Frigid Hare
Encyclopedia
Frigid Hare is a 1948 Warner Bros.
Merrie Melodies
short, released in 1949, and was directed by Chuck Jones
and written by Michael Maltese
. The title can be seen as a simply play on "frigid air" and/or on the refrigerator brand called "Frigidaire
".
mistakenly ends up at the South Pole
, having yet again missed the left turn at Albuquerque. While there, he meets a young penguin being pursued by an Eskimo
hunter. Bugs sends the hunter in the opposite direction but finds the penguin has grown attached to him. Wanting to get back to his vacation, Bugs distracts the penguin, then pushes him down a snowbank, only to see him land in the hunter's bag. Bugs starts to resume his journey but is overcome by his better nature and rescues the penguin. Although successful, Bugs grumbles that he only has four days of vacation left, only to learn from the penguin that, at the South Pole, the nights are six months long. Figuring this means he can stretch his four-day vacation until July 1953, Bugs dons top hat and tails and accompanies the penguin on "a nice long formal vacation."
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...
short, released in 1949, and was directed by Chuck Jones
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...
and written by Michael Maltese
Michael Maltese
Michael "Mike" Maltese was a long-time storyboard artist and screenwriter for classic animated cartoon shorts.-Career:...
. The title can be seen as a simply play on "frigid air" and/or on the refrigerator brand called "Frigidaire
Frigidaire
Frigidaire is a brand of consumer and commercial appliances. Frigidaire was founded as the Guardian Frigerator Company in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and developed the first self-contained refrigerator in 1916. In 1918, William C...
".
Synopsis
While traveling to Miami Beach for an overdue vacation from Warner Brothers, Bugs BunnyBugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
mistakenly ends up at the South Pole
South Pole
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole...
, having yet again missed the left turn at Albuquerque. While there, he meets a young penguin being pursued by an Eskimo
Eskimo
Eskimos or Inuit–Yupik peoples are indigenous peoples who have traditionally inhabited the circumpolar region from eastern Siberia , across Alaska , Canada, and Greenland....
hunter. Bugs sends the hunter in the opposite direction but finds the penguin has grown attached to him. Wanting to get back to his vacation, Bugs distracts the penguin, then pushes him down a snowbank, only to see him land in the hunter's bag. Bugs starts to resume his journey but is overcome by his better nature and rescues the penguin. Although successful, Bugs grumbles that he only has four days of vacation left, only to learn from the penguin that, at the South Pole, the nights are six months long. Figuring this means he can stretch his four-day vacation until July 1953, Bugs dons top hat and tails and accompanies the penguin on "a nice long formal vacation."
Albuquerque
- This cartoon marks the third time that Bugs Bunny apparently took a wrong turn at Albuquerque. The first was in 1945s' Herr Meets HareHerr Meets HareHerr Meets Hare is a 1945 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. This short, coming a few months before the collapse of the Third Reich, was one of the last major wartime cartoons from Warner Brothers...
and the second in 1948s' My Bunny Lies over the SeaMy Bunny Lies over the SeaMy Bunny Lies over the Sea, a Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon, was released on December 14, 1948. This theatrical cartoon was directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese. Mel Blanc played both Bugs Bunny and the Scotsman...
. This is one of the most popular lines in the series.
Censorship and alterations
- On the syndicated Merrie MelodiesMerrie MelodiesMerrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...
Show, Bugs calling the Inuit hunter an "Eskimo pie-head" was muted out. - This cartoon was initially banned from airing on the 2001 installment of Cartoon NetworkCartoon NetworkCartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....
's "June Bugs" marathon due to the stereotypical portrayal of the Inuit hunter. The cartoon resurfaced on a February 2002 airing of The Looney Tunes Show on Cartoon Network (in an installment that showed only Chuck Jones cartoons due to the director's then-recent death), with only one edit: After Bugs finds out from the penguin that the days and nights are six months long in the Arctic, Bugs' line about not having to return to work until July 1953 is edited (as the date is no longer in the future). When the cartoon aired again on a 2002 "June Bugs", wherein all the Bugs Bunny cartoons that Cartoon Network is allowed to air are shown in alphabetical order, both the 1953 line that was cut when CN first showed this cartoon and the "Eskimo pie-head" line that was muted from the syndicated Merrie Melodies Show were edited out of the new CN version in the above ways. - On a 1965 telecast of The Bugs Bunny ShowThe Bugs Bunny ShowThe Bugs Bunny Show is a long-running American television anthology series hosted by Bugs Bunny, that was mainly composed of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons released by Warner Bros. between August 1, 1948 and the end of 1969. The show originally debuted as a primetime half-hour program on...
, Blanc overdubbed Bugs' "July 1953" line as "July 1968", to put the date in the future again.
Availability
- Frigid Hare is available, uncut and restored, on the third disc of Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1 is a DVD box set that was released by Warner Home Video on October 28, 2003. It contains 56 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons and numerous supplements...
(2003). - The cartoon was included, uncut and uncensored, as an extra on the DVD issue of March of the PenguinsMarch of the PenguinsMarch of the Penguins is a 2005 French nature documentary film. It was directed and co-written by Luc Jacquet, and co-produced by Bonne Pioche and the National Geographic Society. The film depicts the yearly journey of the emperor penguins of Antarctica...
(2005).