Title: Hare-Um Scare-Um (this appears in single quotes on the title card; I'm not sure if I should actually list it, and many other Schlesinger cartoons, as 'Hare-Um Scare-Um')
Studio: Warner Bros.
Date: 8/12/39
Credits:
Supervision
Ben Hardaway & Cal Dalton
Story by
Melvin Millar
Animation
Gil Turner
Musical Direction
Carl W. Stalling
Series: Merrie Melodies
Running time (of viewed version): 7:38
Synopsis: Man needs meat, hunts wiley rabbit, does not come out on top.
Comments: Grey "Warner Bros." roll over the WB shield; was that always that way? So here's that rabbit of Ben "Bugs" Hardaway, Bugs's bunny, if you will. A grey bipedal bunny with long ears and a white belly. Who dresses up in a sexy female dog suit. And there's a big nosed hunter with a big brown hat. Hand lettered text in the newspaper stories; unusual. Presumably the pic of Happy Hardaway is Ben. The carnival rabbit wheels are real smooth looking; it's amusing that there's an outlet for it to plug into. The rabbit is laying traps for the hunter ahead of his arrival. To be fair, this hunter is hunting him for his meat, so it's not so out of whack as Jack the giant killer's outing in the last cartoon. The rabbit's all "werr herrr herr herr", and pretty much like the daffy Daffy. The trouble is that "daffy" isn't really funny for more than a few seconds. Title card seems to have the rabbit on a surfboard with an outboard motor, which shows up for about 3 seconds in the cartoon. The flesh discs which were the hunter's eyes... Hunter overacts facially. From the paper to leaving the house is a continuous camera shot (sometimes moving), 31 seconds long. Another continuous shot from leaving tracks until log seek, 41 seconds long. That's 1/6th of the non credit portion of the cartoon between those two shots. The dog's dizziness animations are delicate. I think the underlying thing about putting salt on something's tail to catch it has to do with "if you can put salt on something's tail, you're in a position to catch it". For some reason, the salt painting is vaselined (soft focused). Courting scene is a 50 second continuous shot. 2/7ths of the cartoon in 3 shots. The cop scene is another 40 second continuous shot. Skin + bones = tasty. The hunter has an unseemly amount of eyeshadow on. The hunter is apparently named John Sourpuss.
A non-Bugs Bunny cartoon that burns to the ground the possibility of Bugs using this perfectly good rabbit based title.
Note that there is a found lost ending to this cartoon, on David Gerstein's blog:
http://ramapithblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/legendbreakers-hare-um-scare-um.html
The rabbits beat up the hunter, who ends up insane and bouncing on his head at the end.
Also note the following 1938-39 release year Looney Tunes book, found on Cartoon Brew:
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/classic/rare-1938-looney-tunes-book-found.html
which lists this rabbit as "'Bugs' Bunny". I would think this book would have come out before the season started, but that would mean the Bugs art was in the book a year ahead of release, which seems unlikely.
The Wizard of Oz premiered the same day as this cartoon.
Newspaper text:
"Daily News
Weather Yes and No
MEAT PRICES SOAR
CONSUMERS ALSO SORE!
BUTCHERS DEMAND A LIVING WAGE
Chicago - Jun 5 - The butchers union voted today upon a thirty three percent raise on all beef and pork which will go into effect continued on page 11
HAPPY HARDAWAY ... DING HANDICAPPER ....OUNDS
FREIGHT TIE UP
LOOMS AS CAR
SPACE AT PREMIUM
....
FLOOD PERILS
HUNDREDS HURT IN RIOTING
Hollywood, Cal
Rioting broke outtoday at the Looney Tune Cartoon Studio when Tex Avery was caught dealing from the bottom of the deck. ...
MERRY MELODIES
ARE YOUR BEST
ENTERTAINMENT
LUCAVETT
NAMED IN SHAKE UP
..."
The scroll appeared during this season only - replacing the "Vitaphone" legend which previously appeared. The "Warner Bros." text was eventually rendered in a type style that pretty much continued through the end of the studio.
ReplyDeleteOh Yeah, Like Mr. Gerstein. I too loved this cartoon as a kid. Would drive my folks nuts reciting the woo woo song in the back seat of the family car. Great subtle gags. Like the dog coming out under the seat cushion. The electrical outlet in the ground. Excellent pacing too. Interesting to see this cartoon side to side with other product from the same period like Small fry. That's why I love this site.
ReplyDeleteI was so amazed almost two years ago on Dave Gerstein's site to find the ending to this which so many of us have known by now [NO heads a rollin', that is for sure].
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone on liking this and interesting to see that a competing studio's "Wizard of Oz" debuted..too bad these films weren't from the same studio..
They're ultimately owned by the same corporation now, if that makes you feel any better. It ertainly didn't make me feel any better when Wizard of Oz garish, collectable plate style art products popped up in the WB Store galleries, sucking space from production art and the garish, made for a dentist's office style Looney Tune art products...
ReplyDelete