Fresh Hare

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Fresh Hare
Merrie Melodies series
Directed by I. Freleng
Story by Michael Maltese
Animation by Manuel Perez
Voices by Mel Blanc
Arthur Q. Bryan (uncredited)
Music by Carl Stalling
Produced by Leon Schlesinger
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date August 22, 1942
Format Technicolor, 8 min. (one reel)
Language English
IMDb page

Fresh Hare is a Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies cartoon. It was directed by Isadore "Friz" Freleng, written by Michael Maltese, and produced by Leon Schlesinger. It was released to theatres on August 22, 1942.

Screen capture from the censored ending.
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Screen capture from the censored ending.

[edit] Summary

In this short, the rotund early-1940s version of Elmer Fudd is portrayed as a Mountie, in pursuit of Bugs Bunny, who is wanted for being a "screwy wabbit", across the snow-packed tundra (presumably in Canada).

The short is one of many that has been subjected to censorship, because of its closing gag. After capturing the rabbit and sentencing him to execution, Elmer asks Bugs if he has one final request or wish. Bugs responds by breaking out into song: "I wish I was in Dixie; hurray, hurray..." A crossfade finds Bugs, Elmer, and the other mounties in blackface performing a minstrel show routine of "Camptown Races". The Turner Entertainment television print of this short excises the minstrel show scene (and instead ends during Bugs' "I wish I was in Dixie" routine), but the complete version is often available for sale, as the short is one of a handful of Bugs Bunny films now in the public domain. It also airs uncut when shown on the UK channel Boomerang.

A scene of Fresh Hare can be seen in the title sequence of Futurama.

[edit] Cast

[edit] External links