Tortoise Beats Hare

Tortoise Beats Hare

Directed By: Fred Avery Produced By: Leon Schlesinger Released: March 15, 1941 Series: Merrie Melodies Story: Dave Monahan Animation: Charles McKimson Layouts: Backgrounds: John Didrik Johnsen Film Editor: Treg Brown Voiced By: Mel Blanc Music: Carl W. Stalling Starring: Bugs Bunny Cecil Turtle Chester Turtle Preceded By: Joe Glow, the Firefly Succeeded By: Porky's Bear Facts

Tortoise Beats Hare is a 1941 Merrie Melodies short directed by Tex Avery.

Plot

Bugs wanders onto the screen munching his obligatory carrot and absent-mindedly begins reading the title card, grossly mispronouncing all of the credits, for example pronouncing "Avery" as "A-very". Once he finally reads the title of the cartoon, he becomes outraged, tears apart the title card, and rushes to Cecil Turtle's house. He then bets the little, sleepy-eyed turtle ten dollars that he can beat him in a race.

Cecil accepts Bugs' bet and quickly (for him, anyway) calls up Chester Turtle and eight other cousins, all of whom look and sound like Cecil (some have deeper voices, some have higher voices). After talking to Chester about the bet, he tells him to call the other cousins and tell them to be ready when he comes to their position, and to "give him all the works". Fade to black (he possibly says goodbye and hangs up). The race begins several days later, and as Bugs runs relentlessly toward the finish line, Cecil and his relatives take turns showing up at just the right moment to baffle the bunny. In the end, Bugs is convinced he has won, only to see Cecil (or one of his kin) across the finish demanding the money. Bugs suggests that he has been tricked, and all ten turtles approach and reply, "It's a possibility!" And they all kiss Bugs.  

Production Details

Mel Blanc supplies Cecil's drowsy drawl, which is like a slowed-down version of Blanc's later characterization of Barney Rubble.

"Tortoise Beats Hare" is, of course, a take off of the Aesop fable "The Tortoise and the Hare". But even more directly, it is Avery's parody of the 1934 Disney Silly Symphony, The Tortoise and the Hare. Interestingly, Max Hare from the earlier Disney film is often cited as one of the inspirations behind Bugs Bunny.

Avery left Warner Bros. before he could produce any new cartoons featuring Cecil. However, he introduced a similar character in 1943, Droopy. Droopy would even take some of his tricks from his slow-and-steady predecessor, such as using his relatives to help him outsmart a wolf.

Availability

• VHS - Viddy-Oh! For Kids Cartoon Festivals: Bugs Bunny Cartoon Festival Featuring "Little Red Riding Rabbit"
• VHS - Bugs Bunny Collection: Bugs Bunny's Zaniest Toons
• LaserDisc - The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 1, Side 10: The Art of Bugs
• VHS - The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 10: The Art of Bugs
• VHS - Looney Tunes Presents: Bugs Bunny: Big Top Bunny (1995 Turner dubbed version)
• VHS - Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition Volume 8: Tex-Book Looney (1995 Turner dubbed version)
• DVD - Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2, Disc One
• DVD - Looney Tunes Super Stars' Bugs Bunny: Wascally Wabbit
• Blu-ray, DVD - Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2, Disc 2

Notes

• When Bugs sees Cecil sitting at the finishing line, he calls him a "blankedy, blank, blank turtle." Cursing violated the 1934 Hays Code.
• This was Tex Avery's 54th cartoon and Bugs Bunny's seventh appearance.
• The copyright was renewed in 1968.^{[citation needed|date=]}

Gallery

Lobby card

Model sheet by Bob Clampett

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External Links

• Tortoise Beats Hare at the Internet Movie Database