Hurdy-Gurdy Hare | |
---|---|
Directed by | Robert McKimson |
Story by | Warren Foster |
Starring | Mel Blanc |
Music by | Carl Stalling |
Animation by | J.C. Melendez Emery Hawkins Charles McKimson John Carey Phil DeLara [1] |
Layouts by | Cornett Wood |
Backgrounds by | Philip DeGuard |
Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation |
Release date | January 21, 1950 |
Running time | 6:57 |
Language | English |
Hurdy-Gurdy Hare is a 1950 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon short directed by Robert McKimson. [2] The short was released on January 21, 1950, and stars Bugs Bunny. [3]
While Bugs is sitting in Central Park, he looks through the wanted ads, finally focusing on a job as a Hurdy-Gurdy (actually, a street organ), thinking at first of 'the masters - Beethoven, Brahms, Bach' (pronounced by Bugs as 'Beat-hoven,' 'Brammz,' and 'Batch'), but soon, while playing "Artist's Life" on the organ, is thinking of all the money his monkey assistant was able to get from the various apartments he visited. When the monkey tries to stiff Bugs, Bugs chases him off ("Ya' can't trust no one!", he sneers), suddenly thinking he can do the same job as the monkey - but quickly finds out that people willing to give a monkey money aren't willing to give Bugs anything (except a bucket of water on the head).
The monkey runs to the zoo, where he tells a gorilla about what happened (the only intelligible words being Bugs' line "What's up doc? What's up doc? What's up doc?"). The monkey dramatizes being kicked by Bugs, which sends the gorilla in a frenzy. The gorilla breaks out of his cage and confronts Bugs. Bugs tells the gorilla that he's working, but the gorilla threatens him by punching a hole in the wall. Bugs is able to outwit the gorilla by asking the gorilla if he can inflate himself with his finger, causing the gorilla to literally inflate and float away from the ledge. Bugs tells the gorilla that what he's doing is too immature: "You're a big boy now. Take your finger out of your mouth!". The gorilla obliges, but falls many stories down from the apartment building. At one point, the gorilla gets tricked into unsuccessfully attempting to bounce off, only to crash into, the shaded entryway, falling through the basement and comes up an elevator, holding a newspaper and with his arm through a subway window. Bugs, acting as a conductor, orders the gorilla to "push in, plenty of room in the center of the car!", pausing to tell the audience "I used to work on the shuttle from Times Square to Grand Central", before pushing the gorilla back underground again where the train crashes into the gorilla off screen. Then, aping Ralph Edwards' famous declaration on Truth or Consequences , he says to the audience: "Ain't I a devil??".
Bugs then encounters the infuriated gorilla again ("Oh, back again, eh? Well, if you can't take a hint, I'll have to get tough. And another thing...STOP BREATHING IN MY CUP! I'll bet this kid won't take much more of this guff.") A chase then ensues, and Bugs tries getting away from the gorilla on the outside of the building by climbing up and down a ladder while the gorilla keeps pulling the ladder in the opposite direction (once using the Groucho Marx line: "I've seen you before, I never forget a face. But in your case, I'll make an exception."). Bugs eventually makes his way into one of the apartments, literally assembling a brick wall into a window to trap the gorilla and put an exploding cigar into the gorilla's mouth. After the exploding cigar explodes, the gorilla breaks out of the brick wall, then Bugs puts in a door where both the window and brick wall were, and tells the gorilla "There he goes, Doc! Out that Door!", thus tricking the gorilla into falling again. However, he's soon cornered by the gorilla, who is all bandaged up and then chases him into a back room.
Bugs spots a violin, and noting that "they say music calms the savage beast", he starts playing "Artist's Life" on the violin (about as well as Jack Benny might sound), which causes the gorilla not only to calm down, but to start dancing around. That gives Bugs an idea.
Moments later, as the monkey from earlier cranks the musical organ, the gorilla visits the apartments, raining piles of cash down on Bugs. Bugs counts all the money coming, noting to the audience: "I sure hope Petrillo doesn't hear about this!" (a then-topical gag referencing the president of the American Federation of Musicians, which was on strike in 1948 when the short was copyrighted).
