198. Porky's Hare Hunt (1938)

Release date: April 30th, 1938

Series: Looney Tunes

Director: Ben Hardaway

Starring: Mel Blanc (Porky, Bugs), Ben Hardaway (Groucho imitation), Melvin Gibby (Zero)

One of the most important reviews that I'll be writing in this venture. April 30th, 1938, a star is born... somewhat.

With Friz Freleng over at Metro Goldwyn-Meyer, Leon Schlesinger needed to find a replacement. Ben Hardaway had been in the director's chair before, directing a number of unremarkable Buddy cartoons throughout 1934 and 1935. He was a writer afterwards, his name popping up on a handful of Tex Avery's cartoons before gracing the director's chair once more. Eventually, Cal Dalton would join him as a co-director, and the two would make cartoons before Friz's return to Warner's in 1939.

While Hardaway's cartoons are nothing entirely special, his impact cannot be denied. After all, the most famous animated wabbit rabbit carries his namesake.

Bugs Bunny is a direct descendent of Daffy Duck. According to Martha Sigall, one of the ink-and-paint girls, Hardaway told her he was going to put a rabbit suit on that crazy loon who caused such a sensation a year previously in Porky's Duck Hunt. Indeed, while the success and execution of the two shorts vary, the similarities are undeniable.

Screwball characters were still an incredibly new concept. Daffy paved the way for an entire genre of cartoons and cartoon stars, and Hardaway too wanted to participate in this new sensation. Thus, proto-Bugs Bunny was born. A white rabbit with a slack-jawed, yokel voice and Woody Woodpecker laugh, going into hysterics and taunting his enemies with his obnoxiousness, the prototype bunny couldn't be further removed from his cool, calm, and charismatic self.

An early model sheet penning this rabbit
as Bugs' bunny, possessive.

Ben Hardaway's nickname being Bugs, model sheets and publicity stills from the late '30s label this rabbit as Bugs' bunny--possessive. Though the personalities between proto-Bugs and the real Bugs couldn't be more different, the connection is undeniable.

With that, any mention of this proto-bunny being named "Happy Rabbit" is absolute bunk. Mel Blanc wrote in his memoir that this rabbit was initially named "Happy Rabbit", and that he was the hero who suggested the rabbit's name be Bugs. False. 

Blanc had a habit of making up elaborate stories for entertainment purposes. I can't exactly fault him for that--he was an entertainer and wanted to get a reaction out of anyone who would listen. Yet, because of this, Bugs' history has hit a rocky road with the whole "Happy Rabbit" fiasco. It's simply not true.

For simplicity's sake, I'll be referring to the proto-bunny simply as "Bugs", in this review and any of the subsequent proto-Bugs reviews that follow. 

In terms of the writer's credit, I can't say I have a keen idea on who this Howard Baldwin fellow is--this seems to be his only credit. Bob Clampett's claimed to have laid some groundwork out for this cartoon as well, using leftover ideas from Porky's Duck Hunt into this one. While Clampett is notorious for his little white lies along these lines, there are more preposterous claims that have come from him. 

Without further ado, the cartoon itself. Like Porky's Duck Hunt, Porky finds himself outwitted again and again by a crazy, obnoxious, hayseed rabbit as he attempts to go rabbit hunting.

Open to a gaggle of rabbits feasting away on some corn cobs. The quick banjo interlude in the backing score of "Pop Goes the Weasel" almost serves as an ironic commentary on Hardaway's hayseed sensibilities that would continue to leech into his shorts. 

A gunshot interrupts the feast, but the rabbits, rather than reacting, stare blankly at the camera before resuming their meal. Another shower of gunshots prompts our star to slide into the scene, uttering a rather vague warning: "Jiggers, fellers!" 

The rabbits zip off into the cornstalks as Porky and his loyal hunting dog Zero creep into the scene. Volney White has the honor of animating this opening scene, those pie-eyes unmistakable. 

Unbeknownst to Porky and his pooch, Bugs follows from right behind. Zero shushes Porky--parallel #1 to Porky's Duck Hunt--as he heads off screen to investigate. With that, Bugs taps Porky on the shoulder, making a "what a screwball" motion over his head. It takes a moment for Porky's brain to catch up with him, but he puts two and two together as a shower of bullets spray the cornfield that Bugs has taken refuge in.

