Hare Conditioned

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''Hare Conditioned''
Looney Tunes/Bugs Bunny series
Directed by Charles M. Jones
Story by Tedd Pierce
Animation by Ken Harris
Ben Washam
Basil Davidovich
Lloyd Vaughan
Voices by Mel Blanc
Music by Carl W. Stalling
Produced by
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date 1945 (USA)
Format Technicolor, 7 min
Language English
IMDb page

Hare Conditioned is a 1945 Warner Bros. cartoon in the Looney Tunes series. It was directed by Chuck Jones. It stars Bugs Bunny, voiced by Mel Blanc.

[edit] Plot synopsis

Bugs is on display in the "Stacey's Department Store" window, helping to advertise camping gear. With that particular sales campaign over, the store manager takes Bugs to another department, which Bugs puzzles over ("tax-ee-doy-mee?") The man tells the rabbit he will look splendid... after he has been "stuffed". Bugs ponders this for a second, screams, and begins a cartoon-long chase.

"Uh... did you say... stuffed?
Enlarge
"Uh... did you say... stuffed?

At one point, Bugs distracts him by telling him he sounds "just like that guy on the radio: The Great Gildersneeze!" Bugs is right, the voice is a good imitation of Harold Peary's character in the The Great Gildersleeve. The actor providing that voice here is uncredited, although most animation historians seem to agree it was Dick Nelson. (For unknown reasons, Blanc redubbed one line for him.) The chase soon resumes, including a frenetic dash up the stairs of the skyscraper. Just when Bugs is about to be captured, he distracts the man again by tricking him into thinking there is a monster behind him. When he looks behind, Bugs has leaped into position, making a hideous face. The frightened man leaps off the building with a scream, and apparently to his death. Bugs tut-tuts, then pulls out a mirror, makes the same face to himself, turns to the audience in horror, and then he leaps off the building with a scream. Iris out.

[edit] Notes

  • An idea similar to the closing gag would be used in 1946's Hair-Raising Hare. The monster (later dubbed "Gossamer") sees his reflection in the mirror, and the reflection screams and runs away.
  • The final gag may have been the inspiration for a similar bit in the 1994 Simpsons Treehouse of Horror segment entitled "The Shinning", in which Homer threateningly advances towards Marge up the stairs and makes hideous faces at her, then stops to look in the mirror, which in turn scares him and causes him to fall down the stairs.
  • Porky Pig only appears in the end of the cartoon with his usual famous drum scene.

[edit] See also