A Hare Grows in Manhattan

A Hare Grows in Manhattan
Merrie Melodies (Bugs Bunny) series
"She's da daughter of Rosie O'Grady, a regular old-fashioned goil..."
Directed by	Friz Freleng
Produced by	Edward Selzer
Story by	Michael Maltese Tedd Pierce
Voices by	Mel Blanc Bea Benaderet (uncredited) Tedd Pierce (uncredited)
Music by	Carl Stalling
Animation by	Ken Champin Gerry Chiniquy Manuel Perez Virgil Ross
Layouts by	Hawley Pratt
Backgrounds by	Philip DeGuard
Studio	Warner Bros. Cartoons
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date(s)	March 22, 1947 (U.S.)
Color process	Technicolor
Running time	8 min.
Language	English

A Hare Grows In Manhattan is a Warner Bros. cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series, released on March 22, 1947 and directed by Friz Freleng. It stars Bugs Bunny and a pack of bulldogs (one resembles Hector). Unlike many cases where "hare" is a pun on "hair", the title here is a pun on a then-recent book which figures into the climax of the cartoon (however, it does also contain a punning reference to what hair does: grow).

The cartoon begins with the voice of an apparent Hollywood gossip queen named "Lola Beverly" (patterned after famous newspaper and radio columnist Louella Parsons, infrequently known as "Lolly"; note the next sentence) talking behind the camera as it pans across Beverly Hills, settling in on Bugs Bunny's "mansion", which is actually a rabbit hole with fancy trimmings such as columns and a swimming pool. Lola (or "Lolly" as Bugs calls her familiarly, also effecting her hoity-toity manner of speech) coaxes a biographical story out of Bugs, and he talks about growing up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan (presumably accounting for his accent). He is seen tap-dancing down the streets of the Big Apple and singing "The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady" (a song written in 1917 by Walter Donaldson and Monty C. Brice).

Most of the story involves Bugs being repeatedly assaulted by a "street gang" consisting of a pack of stray dogs, led by a tough-talking but none-too-bright bulldog who wears a bowler hat and turtleneck sweater (and also resembles Hector, a bulldog which appeared in a number of Sylvester/Tweety cartoons starting in 1948). There are at least two references to real-life New York City landmarks. In one scene, Bugs smacks the bulldog with pieces of pie purchased at the Automat; in another, he tries to escape through the Stork Club (spelled here "Stork Klub," wherein real storks are the patrons). Bugs then tries to hide in a rooftop billboard for "Egyptian" cigarettes, a play on animated billboards in Times Square. At one point, the bulldog finds himself hanging by one "hand" from a clothesline. Bugs, on an adjacent line, plays Tweety's time-honored "this little piddy" game (even talking in something close to Tweety's voice), peeling the clumsy canine's "piddies" from the line one by one. When he "runs out of piddies" and the dog falls, Bugs reverts to his normal voice, and his famous aside to the audience, "Gee, ain't I a stinker?"