A cloud of smoke dissipates, Zero walking back into screen just in time to stare at the unharmed rabbit in the now empty field. Bugs heaves his psuedo-Woody Woodpecker laugh (that Ben Hardaway also has ties to, from a big helping hand in creating him to even providing his voice and writing many of the cartoons. Woody is a woodpecker in a rabbit-in-a-duck suit), taunting the befuddled hunter. "Ya missed me!"

Bugs performs a hysterical ballet visibly influenced from Daffy's own screwy aerobics, but it lacks the control , weight, and appeal of the latter, feeling floaty and obligatory. Such will be a common theme throughout the short--Porky's Hare Hunt lacks the appeal, charm, and control of Porky's Duck Hunt.

Porky orders Zero to get the eh-rr-re-eh-rr-re-eh-rabbit, sending the pooch into the woods. He sticks his head through a log, during a full 360 degree turn as he searches for his prey. As Zero runs off to keep up his search, Bugs pops through the tree stump the pup was just in seconds prior, uttering another obnoxious laugh as he prepares his next trick.

Reminiscent of a similar scene in Daffy Duck & Egghead, a cartoon that this short also borrows from (and to a potential fault at that), Bugs plucks a wind-up rabbit toy from the hollow depths of the tree stump, sending it after Zero.

Indeed, the pooch takes the bait, sniffing the curious, mechanical creature. With that, the toy rabbit kicks the pup in the face with its hindlegs, the animation refreshingly snappy and fun. Another heave of a kick prompts Zero to tackle his prey, a cloud of smoke concealing the action, just like the beginning. 

A reoccurring fault of Hardaway's is allowing his gags to stew for too long. The dog lies on the ground with a scowl, the mechanical parts of the toy rabbit littering his body, the rabbit's head bobbing off of his nose and its tail perched on the dog. A close-up isn't necessary--the gag is clear from a distance, but Hardaway opts to do a close-up anyway, padding up time and stretching out the business longer than it needs.

Back to our porcine predator, his gun sniffing the ground like a dog as he happily searches for his prey. The twin barrels on the rifle stretch around a tree, revealing Bugs' hiding spot as he pops out from a hole and pours pepper into the metal "noses".

To hazard a guess, I'd speculate Rod Scribner as the possible hand behind the next scene as Porky's gun heaves a sneeze, shooting away the tree. The wrinkles, motion lines, pointed eyebrows, and tall pupils align with his artistic trademarks. 

Cue our first hare pun, a genre which would dominate title after title after title in regards to Bugs' shorts. Bugs whips out a bottle of "HARE REMOVER" with a rather crude close-up painting, and, as you can guess, turns invisible after downing the bottle.

A visibly bewildered Porky reaches in the direction where his foe once stood, unable to comprehend the situation. He looks left, right, up, down, and so forth. Finally, the floating bottle of empty "hare remover" is given a hearty thwack over Porky's head, who does a dizzy take in conjunction with a rather incongruous electric guitar score of "You're a Horse's Ass".

This is one of the biggest differences between Tex Avery and Ben Hardaway--subtlety. Tex knows when to pump the breaks and how to get traction going. Over the course of the Porky's Duck Hunt, the gags get more and more crazy. Daffy becomes a bigger pest, and Porky's frustration feels real and sympathetic.

There's none of that sympathy nor momentum here. It's one gag after the other with little control or restraint. Both Porky and Bugs are devoid of any charisma, but Porky's lack of charm is especially worth noting. It's difficult to sympathize with his struggle when he hardly emotes or says a word. The blank stare he gives to the camera as he recovers from the concussion doesn't feel dazed and confused, but feels like a regular, neutral expression gussied up by stars and dizzy lines. While he does eventually grow frustrated, he's been a smiling caricature of himself so far. 

It's hard not to feel bad for Tex's downtrodden pig.

In Porky's Duck Hunt, his gullibility and earnest are taken advantage of, by both Tex and Daffy. Daffy exploits his gullibility and uses it as a way to mess with him, whereas Tex uses this as a way to connect him with the audience and to let us feel his frustration and disappointment at not nabbing a duck. Porky's determination and enthusiasm (and his subsequent anger and despondency at the end of the film) hook the audience in on the antics. What will Daffy do next? Will Porky succeed? 

Once more, none of that sympathy is felt here--and Tex isn't exactly known for his sentimentality, either. There's no real attraction to either character that makes the audience want to root for anyone. Sure, we want to see Porky win, and we want to see Bugs' antics, but neither character makes a case for themselves as to why we should give them our undivided attention. The personalities feel very one-dimensional.

