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Slick Hare is a 1947 Merrie Melodies short directed by I. Freleng.

Title[]

As is typical for Bugs Bunny cartoons, the title is yet another play on "hair/hare."

Plot[]

Famous 1940s celebrities are dining and hanging out at The Mocrombo Club, including such personalities as Frank Sinatra (depicted as long and skinny, so much so that he slips into his straw while trying to take a sip from his drink) and Ray Milland (in a parody of The Lost Weekend, where he pays for his drink with a typewriter and receives little typewriters as change). Fudd is a waiter at the Mocrumbo and comes out to find that his next customer is Humphrey Bogart.

Bogart lets Elmer know that he wants fried rabbit, and he wants it within the next twenty minutes—or else! (pulling out a Tommy gun). This puts Elmer in a bind, as the restaurant is "fwesh out of wabbit." However, as he is scouring the kitchen, Elmer hears the familiar sound of Bugs munching on some carrots in a corner of the kitchen. Elmer lets Bugs know that Bogart wants to "have" him for dinner. Bugs immediately dresses in a tuxedo and wants to have a peek at what is cooking. Elmer quickly puts a mirror into a pot. Bugs takes a look inside, soon realizes that he himself is the main course, and makes a quick getaway.

Bugs eventually manages to get out of the kitchen, dressing like Groucho Marx in an attempt to fool Elmer—but Elmer is dressed as Harpo. Bugs tries to make a getaway, but is stopped by the large stomach of Sydney Greenstreet. He runs into Carmen Miranda's dressing room and hides in her famous fruit hat. Carmen then does a song and as she walks off the stage, Elmer starts chasing Bugs. Elmer runs away from the audience leaving Bugs to dance to the same song Carmen did.

Bugs then makes his way back to the kitchen, where he enjoys the audience loving his performance. He saw Elmer approaching, so he then pretends to be a pie chef and continues splattering Elmer in the face. On the third pie which was a coconut custard pie with whipped cream, Elmer realizes that Bugs is the pie chef, so he threw that last at Bugs. When Bugs manages to duck that pie, it hits Bogart in the face. Bogart grabs Elmer and asks him, "Why did you hit me in the face with a coconut custard pie with whipped cream?" Bogart then warns Elmer that he has just five minutes to come up with his fried rabbit. Elmer searches frantically, but cannot find one in time. Bogart comes in, and Elmer thinks he's about to die. Bogart sticks his hand in his jacket, only to pull out a handkerchief and dab his forehead as he resigns, "Baby will just have to have a ham sandwich instead." Upon hearing "Baby", Bugs jumps out of his hiding place which was the clock that told Elmer his time was up (it was assumed that Bugs himself tampered with the clock) and takes his place as the main course (Lauren Bacall being "Baby"), noting, "Remember, garçon, the customer is always right! If it's rabbit Baby wants, rabbit Baby gets!", before howling at Bacall.

Caricatures[]

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Notes[]

