Wet Hare
Encyclopedia
Wet Hare is a 1962 animated short film in the Looney Tunes
series produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons
, Inc. In this cartoon, Bugs Bunny
finds himself at odds with Blacque Jacque Shellacque, a ruthless lumberjack with a French Canadian
accent who wants to control the water supply by building a series of dams. The title is yet another pun on "hair/hare".
, singing "April Showers" (à lá Al Jolson
) when the water stops flowing. After briefly worrying that the supply has permanently dried up, he decides that beavers are responsible, and climbs up the waterfall to the source of the problem. The "beavers" turn out to be the villainous Blacque Jacque Shellacque, who has built an illegal rock
dam
in an effort to control the water supply and sell it at inflated prices. Bugs demands Jacque explain what gives him the right to build the dam, and Jacque responds "This!" as he sticks a revolver into Bugs' face (this exchange is cut out of most commercial showings). Bugs next asks Jacque what would happen if certain rocks become loose, to which Jacque simply states he would replace them. Jacque laughs off removing a tiny rock
, at the dam's base, but removing it dislodges the dam.
Later, Bugs resumes showering, but Jacque has built a replacement dam ("This time I build him stronger!"). Jacque expects another sabotage attempt from Bugs, and thinks he's still one step ahead of the rabbit when he spots what he believes to be a phony shark fin in the impounded water. The shark is real, however, and Bugs "saves" Jacque by crashing a log through the dam.
Still later, Bugs has resumed showering again, but Jacque has built an even bigger replacement dam, and gloats at Bugs from above.
Unintimidated, Bugs turns to the audience and quotes Red Skelton's "mean widdle kid": "He don't know me vewy well, do he?". Bugs then sends a single lighted stick of dynamite on a miniature raft towards the new Shellacque-built dam, but as Jacque tends to it (or vice-versa, as the dynamite blows up in Jacque's face off-screen), he also immediately notices a huge raft full of lighted dynamite subsequently headed toward the dam and they exploded.
Finally fed up with Bugs, Jacque fires his rifle into the waterfall, thinking he's killed off his nemesis once and for all ("So much for crazy seec rabbets! Bah!"). Nearby, Bugs - watering his carrot garden - sees that his record player has been destroyed by Jacque. Although mad at first, Bugs calmly declares his famous line: "Of course you know, this means war."
Later, a triumphant Jacque boasts about his new steel dam, but quickly finds his water supply has been cut off. Bugs, it turns out, has turned the tables and built a dam of his own, in revenge for the aforementioned shooting of the record player. An angry Jacque retrieves a cannon and blows the dam apart, only to find another rabbit-built dam. Jacque blows that one up as well, only to find more dams to destroy. Finally, Jacque reaches the "Grand Cooler Dam" (a pun on "Grand Coulee Dam", although the dam looks more like Hoover Dam
). Jacque tries to blow that dam up as well, but his attempt fails (the cannonball bounces off of the face of the dam and back into the muzzle of the cannon) and he is launched into a police paddy wagon instead and hauled away.
"He's not foolin' me--he'll be back..." says Bugs as he watches his nemesis being taken away. " . . . like, uh, in about 20 years?"
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 produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons
Warner Bros. Cartoons
Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was the in-house division of Warner Bros. Pictures during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, Warner Bros. Cartoons was primarily responsible for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical...
, Inc. In this cartoon, 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...
finds himself at odds with Blacque Jacque Shellacque, a ruthless lumberjack with a French Canadian
French Canadian
French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...
accent who wants to control the water supply by building a series of dams. The title is yet another pun on "hair/hare".
Plot
Bugs Bunny is taking his morning shower under a waterfallWaterfall
A waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation:Waterfalls are commonly formed when a river is young. At these times the channel is often narrow and deep. When the river courses over resistant bedrock, erosion happens...
, singing "April Showers" (à lá Al Jolson
Al Jolson
Al Jolson was an American singer, comedian and actor. In his heyday, he was dubbed "The World's Greatest Entertainer"....
) when the water stops flowing. After briefly worrying that the supply has permanently dried up, he decides that beavers are responsible, and climbs up the waterfall to the source of the problem. The "beavers" turn out to be the villainous Blacque Jacque Shellacque, who has built an illegal rock
Rock (geology)
In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...
dam
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...
in an effort to control the water supply and sell it at inflated prices. Bugs demands Jacque explain what gives him the right to build the dam, and Jacque responds "This!" as he sticks a revolver into Bugs' face (this exchange is cut out of most commercial showings). Bugs next asks Jacque what would happen if certain rocks become loose, to which Jacque simply states he would replace them. Jacque laughs off removing a tiny rock
Rock (geology)
In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...
, at the dam's base, but removing it dislodges the dam.
Later, Bugs resumes showering, but Jacque has built a replacement dam ("This time I build him stronger!"). Jacque expects another sabotage attempt from Bugs, and thinks he's still one step ahead of the rabbit when he spots what he believes to be a phony shark fin in the impounded water. The shark is real, however, and Bugs "saves" Jacque by crashing a log through the dam.
Still later, Bugs has resumed showering again, but Jacque has built an even bigger replacement dam, and gloats at Bugs from above.
Unintimidated, Bugs turns to the audience and quotes Red Skelton's "mean widdle kid": "He don't know me vewy well, do he?". Bugs then sends a single lighted stick of dynamite on a miniature raft towards the new Shellacque-built dam, but as Jacque tends to it (or vice-versa, as the dynamite blows up in Jacque's face off-screen), he also immediately notices a huge raft full of lighted dynamite subsequently headed toward the dam and they exploded.
Finally fed up with Bugs, Jacque fires his rifle into the waterfall, thinking he's killed off his nemesis once and for all ("So much for crazy seec rabbets! Bah!"). Nearby, Bugs - watering his carrot garden - sees that his record player has been destroyed by Jacque. Although mad at first, Bugs calmly declares his famous line: "Of course you know, this means war."
Later, a triumphant Jacque boasts about his new steel dam, but quickly finds his water supply has been cut off. Bugs, it turns out, has turned the tables and built a dam of his own, in revenge for the aforementioned shooting of the record player. An angry Jacque retrieves a cannon and blows the dam apart, only to find another rabbit-built dam. Jacque blows that one up as well, only to find more dams to destroy. Finally, Jacque reaches the "Grand Cooler Dam" (a pun on "Grand Coulee Dam", although the dam looks more like Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam, once known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the US states of Arizona and Nevada. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President...
). Jacque tries to blow that dam up as well, but his attempt fails (the cannonball bounces off of the face of the dam and back into the muzzle of the cannon) and he is launched into a police paddy wagon instead and hauled away.
"He's not foolin' me--he'll be back..." says Bugs as he watches his nemesis being taken away. " . . . like, uh, in about 20 years?"
Sources
- Beck, Jerry and Will Friedwald, "Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons," Henry Holt and Co., New York, 1989. (ISBN 0-8050-0894-2).
External links
- Wet Hare at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
- Wet Hare at the Big Cartoon DataBaseBig Cartoon DataBaseThe Big Cartoon DataBase is an online database of information about animated cartoons, animated feature films, animated television shows and cartoon shorts....