''The Tortoise and the Hare'' is a 1935 American

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

released on January 5, 1935, by

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...

, produced by

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

and directed by

Wilfred Jackson Wilfred Jackson (January 24, 1906 – August 7, 1988) was an American animator, arranger, composer and director best known for his work on the ''Mickey Mouse'' and ''Silly Symphonies'' series of cartoons and the ''Night on Bald Mountain''/''Ave M ...

. Based on an

Aesop's fable Aesop's Fables, or the Aesopica, is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and storyteller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BCE. Of diverse origins, the stories associated with his name have descended to ...

of the same name, it won the 1934

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...

for Best Short Subject: Cartoons. This cartoon is also believed to be one of the inspirations for

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring roles in the '' Looney Tunes'' and '' ...

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

, who first appeared in 1940.Barrier (2003), p. 359-362

Plot

Max Hare is the heavy favorite to win a major sporting event. He is cocky, athletic, and incredibly fast. His challenger, Toby Tortoise, is teased and jeered for being sluggish and clumsy. He does seem to have the ability to stretch, which comes in handy in certain situations. Max tells Toby that he intends to play fair, but it seems obvious that Max is just out to humiliate his competition. The race begins and Max zooms off. It takes an extra nudge from the starting line to get Toby going. Max seems to dominate the race, zooming past everything down the road. At one point, Max pretends to nap under a tree, just to watch Toby's progress. Thinking that Max really is asleep, Toby quietly creeps past him, but not for long after Max gets up and bolts past him again. A little farther down the road, Max passes a girls' school, and stops to talk to the female bunnies. As Toby lumbers past, the girls invite him to stop as well, but Toby politely declines their offer, because he is committed to finish the race. Even though Toby is now in the lead, Max oughts to stay for a while, because he is confident that he will have no trouble catching up with Toby, due to how slow he is. Max uses the girls' sports field to show off his amazing athletic skills in archery, baseball, and tennis. Suddenly, Max hears the crowd cheering and sees that Toby is not far from the finishing line. He kisses the girls farewell and charges off, still confident that he will win easily. Toby sees Max catching up and picks up his pace by stretching his legs. In the end, the race is close. Max crosses the finishing line and skids to a rough halt. When he gets up and dusts himself off, he realizes that he has lost by a “neck's length”. The crowd rushes to congratulate the winner: Toby Tortoise.

Other appearances

Toby Tortoise and Max Hare reappear in the 1936 cartoon short ''

Toby Tortoise Returns ''Toby Tortoise Returns'' is a 1936 animated Technicolor cartoon in Walt Disney's ''Silly Symphonies'' series. It was directed by Wilfred Jackson. It is a sequel to the 1935 short ''The Tortoise and the Hare'', and premiered on August 22, 1936. ...

''. The ''

Silly Symphony ''Silly Symphony'' is an American animated series of 75 musical short films produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939. As the series name implies, the ''Silly Symphonies'' were originally intended as whimsical accompaniments to pieces ...

'' Sunday comic strip ran a two-month-long sequence called "The Boarding-School Mystery" from December 23, 1934, to February 17, 1935, featuring Toby Tortoise and Max Hare. The girl bunnies and the animal pedestrians make cameos in Toontown, while Toby Tortoise is on a poster in the Toontown alleyway and appears during the final scene of the 1988 film ''

Who Framed Roger Rabbit ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a 1988 American live-action/animated comedy mystery film directed by Robert Zemeckis, produced by Frank Marshall and Robert Watts, and loosely adapted by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman from Gary K. Wolf's 1 ...

''. Toby and Max also appear as guests in the 2001–2003 series ''

Disney's House of Mouse ''Disney's House of Mouse'' (or simply ''House of Mouse'') is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation that originally aired for three seasons on ABC and Toon Disney from January 13, 2001, to its finale ...

''. Toby and Max make brief non-speaking cameos in the ''

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...

'' short "Carried Away".

Voice cast

* Tortoise: Eddie Holden * Hare: Ned Norton * Starter:

Pinto Colvig Vance DeBar Colvig Sr. (September 11, 1892 – October 3, 1967), professionally Pinto Colvig, was an American voice actor, newspaper cartoonist, and circus and vaudeville performer whose schtick was playing the clarinet off-key while mugging. Co ...

* Girl Bunny #1:

Dorothy Compton Dorothy Compton was an American voice actress born in the early 1900s. An early friend of Walt Disney, she made her first acting debut in ''The Three Little Pigs'' (1933) as the voice of Fifer Pig. From 1933 onward she made more appearances in th ...

* Girl Bunny #2:

Mary Moder Mary Moder (1905 – 1993) was an American voice actress for The Walt Disney Company known for the voice of the Fiddler Pig in the ''Three Little Pigs'' short subjects. She was a member of the vocal trio the Rhythmettes, which also included Bonni ...

* Girl Bunny #3: Beatrice Hagen * Miss Cottontail girl:

Marcellite Garner Edna Marcellite Garner ( ; July 3, 1910 – July 26, 1993) was an American artist and voice actress. She is most remembered as the first regular voice of Minnie Mouse during her time working at Walt Disney Productions and has been partially c ...

Home media

The short was released on December 4, 2001, on '' Walt Disney Treasures: Silly Symphonies - The Historic Musical Animated Classics''.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tortoise And The Hare 1930s English-language films 1935 short films 1930s color films 1935 animated films Animated films about rabbits and hares Animated films about turtles 1930s Disney animated short films Best Animated Short Academy Award winners Films directed by Wilfred Jackson Films produced by Walt Disney Films scored by Frank Churchill Silly Symphonies Films based on Aesop's Fables American comedy short films American animated short films Films about animals playing sports 1930s American films