Bushy Hare

Bushy Hare
Production company	Warner Bros. Cartoons
Distributor	Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date	November 18, 1950
Run time	7:20
Starring	Mel Blanc
Producer(s)	Edward Selzer
Music composed by	Carl Stalling
Story by	Warren Foster
Animation	Phil De Lara J.C. Melendez Charles McKimson Rob Scribner John Carey
Director(s)	Robert Mckimson
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Title card

Bushy Hare is the two hundred and seventy-ninth Looney Tunes theatrical short. It was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and The Vitaphone Corporation on November 18, 1950. It was written by Warren Foster, produced by Edward Selzer, and directed by Robert McKimson.

Bugs lands in Australia after receiving a ride with balloons and a stork, where he encounters an aborigine hunter going after a kangaroo.

Memorable quotes

Bugs: I'm not your baby, lady. I'm a full grown rabbit! It's a case of mistaken i-dem-ni-ty, yes.

Bugs: Well, like I was sayin', mater, I'll do my own walkin'. I'm a big boy now.

Nature Boy: YAARGH!
Bugs: Eh, what's up, doc?
Nature Boy: Woooooah, ooga dinga!
Bugs: Unga bunga bunga!
Nature Boy: Unga bunga bunga!!
Bugs: Unga bunga bunga!
Nature Boy: Unga bunga bunga!!
Bugs: Unga bunga bunga inga binga binga bunga!
Nature Boy: RAAAAUGH!!
Bugs: What'd I say, what'd I say?

Characters

Legend
Character debut	Speaking debut	Ep. debut	No lines	Mentioned

In order of appearance:

Character	Actor
Bugs Bunny	Mel Blanc
Balloon vendor	Mel Blanc
Stork	N/A
Kangaroo	Mel Blanc
Nature Boy	Mel Blanc
Kangaroo joey	Mel Blanc

Locations

• Earth
  • United States
    • California
      • Los Angeles
        • Golden Gate Park
  • Australia

Objects

• Spear
• Boomerang

Music

The music was composed by Carl W. Stalling.

Bugs sings "The Fountain in the Park", by Ed Haley, at the beginning of the short.

Crew credits

• Layouts: Cornett Wood
• Backgrounds: Richard H. Thomas

Release

Dates are in order of release:

• United States: November 18, 1950 in theatres

Behind the scenes

• The title is a "hare/hair" pun on "bushy hair." It is also a reference to the stereotype of Australian aborigines being from "the bush" country.
• The MPAA certificate number is 13382.
• As with many theatrical Warner shorts of similar subject, the short deals with inaccurate stereotypes of Aboriginal Australians.
• The kangaroo joey has a striking resemblance to Hippety Hopper, but is not the same character due in it having a slightly different design.
• The short is reported to have the first usage of the words "Unga bunga."
• Bugs' nickname for the hunter, Nature Boy, comes from 1948 song of the same name by Nat King Cole.
• It is the first short in which Bugs visits Australia, but only in the mainland.
• This cartoon, alongside Big House Bunny, What's Up Doc?, Hillbilly Hare and Bunker Hill Bunny, are the only cartoons from 1950 to not get a Blue Ribbon reissue; they all incidentally star Bugs.
• After the short last aired on Nickelodeon in the early 1990s, it was not shown on U.S. television due to its perceived stereotypes until 2021, when it aired on MeTV via its Saturday Morning Cartoons block.

Legacy

• Bugs would enter Australia again, this time in the island of Tasmania, in Devil May Hare.
• The scene of Nature Boy using a large blowgun, only to instead choke on a fruit, was repurposed in Pre-Hysterical Hare.
• This cartoon would be used in The Bugs Bunny Mother's Day Special.
• This cartoon was featured as part of the unaired ToonHeads special "The Twelve Missing Hares", which contained other Bugs shorts with similarly inaccurate depictions of other cultures.

In other languages

Language	Name	Meaning

Home availability

• In the United States: