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Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt is a 1941 Merrie Melodies short directed by I. Freleng.

Plot[]

Bugs is reading "The Song of Hiawatha" out loud to himself, and the saga turns real as a pint-sized, Elmer Fudd-like Hiawatha turns up, paddling his canoe. Hiawatha is looking for a rabbit for his dinner. Hiawatha tricks Bugs into thinking he is preparing a hot bath for him. It is actually a cooking pot, which Bugs quickly vacates once Hiawatha casually mentions that he is having rabbit stew for supper. Bugs torments his would-be devourer, who finally breaks his bow in anger and disgust and paddles his canoe away while Bugs finishes his reading of the poem. However, the miffed-looking Hiawatha suddenly returns to the foreground where Bugs is reading the narrative, and after a second of wordless staring at each other, Hiawatha gives Bugs the "insulting kiss" that the bunny usually bestows on others. Hiawatha then paddles away again as Bugs "spits out" the kiss.

Caricatures[]

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Censorship[]

Due to its stereotypical portrayal of Native Americans, this cartoon and "What's Cookin' Doc?", which featured a clip from this short, were part of the "Twelve Missing Hares" that was pulled from Cartoon Network's 2001 June Bugs marathon by its then-owner, AOL Time Warner.[3][4] As with the other members of the "Twelve Missing Hares" as described in the unreleased ToonHeads episode, it was originally intended to air in the marathon, but was pulled due to executive backlash.

Goofs[]

  • The Blue Ribbon reissue title card erroneously shows the Vitaphone release number instead of the MPAA number.

Notes[]

  • In 1995, the original opening and credits were restored for the American and European 1995 Turner "dubbed" version prints, but the original ending was replaced by the 1937ā€“38 Merrie Melodies dubbed closing card, though the original ending music cue is kept intact on both dubbed version prints. The original closing was restored with the original titles when the cartoon was released on DVD 12 February 2008 on Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection. This restored print was double-dipped in the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 3 release for DVD and Blu-ray.
  • The Blue Ribbon print from the LaserDisc has the original closing, like most Schlesinger-credited Blue Ribbon reissues.[5]
  • In 1942, this cartoon was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoon), alongside "Rhapsody in Rivets". However, it lost to the Disney cartoon "Lend a Paw".[6]
    • The cooking-pot sequence from this cartoon would be directly incorporated three years later in the 1944 Bugs Bunny cartoon "What's Cookin' Doc?", directed by Bob Clampett, although Bugs' facial appearance had subtly changed in the interim. The central joke in that film is Bugs losing the Oscar to fellow Warner actor James Cagney. Showing clips specifically from "Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt" provides some context to that storyline.
  • This is the second and last Bugs Bunny short in that was reissued in the Blue Ribbon program that had its original titles replaced; the other being "A Wild Hare". Both shorts were nominated for an Academy Award.
    • The reissue of this cartoon is unique in that it has Bugs Bunny on top of the WB shield; this is the only unique Blue Ribbon reissue with this opening.
      • However, unlike all of the times Bugs Bunny has been on the shield from 1941ā€“1944, there is a small goof; Bugs Bunny always bites on his carrot twice. But in the BR opening, he bites it only once, and munches on the carrot for a much longer time. Though when Bugs reappears on the WB shield from 1945ā€“1949 with the updated character design by Robert McKimson, he bites on his carrot only once and munches on the carrot for a much shorter time.
  • Vitaphone release number: 9953

Gallery[]

References[]

External Links[]

