Porky's Hare Hunt

Porky's Hare Hunt
	Porky Pig and Happy Rabbit
Directed by	Ben Hardaway; Cal Dalton (uncredited)
Produced by	Leon Schlesinger
Story by	Howard Baldwin; Bob Clampett (uncredited)
Starring	Mel Blanc; Ben Hardaway (both uncredited)[1]
Music by	Carl W. Stalling
Edited by	Treg Brown (uncredited)
Animation by	Volney White; Rod Scribner (uncredited); Paul Smith (uncredited)[2]
Layouts by	Griff Jay (uncredited)
Backgrounds by	Art Loomer (uncredited)
Color process	Black-and-white
Production; company	Leon Schlesinger Studios
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	April 30, 1938;
Running time	8:00
Language	English

Porky's Hare Hunt is a 1938 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes animated short film directed by Ben "Bugs" Hardaway and an uncredited Cal Dalton,[3] which stars Porky Pig as a hunter whose quarry is a rabbit named Happy.[4] The short was released on April 30, 1938.[5]

This cartoon marked the first appearance of the rabbit that would evolve into Bugs Bunny, who is barely recognizable compared to his more familiar later form. Bugs' first official appearance would come two years later in A Wild Hare.

Plot

Several rabbits are eating carrots and ruining crops. Another rabbit warns them to evacuate by saying "Jiggers, fellers!". Soon, Porky and his dog meet this rabbit and try to outwit him in the forest. Porky and the rabbit get in a long, long fight and soon the hare thinks he has won the battle. However Porky finds the rabbit and he doesn't have any brainstorms to protect him. The rabbit shows Porky a photo of himself and of how many children he has with his wife. However, when Porky's about to shoot him, the gun fails.

After Porky attempts to shoot down and procure the rabbit, he asks Porky: "Do you have a hunting license?" As Porky reaches for his pocket to obtain the document, the hyper-hare suddenly snatches it out of Porky's grasp, rips it in two, remarks, "Well you haven't got one now!" and makes a getaway by twisting his ears as though they were a helicopter propeller, flying away. But Porky suddenly throws a rock at the hovering hare which sends him crashing into a haystack. He emerges from the stack appearing injured, but suddenly grabs Porky and says (in an imitation of Groucho Marx's line from Duck Soup), "Of course, you know that this means war!" He then starts marching like one of the spirits of '76. Ultimately, the rabbit wins when Porky throws dynamite into the cave in which the rabbit is hiding and he throws the dynamite back at him. Later, Porky is in the hospital and the rabbit comes to him with some flowers. Porky tells the rabbit that he'll be out in a few days. "That's what YOU think!", the rabbit declares, and then he pulls on the anvil in Porky's bed, adding insult to injury to the hapless hunter and runs off into the distance laughing.

Production

The rabbit's hyperactive personality and laugh provided by Mel Blanc predated the 1940 Walter Lantz/Universal Pictures release Knock Knock which starred Andy Panda and introduced cartoon audiences to Woody Woodpecker, who was created for the Lantz studio by Hardaway after his departure from the Leon Schlesinger/Warner Bros. studio.

Music

The incidental music heard throughout the piece are scored arrangements of "Bei Mir Bistu Shein", a popular song which was a hit for The Andrews Sisters around this time, and "Hooray for Hollywood," from the contemporary motion picture Hollywood Hotel.

Home media

Blu-ray: Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2, Disc 2
DVD: Porky Pig 101, Disc 2

References

"Point of View: Moose and Squirrel". Retrieved 2018-05-25.
"Paul Smith animation Porky's Hare Hunt". Retrieved 4 January 2021.
Jones, Chuck (1989). Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 195. ISBN 0-374-52620-6. The directorial team of Bugs Hardaway and Cal Dalton tried in this film to adopt the existing and unfinished character of Daffy Duck, including “Woo-hoos!” into a rabbit skin.
Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 70. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 124–126. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.

External links

Preceded by None	Bugs Bunny Cartoons 1938	Succeeded by Prest-O Change-O

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[Hardaway-1] "Point of View: Moose and Squirrel". Retrieved 2018-05-25.

[2] "Paul Smith animation Porky's Hare Hunt". Retrieved 4 January 2021.

[3] Jones, Chuck (1989). Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 195. ISBN 0-374-52620-6. The directorial team of Bugs Hardaway and Cal Dalton tried in this film to adopt the existing and unfinished character of Daffy Duck, including “Woo-hoos!” into a rabbit skin.

[Beck-4] Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 70. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.

[5] Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 124–126. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.