The Grey Hounded Hare

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The Grey Hounded Hare Looney Tunes/Bugs Bunny series
Title card for The Grey Hounded Hare
Directed by	Robert McKimson
Produced by	Eddie Selzer
Voices by	Mel Blanc
Music by	Carl W. Stalling
Animation by	John Carey Phil DeLara Manny Gould Charles McKimson Layout Artist Cornett Wood
Backgrounds by	Richard H. Thomas
Studio	Warner Bros. Pictures
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date(s)	August 6, 1949
Color process	Technicolor
Running time	7 minutes (one reel)
Preceded by	Mississippi Hare
Followed by	The Windblown Hare
IMDb profile

The Grey Hounded Hare is a 1948-produced, 1949-released Looney Tunes short film made by Warner Bros. Pictures and starring the voice talent of Mel Blanc. It was directed by Robert McKimson, and animated by John Carey, Phil DeLara, Manny Gould and Charles McKimson, with music scored by Carl Stalling. The title refers to the greyhounds of the plot as well as "hounded" meaning pestered or pursued relentlessly.

[edit] Plot

Bugs Bunny pops out of a hole, wondering what all the 'racket' is. He quickly finds out that he's at a greyhound track. Bugs decides to check out the dogs, commenting positively on 'number 7' ("That's me lucky number"), a large grey greyhound named Gnawbone, even though he lunges at Bugs in anger.

Wanting to see the race (including announcement of the dogs such as "Father's Mustache - looks a little droopy" and "Motorman's Glove will have a hand in it"), Bugs watches as a rabbit lure is led out, followed by the pack of dogs chasing the rabbit. Not realizing that the rabbit is a fake, Bugs jumps into the track, taking down some of the dogs one at a time. Bugs eventually teases the dogs enough that they start chasing him out of the track and into a taxi, which speeds off towards the Dog Pound. However, Gnawbone #7 wasn't fooled and is waiting for Bugs. Bugs soon trips the dog up and tries to 'talk' to the rabbit lure. Number 7 gets back on his feet and chases the rabbit lure. Bugs continues to thwart #7 from chasing his "dreamboat", eventually luring the dog to charge headfirst into a fire hydrant (at which point, the dog's tail raises the white flag of surrender).

Now free to pursue "Dreamboat" unhindered, Bugs gives the lure a kiss, getting a large shock, just before the lure goes back into it's starting box. Stating that "it could be the beginning of a be-yoo-tiful friendship", Bugs opens the door to the box and gives another kiss, getting another shock.

[edit] Censorship

On the ABC airing of this cartoon, the part after the dog falls from the sky after chasing the balloon rabbit, where the greyhound goes to punch Bugs, but gets distracted by the electric rabbit on the track and Bugs sidetracking the dog by using a dynamite stick to play fetch with him (resulting in the dog getting blown up), was cut, making the cut seem like the dog blew up after he fell from the sky ([1]).