Nevertheless, Bugs pulls himself out of a conveniently placed top hat near a shed, guffawing "Here I yam, fat boy!" Porky showers him with bullets in response, which are expertly dodged--one of the better scenes in terms of speed and ferocity. 

Another cut to Porky reveals him firing from a tower of bullets. Eventually, his gun runs out of ammo. Instead of growing frustrated like in Duck Hunt, Porky heaves a heavy "whew!", visibly spent from his exertion. The animation is pretty ugly (though this is a rather ugly cartoon in general), the timing off, but I do admit to taking a fondness to the way Porky is drawn here. It's so ugly it's almost cute--I'm a fan of the sharp, pronounced eyebrows, unattractive as they are here.

Bugs too is exhausted, panting as he attempts to catch his breath. Yet another flaw, though I realize I'm being overly picky--acknowledging the exhaustion of the two slows things down and breaks the momentum of the gags. Bugs recovers in a matter of seconds, returning to his next order of business. Having him be exhausted is no problem, but the point would have been made just as succinctly had Bugs done a quick wipe of the brow rather than stand there panting for 4 seconds.

Zero's barks off screen revitalize the wascally wabbit rascally rabbit, causing him to echo a routine from Picador Porky (but with much more bloated timing): Bugs digs out a red cape from the depths of the hat, taunting Zero in the manner of a bull fighter. Zero takes the bait, pawing at the ground and launching himself straight at the cape.

He hurtles himself into a metal barrel, the same charade being repeated and Zero getting stuck in a log instead. The timing takes up way too much time and eliminates any sense of urgency that could be found, nearly taking up a minute of the cartoon. 

Bugs taunts the pooch once more, performing a magic trick with the cape (again referring to the similar scene from Picador Porky) as Zero manages to run directly into the cape and disappearing into its magical abysses. Bugs frees the pooch after some elaborate theatrics by blowing through the cape like a tube, sending Zero flying into befuddled owner, cleaning out the barrels of his rifle. While the gag is whimsical, it lacks some much-needed clarity--Zero disappears into the cape with little fanfare or obviousness.

Nevertheless, Bugs guffaws at his opponents. In a not-so-subtle nod to Porky's Duck Hunt, Bugs announces "Don't let me worry ya, chief! I'm just a triiiifle pixilated!" (as opposed to "Don't let it worry ya, skipper. I'm just a crazy, darn fool duck!") 

Instead of engaging in an elaborate water ballet filled with HOOHOO!s and shrieks galore, Bugs spins his ears like a propeller, flying into the air. Again, one of the biggest flaws of Daffy Duck & Egghead (which Hardaway wrote) resurfaces here as Bugs announces "Look out below! Here I come!"

Acknowledging his own screwiness dampens the impact of the gag and his personality to begin with. Though Daffy did this too as we observe in the quote from the paragraph above, he didn't announce every single action that he was doing, and when he did ("It's me again!"), that was the joke. The constant self-awareness destroys that suspension of disbelief and grounds the characters more than necessary. If a character is going to be a crazy, guffawing mess, let them revel in it. Don't tell the audience what's going to happen next when it can be inferred pretty clearly.

Indeed, the rabbit divebombs Porky and Zero all of 2 (count 'em, 2) times before moving on to the next gag. Funnily enough, the music score is, for some reason, "Hooray for Hollywood"--incredibly ironic in hindsight now that we all know who and what this rabbit has become. 

Animated by Volney White, Porky tells his canine companion "Whew! Eh-su-eh-sure glad t' get rid of that eh-de-dee-eh-de-eh-dope!"

Enter the inevitable as Bugs pops out from behind a tree, taunting "That's what you think!" Dopey guffaws replace HOOHOO!s as Bugs swings from tree to tree in another appropriation of Daffy's signature hysterical ballet. The Woody Woodpecker laugh is more pronounced here as Porky sics Zero onto the rabbit once more.

A log pile serves as an appropriate hiding place. Zero "psst! psst!"s Porky, yet another direct parallel to Porky's Duck Hunt as the pig cautiously peers into the woodpile. "Eh-ye-eh-you stay here. I'll uh-geh-ge-go 'round the other side."

More potential Rod Scribner animation as Porky confronts the carrot-chewing (!!) rabbit. "Now! Eh-le-let's see ya get outta this, eh-wee-we-be-eh-wise guy!"

Bugs pleads the hunter not to shoot, both interlocked in a deadly tango as Porky marches with his rifle pressed snug against the rabbit's abdomen. "Honest, chief," the rabbit pleads, "I never done nothin' to no one what never done nothin' t' me!"

