Merry Melodies: Fresh Hare
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Bugs Bunny is wanted “dead or alive” by the Mounted Police, led by Elmer Fudd. Animation by Manuel Perez, story by Michael Maltese, supervising producer I. Freeleng. Produced in 1942.
March 11th, 2005 at 5:53 am
Grab it while you can, kids. This has the full blackface minstrel-show finale, censored from TV for almost thirty years. It’s a pretty good print with a fair transfer, and it features the “fat” Elmer.
July 7th, 2005 at 10:03 pm
Marvellous! esp. the Dixie finale.
As FP says – get it while you can. I wish there were more like this still around.
September 28th, 2005 at 4:28 am
Fresh Hare was one of my old favorites, I loved it as a child, my favorite part was when Elmer Fudd uses Bugs as a gun.
September 29th, 2005 at 6:43 pm
It’s not hard to see that Bugs Bunny, that trickster figure with the white gloves, is as firmly a part of the minstrel show tradition as Mickey Mouse. So it’s interesting that this cartoon makes the connection explicit, in a surreal ending where Bugs, Elmer and a firing squad turn into blackface minstrels. This is a good-natured cartoon, unlikely to offend most people, but it’s also a useful reminder (especially for cultural conservatives nostalgic for a more wholesome past) of the racial attitudes of an earlier cultural moment. Thanks to IA for making this often-censored cartoon widely available and retarding the sanitizing of the historical record.
January 4th, 2006 at 8:54 am
Very funny and never seen Bugs cartoon. The quality isn’t the best. These Film Chest cartoons are advertised as “digitally remastered” but look pretty low res and low quality to me.
March 3rd, 2006 at 2:26 pm
I really enjoyed watching this Bugs Bunny cartoon!It was really cute!Thanks!
April 26th, 2006 at 7:49 pm
Classic CLASSIC Bugs Bunny cartoon here. Bugs Bunny, for whatever reason, is wanted by the RCMP! Elmer Fudd plays the man on the hunt for him.
This has tons of the best bits from these cartoons: The snow chases for one, Bugs Bunny imitating a gun, but the best bit IS the ending, racist or not. That’s just so unexpected, I laughed, and laughed hard at it. I mean, what IS that? Bugs in blackface? Wow. Hilarious!
June 17th, 2006 at 6:32 am
I have a video tape recording of this that I bought in the swapmeet when I was a child, and it shows the blackface ending. This is probably my second favorite bugs bunny episode.
July 8th, 2006 at 10:36 pm
I agree with you Spuzz…it is hilarious. This episode was just on the program “Toon Heads” and they showed three cartoons of “Fat Fudd” and of course the ending was edited out. Too bad because it’s great.
July 29th, 2006 at 12:33 am
i remember when i would see this sort of blackface constantly in cartoons. i was too young to really know what it was about, by the time i knew most of the toons had been edited. so, i’m watching this version online not really ready for the ending. imagine my surprise to be in 2006 and get called a nigger to my face by bugs… huh. that’s something.
September 17th, 2006 at 7:20 am
blackface was just a way for white folks to play blacks in theatre and burlesque when things were still segregated. I’m sure Al Jolsen wasn’t trying to denigrate blacks or call them niggers by doing his thing. And Jack Benny’s butler Rochester, although in a servile role to his employer, showed him up every time.
It’s a cartoon buddy, lighten up. Things and people are drawn in a silly way. Do you think that Canadian Mounties are all fat, bald and stupid (O.K. most, but not all)
You want to see a good movie on blackface, rent “Bamboozled” by the Wayan brothers. And stay away from Rap music, it’ll give you a heart attack and caused the word nigger to be “popular” again. And who generates most of the Rap? Not B. Bunny that’s fer sher.
the cartoon is funny and the end is classic Bugs Bunny dementia. ’nuff said.