Preceded by
Tortoise Beats Hare
Bugs Bunny Cartoons
1941
Succeeded by
The Heckling Hare
Bugs Bunny Shorts
1938 Porky's Hare Hunt
1939 Prest-O Change-O ā€¢ Hare-um Scare-um
1940 Elmer's Candid Camera ā€¢ A Wild Hare
1941 Elmer's Pet Rabbit ā€¢ Tortoise Beats Hare ā€¢ Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt ā€¢ The Heckling Hare ā€¢ All This and Rabbit Stew ā€¢ Wabbit Twouble
1942 The Wabbit Who Came to Supper ā€¢ Any Bonds Today? ā€¢ The Wacky Wabbit ā€¢ Hold the Lion, Please ā€¢ Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid ā€¢ Fresh Hare ā€¢ The Hare-Brained Hypnotist ā€¢ Case of the Missing Hare
1943 Tortoise Wins by a Hare ā€¢ Super-Rabbit ā€¢ Jack-Wabbit and the Beanstalk ā€¢ Wackiki Wabbit ā€¢ Falling Hare
1944 Little Red Riding Rabbit ā€¢ What's Cookin' Doc? ā€¢ Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears ā€¢ Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips ā€¢ Hare Ribbin' ā€¢ Hare Force ā€¢ Buckaroo Bugs ā€¢ The Old Grey Hare ā€¢ Stage Door Cartoon
1945 Herr Meets Hare ā€¢ The Unruly Hare ā€¢ Hare Trigger ā€¢ Hare Conditioned ā€¢ Hare Tonic
1946 Baseball Bugs ā€¢ Hare Remover ā€¢ Hair-Raising Hare ā€¢ Acrobatty Bunny ā€¢ Racketeer Rabbit ā€¢ The Big Snooze ā€¢ Rhapsody Rabbit
1947 Rabbit Transit ā€¢ A Hare Grows in Manhattan ā€¢ Easter Yeggs ā€¢ Slick Hare
1948 Gorilla My Dreams ā€¢ A Feather in His Hare ā€¢ Rabbit Punch ā€¢ Buccaneer Bunny ā€¢ Bugs Bunny Rides Again ā€¢ Haredevil Hare ā€¢ Hot Cross Bunny ā€¢ Hare Splitter ā€¢ A-Lad-In His Lamp ā€¢ My Bunny Lies over the Sea
1949 Hare Do ā€¢ Mississippi Hare ā€¢ Rebel Rabbit ā€¢ High Diving Hare ā€¢ Bowery Bugs ā€¢ Long-Haired Hare ā€¢ Knights Must Fall ā€¢ The Grey Hounded Hare ā€¢ The Windblown Hare ā€¢ Frigid Hare ā€¢ Which Is Witch ā€¢ Rabbit Hood
1950 Hurdy-Gurdy Hare ā€¢ Mutiny on the Bunny ā€¢ Homeless Hare ā€¢ Big House Bunny ā€¢ What's Up Doc? ā€¢ 8 Ball Bunny ā€¢ Hillbilly Hare ā€¢ Bunker Hill Bunny ā€¢ Bushy Hare ā€¢ Rabbit of Seville
1951 Hare We Go ā€¢ Rabbit Every Monday ā€¢ Bunny Hugged ā€¢ The Fair Haired Hare ā€¢ Rabbit Fire ā€¢ French Rarebit ā€¢ His Hare Raising Tale ā€¢ Ballot Box Bunny ā€¢ Big Top Bunny
1952 Operation: Rabbit ā€¢ Foxy by Proxy ā€¢ 14 Carrot Rabbit ā€¢ Water, Water Every Hare ā€¢ The Hasty Hare ā€¢ Oily Hare ā€¢ Rabbit Seasoning ā€¢ Rabbit's Kin ā€¢ Hare Lift
1953 Forward March Hare ā€¢ Upswept Hare ā€¢ Southern Fried Rabbit ā€¢ Hare Trimmed ā€¢ Bully for Bugs ā€¢ Lumber Jack-Rabbit ā€¢ Duck! Rabbit, Duck! ā€¢ Robot Rabbit
1954 Captain Hareblower ā€¢ Bugs and Thugs ā€¢ No Parking Hare ā€¢ Devil May Hare ā€¢ Bewitched Bunny ā€¢ Yankee Doodle Bugs ā€¢ Baby Buggy Bunny
1955 Beanstalk Bunny ā€¢ Sahara Hare ā€¢ Hare Brush ā€¢ Rabbit Rampage ā€¢ This Is a Life? ā€¢ Hyde and Hare ā€¢ Knight-Mare Hare ā€¢ Roman Legion-Hare
1956 Bugs' Bonnets ā€¢ Broom-Stick Bunny ā€¢ Rabbitson Crusoe ā€¢ Napoleon Bunny-Part ā€¢ Barbary-Coast Bunny ā€¢ Half-Fare Hare ā€¢ A Star Is Bored ā€¢ Wideo Wabbit ā€¢ To Hare Is Human
1957 Ali Baba Bunny ā€¢ Bedevilled Rabbit ā€¢ Piker's Peak ā€¢ What's Opera, Doc? ā€¢ Bugsy and Mugsy ā€¢ Show Biz Bugs ā€¢ Rabbit Romeo
1958 Hare-Less Wolf ā€¢ Hare-Way to the Stars ā€¢ Now, Hare This ā€¢ Knighty Knight Bugs ā€¢ Pre-Hysterical Hare
1959 Baton Bunny ā€¢ Hare-abian Nights ā€¢ Apes of Wrath ā€¢ Backwoods Bunny ā€¢ Wild and Woolly Hare ā€¢ Bonanza Bunny ā€¢ A Witch's Tangled Hare ā€¢ People Are Bunny
1960 Horse Hare ā€¢ Person to Bunny ā€¢ Rabbit's Feat ā€¢ From Hare to Heir ā€¢ Lighter Than Hare
1961 The Abominable Snow Rabbit ā€¢ Compressed Hare ā€¢ Prince Violent
1962 Wet Hare ā€¢ Bill of Hare ā€¢ Shishkabugs
1963 Devil's Feud Cake ā€¢ The Million Hare ā€¢ Hare-Breadth Hurry ā€¢ The Unmentionables ā€¢ Mad as a Mars Hare ā€¢ Transylvania 6-5000
1964 Dumb Patrol ā€¢ Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare ā€¢ The Iceman Ducketh ā€¢ False Hare
1979 Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol ā€¢ Fright Before Christmas
1980 Portrait of the Artist as a Young Bunny ā€¢ Spaced Out Bunny
1990 Box Office Bunny
1991 (Blooper) Bunny
1992 Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers
1995 Carrotblanca
1997 From Hare to Eternity
2004 Hare and Loathing in Las Vegas ā€¢ Daffy Duck for President



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