Hare Tonic
Encyclopedia
Hare Tonic is a 1945 Warner Bros.
cartoon in the Looney Tunes
series, directed by Chuck Jones
and written by Tedd Pierce
. It stars Bugs Bunny
and Elmer Fudd
making this the second cartoon directed by Jones to co-star the two (the first being Elmer's Pet Rabbit
). Voice characterizations are by Mel Blanc
and Arthur Q. Bryan
, respectively.
The title is a play on "hair tonic", a type of patent medicine, reinforced by Bugs' portrayal of a fake doctor at one point in the picture. A bottle of "hare tonic" would appear as a prop in a 1946 cartoon, The Big Snooze
.
") and is taking him home to make a meal. As he bounces along, he sings the tune of "Shortnin' Bread
", substituting "Wabbit
Stew". Bugs pops out of Elmer's basket, munching on a carrot
that was in there with him, and asks, "Eh, whatcha got in the basket, doc?" Elmer replies, "I got me a wabbit! I'm gonna cook me a wabbit stew!" Bugs states his "love" of rabbit stew (though he is clearly a rabbit) and then begs to see Elmer's rabbit. When Elmer opens his basket and finds it empty (Bugs had quickly climbed out), Bugs pushes his nemesis into his own basket and then sings the tune Elmer had been singing — but then Elmer realizes he's been tricked, and so he re-reverses the switch. Foreshadowing pranks to come, Bugs tells the audience from inside the basket (à la Red Skelton
's "mean widdle kid"), "He don't know me vewy well, do he?"
Once at home, Bugs easily secures his escape by distracting Elmer, tricking him into thinking the phone has rung. However, just as he's about to leave, he decides he'd rather stay and heckle his would-be devourer. Bugs effects a radio broadcast that warns of the dread disease "rabbititus", which is contracted from rabbits "sold within the last three days" and which causes people to see spots and have "delusions assuming the characteristics of rabbits", among other dubious symptoms. This frightens the gullible Elmer and he informs Bugs that he is free to leave. Bugs, however, decides he doesn't want to leave by saying "Oh, no, Doc. Wouldn't think of it. We're gonna brew a stew, remember?", only to make Elmer back away, forcing him to hide on top of his door:"Oh no! Pwease, Mr. Wabbit! Go away! Don't come any cwoser! D-Don't come near me! NO!!!!!!!!!". Bugs sniffs his glove and tells the audience "Oh, goodness! Don't tell me I offend." just as Elmer pleas Bugs to "Make twacks. scuwwy away. SCWAM!" to which Bugs angrily relies as he leaves "OKAY! I CAN TAKE A HINT! I KNOW WHEN I'M NOT WANTED! GOODBYE!". But when Bugs returns, Elmer reminds him that Bugs has to "Scwam" but Bugs points to a sign on the door that states "QUARANTINED FOR RABBITITUS NO ONE MAY LEAVE PREMISES."
Thus Bugs stays to torment Elmer, and many hijinks ensue, including Bugs posing as Elmer's shower faucets {"Gurgle, gurgle. Why don't ya' pay ya' water bill, Doc?"} and a doctor ("Dr. Killpatient", parodying Dr. Kildare
), and pretending to be Elmer's reflection in the mirror (a scene inspired by the famous mirror scene in the Marx Brothers' film, Duck Soup). Finally, Elmer sees Bugs' game and chases him out of the house with a shotgun. But Bugs quickly halts the chase and, in an unusually lengthy breaking of the fourth wall
, even by Bugs' standards, he convinces Elmer that members of the audience are now afflicted with rabbititus, which causes Elmer to flee back into his house in a terror of panic.
Bugs then addresses the audience and says the whole thing was "just a gag, of course" and that if the audience really had rabbititus, they'd see swirling red and yellow spots, whereupon red and yellow spots are seen swirling on the screen, and the underscore starts to build dramatically. Immediately after Bugs says, "And then suddenly, everything'd go black!" the screen does suddenly go black, and the music stops abruptly and dramatically, followed by a second or two of dark silence. Bugs snickers and the cartoon ends.
), as he sometimes does at the end of Looney Tunes, munching a carrot and saying, "And dat's de end!" rather than the usual "That's All Folks!" of Warner cartoons (see illustration).
This version of the Looney Tunes drum would be seen once more, in 1946's Baseball Bugs
and was falsely used at the end of some television prints of the Daffy Duck
cartoon, "The Up-Standing Sitter
"
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,...
cartoon in the Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
series, 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 Tedd Pierce
Tedd Pierce
Tedd Pierce , was an American animated cartoon writer, animator and artist. Pierce spent the majority of his career as a writer for the Warner Bros. "Termite Terrace" animation studio, working alongside fellow luminaries such as Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese. Pierce also worked as a writer at...
. It stars Bugs Bunny
Bugs 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...
and Elmer Fudd
Elmer Fudd
Elmer J. Fudd/Egghead is a fictional cartoon character and one of the most famous Looney Tunes characters, and the de facto archenemy of Bugs Bunny. He has one of the more disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon pantheon . His aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring...
making this the second cartoon directed by Jones to co-star the two (the first being Elmer's Pet Rabbit
Elmer's Pet Rabbit
Elmer's Pet Rabbit is a 1941 Merrie Melodies cartoon starring Elmer Fudd and, ostensibly, Bugs Bunny. The short was released on January 4, 1941...
). Voice characterizations are by Mel Blanc
Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
and Arthur Q. Bryan
Arthur Q. Bryan
Arthur Quirk Bryan was a United States comedian and voice actor, remembered best for his longtime recurring role as well-spoken, wisecracking Dr...
, respectively.
