Hare Splitter

Hare Splitter
	; Lobby card.
Production company	Warner Bros. Cartoons
Distributor	Warner Bros. Pictures; The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date	September 25, 1948
Starring	Mel Blanc; Sara Berner
Producer(s)	Edward Selzer
Music composed by	Carl Stalling
Story by	Tedd Pierce
Animation	Gerry Chiniquy; Manuel Perez; Ken Champin; Virgil Ross
Director(s)	I. Freleng
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Hare Splitter is the two hundred and ninety-third Merrie Melodies theatrical short. It was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and The Vitaphone Corporation on September 25, 1948. It was written by Tedd Pierce, produced by Edward Selzer, and directed by Friz Freleng.

It's a love triangle between Bugs Bunny and Casbah Rabbit when they want to woo Daisy Lou into going on a date with either one of them. But when Daisy Lou isn't home, Bugs decides to heckle Casbah by pretending to be Daisy Lou.

Detailed summary

Memorable quotes

Daisy: WHAT A MAN!
Bugs: WHAT A WOMAN!
Bugs and Daisy: (jumping around like Daffy Duck while kissing)

Characters

Legend
Character debut	Speaking debut	Ep. debut	No lines	Mentioned

In order of appearance:

Character	Actor
Bugs Bunny	Mel Blanc
Casbah Rabbit	Mel Blanc
Daisy Lou	Sara Berner

Locations

Earth
- [[United States
- Bugs Bunny's rabbit hole
- Casbah's Rabbit Hole
- Daisy Lou's house

Objects

Anvil
Bomb
Explosive Carrots

Production

Development

Music

The music was composed by Carl W. Stalling.

Songs

"If I Could Be With You"

Release

Dates are in order of release:

United States: September 25, 1948 in theatres with the film, Rope.

Behind the scenes

The title is another "hare/hair" pun, this time it's a pun of 'hair splitter', which means when one who focuses on fine details.
- It could also be a pun of 'pair splitter' like when someone tries to split a couple apart. Like what Bugs does to Casbah and Daisy Lou in this cartoon.
This is the first cartoon directed by Friz Freleng to be in the post-1948 Warner Bros. package.
The cartoon was the first to be reissued in the 1957–58 season, evident from the "WARNER BROS. PICTURES INC". both with dots and blue Color Rings red background. The 1958–59 season was the same rings but no dot after BROS and INC so it would be "WARNER BROS PICTURES INC", without the dot.
The fact that Daisy lives in a house instead of a rabbit hole like Bugs or Casbah is an oddity that goes unmentioned.
The question of whether or not any of the girls in the audience have to put up with what was going on in a scene was previously used in The Big Snooze (1947).

Errors

There are several errors in this short:

When Bugs first dresses like Daisy, he wore just a green dress. Later Bugs has shoes and pantyhose on him, but they disappear in the next scene.
In the close-up shot of Daisy's photo on Bugs' dresser, her eyes are open, she is facing left and wearing a sweater and it reads Love, Daisy. In the wide shot, her eyes are closed, she is facing the camera directly, it reads with love, Daisy and she appears to be wearing nothing at all like Bugs and Casbah. The close-up and wide shots of the photo on Casbah's dresser also do not match.
Between the time that Bugs slams the door on Casbah and Daisy walks into the house, the direction the door opens changes a couple of times.
When Bugs' stocking fall down, they are attached by one garter each. But when he reaches down the top of the front of his dress he grabs 5 or 6 garters to pull up his stockings.
When the cartoon opens, and the scene zooms in to Bugs' hole, there is only one rabbit hole, with an angled fence behind and to the right. When Bugs and Casbah exit their respective holes, their holes are suddenly merged, and a straight fence is behind and to the left.
When Casbah rings the doorbell, he is carrying a carrot in a clear box, with a crossed ribbon and bow. After Bugs (in Daisy's clothes) calls to him, the box and carrot disappear. And when Casbah lands on the sofa, he has the boxed carrot again, but the ribbon with a bow only runs lengthwise on the box.
When Bugs asks Casbah, "You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses, would ya'?", his mouth moves to the words "would ya'" twice, even though he could only be heard saying that line only once.

Legacy

This short would use the opening scene used to open the Valentine's Day TV Special, Bugs Bunny's Cupid Capers.

Home availability

In the United States:
- December 1, 2020: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment releases Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection on Blu-ray.

References