Baseball Bugs is a 1946 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes theatrical animated cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on February 2, 1946, and stars Bugs Bunny.
Hair-Raising Hare is a Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon, released on May 25, 1946. It was directed by Chuck Jones and written by Tedd Pierce. It stars Bugs Bunny and features the first appearance of Chuck Jones' imposing orange monster character "Gossamer".
French Rarebit is a 1951 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short, directed by Robert McKimson and written by Tedd Pierce. Released June 30, 1951, the cartoon features Bugs Bunny. The title is a takeoff on "Welsh rarebit", which is also known as "Welsh rabbit".
Gorilla My Dreams is a Warner Bros. Looney Tunes theatrical animated short directed by Robert McKimson and written by Warren Foster. The short was released on January 3, 1948, and stars Bugs Bunny.
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. Voice characterizations are by Mel Blanc and Arthur Q. Bryan.
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 4 is a DVD box set that was released by Warner Home Video on November 14, 2006.
Easter Yeggs is a 1947 Looney Tunes theatrical animated short. The cartoon was released on June 28, 1947, and features Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. The title is a play on "Easter eggs" and on "yegg", a slang term for a burglar or safecracker.
Pre-Hysterical Hare is a 1958 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Robert McKimson and written by Tedd Pierce. The short was released on November 1, 1958, and stars Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. The two are in their usual hunter-and-bunny antics, but set in the Stone Age.
Rabbit's Kin is a 1952 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short directed by Robert McKimson and written by Tedd Pierce. The cartoon was released on November 15, 1952, and stars Bugs Bunny. The cartoon was animated by Charles McKimson, Herman Cohen, Rod Scribner, Phil DeLara and Keith Darling. The music was scored by Carl Stalling while the layouts and backgrounds were done by Robert Givens and Richard H. Thomas, respectively.
Walky Talky Hawky is a 1946 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies theatrical short directed by Robert McKimson. The cartoon was released on August 31, 1946, and features Henery Hawk and Foghorn Leghorn. This is the first appearance of both Foghorn Leghorn and the Barnyard Dawg.
Acrobatty Bunny is a 1946 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes short directed by Robert McKimson. The short was released on June 29, 1946, and stars Bugs Bunny and Nero the Lion. This was the first cartoon McKimson directed that starred Bugs Bunny.
Hare We Go is a 1951 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Robert McKimson. The short was released on January 6, 1951, and features Bugs Bunny.
Wideo Wabbit is a 1956 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Robert McKimson. The short was released on October 27, 1956, and stars Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. In the film, Bugs volunteers for an appearance in a television show hosted by Elmer. He is unaware that this is a show about hunting techniques, and he volunteered to become a hunter's prey.
Bedevilled Rabbit is a 1957 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies short directed by Robert McKimson. The short was released on April 13, 1957, and stars Bugs Bunny. In this cartoon, Bugs is lost in Tasmania, and has to deal with the Tasmanian Devil.
The Hare-Brained Hypnotist is a Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on October 23, 1942 and features Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. This cartoon's plot was re-worked for the cartoon Hare Brush (1955) and its opening music was re-used in Hair-Raising Hare (1946), The Super Snooper (1952) and Hyde and Hare (1955).
People Are Bunny is a 1959 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon, directed by Robert McKimson The short was released on December 19, 1959, and stars Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.
Rabbit Romeo is a 1957 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Robert McKimson. The short was released on December 14, 1957, and stars Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. The film is one of the few pairings of Bugs and Elmer in which Bugs is not hunted throughout the entire picture, and also notable as a cartoon in which Bugs has a romantic encounter.
Apes of Wrath is a 1959 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on April 18, 1959, and stars Bugs Bunny. This cartoon recycles the plot from the 1948 cartoon Gorilla My Dreams. The title is a parody of John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath.
Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales is a 1982 animated anthology comedy film directed by Friz Freleng with a compilation of Warner Bros. cartoon shorts and animated bridging sequences, hosted by Bugs Bunny.