sternly carrying Bugs to his laboratory. The missing scene is most likely to be lost, as the release on Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3 did not restore it.[3] Additionally, a production drawing, which is presumed to be from said scene, has been found.
- This is Frank Tashlin's last cartoon that he directed before leaving Warner Bros. Cartoons. However, as it was released after his departure, he is not credited.
- This short is also the second and last short Tashlin directed to feature Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd.
- Bugs' quip that "Spencer Tracy did it better" refers to the famed actor's role in the 1941 version of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
- The short punchline where Elmer plays dead to get a bear away from him, only for Bugs to return and pretend he is a bear while Elmer is unconscious, is similar to a sequence done in "Wabbit Twouble" (1941).
- The lobby card cites the title as "Elmer's Hare Remover".
Gallery[]
References[]
External Links[]
- "Hare Remover" at SuperCartoons.net
- "Hare Remover" at B98.TV
Preceded by Baseball Bugs |
Bugs Bunny Cartoons 1946 |
Succeeded by Hair-Raising Hare |