September 20th, 2006 at 10:05 pm
good point. (though, tophermac, I don’t think “Bugs is calling (you) a nigger to (your) face…” but I do understand your shock. Sorry PAWS but your statement that “blackface was just a way for white folks to play blacks in theatre and burlesque when things were still segregated” is SO misinformed. Disney created in-house quite a few incredibly racist animations that were “just cartoons” including “Snow Black.”
CHECK OUT THIS WEBSITE (quoted below)
http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/truth/racism.shtml
The blackface tradition you mention goes back to “minstrel shows.” The early Warner Brothers cartoons in fact were so racist that they were withdrawn over massive NAACP protests. Yes, WB cartoons, as in the Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show. Daffy Duck is a perfect example, doused in full black, bearing big staring eyes, big lips and big feet, constantly made a fool by the far wittier Bugs Bunny, dressed in full white. Some episodes originally had scenes with all the characters — Bugs, Elmer Fudd and the rest — singing and dancing in blackface, but these scenes were censored for modern audiences. Tap-dancing arose from minstrel show performances depicting the clumsy shuffle of the Negro.
So it ain’t “just a cartoon.” It’s history. But it’s still Bugs and I love him.
September 25th, 2006 at 12:11 am
I’m not going to get into the discussion about the minstrel-show ending. I have a VHS recording of this ‘toon I recorded off either the TBS or TNT cable networks back about 1988 or 1989 that retained the ending. I also have a recording of one of the “Censored Eleven” WB cartoons that was shown on either TBS or TNT around that same time, one called “Flop Goes The Weasel” (my guess is that it must have erroneously made its way into the cartoon rotation).
I’ll end with this: I’m not a racist, but I detest censorship, whether it’s done by either liberals or conservatives.
December 15th, 2006 at 2:36 am
Wow, I had almost forgot about that one! I’m in my early thirties and I remember the old cartons (Tom and Jerry I believe), with a Black Nanny with extremely big legs (I guess that was the kind of black woman, that the white men loved), yet they never completly showed the woman, only from the waist down. As a child I never understood, but it floors me, now that I’m older and truely understand the concept, that was being portrayed! I mean the Bugs Bunny skit was funny and the end was also somewhat amusing, it just shows and proves some things. I’m not completly faulting WB, because that was the thing “to do”, at the time, yet many people chose not “to do” it, based on right and wrong and knowing the difference of tasteful and tasteless! …And I’ll put this comment out there, before someone, comments on the rappers of today, that are always utilizing a particular, derogatory word, “IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MEANING AND THE USE OF THE WORD, THEY USE IT, WITH LOVE, WHEN WE ALL KNOW, THAT OTHERS, USE IT IN A HATEFUL AND DEGRATING WAY” Come on now, you know there’s a difference, they’ve just taken a word, that was given to us and and embraced it as a term of endearment, to be utilized amongst each other. Maybe it was done as a mockery to the people that gave it to them! ; )
April 24th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
If one looks closely, one can see that many Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons have some of their image cut off the picture. This is because sometimes when such films are recorded to video, the image is magnified too much. This is even visible on official DVDs of Warner Bros.! In this recording, parts of the “Wanted” posters in the beginning are cropped.
As for the ending, I can’t say how racist it is (or is not). However, Boomerang Europe played it recently (dubbed version, of course) and I don’t think anyone was offended here (Eastern Europe).
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May 27th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
The ending is good.
June 24th, 2007 at 5:00 am
Think about it. Why else is he always being hassled by the “man” (aka Elmer Fudd)? That explains a lot doesn’t it? Since it is ok for blacks to parody black stereotypes that solves the problem of the minstrel show ending. Otherwise, it is a meaningless non sequitur in an animated short written more than half a century ago.
If you are really looking to be offended perhaps you should source “Coal Black and the Sebben Dwarves” also by WB created as an army recruiting film for blacks during WW2
peace
June 26th, 2007 at 1:51 am
A bugs Bunny Cartoon…
Of course the commie liberals have to cry about something (As long its against whites).
There is a continent, that has and still does, brutalize, rape, murder and massacre
more blacks than any other place on earth, and it sure was’nt nor is the whites.