  • The working title was "The Time, The Chase, and the Rabbit".
  • Michael Maltese and Tedd Pierce are caricatured.
  • Michael Maltese said in the DVD commentary, "I almost got my ass in a sling!" for giving viewers his impressions of the kitchen of the Mocambo. He drew what he saw, including grease dripping from the refrigerators and crates of vegetables lying around on the ground.
  • The cartoon displays both Humphrey Bogart's "tough guy" image and his real-life softer side, more interested in tending to Lauren Bacall than in instigating violence.
  • Three sequences from the storyboard were cut from the finished short. These include a gag depicting Red Skelton as "Mr. Red Skeleton," a view of the "Horror Corner" from the club, and an alternative scene in which Elmer Fudd disguises himself as a garland of flowers to ambush Bugs Bunny after his dance.
  • The Cartoon Festivals print is a damaged a.a.p. print where the a.a.p. logo plays first, then the 1947-49 Blue Ribbon Color Rings from the "Inki and the Lion" opening card, also including light blue borders. The 1939–40 version of "Merrily We Roll Along" plays instead of the 1941–45 version. The print then changes to another print that says "Slick Hare". This is a MGM/UA print and probably was hacked off by United Artists in the 1980s. This print had aired on TBS, TNT, and later Cartoon Network before 1995.[2]
  • On TV Puls and TV Puls 2 in Poland, this short was aired mistakenly with the opening rings plastered from "Rabbit Punch".[3] Canal+, Cartoon Network, and Boomerang CEE, as well as other European TV channels, aired this short with the correct opening rings.[4][dead link]
  • When this cartoon aired on the Italian TV station Mediaset Italia 1, the cartoon's EU 1995 Turner dubbed version had the original 1941–55 Merrie Melodies ending music cue replaced by the slightly distorted variant of the 1941–55 Merrie Melodies ending music cue as heard in "The Wacky Wabbit". Other TV airings of this cartoon's EU 1995 Turner dubbed version, however, retain its original ending music cue.[4][dead link] What is more, the final scenes in the Italian redub of this short have replaced music cues. Instead of the cues sourced from "Raw! Raw! Rooster!" and "The Good Egg", one can listen to cues used in the "The Wacky Wabbit" 1995 m/e audiotrack, sourced from "To Hare Is Human" and "A Broken Leghorn".
  • This is the last cartoon to use the 1946–47 color rings at the end.
  • This cartoon was shown in theaters with That Hagen Girl during its original release.
  • Although Bugs is mostly known to have been inspired in his manners by Groucho Marx as early as the first proto-Bugs short, "Porky's Hare Hunt", this is the first short where he pretends that he is Groucho to avoid Elmer.

Gallery[]

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External Links[]