Another instance of Porky with fingernails...

He pulls the ol' wife-and-kids routine, whipping out a photograph of his family. One of the funnier gags in the picture as we see his family, Bugs proudly posing with his mistress against their sea of offspring. The underscore of "What's the Matter With Father" is appropriate and fun.

Porky refuses to be had. His aggression, while warranted, feels surprisingly sudden--he'd been all smiles and blank stares previously. There's little built to his emotions, at least visibly. The gag is no doubt amusing, but would probably be more successful had Bugs tried to dupe him with this shtick once before. I think that's just my need to compare jumping out--Porky's been a sucker for this gag before (...er, after, I suppose. Duck Soup to Nuts and Riff Raffy Daffy come to mind), and this is just personal preference/how I would do it if I were in charge anyhow. A moot point.

On the topic of comparisons, yet another parallel to Porky's Duck Hunt as Porky realizes he's out of ammo, empty clicks ringing in the air. Instead of Bugs taking the gun into his own hands and teaching him how to shoot it, he resorts to mockery instead. "Purrty brave when ya got a gun, aint'cha?

He snags the rifle from Porky's grip and snaps it in two, asking for Porky's hunting license. Porky feels himself all over, visibly concerned as he can't seem to place the license. He reaches into his pocket, and his expression goes from a frown to a smile to an oddly placed frown again. Bugs rips it in half, resuming his heel-clicking cavorts and echoing his Woody Woodpecker laugh once more.

A spin of the ears and Bugs is airborne again like a propeller. Now gun-less, Porky opts to lob a rock in Bugs' direction. We never see Bugs, only focusing on Porky's slow, oddly timed reaction as he waits for the rock to hit. The collision is marked with a discordant gunshot sound effect and Porky's visible jubilation (which gets cuteness/appeal points in my book). 

Bugs spirals into a stack of hay, once more taking up more time than necessary. Porky is ecstatic, his voice excessively shrill as he squeaks "I eh-ge-eh-geh-got 'im, Zero! I eh-ge-ge-eh-eh-eh-got 'im!"

Cue the melodrama as Bugs staggers out from behind the haystack, gasping for breath. Volney White's animation can sometimes be difficult to keep track of because there's constant movement, but Porky putting a hand to his mouth (despite the lack of any facial variation indicating concern) is a nice touch. 

"Ya got me, pal," the rabbit wheezes, clinging to Porky's pant legs, "ya got me..." 

He clings to Porky's clothes, practically trying to climb up him... 

...until he reverts back to his plucky self. He echoes an iconic catchphrase that serves as a bridge between proto-Bugs and the real Bugs, sourced from Groucho Marx's A Night at the Opera: "Of course you know that this means war!" 

It's difficult to capture the magic of this scene
in a mere screenshot, but a simple comparison
between this and the death scene from above
speaks volumes.

The death scene proves difficult in terms of scrounging any sympathy for Porky or Bugs. Not only is Bob McKimson's intricate animation sorely missed, but the attachment to the characters as well. In A Wild Hare, you have no choice but to feel terrible for poor ol' Elmer, reduced to a blubbering, wailing mess as the realization of his "murder" creeps into his peanut-sized brain. Elmer is hardly an endearing character, but he strikes enough appeal in that short to arouse genuine sympathy from the audience. And, of course, Bugs' performance (and twisted glee as he observes Elmer's breakdown) is sublime and can't be topped.

Not only is the sequence too short here to give any time to feel sympathy, but neither character has endeared themselves to us. Porky's frustration has been marked, but it still proves difficult to feel bad for him, especially when he just stares on in silence with a neutral, relatively unbothered expression.

Porky can be quite sympathetic (and gullible) when the situation calls for it.

Porky's an oblivious sap with a big heart, and a chance for him to mourn his actions is rife with potential. Again, Duck Soup to Nuts, Riff Raffy Daffy, even One Meat Brawl come to mind. If Porky is able to plead for Daffy to emit any signs of life after a mere bonk on the head with a nightstick, imagine just what he could be reduced to in a situation like this. The absence of a gun doesn't make much difference considering Bugs acts as though he'd been shot anyhow. Maybe I'm just looking too far ahead into the future, but Porky's severely underplayed, another major fault of this short.

Nevertheless, in a future parallel to the conclusion of A Wild Hare, Bugs marches off unscathed, playing "The Girl I Left Behind Me" on a fife as Porky is left to throw his hat on the ground in a rage.

