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The Heckling Hare

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The Heckling Hare
Title card
Directed byFred Avery
Story byMichael Maltese
Produced byLeon Schlesinger
Music byCarl W. Stalling
Animation byBob McKimson
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Leon Schlesinger Productions
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
Release date
  • July 5, 1941 (1941-07-05)
Running time
8:05 (original)
7:26 (ending cut)
7:38 (a.a.p. ending cut print)
LanguageEnglish

The Heckling Hare is a Merrie Melodies cartoon, released on July 5, 1941, and featuring Bugs Bunny and a dopey dog named Willoughby.[1] The cartoon was directed by Tex Avery,[2] written by Michael Maltese, animated by soon-to-be director Robert McKimson, and with musical direction by Carl W. Stalling. In a style that was becoming typical of the Bugs character, he easily outwitted and tormented his antagonist through the short, his only concern being what to do next to the dog.

This is the second-to-last Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by Tex Avery to be released following a dispute with producer Leon Schlesinger during production (see "Original Ending" below). The last, All This and Rabbit Stew, was produced before this film. Additionally, it was the fifth cartoon for Bugs and the 55th cartoon Avery directed at Warner Bros.

The Merrie Melodies opening sequence also featured the first usage of the Warner Bros. shield logo zooming in with a carrot-munching Bugs Bunny lying on top of it. Here, after the zoom-in and a couple of bites of his carrot, Bugs pulls down the Merrie Melodies title screen like it is a shade.

Plot

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Dimwitted Willoughby is in search for a rabbit, and happens to find Bugs Bunny inside of his hole. Willoughby digs in the hole, but Bugs leaves from another hole nearby. Realizing the rabbit, Willoughby pursues after the rabbit but only manages to make a fool out of himself.

After finding Bugs in a different hole, he notices the rabbit mimicking his actions to the point where he continues after Bugs stops and hits him with a bat. Bugs swims inside a nearby lake; Willoughby tries to dive after him but lands on a shallow surface. Bugs travels through a log that Willoughby slams on, and Bugs rides atop of the dog after he leaves the water. Bugs scratches the rear of the mutt and smooches him. Bugs hops into a tree with a hole on both sides and tricks Willoughby into thinking he killed Bugs with a tomato. The mournful dog tries to give some flowers to Bugs' hole, where Bugs once again smooches the dog.

Willoughby digs after the hole in a fury, only to realize that he was digging under a cliff. He nearly falls, but saves himself and says he needs to be more careful. Just as he says that, Willoughby walks off the cliff nearby. Bugs taunts the dog, only to fall into the hole that Willoughby dug out. They fall but manage to brake in midair before landing safely.

Voice cast

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Home media

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This cartoon appears in restored form on the DVD Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2. It is also included, unrestored, on Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3 as part of the 1990 TV special What's Up Doc? A Salute to Bugs Bunny. The cartoon is included, restored, on the Blu-ray, Looney Tunes Collector's Vault: Volume 2.[3]

Original Ending

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This is the cartoon that led to Avery leaving Warner Bros. and moving to MGM. The final gag of this cartoon originally had Bugs and Willoughby falling off three cliffs, with Bugs telling the audience "Well! Here we go again!" during the second and third trip down.[4] Schlesinger intervened for reasons that are not known with certainty.

According to Martha Sigall, Schlesinger found the second fall to be too repetitious and objected to its inclusion on those grounds. He instructed Avery to cut it, but Avery insisted that it should remain. Schlesinger simply overruled him as the boss, resulting in the ending being cut down regardless to Avery's insistence.[5] Karl F. Cohen also suggests that Schlesinger found it inappropriate of an ending which suggests that Bugs gets killed.[6] From Schlesinger's point of view, the dispute was over his right to do as he pleased with the films he was paying for. From Avery's point of view, the dispute was over artistic interference.[6]

It was also claimed that Bugs' line was "Hold on to your hats, folks. Here we go again!", referring to a dirty joke that was then in circulation.[7] However, this line does not appear in the film's dialogue transcript;[4] a similar line had been used in Daffy Duck and Egghead (1938, coincidentally also directed by Avery) where Daffy Duck tells the audience, "Hold your seats, folks, here we go again!" just before launching into his own take on The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down.

The film was edited so that the characters only fall off a cliff once. After Bugs and Willoughby fall through the sky in a lengthy sequence, they "put on the brakes" and make a soft, feet-first landing on the ground. Bugs says to the audience, "N'yah, fooled you, didn't we?!" The dog follows with, "Yeah!" just as the cartoon fades out. Willoughby's line and the fade out to the end card are usually cut in TV versions (mostly those shown on the Ted Turner-owned cable networks TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, and Boomerang) to cover up the fact that the cartoon had been edited in such an abrupt manner prior to release in theaters.

The Heckling Hare was not the only subject matter Avery feuded with Schlesinger over at the time, as Schlesinger also rejected his idea to create a series of shorts featuring live-action animals with animated mouths.[8] Avery was promptly suspended for four weeks with no pay, resulting in a disgruntled Avery to walk out from the studio for good. On July 2, 1941, the quarrel was reported in an article for The Hollywood Reporter, citing the ending of The Heckling Hare for his reason of departure.[9] During his suspension, Avery was hired by Jerry Fairbanks at Paramount Pictures where he directed the Speaking of Animals shorts (beginning with Down on the Farm)[5] and later left for MGM. Avery's unit would subsequently be taken over by Bob Clampett upon his departure.

Sources

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  • Cohen, Karl F. (2004), "Censorship of Theatrical Animation", Forbidden Animation: Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted Animators in America, McFarland & Company, ISBN 978-0786420322
  • Sigall, Martha (2005). "The Boys of Termite Terrace". Living Life Inside the Lines: Tales from the Golden Age of Animation. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781578067497.

References

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  1. ↑ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 118. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
  2. ↑ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 60–61. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  3. ↑ "Looney Tunes Collector's Vault: Volume 2 Blu-ray". Blu-Ray.com. December 23, 2025. Retrieved December 25, 2025.
  4. 1 2 Komorowski, Thad (December 15, 2012). "The Heckling Hare Problem". Retrieved April 29, 2024.
  5. 1 2 Sigall (2005), p. 48-49
  6. 1 2 Cohen (2004), p. 39.
  7. ↑ Legman, G. (2007). Rationale of the Dirty Joke: An Analysis of Sexual Humor. Simon and Schuster. p. 59. ISBN 978-1-4165-9573-1.
  8. ↑ Barrier, J. Michael (1999). Hollywood cartoons : American animation in its golden age. Internet Archive. New York : Oxford University Press. p. 365. ISBN 978-0-19-503759-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  9. ↑ "Supervised by Fred Avery: Tex Avery's Warner Brothers Cartoons: The Heckling Hare: "Cartoon Man Walks Out"". October 21, 2019.
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