''Bewitched Bunny'' is a 1954 Warner Bros. ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series '' Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation. ...

'' cartoon directed by

Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the '' Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He wrote, pro ...

and written by

Michael Maltese Michael Maltese (February 6, 1908 – February 22, 1981) was an American story man for classic animated cartoon shorts. He is best known for working in the 1950s on a series of '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoons with director Chuck Jones, notably " ...

. The short was released on July 24, 1954, and stars

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 ''Merr ...

. Jones created the character Witch Hazel who debuted in this cartoon. Witch Hazel later appeared in ''

Broom-Stick Bunny ''Broom-Stick Bunny'' is a 1956 Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' short directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on February 25, 1956, and stars Bugs Bunny. The short is notable for being June Foray's first project for Warner Bros., which led ...

'' (1956), ''

A Witch's Tangled Hare ''A Witch's Tangled Hare'' is a 1959 Warner Bros. '' Looney Tunes'' theatrical cartoon short directed by Abe Levitow. The short was released on October 31, 1959, and stars Bugs Bunny. Mel Blanc plays voice roles for Bugs Bunny and Sam Crubish, whil ...

'' (1959), and in '' A-Haunting We Will Go'' (1966). She also has a brief cameo appearance in '' Transylvania 6-5000'' (1963).

Plot

The story begins with Bugs Bunny reading the classic fairy tale ''

Hansel and Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; german: Hänsel und Gretel ) is a German fairy tale collected by the German Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). It is also known as Little Step Brother and Little Step Sister. Hansel ...

''. Witch Hazel plays the witch who tries to cook and eat the children (her cookbook has such recipes as "Waif Waffles", "Moppet Muffins", "Kiddie Kippers", "Children Chops", and "Smorgas Boy"). Bugs witnesses Witch Hazel coaxing the children inside. He comments that this looks like a job for the Masked Avenger, but he's not around. Bugs goes in her house, disguised as a truant officer, and saves the youths from her clutches. The children both turn to Hazel as they leave and say in a thick

German accent The phonology of Standard German is the standard pronunciation or accent of the German language. It deals with current phonology and phonetics as well as with historical developments thereof as well as the geographical variants and the influe ...

: "Ach - your mother rides a

vacuum cleaner A vacuum cleaner, also known simply as a vacuum or a hoover, is a device that causes suction in order to remove dirt from floors, upholstery, draperies, and other surfaces. It is generally electrically driven. The dirt is collected by either a ...

!" However, once Hazel realizes that Bugs is a rabbit, she tries to cook him instead, using a carrot (hollowed out and filled with a sleeping potion) as a lure. Bugs eats the carrot and falls asleep and Witch Hazel puts him into a roasting pan to make rabbit stew. After the witch goes down into the basement to get something else, a character resembling Prince Charming enters the house and kisses Bugs' hand. Bugs wakes up and says: "You're looking for Snow White. This here's the story of HAHHN-sel and Gretel", and the Prince takes his leave, confused about how Hansel is pronounced. Then Hazel emerges from the basement and Bugs races down a nearby hallway to escape, but is trapped by Hazel. As she approaches, Bugs quickly finds a grenade full of her magic powder (in a case marked with the message "In case of emergency break glass") and uses it to transform her into a gorgeous female rabbit who has a feminine voice but still has Hazel's laugh. As he gets ready to leave with the bunny beauty, Bugs looks at the audience, breaking the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...

, and comments: "Ah sure, I know. But aren't they all witches inside?".

Cast

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy r ...

, Hansel and Prince Charming *

Bea Benaderet Beatrice Benaderet ( ; April 4, 1906 – October 13, 1968) was an American actress and comedienne. Born in New York City and raised in San Francisco, she began performing in Bay Area theatre and radio before embarking on a Hollywood career that s ...

as Witch Hazel, Gretel and Female Rabbit (uncredited)

Controversy

This cartoon caused some controversy in Canada due to Bugs' ending line about Witch Hazel being turned into a rabbit being perceived as misogynistic. And Bugs' closing line, "Ah sure, I know, but aren't they all witches inside?" was edited out of commercial broadcasts in the 1980s, and was replaced in later versions with "Sure uh, I know, but after all, who wants to be alone on Halloween?", which was the re-dubbed line for the ending of ''Bewitched Bunny'' after it was repurposed in 1977's '' Bugs Bunny's Howl-oween Special''. This controversy was briefly mentioned by Eric Goldberg on the DVD commentary of the fifth volume of the ''Looney Tunes Golden Collection'' DVD set. However, the original version has been aired in Canada (as recently as 2015) on the Canadian cable channel Teletoon Retro.

Home media

''Bewitched Bunny'' is available on the second disc of '' Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5'', and the first disc of ''

Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection The ''Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection'' is a series of DVDs released by Warner Home Video compiling ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' animated shorts. It was created as a more affordable alternative to the Looney Tunes Golden Collection s ...

: Volume 5''. On

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Ne ...

it appears as Season 19 Episode 20.

References

External links