The title is a play on "hair tonic", a type of patent medicine, reinforced by Bugs' portrayal of a fake doctor at one point in the picture. A bottle of "hare tonic" would appear as a prop in a 1946 cartoon, The Big Snooze
The Big Snooze
The Big Snooze is a 1946 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by an uncredited Bob Clampett, his final cartoon for Warner. Its title was inspired by the 1939 book The Big Sleep, and its 1946 film adaptation, also a Warner release. The Big Snooze features Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, voiced as...
.
Plot
Elmer Fudd has purchased Bugs Bunny at a local grocery store (with a sign visible in the window offering a special on "Fresh HareFresh Hare
Fresh Hare is a Warner Bros. theatrical Merrie Melodies cartoon. It was directed by Isadore "Friz" Freleng, written by Michael Maltese, and produced by Leon Schlesinger...
") and is taking him home to make a meal. As he bounces along, he sings the tune of "Shortnin' Bread
Shortnin' Bread
"Shortnin' Bread" is a song by James Whitcomb Riley.-History:...
", substituting "Wabbit
Rabbit
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
Stew". Bugs pops out of Elmer's basket, munching on a carrot
Carrot
The carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, though purple, red, white, and yellow varieties exist. It has a crisp texture when fresh...
that was in there with him, and asks, "Eh, whatcha got in the basket, doc?" Elmer replies, "I got me a wabbit! I'm gonna cook me a wabbit stew!" Bugs states his "love" of rabbit stew (though he is clearly a rabbit) and then begs to see Elmer's rabbit. When Elmer opens his basket and finds it empty (Bugs had quickly climbed out), Bugs pushes his nemesis into his own basket and then sings the tune Elmer had been singing — but then Elmer realizes he's been tricked, and so he re-reverses the switch. Foreshadowing pranks to come, Bugs tells the audience from inside the basket (à la Red Skelton
Red Skelton
Richard Bernard "Red" Skelton was an American comedian who is best known as a top radio and television star from 1937 to 1971. Skelton's show business career began in his teens as a circus clown and went on to vaudeville, Broadway, films, radio, TV, night clubs and casinos, all while pursuing...
's "mean widdle kid"), "He don't know me vewy well, do he?"
Once at home, Bugs easily secures his escape by distracting Elmer, tricking him into thinking the phone has rung. However, just as he's about to leave, he decides he'd rather stay and heckle his would-be devourer. Bugs effects a radio broadcast that warns of the dread disease "rabbititus", which is contracted from rabbits "sold within the last three days" and which causes people to see spots and have "delusions assuming the characteristics of rabbits", among other dubious symptoms. This frightens the gullible Elmer and he informs Bugs that he is free to leave. Bugs, however, decides he doesn't want to leave by saying "Oh, no, Doc. Wouldn't think of it. We're gonna brew a stew, remember?", only to make Elmer back away, forcing him to hide on top of his door:"Oh no! Pwease, Mr. Wabbit! Go away! Don't come any cwoser! D-Don't come near me! NO!!!!!!!!!". Bugs sniffs his glove and tells the audience "Oh, goodness! Don't tell me I offend." just as Elmer pleas Bugs to "Make twacks. scuwwy away. SCWAM!" to which Bugs angrily relies as he leaves "OKAY! I CAN TAKE A HINT! I KNOW WHEN I'M NOT WANTED! GOODBYE!". But when Bugs returns, Elmer reminds him that Bugs has to "Scwam" but Bugs points to a sign on the door that states "QUARANTINED FOR RABBITITUS NO ONE MAY LEAVE PREMISES."
Dr. Kildare
Dr. James Kildare is a fictional character, the primary character in a series of American theatrical films in the late 1930s and early 1940s, an early 1950s radio series, a 1960s television series of the same name and a comic book based on the TV show, and a short-lived 1970s television series...
), and pretending to be Elmer's reflection in the mirror (a scene inspired by the famous mirror scene in the Marx Brothers' film, Duck Soup). Finally, Elmer sees Bugs' game and chases him out of the house with a shotgun. But Bugs quickly halts the chase and, in an unusually lengthy breaking of the fourth wall
Fourth wall
The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...
, even by Bugs' standards, he convinces Elmer that members of the audience are now afflicted with rabbititus, which causes Elmer to flee back into his house in a terror of panic.
Bugs then addresses the audience and says the whole thing was "just a gag, of course" and that if the audience really had rabbititus, they'd see swirling red and yellow spots, whereupon red and yellow spots are seen swirling on the screen, and the underscore starts to build dramatically. Immediately after Bugs says, "And then suddenly, everything'd go black!" the screen does suddenly go black, and the music stops abruptly and dramatically, followed by a second or two of dark silence. Bugs snickers and the cartoon ends.
Looney Tunes drum with Bugs Bunny
Bugs reappears from inside of the Looney Tunes drum (instead of Porky PigPorky Pig
Porky Pig is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his star power, and the animators created many critically acclaimed shorts using the fat little pig...
), as he sometimes does at the end of Looney Tunes, munching a carrot and saying, "And dat's de end!" rather than the usual "That's All Folks!" of Warner cartoons (see illustration).
This version of the Looney Tunes drum would be seen once more, in 1946's Baseball Bugs
Baseball Bugs
Baseball Bugs is a Warner Brothers Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon short released on February 2, 1946 starring Bugs Bunny. It had a similar theme to MGM's 1944 Batty Baseball, which was directed by former WB cartoon director Tex Avery.-Overview:...
and was falsely used at the end of some television prints of the Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, often running the gamut between being the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny...
cartoon, "The Up-Standing Sitter
The Up-Standing Sitter
The Up-Standing Sitter is a 1948 Warner Bros. cartoon in the Looney Tunes series, directed by Robert McKimson, starring Daffy Duck. All voices are by Mel Blanc...
"