Slick Hare

The cartoon opens with various shots of 1940s celebrities dining and drinking at the Mocrumbo club—including such personalities as Gregory Peck using a straight razor to cut his steak in reference to his character in Hitchcock's Spellbound,[3] Ray Milland (in a spoof of The Lost Weekend, he pays for his drink with a manual typewriter and receives miniature typewriters as change) and Frank Sinatra (depicted exaggeratedly thin, so much so that he slips into his straw when trying to take a sip from his drink). Fudd is a waiter at the Mocrumbo and comes out to find that his next customer is Humphrey Bogart.

Bogart tells Elmer that he wants fried rabbit, within 20 minutes—"or else!"—pulling out a tommy gun to threaten Elmer. This puts Elmer in a bind, as the restaurant is "fwesh out of wabbit." However, during his frantic search for one, Elmer hears the sound of Bugs munching on some carrots in a corner of the kitchen. Elmer lets Bugs know that Bogart wants to "have" him for dinner. Bugs immediately dresses in a tailcoat and wants to have a peek at what is cooking. Elmer quickly puts a mirror into a pot. Bugs, taking a look inside, soon realizes that he himself is the main course.

Bugs eventually manages to escape the kitchen, dressing like Groucho Marx in an attempt to fool Elmer. Elmer then appears next to Bugs, dressed as Harpo Marx. Bugs tries to make a getaway, but is stopped by the large stomach of Sydney Greenstreet. He runs into Carmen Miranda's dressing room and hides in her fruit headdress. Carmen then performs a song and as she exits the stage, Elmer starts chasing Bugs. Elmer runs away from the audience leaving Bugs to dance to the orchestra's samba rhythms.

Bugs then makes his way back to the kitchen, where he revels in the audience's appreciation of his performance ("Ah, my public! How they love me! A-huh-huh!") (the little laugh being a Jack Benny shtick). Fudd then runs towards Bugs, and Bugs immediately pretends to be a waiter ordering pies and twice splatters Elmer in the face, first with a lemon meringue pie, then with a banana cream pie. The third time (a comic triple), when Bugs orders a coconut custard pie with whipped cream, Elmer finally realizes that the waiter is Bugs ("Say, ya know what I think? I think that's the wabbit! Well, he who waughs wast, ha ha ha!") and after making the pie, in an attempt to take the last laugh, he throws it at Bugs, but Bugs ducks and the pie sails out into the seating area, accidentally hitting Bogart in the face. Bogart walks into the kitchen, grabs Elmer by his collar and asks him, "Why did you hit me in a face wid a coconut custard pie with whipped cream?" Bogart then warns Elmer that he has just 5 minutes to come up with his fried rabbit. Elmer searches frantically, but cannot find one in time. Bogart returns, and sticks his hand in his jacket menacingly. Elmer thinks he's about to die, but Bogart only pulls out a handkerchief to dab his forehead as he says resignedly, "Baby will just have to have a ham sandwich instead." Upon hearing "Baby", Bugs jumps out of his hiding place and takes his place as the main course (Lauren Bacall being "Baby"), noting, "Remember, garçon, the customer is always right! If it's rabbit Baby wants, rabbit Baby gets!" before howling and wolf whistling at Bacall.

Background artist Paul Julian visited the kitchen at the Mocambo, and based this cartoon's kitchen backgrounds on the unhygienic things he observed, later commenting in an interview: "I was so bloody revolted by it that I came back and made a documentary out of it!"[4]

Cartoon voice actor Keith Scott writes, "One of the last of Warner Bros.' topical caricature cartoons, Slick Hare is much more accessible to a modern audience than some other entries in the movie-star parody genre. This is because Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd carry the comedy. With these two strong personalities in the foreground, the throwaway movie-star gags are more like the icing on a cake."[5]

• Mel Blanc as Bugs Bunny, Waiter, Bartender and Ray Milland
• Arthur Q. Bryan as Elmer Fudd (uncredited)
• Dave Barry as Humphrey Bogart (uncredited)
• Carmen Miranda as herself (uncredited)

• This cartoon can be found on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2.
• The short is also an extra on the DVD release of the 1947 Humphrey Bogart film Dark Passage, available individually and as part of the Bogie and Bacall: The Signature Collection DVD boxed set.

• List of Bugs Bunny cartoons
• Mickey's Gala Premiere
• Mickey's Polo Team
• Mother Goose Goes Hollywood
• The Autograph Hound
• Hollywood Steps Out
• Hollywood Daffy
• What's Cookin' Doc?
• Felix in Hollywood

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• Slick Hare at IMDb