High Diving Hare
High Diving Hare is a 1948-produced Warner Brothers Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon short starring Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam.[1] Released to theaters on April 30, 1949,[2] the short is an expansion of a gag from Stage Door Cartoon, which was also directed by Friz Freleng. High Diving Hare can be seen in the third act of The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie.
| High Diving Hare | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | I. Freleng |
| Produced by | Edward Selzer (uncredited) |
| Story by | Tedd Pierce |
| Starring | Mel Blanc |
| Music by | Carl Stalling |
| Animation by | Gerry Chiniquy Manuel Perez Ken Champin Virgil Ross Pete Burness |
| Layouts by | Hawley Pratt |
| Backgrounds by | Paul Julian |
| Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation |
Release date | April 30, 1949 |
Running time | 7:30 |
| Language | English |
Synopsis
Bugs Bunny is drumming up business for a vaudeville show in a remote western town (notably one of the posters in the background is for "Frizby the Magician", a reference to director Friz Freleng). One of the main attractions is "Fearless Freep" and his high-dive act. As soon as Yosemite Sam hears the name "Fearless Freep", he goes into a joyful frenzy, buying as many tickets as he can. ("I'm a-splurgin'!")
During the show, as Bugs is about to introduce Freep, he gets a telegram informing him that Freep is delayed by a storm and won't be able to appear until tomorrow. An angered Sam insists on seeing the high-diving act and forces Bugs at gunpoint to the top of a high-dive platform. But Bugs manages to pull out all his tricks and stops, and it is Sam who does all the diving, in a different comical setting nine separate times (in a variant of the diving act from "Stage Door Cartoon").
1: Sam pushes Bugs to the edge of the platform (with Bugs baring his claws to secure himself to the board). Bugs tells Sam to cover his eyes while he puts on his bathing suit, and then proceeds to spin the board around so that Sam is at the diving edge. Bugs makes it look like he's taken the dive (accompanied with an audible "SPLASH"). Sam, muttering that he can't believe Bugs actually jumped, turns around and walks right off the edge. As Sam descends to the tank, Bugs zooms down the ladder and watches this dramatic scene from the audience saying, "This I gotta see." After Sam lands in the tank, it falls apart; the hoops break off, leaving the water intact.
2: Bugs begins jumping on the board (reciting the "One for the Money" poem) and jumps on the board so hard that he sends Sam up, over his head and down (separating Sam from his pistols in the process). Bugs then realizes that he forgot to fill the tank with water, so he grabs a bucket of water and throws it down from the diving board past Sam. With Sam's encouragement, the water makes it into the tank, but Sam misses it altogether, smashing through the stage into the basement.
3: Sam walks to the end of the board and finds Bugs standing on the board upside-down ("Great horny toads! What are ya doin' down there upside-downy?"). Bugs points out that it is actually SAM who is upside-down ("I'm not upside down, doc. You are! Look!"). Sam looks "up", sees the tank, and falls into it.
4: Having been verbally hit with "fightin' words", Bugs dares Sam to "step over this line" (in a gag similar to one from Bugs Bunny Rides Again), sending Sam down for the splash again (but not before springing back up for a moment to declare: "I hate you!")
5: Sam is stopped by a door, and yells "Open up that door!" then turns to the audience and says: "Y'notice I didn't say Richard?". He backs up and charges towards the door, which Bugs opens at the last moment, leading Sam to another splash, this time assisted by an anvil given to him by Bugs.
6: Bugs, dressed as an Indian, points Sam to a "short-cut" in a desert-like setting ("Quick! Him go that way! You take-em short cut! Head him off at pass!"). Sam thanks the "Indian" and takes the route, leading to yet another dive.
After two more dives in which the setups are unseen, Sam finally has Bugs tied and standing on the edge of the platform, with Sam sawing away at the board, gloating: "Now ya smarty-pants, let's see ya get out-in this one! This time, you're a-diving!" However, as soon as Sam cuts through the board, it is the ladder and platform that falls, leaving the severed plank (and Bugs) suspended in midair. Bugs turns to the camera and cracks: "I know this defies the law of gravity, but, you see, I never "studied" law!"
Cast
• Mel Blanc as Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam and Telegram Boy
Notes
Available uncut on Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1.
The final gag about the "law of gravity" was repeated nearly verbatim in the Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner short Fastest with the Mostest 12 years later.
Critical reception
In a commentary by Greg Ford, it is described as "arguably the best of all" Bugs and Sam confrontations. Ford also refers to the ways Bugs tricks Sam as "almost idiotically simple".[3]
References
- Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 187. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
- Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 60–61. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
- Greg Ford (filmmaker) (2003). High Diving Hare (commentary) (DVD). Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1 (disc 1). Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
External links
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Wikiquote has quotations related to: High Diving Hare |
| Preceded by Rebel Rabbit |
Bugs Bunny Cartoons 1949 |
Succeeded by Bowery Bugs |