I suggest all liberals, should pack their bags and go there, and attempt to cry on those
peoples shoulders, I mean you want to help them, don’t you?
That place is called Africa….I know you will love living there, and why, have all of you not
gone there already, like 40 years ago? America, would have been a much better place if you did.
Or would “youall” rather stay here and be hypocrites and cowards……..
Yeah, I thought so.
July 13th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
For the individual who suggest returning to Africa..America was built because of blacks and actually this is not the whites homeland. Bugs Bunny is an example of how ignorant, disrespectful, and uneducated some are. It is a minstrel show that is direspectful to people of color.Also…do your research buddy because EVERYONE in this nation originated from Africa!
(bamboozled by spike lee,is a must see).
July 20th, 2007 at 4:14 am
Or would “youall” rather stay here and be hypocrites and cowards……..
Yeah, I thought so.
August 9th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
Let’s quit arguing about the “political correctness” of a 50+ year old cartoon. It’s a cartoon!! It was designed to entertain when it was written. That’s it. If it offends you, then you are looking for a reason to be offended. Quit being so petty. It’s a classic, and it is dated, just like many modern forms of entertainment will be some day. Have a good, (calm) day.
August 15th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
I loved Bugs Bunny when I was younger and watching them again and finding the same kind of fun from the painted on silhouettes and hand creeping around is great. Still blackface offends me. It has nothing to do with me looking to be offended, or pettiness. I also know that by the standards of the day cartoons were allowed a lot of racism. That doesn`t stop the very visceral reaction I get from it. Those stereotypes still impact my life so it`s hard to just ‘ignore’ racism. I`m not looking for censorship in old cartoons, but I would hope that there would be cultural awareness now. At least enough for people to rethink why they found, or still find, blackface funny.
Also, hearing nigger as an insult takes me right back to the first time I ever heard it as an insult. Always will. Rap music does not have that effect on me. Not a huge fan but there is a huge difference.
August 17th, 2007 at 6:26 am
Let’s face it… The world was a different place 50 years ago than it is today… This cartoon was made for it’s day and age just like all of our avenues of entertainment are today…
As for not being offended by rap, that’s ridiculous… All rap does is perpetuate a word that should (and would) be lost in the annals of time… Rap teaches our young that it’s ok to walk around calling each other distasteful names as long as we’re friends… Or mad at each other… Or what have you… Being offended by this but not by rap is pure ignorance…
August 23rd, 2007 at 9:43 am
i can’t believe it!
“wanted dead or alive, preferably dead!”
he’ll never get bugs!
this is far better in english!
how do you get the screen larger? because my computer is messed up and playing the
cartoon the size of two pennies!
here in venuzuellia the electricity
runs backwards, so maybe this has
something to do with it?
i’ve already ruined one laptop!
where’s the red light section of this
internet space? is that free also?
i’ll type in ephemeral films next!
August 30th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
Great picture quality, and sounds just like it did on TV when I watched it in my youth! LOVE IT!… And to blackfuture– I am a multiracial woman in my twenties, and I love these types of cartoons, because they were not meant to hurt anyone. And with all due respect, you severely contradicted yourself when you mentioned the fact that “America was built by blacks” and “this is not the whites’ homeland”, and then proceeded to say that all of us are originated from Africa. If the second fact is true, which it is, then that means that we are all one big race right? Then please stop with the Louis Farrakhan-type hatred and let us all live together like the brethren that we are. Please?
September 3rd, 2007 at 11:50 pm
Bugs Bunny finds his way through the snowy forest and as usual teases and hijinks elmer fudd in the most funniest ways. A Definite masterpiece, looney tunes at it’s best.
September 22nd, 2007 at 4:14 am
I remember this toon being on Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon here in the States back in the earlymid 90’s. This was before a lot of uptight, political correctness started moving in and take them down from mainstream viewing. [A big reason why I never see any Speedy Gonzalez anymore. *snickers* I always wondered why he was so fast. Getting over those border fences and past the national guard would be tough for someone slow.]
