2023 marks the 85th Anniversary of Bug Bunny’s first animated appearance in 1938’s “Porky’s Hare Hunt.” Debuting originally as Happy Rabbit, Bugs eventually became one of the most iconic animated characters of all time. In honor of the landmark anniversary, we’re discussing every animated appearance by Bugs Bunny. We’re big fans of Bugsy and we hope that you are, too.
Follow us on this massive journey where we discover and re-discover Every Bugs Bunny Ever.
Case of the Missing Hare (1942)
Directed by Chuck Jones
Written by Ted Pierce
Music by Carl W. Stalling
Animation by Ken Harris
“Case of the Missing Hare” is one of the many Bugs Bunny shorts that I have sentimental value attached to. Once again, it’s in the public domain (one of the many from United Artists), so it was a part of the many VHS cartoon compilations that my siblings and I owned as kids (we must have owned at least ten of them). “Case of the Missing Hare” was one of my absolute favorites. While it definitely wasn’t one of Bugs’ best, it’s definitely one of my most watched. It also features yet another pretty much one and done villain for Bugs Bunny, which is a shame, because The Great Ala Bahma (also voiced by Blanc) is a pretty fun villain.
It’s not often we get a magician for a villain, and this one proves to be a match for Bugs, despite Bugs getting one over on him when all is said and done. Funny enough, “Case of the Missing Hare” has the distinction of being the first time Bugs ever declares “Of course you realize, this means war.” This became an affirmation that Bugs meant serious business whenever meeting a foe. Often times Bugs would approach a nemesis with considerable patience and good humor, but you knew all bets were off once he made the declaration to the audience.
This would become one of his many trademark catchphrases that also would indicate various points in the story. “What’s Up Doc?” would be the beginning (this time though he declares “Pardon Me, Doc?” instead), and “Of course you realize…” would be the big turning point in his conflict. There’s some considerable debate, apparently, about where “Of Course You Realize…” originated from. Although it’s suspected it was a reference to World War II, there’s also indication that it was initially used by Groucho Marx in the 1933 classic “Duck Soup” (Highly recommended). In either case, this is one of the few shorts where Bugs isn’t in a hole in the ground.
Rather, this time he’s living in a tree until he comes across Ala Bahma, the prestigajagoo… proostiga… prastigatijay—uh, magician who is promoting his latest show. Despite Bugs’ anger over covering his hole with the posters for his act, Bahma doesn’t take too kindly to his protests and retaliates by smacking him in the face with a Blackberry pie. This prompts Bugs to teach him a lesson, which involves a hilarious sabotaging of his live performance. This is where the centerpiece of the short is, as Bugs masquerades as a young boy who is called on stage to perform with Ala Bahma. This leads in to one of the best gags Bugs ever stages as Ala Bahma begins performing the knife through the basket trick.
Despite assuring Bugs that it’s all an illusion, once he sticks in the knife, Bugs begins screaming in pain. The more swords he pokes in, the louder and more anguishing Bugs’ hollers become. This is such a funny gag, as Ala Bahma’s reaction of anxiety and horror, mixed with the cut over to Bugs who is handing him the swords and screeching in faux pain is just genius. The edit, the pan over, matched with Bahma’s reaction to the trickery is just hysterical. This gag was mimicked in the Tom and Jerry MGM short “Tom’s Dinner Date” in 1945. While their version of the gag is very funny in its own way, it’s just performed with a sharper edge here, mainly because Bugs is masquerading as a small child, which lends a bit of danger to the whole joke.
“Case of the Missing Hare” has the distinction of being one of the first shorts where Warner would start using more abstract backgrounds for their shorts. Where as prior to this short they would often render their backgrounds towards more realism, Chuck Jones and other animators would begin a tradition of rendering backgrounds with flatter abstract shapes. This gave them a chance to set themselves apart from Disney, once and for all. It’s a method apparently celebrated by Leon Schlesinger.
In either case, “Case of the Missing Hare” is a fine, very funny Bugs Bunny short. It’s too bad we didn’t get to see Ala Bahma after this confrontation, as I think he had potential for at least once more battle of wits with Bugs.
Find out what we think are the BEST and WORST Bugs Bunny shorts of all time!