The Old Grey Hare

The Old Grey Hare
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Airdate:	28 October 1944
Series:	Merrie Melodies
Production Number:	MM-11-13
Vitaphone Number:	1279
Runtime:	7 minutes, 36 seconds
Copyright Renewed:	20 July 1972
Starring:	Bugs Bunny Elmer Fudd
Crew
Voice Characterizations:	Mel Blanc Arthur Q. Bryan (uncredited)
Director:	Robert Clampett
Written By:	Michael Sasanoff
Producer:	Eddie Selzer (uncredited)
Animated By:	Robert McKimson Basil Davidovich (uncredited) Manny Gould (uncredited) Rod Scribner (uncredited)
Effects Animation:	A.C. Gamer (uncredited)
Character Design:	Thomas McKimson (uncredited)
Layout Artist:	Thomas McKimson (uncredited)
Background Artist:	Michael Sasanoff (uncredited)
Film Editor:	Treg Brown (uncredited)
Musician:	Carl W. Stalling
Orchestrations:	Milt Franklyn (uncredited)

The Old Grey Hare is a 1944 Merrie Melodies short directed by Bob Clampett.

Title

The title is a double play on words. One is the typical pun between "hare" and "hair", with the bunny (who was already grey-haired) rendered "old and grey" for this cartoon. The title also refers to the old song, "The Old Gray Mare". Some theater cards for this cartoon gave the alternate spelling, The Old Gray Hare.

Plot

Elmer Fudd sits under a tree, crying over never being able to catch Bugs Bunny. A voice tells Elmer that he would eventually catch him, and proceeds to transport him "far into the future" past the years 1950, 1960, 1970, etc., until reaching the then-distant year of 2000.

This offers the chance to use some contemporary gags with a futuristic twist, as Elmer finds a year 2000 newspaper. In sporting news, "Bing Crosby's Horse Hasn't Come In Yet!" (Crosby was known for investing in racehorses that did poorly). One headline says, Smellevision Replaces Television! Carl Stalling sez "It will never work!"

By now, both Elmer and Bugs are very old and wrinkled ("What's up, prune-face?") - Bugs even has a large white beard and a cane - and lumbago - but their chase resumes. This time Elmer is armed with a "Buck Rogers" ray gun. After a short chase (at slow speed, due to their ages), Elmer gets the upper hand, shooting Bugs with his ultra-modern weapon.

At the moment when it seems Elmer has finally beaten his nemesis, the apparently dying Bugs thinks back to when he and Elmer were much younger. This leads to a flashback sequence with a baby Elmer hunting a baby Bugs (both are still in diapers; Bugs is drinking carrot juice from a baby bottle; Elmer is crawling and toting a pop-gun; and they interrupt their chase to take a baby nap-time together).

After the flashback is over, a tearful Bugs starts to dig his own grave, with Elmer getting equally emotional. Just at the point where it seems that Bugs is going to bury himself, he switches places with the weeping and distracted Elmer, and cheerfully buries him alive instead ("So long, Methuselah!") The buried Elmer quips, "Weww [well] anyway, that pesky wabbit is out of my wife [life] fowevah [forever] and evah [ever]!" However, Bugs suddenly pops in and repeats the popular catchphrase of the "Richard Q. Peavey" character from The Great Gildersleeve, "Well, now, I wouldn't say that," plants a kiss on Elmer, then hands him a large firecracker with a lit fuse, and quickly departs. Elmer shivers in fear as the "That's all Folks!" card shows up, where the firecracker explodes off-screen and the card is shaken by the explosion.

Caricatures

• Bing Crosby
• Richard LeGrand's character Richard Q. Peavey

Availability

(1986) VHS
Viddy-Oh! For Kids Cartoon Festivals: Bugs Bunny Cartoon Festival Featuring "Little Red Riding Rabbit"

(1986) VHS
Viddy-Oh! For Kids Cartoon Festivals: Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd Cartoon Festival Featuring "Wabbit Twouble"

(1988) LaserDisc
Bugs Bunny: Superstar

(1988) VHS
Bugs Bunny: Superstar (a.a.p print)

(1991) LaserDisc
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 1, Side 10: The Art of Bugs

(1992) VHS
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 10: The Art of Bugs

(1995) VHS
Bumper Edition (Woolworths Exclusive)

(2000) VHS
Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition Volume 7: Welcome To Wackyland (1995 Turner dubbed version, edited)

