The Heckling Hare
| The Heckling Hare | |
|---|---|
| Merrie Melodies (Bugs Bunny) series | |
Title card
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| Directed by | Tex Avery |
| Produced by | Leon Schlesinger |
| Story by | Michael Maltese |
| Voices by |
Mel Blanc Kent Rogers |
| Music by | Carl W. Stalling |
| Animation by |
Robert McKimson Rod Scribner Virgil Ross Charles McKimson Sid Sutherland |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Release date(s) | July 5, 1941 |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 7:00 |
| Language | English |
The Heckling Hare is a Merrie Melodies cartoon, released on July 5, 1941 and featuring Bugs Bunny and a dopey dog named Willoughby. The cartoon was directed by Tex Avery, written by Michael Maltese, animated by soon-to-be director Bob McKimson, and with musical direction by Carl Stalling. In style that was becoming typical of the Bugs character, he easily outwitted and tormented his antagonist through the short, his only concern being what to do next to the dog.
This is the second-to-last Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by Tex Avery to be released. The last, All This and Rabbit Stew, was produced before this film. Additionally, it was the fifth cartoon for Bugs and the 55th cartoon Avery directed at Warner Bros.
The Merrie Melodies opening sequence also featured the first usage of the Warner Bros. shield logo zooming in with a carrot-munching Bugs Bunny lying on top of it. Here, after the zoom-in and a couple of bites of his carrot, Bugs pulls down the Merrie Melodies title screen like it is a shade.
Instead of Elmer Fudd, Bugs is hunted by a dog named Willoughby, but the dog falls for every trap Bugs sets for him until they both fall off a cliff at the end.
This cartoon appears in the DVD Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3, unrestored, as part of the 1990 TV special What's Up Doc? A Salute to Bugs Bunny. The restored version had previously been released as part of Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2.
This is the cartoon that led to Avery leaving Warner Bros. and moving to MGM. The final gag of this cartoon originally had Bugs and Willoughby falling off three cliffs, with Bugs telling the audience after the second tumble, "Hold on to your hats, folks. Here we go again!" during the third trip down. Schlesinger intervened for reasons that are not known with certainty. The most popular story is that the "Hold on to your hats" line referred to a euphamism that was then in circulation; another story is that Schlesinger feared that Tex Avery had killed off Bugs Bunny by ending the cartoon with Bugs and Willoughby falling off the second cliff without a clear indication of whether or not the two survived.
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