Hare Splitter

Hare Splitter is a 1948 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short directed by Friz Freleng. The title is a play on "hair splitting", or focusing too much on fine details, reflecting how Bugs (a "hare") tries to "split up" Casbah and Daisy so that Bugs can date her himself.

Plot

A fight for Daisy begins as soon as Casbah and Bugs exit their rabbit holes. Bugs and Casbah both leave their holes with flowers for Daisy. Seeing each others gifts, they try to outdo each other with bigger and better gifts. Bugs finally throws a anvil on Casbah’s head to get rid of him.

When Bugs arrives at Daisy’s home, he finds a note on her door saying she will be back shortly (The fact that Daisy lives in a house instead of a rabbit hole like Bugs or Casbah is an oddity that goes unremarked upon.). Bugs sees Casbah coming and dresses up as Daisy. He lures Casbah over to the porch swing and starts flirting with him. When Casbah isn’t looking, Bugs hits him over the head, puts a mouse trap down, and gives him an explosive carrot.

In addition to tricking Casbah on the swing, Bugs pretends to kiss Casbah by using a plunger and hitting him on the head. He continues tricking Casbah by painting a bomb to look like Daisy.

Casbah is so excited by explosion of the bomb, he runs into the house. Once again, Bugs tries to trick Casbah by pretending to be Mr. Daniel Cupid and shooting him with an arrow. Casbah figures out it's Bugs ("You're that screwy rabbit!" he shouts, clearly not realizing this description applies just as well to himself) and begins chasing him. Bugs tries to get Casbah out of hitting him by donning a pair of glasses, but Casbah still punches him in the face. Bugs manages to escape into Daisy's house and slam the door on Casbah's face.

Fortunately for Bugs, he sees Daisy and runs around the side of the house. Casbah sees Daisy coming up the porch and thinks it is again Bugs dressed up as her. When Daisy enters the house, Casbah hits her upside the head with a vase. Daisy proceeds to beat up Casbah and kick him out of her home.

The cartoon ends with Bugs showering Daisy with compliments and kissing Daisy after she has eaten an explosive carrot. Both Bugs and Daisy think the explosive effect the carrot lends to the kiss is due to the other's romantic capabilities ("What a man!"/ "What a woman"), and they enthusiastically kiss again.

Censorship

• On the ABC airing, the part where Casbah (the big brown rabbit) punches Bugs in the face after Bugs asks him, "You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses, would ya'?" was cut ("Ya' know? I believe he would!").^[1]
• When Cartoon Network aired this cartoon as part of the infamous 2001 June Bugs special that banned 12 cartoons for having racial and ethnic stereotypes in them, a rather innocuous part (possibly for time reasons) where, after the novelty-carrot-induced explosive kiss between Bugs and Daisy Lou, Daisy Lou responds with "What a man!" while Bugs responds with "What a woman!" was edited out and immediatedly went to the scene of them happily jumping around the room before the iris-out. On installment shows, such as The Looney Tunes Show and Bugs and Daffy, the "What a man!"/"What a woman!" scene was left intact.^[1]

References