Hare Brush
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| 'Hare Brush' Merrie Melodies/Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd series |
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 A still from Hare Brush |
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| Directed by | I. Freleng |
| Produced by | Edward Selzer |
| Story by | Warren Foster |
| Voices by | Mel Blanc Arthur Q. Bryan (uncredited) |
| Music by | Milt Franklyn |
| Animation by | Ted Bonnicksen Art Davis Gerry Chiniquy |
| Layouts by | Hawley Pratt |
| Backgrounds by | Irv Wyner |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 7, 1955 (USA) |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 8 min (one reel) |
| Language | English |
Hare Brush is a 1955 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short, featuring Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. But unlike previous shorts which had them paired together, this one serves as a complete role-reversal.
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[edit] Summary
Millionaire Elmer Fudd enters the boardroom of his multi-million dollar company, but he isn't himself. He's hopping around on all fours and acting like a rabbit. Fudd snaps into a moment of paranoid delusion, expressing worry and fright over hunters who are out to get him. The board of directors agrees that Fudd needs help.
Soon Elmer, now wearing a rabbit suit, is committed to The Fruitcake Sanitarium for treatment of his apparent mental illness. A few moments later, Elmer sees Bugs Bunny walk by and lures his nemesis to the window with a carrot. Bugs goes inside, and Elmer hops out the window. Bugs lies in Elmer's bed to "keep it warm for him." Bugs then notices the medicine beside him and reads the instructions (Take one teaspoon every hour, with water), but he doesn't like it (he actually misinterprets the instructions and ingests the spoon instead!).
The Austrian hospital psychiatrist (whose name is Dr. Oro Myicin) comes for Elmer, but notices Bugs in his place; Myicin attributes this apparent sudden change to "a clear case of rabbitschenia (a pun on both rabbit skin and schizophrenia) ... vurst case I've evah zeen!" Bugs tries to convince the doctor that he really is a rabbit, but the doctor gives Bugs a hypnotizing pill. Once it takes effect, Bugs is made to repeat, "I am Elmer J. Fudd, millionaire. I own a mansion and a yacht."
Dr. Myicin's programming works: Bugs Bunny leaves the sanitarium convinced he's Elmer Fudd and pronouncing R's and L's as W's. He decides to relax by going hunting, where Elmer, still in his rabbit suit, is waiting.
It's the usual chase from there, only in reverse. Notable gags include Elmer siccing a bear on Bugs and telling him to play dead; the bear buries Bugs, who then falls from the underside of a cliff ledge.
In the climax, Bugs is about to capture Elmer {"No wabbit's gonna outsmart Elmer J. Fudd!!"} when a government agent (dressed in film noir G-men attire) taps Bugs on the shoulder, asking, "Pardon me, did you say you were Elmer J. Fudd?" Bugs replies, "Yes, I am Elmer J. Fudd, millionaire. I own a mansion and a yacht." Bugs is then arrested for Elmer's non-payment of $300,000 in back taxes, and tries in vain to explain himself, protesting, "I'm hunting a scwewy wabbit!" This time, the last line of the episode belongs to Elmer: "I may be a scwewy wabbit, but I'm not going to Alcatwaz!", as he jauntily hops off into the distance.
A possible interpretation is that, in the cartoon, Elmer has been faking his insanity all along precisely to avoid being sentenced to prison (and also to finally get revenge on Bugs).
[edit] Notes
- This was the first Merrie Melodies cartoon to feature a new version of "Merrily We Roll Along."
- This is one of only three cartoons in which Elmer Fudd triumphs over Bugs Bunny. The other cartoons are the next one in the series, Rabbit Rampage and What's Opera, Doc?.
[edit] Censorship
- Besides two edits for violence (a gun gag and a gag where Bugs dives into shallow water and hits his head on a rock), the version that aired on ABC edited out the establishing shot of "The Fruitcake Sanitarium" where the sign reads, "The Fruitcake Sanitarium: It's Full of Nuts" because of a standards and practices rule on ABC forbidding the mention (or mocking) of mental illness.
[edit] Sources
- Beck, Jerry and Will Friedwald, "Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons," Henry Holt and Co., New York, 1989. (ISBN 0-8050-0894-2).
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Sahara Hare |
Bugs Bunny Cartoons 1955 |
Succeeded by Rabbit Rampage |