I never minded the so called racism in these toons, I was too young to notice or care. When I first saw this, I thought all of them looked like monkeys or something.
Every now and again, I enjoy seeing these but I keep wondering what was so offensive to be cut out. Thanks for uploading this full version.
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:29 pm
I have always enjoyed the old cartoons and this is no exception. It seems that some here just love to politicize everything. get a grip, sit back and enjoy the toons. If you feel offended by everything that’s put in this site, sell your things, buy an island and create your own country where everything is politically correct. I love this cartoon. Keep em coming.
November 28th, 2007 at 6:05 am
I Love this cartoon, It’s very underrated. With cute characters, funny jokes and one of the best surprise endings of all time, It is among the best cartoons of all time.
December 29th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
I love old cartoons. What is racist at all about black cartoon characters singing? You could say you are insulted because the fuzzy bunny was insolent! Or elmer makes fat poeple with speech impediments look stupid ( maybe thats true).
Rasism is taught at home. I am a white girl and and I was born in the 50s my parents never had any outspoken predudices to any type of ppoeple places or things ( except the evil refer perhaps).
I was about ten years old when I learned about the way blacks were treatd in the south, I flat out did not believe it!
I cried when my Dad told me about it. He said poeple are just people and every man who stands on two legs has a mind and a heart wants the same things out of life and should have the same chances. Thank you Dad, you are really a hero. Why can’t we all get along!!!
March 6th, 2008 at 2:28 am
Everyone should see Spike Lee’s film Bamboozled before they decide if this is racist or not.
Or check out this website:
http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/news/jimcrow/menu.htm
These depictions of African-American culture weren’t intended to hurt little kids, but keep in mind that these images didn’t help portray realistic idea of who African-American people were. Also remember because of segregation unless you lived in South many White people never saw African-Americans and these were the images where most White kids learned the stereotypes that would plauge some African-Americans today.
And this is coming from a White guy. Yeah this stuff is Racist, but its nothing to cry over. It’s in the past and the work we need to do is to make sure that these type of images don’t come back to haunt society.
P.S. The last scene of Bugs Bunny and the rest is not the turning into Black people. It is a spoof of the movie Dixie which is about a Blackfaced preformer. NOW THAT IS JUST RACIST PROPOGANDA. I think they have a trailer on this website.
March 21st, 2008 at 9:06 pm
This is not racist, at all. It may have fed into stereotypes, but that is clearly different than racist. My real issue is that one reviewer said that everyone back then was racist. Not many comments made are more ignorant than that one. Although there may have been some racist people, as there are today, to automatically make the sweeping generalization that ALL were racist is an informal fallacy of logic. I don’t understand why these cartoons are not on TV anymore. At the least, they are great talking points with children about the mindsets of SOME, not ALL. A great teaching tool. Much better than the Simpson’s, Family Guy, or any of the other profane garbage that passes as entertainment today.
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:02 am
You want to talk racism? How about colleges that only accept black people. How about college funds that are only given for blacks. Which of you would wear a Tshirt that had, in large black letters, “The Whiter the college, the sweeter the knowledge”? Anyone? Anyone that is, who wouldnt mind being labeled a racist or possibly being beaten for it. Yet its common to see the same shirt reading “the BLACKER the college, the sweeter the knowledg.” How about the Black Panthers giving thumbs up to Obama, and no one says a word. What if the KKK backed Hilary? Would she have a chance in hell of being elected? Racism is alive and well in this country, theres no doubt. Its NOT in this bloody cartoon. If your black, its ok to be racist, to hate whites. To their face. Its industry even. Listen to their music. Is it alright because what theyve suffered by the “white mans hand?” Is it alright to be refused entrance to a store in Harlem because your white? This white mans privilege, white mans burden…bullshit. Racism is alive and well, but its no longer the white man keeping it alive. Its our “dirty little secret” but its your right if your Afro-american.
July 18th, 2009 at 12:05 am
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