High Diving Hare
Encyclopedia
High Diving Hare is a 1948-produced Warner Brothers Looney Tunes
theatrical cartoon
short
starring Bugs Bunny
and Yosemite Sam
. Released to theaters on April 30, 1949, the short is an expansion of a gag from Stage Door Cartoon
, which was also directed by Friz Freleng
. This short is available in the DVD box-set Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1
, however the pitch was lowered.
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 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 the next day. 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 (and for the only time we see Bugs bare his claws to secure himself to the edge of the board). Bugs dupes Sam into covering 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!!"), but Sam turns around and starts to walk off, right off the edge and into the tank, which falls apart with the water
still intact!
2: Bugs springs on the board so hard that he sends Sam up, over 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 from off-camera and throws it down from the diving board past Sam. The water makes it into the tank, but Sam misses the tank altogether, smashing through the stage into the basement.
3: Sam walks to the end of the board and finds Bugs standing under the board upside-down ("Great horny toads! What are ya doin' down there upside-downy?"). But it is Sam who is upside-down ("I'm not upside down, doc. You are!"). Sam looks "up", sees the tank, and falls "up" 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 briefly 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, "You notice I didn't say Richard?
". He backs up and charges towards the door, which Bugs opens at the last microsecond, leading Sam to another splash, this time assisted by an anvil which Bugs gives him.
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: "This time, you're a-diving!" However, as soon as Sam cuts through the board, it's the ladder and platform that falls, leaving the cut plank suspended in mid-air. Bugs turns to the camera
and cracks, "I know this defies the law of gravity
, but, you see, I never studied law!"
High Diving Hare can be seen in the third act of The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie
.
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
theatrical cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
short
Short subject
A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: 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 or less, including all...
starring Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
and Yosemite Sam
Yosemite Sam
Yosemite Sam is an American animated cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The name is somewhat alliterative and is inspired by Yosemite National Park...
. Released to theaters on April 30, 1949, the short is an expansion of a gag from Stage Door Cartoon
Stage Door Cartoon
Stage Door Cartoon is a 1944 Warner Bros. cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series, directed by Friz Freleng and featuring Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, and a predecessor to Yosemite Sam...
, which was also directed by Friz Freleng
Friz Freleng
Isadore "Friz" Freleng was an animator, cartoonist, director, and producer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros....
. This short is available in the DVD box-set Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1 is a DVD box set that was released by Warner Home Video on October 28, 2003. It contains 56 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons and numerous supplements...
, however the pitch was lowered.
Synopsis
Bugs Bunny is drumming up business for a vaudevilleVaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
show in a remote western
American Old West
The American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...
town (notably one of the posters in the background is for "Frizby the Magician", a reference to director Friz Freleng
Friz Freleng
Isadore "Friz" Freleng was an animator, cartoonist, director, and producer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros....
). 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 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 the next day. 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 (and for the only time we see Bugs bare his claws to secure himself to the edge of the board). Bugs dupes Sam into covering 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!!"), but Sam turns around and starts to walk off, right off the edge and into the tank, which falls apart with the water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
still intact!
2: Bugs springs on the board so hard that he sends Sam up, over 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 from off-camera and throws it down from the diving board past Sam. The water makes it into the tank, but Sam misses the tank altogether, smashing through the stage into the basement.
3: Sam walks to the end of the board and finds Bugs standing under the board upside-down ("Great horny toads! What are ya doin' down there upside-downy?"). But it is Sam who is upside-down ("I'm not upside down, doc. You are!"). Sam looks "up", sees the tank, and falls "up" 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
Bugs Bunny Rides Again
Bugs Bunny Rides Again is a 1947 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies short, released in 1948, directed by Friz Freleng, and written by Tedd Pierce and Michael Maltese. Voice characterizations are performed by Mel Blanc. The cartoon features Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam. This is a sequel, of sorts, to the...
), sending Sam down for the splash again (but not before springing back up briefly 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, "You notice I didn't say Richard?
Open the Door, Richard
"Open the Door, Richard" is a song first recorded on the Black & White Records label by saxophonistist Jack McVea at the suggestion of A&R man Ralph Bass. In 1947, it was the number-one song on Billboards "Honor Roll of Hits" and became a runaway pop sensation.-Origin:"Open the Door, Richard"...
". He backs up and charges towards the door, which Bugs opens at the last microsecond, leading Sam to another splash, this time assisted by an anvil which Bugs gives him.
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: "This time, you're a-diving!" However, as soon as Sam cuts through the board, it's the ladder and platform that falls, leaving the cut plank suspended in mid-air. Bugs turns to the camera
Fourth wall
The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...
and cracks, "I know this defies the law of gravity
Gravitation
Gravitation, or gravity, is a natural phenomenon by which physical bodies attract with a force proportional to their mass. Gravitation is most familiar as the agent that gives weight to objects with mass and causes them to fall to the ground when dropped...
, but, you see, I never studied law!"
High Diving Hare can be seen in the third act of The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie
The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie
The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie is a 1981 Looney Tunes film with a compilation of classic Warner Bros. cartoon shorts and animated bridging sequences produced by Friz Freleng, hosted by Bugs Bunny...
.
Censorship
ABC has aired two edited versions of this cartoon--one for The Bugs Bunny Show and another for The Bugs & Tweety Show- The version that aired on The Bugs Bunny Show shortened Bugs Bunny's carnival barking and cut Yosemite Sam's line as he enters the platform "Ya notice I didn't say a-Richard?".
- The version that aired on The Bugs & Tweety Show left in the scenes that were cut on The Bugs Bunny Show, but cut the scene where Bugs (while on the high-dive) disguises himself as an Indian and tells Sam "Him go that-a-way!" (this scene was also cut from NickelodeonNickelodeon (TV channel)Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
's version of this cartoon), along with the scene where Sam strangles Bugs, and then Bugs tells Sam that he doesn't want to do it because he gets "goosebumps on his goosebumps", and Sam forces him to do so by shooting at his feet.