Again, Hardaway stretches the gag out much more than necessary--Bugs playing the fife as he struts sideways down a trail reduces the urgency as Porky (eventually) chases him from behind. Regardless, the end of the cartoon is upon us, and some traction finally gets going as Bugs hides in a cave.

A conveniently placed box of explosives calls Porky's name. Perhaps it's the absence of a hat, but Porky's animation is particularly unappealing as he strikes a match on the sole of his shoe, lighting a stick of dynamite with an open mouthed stare. 

He tosses the stick into the cave and braces for the impact. Of course, the inevitable occurs as the dynamite is tossed back out (unbeknownst to Porky). One explosion later, a cloud of smoke dissipates as we fade to black, Porky nowhere to be seen.

Fade into a bandaged Porky forlornly examining his injuries in a hospital bed. Bugs, the good sport he is, approaches with flowers, leaning against the doorframe in a pose that would be affiliated with the character for decades to come. 

He struts over to Porky with the flowers, the walk hilariously unfitting as Porky graciously accepts the flowers, giving an anti-climactic "Eh-thanks." Volney White's poses of Bugs' bashfulness are quite appealing. As Porky sniffs his new present, Bugs asks "How'd'ya feel?"

"Eh-swe-eh-swe-eh--fine! I'll be out in a ceh-eh-couple 'a days." Bugs repeats Porky's prognosis, met with an affirmative nod. Then, repeating a phrase from earlier: "That's what you think!"

Like the sadist he is, Bugs grabs the pulley elevating Porky's broken foot, giving it a few good tugs and lowering the anchor to ground. Porky is left hanging in a daze as Bugs heaves one last chorus of Woody Woodpecker laughs, heel-clicking and cartwheeling out of the open window and into the horizon. We iris out on history in the making.

While Porky's Duck Hunt is inarguably the better cartoon of the two, the importance of this cartoon cannot be understated. There would be no Bugs Bunny without Porky's Hare Hunt, and without Bugs Bunny, animation history would never be the same.

We'll explore Bugs' contributions and just how groundbreaking of a character he was more in A Wild Hare than here--it's difficult to say "this is the star of animation" when regarding this obnoxious hayseed loon devoid of any charisma. Yet, with that said, the link between the two is undeniable, and comparing this crazy character to everybody's favorite wittle gway wabbit is fascinating. All the more proof that these timeless characters are a collaborative effort. No one person is 100% responsible for a certain character. Every interpretation is different, and that's the beauty of this series.

As I mentioned before, Hardaway's biggest faults that bogged down Daffy Duck & Egghead are all strung together here for 7 minutes. The gags take too long and call too much attention to themselves, the crazy characters profess and acknowledge their screwiness, therefore reducing the novelty of their personalities, and so on. Neither Bugs nor Porky have charm, and despite the occasionally cute Porky every now and then, this is a pretty ugly looking cartoon.

Despite Bugs being the star of the show, I believe Porky being underplayed so much is one of the biggest faults to this cartoon. While he grows tired of the rabbit's antics, he endures it, too. He's not very reactive, and not even in an oblivious, gullible, non-plussed way, which would have worked fine. Just a whole lot of neutrality with the occasional outburst. 

Because of that, Bugs' torment doesn't hit as hard. What's the fun if the victim doesn't react? Though he's no beacon of personality in Porky's Duck Hunt either, his thoughts, motives, and feelings are at least clearer. He's genuinely excited to go duck hunting and very clearly proud of himself, and his frustration and depression at not getting Daffy in the end transcends the screen. Here, Porky reacts to a situation rather than a character. We don't feel as big of an attachment to him, and therefore we aren't as invested in his quest to get a rabbit. Therefore, the short loses its novelty.

Porky's Duck Hunt isn't entirely a masterpiece either, and suffers from its share of faults as well. But it's clear Hardaway is trying his best to imitate Tex and the successes of that cartoon, but he falls short.

This isn't a very good cartoon. The pacing drags, the characters aren't charismatic, the drawings aren't appealing, it's obnoxious, and doesn't hold one's attention well. And, because of that, I say this is a must-watch short.

Despite all of its shortcomings, this short is history in the making. To have a better appreciation of Bugs' character (the real Bugs, not this one), to better understand what a knockout hit he was, to better appreciate his cartoons, make yourself watch this to see what he was once like. What animation was once like. Tex Avery's control and care are so much more evident and admirable compared to a short like this. 

While this short is far from a favorite, it requires at least one viewing. Especially since it's in HD on HBO Max!

Link!