Hair-Raising Hare
| Hair-Raising Hare | |
|---|---|
| Merrie Melodies (Bugs Bunny) series | |
Lobby card.
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| Directed by | Charles M. Jones |
| Produced by | Eddie Selzer |
| Story by | Tedd Pierce |
| Voices by | Mel Blanc |
| Music by | Carl W. Stalling |
| Animation by |
Ben Washam Ken Harris Basil Davidovich Lloyd Vaughan |
| Layouts by | Earl Klein |
| Backgrounds by | Robert Gribbroek |
| Distributed by |
Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation |
| Release date(s) | May 25, 1946 (USA) |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 7:00 |
| Language | English |
Hair-Raising Hare is a Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon, released in 1946. It was directed by Chuck Jones and written by Tedd Pierce. It stars Bugs Bunny and features the first appearance of Chuck Jones' imposing orange monster character, unnamed here, but in later cartoons named "Rudolph" and then "Gossamer".
One dark night, as the camera pans across a dark, empty forest, Bugs is heard singing a stanza of "Sweet Dreams, Sweetheart" (introduced in Hollywood Canteen). When the camera zooms in on Bugs' rabbit hole, he pokes up out of his hole, dressed in a nightshirt and holding up a candle, and tells the audience that he feels he's being watched ("Eh, I don't know but, Did you ever have the feeling you was being watched?") In fact, he is being watched via remote TV by an evil scientist (a caricature of Hollywood actor Peter Lorre; like Bugs, he is played by Mel Blanc), who is planning to catch a rabbit to provide dinner for his large, hairy, orange, sneaker-wearing monster, named Gossamer.
The scientist lures Bugs to his castle via a shapely robotic female rabbit, complete with a large wind-up key in the back, and accompanied by Oh, You Beautiful Doll in the cartoon's underscore. Once Bugs gets to the castle (labeled "evil scientist" in neon lights) the evil scientist locks the door behind him. Bugs turns to him and says, "You don't need to lock that door, mac. I don't wanna leave." He proceeds to kiss the mechanical rabbit's hand, when suddenly the robot short-circuits and breaks into pieces. Bugs comments "That's the trouble with some dames... kiss 'em and they fly apart!"
Nonchalantly shrugging off this odd encounter, Bugs heads for the door, but the scientist stops and persuades him to stay, saying that he's got "another little friend who'd like to eat - uh, meet [Bugs]." When it becomes clear that this "friend" is a ferocious beast, Bugs sizes up the situation, vigorously shakes the scientist's hand in goodbye and launches into a schtick where he packs luggage for a vacation trip, accompanied by a very brassy rendition of California, Here I Come. He tells the scientist, in typical Groucho Marx-ist fashion, "And don't think it hasn't been a little slice of heaven...'cause it hasn't." He then bolts for the door. The scientist then releases Gossamer. The rest of the cartoon is an extended chase between Bugs and Gossamer, with gags aplenty.
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