(2006) DVD
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 4, Disc 2 (Bugs Bunny Superstar, Part 2) (1995 Turner dubbed version, but uses opening and closing titles from the 90s scan of Bugs Bunny Superstar, preserving the original end gag)

(2007) DVD
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5, Disc 3 (with optional audio commentary by Greg Ford)

(2010) DVD
The Essential Bugs Bunny, Disc 1 (restored)

(2011) Blu-ray
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc 1 (restored)

(2012) Blu-ray
Looney Tunes Showcase: Volume 1

(2012) DVD
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc 1 (restored)

(2012) DVD
Bugs Bunny: Superstar (restored)

(2020) Blu-ray
Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection, Disc 1 (restored)

Streaming

HBO Max (2020 - 2023)

Max (2023 - 2025)

Tubi (2025 -)

Censorship

• When this cartoon aired on The WB, the part where baby Elmer points his toy gun at baby Bugs' face and baby Bugs cracks his bottle of carrot juice over baby Elmer's head was cut.

Notes

The two different end cards of the cartoon used for this cartoon's Turner "dubbed version".
The end title card on the left is "dubbed version" #1, the USA dubbed version, which alters the ending gag. This version airs in NTSC countries and still airs today on the US and Latin American networks.
The end title card on the right (blue) is "dubbed version" #2, the EU dubbed version, which preserves the end gag and airs in PAL countries.

• This cartoon's title card is virtually identical to that of "Buckaroo Bugs", which was released two months earlier. Coincidentally, both cartoons are directed by Bob Clampett.
• This cartoon lacks a visible MPPDA number on the credit card.
• In this short, Bugs Bunny in his normal adult age is not shown, just as a baby bunny and as an elderly rabbit.
• Bugs' voice as a baby is virtually identical to that of Tweety, while Elmer's voice as a baby is basically a sped-up version of his normal voice.
• This is the first cartoon where something referring to the beginning happens at the end, where the usual "That's all Folks!" ending card is shown.
• When an old Elmer is reading the newspaper, the names of Bing Crosby and Carl Stalling are shown.
• The caption under Baby Elmer's picture reads "Only 3½ Years Old," a reference to Billy Gray's catchphrase.
• While Baby Bugs is babbling to Elmer as a baby, the words of his catchphrase, "What's up, doc?" appear, and Elmer reads them.
  • A similar gag would show up in the later Popeye the Sailor cartoon "Popeye, the Ace of Space". When Popeye is captured by aliens, they babble the words "...on this typical Earthman specimen", and Popeye reads them.
• This is the final cartoon to bear the byline "WARNER BROS." on the opening title. All cartoons after this include "PICTURES INC." under the byline.
  • It is also the final cartoon to bear the byline "Produced by WARNER BROS. CARTOONS, Inc." on the opening title.
• This cartoon would be used as the final cartoon for the documentary Bugs Bunny: Superstar.
• This is one of the several Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies shorts to have ending gags involving the closing titles. Others include "Porky's Duck Hunt" (1937), "Stop! Look! And Hasten!" (1954), and "Box Office Bunny" (1991) (all of which have been edited on television in one form or another, due to some channels not allowing the cartoons to have their original ending cards).
• The USA Turner dubbed version, which used to air on Cartoon Network and currently airs on the Latin American, Canadian, and American Boomerang (excluding an appearance in The Bob Clampett Show and the first "June Bugs" marathon) channels, has the original shaking end card replaced by the 1947–48 Merrie Melodies card, which does not shake (though the explosion sound is still heard). This edit also occurs on Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition Volume 7: Welcome To Wackyland VHS release from Columbia House which also uses this exact same print.
  • While the USA Turner dubbed version replaces the ending title card with the 1947–48 Merrie Melodies dubbed card seen on most USA dubbed versions, the European Turner dubbed version, which airs on the Cartoon Network/Boomerang channels in European countries, has blue borders and preserves the original ending card and the explosion gag. In this version, the original end card shakes, and the "DUBBED VERSION (C) 1995 TURNER ENTERTAINMENT, CO." disclaimer fades up at the end.
• According to the Toon in With Me episode "Stuff & Nonsense #7", guest star Gilbert Gottfried said that this was his favorite Looney Tunes cartoon.
• This is likely the first appearance of Baby Bugs, while Baby Elmer debuted in Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Comics #27, months prior to this short.

Gallery

"Well now, I wouldn't say that..."

Lobby card

Lobby card

Lobby card

Production model sheet

Story idea drawing