Hare-um Scare-um

Hare-um Scare-um
Production company	Leon Schlesinger Productions
Distributor	Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date	July 15, 1939
Run time	8:00
Starring	Mel Blanc
Producer(s)	Leon Schlesinger
Music composed by	Carl W. Stalling
Story by	Melvin Millar
Animation	Gil Turner
Director(s)	Ben Hardaway Cal Dalton
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Title card
File:Hare-um Scare-um title card.png

Hare-um Scare-um is the one hundred and twenty-sixth Merrie Melodies theatrical short. It was released by Warner Bros. Pictures and The Vitaphone Corporation on July 15, 1939. It was written by Melvin Millar, produced by Leon Schlesinger, and directed by Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton.

Enraged that the price of meat has risen from a supply shortage, a hunter decides to go on a rabbit hunt, but is recklessly tormented by one screwy rabbit.

Characters

Legend
Character debut	Speaking debut	Ep. debut	No lines	Mentioned

In order of appearance:

Character	Actor
John Sourpuss	Arthur Q. Bryan
John's dog	Sara Berner
Grey rabbit	Mel Blanc
Porky Pig (billboard)	N/A

Locations

• Earth
  • United States

Music

The music was composed by Carl W. Stalling.

Release

Dates are in order of release:

• United States: July 15, 1939 in theatres

Behind the scenes

• The title is a play on "harum-scarum", a phrase meaning reckless or irresponsible. It is also the first usage of the "hare/hair" pun, which would be used as a device in many Bugs Bunny cartoons.
• The MPAA certificate number is 5293.
• Although not mentioned on-screen, John's name was mentioned in the copyright sheet of the short.
• The rabbit carries the same screwball personality from Porky's Hare Hunt, but has a completely different visual design.
• The ending scene of this short was thought be lost, due to an abrupt cut that occurs after John threatens to beat up the rabbit's family and finds himself confronted by them (which existed on television airings). Despite this, the ending was later re-instated on the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2 home media releases.
  • There was also false speculation that there were two endings of the short, in that there was one where the rabbits beating up the hunter as the cartoon closed out; and another that is the same, but with the hunter and the dog rolling down a roadway into the sunset as the iris closes to end the cartoon.
  • According to historian/writer David Gerstein, he debunked these two endings and instead showed the actual ending. He theorized that ending was cut before the theatrical release due to it being similar to the one in Daffy Duck & Egghead.

Everlasting influence

• A similar design for the rabbit would be used in Elmer's Candid Camera, although it notably lacked gloves in that short.

Home availability

• In the United States:
  • October 16, 2012: Warner Home Video releases Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2 on Blu-ray.