Bugs Bunny Shorts
1938 Porky's Hare Hunt
1939 Prest-O Change-OHare-um Scare-um
1940 Elmer's Candid CameraA Wild Hare
1941 Elmer's Pet RabbitTortoise Beats HareHiawatha's Rabbit HuntThe Heckling HareAll This and Rabbit StewWabbit Twouble
1942 The Wabbit Who Came to SupperAny Bonds Today?The Wacky WabbitHold the Lion, PleaseBugs Bunny Gets the BoidFresh HareThe Hare-Brained HypnotistCase of the Missing Hare
1943 Tortoise Wins by a HareSuper-RabbitJack-Wabbit and the BeanstalkWackiki WabbitFalling Hare
1944 Little Red Riding RabbitWhat's Cookin' Doc?Bugs Bunny and the Three BearsBugs Bunny Nips the NipsHare Ribbin'Hare ForceBuckaroo BugsThe Old Grey HareStage Door Cartoon
1945 Herr Meets HareThe Unruly HareHare TriggerHare ConditionedHare Tonic
1946 Baseball BugsHare RemoverHair-Raising HareAcrobatty BunnyRacketeer RabbitThe Big SnoozeRhapsody Rabbit
1947 Rabbit TransitA Hare Grows in ManhattanEaster YeggsSlick Hare
1948 Gorilla My DreamsA Feather in His HareRabbit PunchBuccaneer BunnyBugs Bunny Rides AgainHaredevil HareHot Cross BunnyHare SplitterA-Lad-In His LampMy Bunny Lies over the Sea
1949 Hare DoMississippi HareRebel RabbitHigh Diving HareBowery BugsLong-Haired HareKnights Must FallThe Grey Hounded HareThe Windblown HareFrigid HareWhich Is WitchRabbit Hood
1950 Hurdy-Gurdy HareMutiny on the BunnyHomeless HareBig House BunnyWhat's Up Doc?8 Ball BunnyHillbilly HareBunker Hill BunnyBushy HareRabbit of Seville
1951 Hare We GoRabbit Every MondayBunny HuggedThe Fair Haired HareRabbit FireFrench RarebitHis Hare Raising TaleBallot Box BunnyBig Top Bunny
1952 Operation: RabbitFoxy by Proxy14 Carrot RabbitWater, Water Every HareThe Hasty HareOily HareRabbit SeasoningRabbit's KinHare Lift
1953 Forward March HareUpswept HareSouthern Fried RabbitHare TrimmedBully for BugsLumber Jack-RabbitDuck! Rabbit, Duck!Robot Rabbit
1954 Captain HareblowerBugs and ThugsNo Parking HareDevil May HareBewitched BunnyYankee Doodle BugsBaby Buggy Bunny
1955 Beanstalk BunnySahara HareHare BrushRabbit RampageThis Is a Life?Hyde and HareKnight-Mare HareRoman Legion-Hare
1956 Bugs' BonnetsBroom-Stick BunnyRabbitson CrusoeNapoleon Bunny-PartBarbary-Coast BunnyHalf-Fare HareA Star Is BoredWideo WabbitTo Hare Is Human
1957 Ali Baba BunnyBedevilled RabbitPiker's PeakWhat's Opera, Doc?Bugsy and MugsyShow Biz BugsRabbit Romeo
1958 Hare-Less WolfHare-Way to the StarsNow, Hare ThisKnighty Knight BugsPre-Hysterical Hare
1959 Baton BunnyHare-abian NightsApes of WrathBackwoods BunnyWild and Woolly HareBonanza BunnyA Witch's Tangled HarePeople Are Bunny
1960 Horse HarePerson to BunnyRabbit's FeatFrom Hare to HeirLighter Than Hare
1961 The Abominable Snow RabbitCompressed HarePrince Violent
1962 Wet HareBill of HareShishkabugs
1963 Devil's Feud CakeThe Million HareHare-Breadth HurryThe UnmentionablesMad as a Mars HareTransylvania 6-5000
1964 Dumb PatrolDr. Devil and Mr. HareThe Iceman DuckethFalse Hare
1979 Bugs Bunny's Christmas CarolFright Before Christmas
1980 Portrait of the Artist as a Young BunnySpaced 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 VegasDaffy Duck for President
Elmer Fudd Cartoons
1937 Little Red Walking Hood
1938 The Isle of Pingo PongoCinderella Meets FellaA Feud There WasJohnny Smith and Poker-Huntas
1939 Hamateur NightA Day at the ZooBelieve It or Else
1940 Elmer's Candid CameraConfederate HoneyThe Hardship of Miles StandishA Wild HareGood Night Elmer
1941 Elmer's Pet RabbitWabbit Twouble
1942 The Wabbit Who Came to SupperAny Bonds Today?The Wacky WabbitNutty NewsFresh HareThe Hare-Brained Hypnotist
1943 To Duck .... or Not to DuckA Corny ConcertoAn Itch in Time
1944 The Old Grey HareThe Stupid CupidStage Door Cartoon
1945 The Unruly HareHare Tonic
1946 Hare RemoverThe Big Snooze
1947 Easter YeggsA Pest in the HouseSlick Hare
1948 What Makes Daffy DuckBack Alley Op-RoarKit for Cat
1949 Wise QuackersHare DoEach Dawn I Crow
1950 What's Up Doc?The Scarlet PumpernickelRabbit of Seville
1951 Rabbit Fire
1952 Rabbit Seasoning
1953 Upswept HareAnt PastedDuck! Rabbit, Duck!Robot Rabbit
1954 Design for LeavingQuack Shot
1955 Pests for GuestsBeanstalk BunnyHare BrushRabbit RampageThis Is a Life?Heir-Conditioned
1956 Bugs' BonnetsA Star Is BoredYankee Dood ItWideo Wabbit
1957 What's Opera, Doc?Rabbit Romeo
1958 Don't Axe MePre-Hysterical Hare
1959 A Mutt in a Rut
1960 Person to BunnyDog Gone People
1961 What's My Lion?
1962 Crows' Feat
1980 Portrait of the Artist as a Young Bunny
1990 Box Office Bunny
1991 (Blooper) Bunny
1992 Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers
2012 Daffy's Rhapsody
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