Chuck Jones | Hare Conditioned / 1945

chaos in costume

by Douglas Messerli

 

Tedd Pierce (screenplay), Charles M. Jones (director), Ken Harris, Ben Washam, Basil Davidovich, Lloyd Vaughan, and Bob Cannon (animation) Hare Conditioned / 1945

 

This 1945 Bugs Bunny cartoon, only the second in the Looney toons series, begins with Bugs leaping around a stage prop in an all air-conditioned display of one of Stacy’s (read Macy’s) Department Store window camp setting is revealed to be on display in the "Stacy's Department Store. After closing time, Bugs retires to have a well-earned carrot.

      The store manager appears and informs Bugs that since the summer sale's over, he is being transferred to another department, which Bugs puzzles over (“tax-ealdormen”). In short, the store manager is planning to stuff and show his former live rabbit.

      Finally, the manager’s attentions are made clear as we rush into a long Bugs routine where, alternately, the villain manager and Bugs chase one another through Stacy’s, at one point, Bugs, confusing the villain with a kiss and an appearance as a young woman interested in footwear.

      Guns change hands, and the two, actor Dave Barry gives a good imitation of Harold Peary’s radio character of The Great Gildersneeze as rabbit and villain go running through the various departments of Stacy’s (little boys, Turkish Baths, costume, sports). both finally jumping, in cartoon fashion, off the roof of the building, in this case Bugs just barely winning the battle of wit and fortitude.

     If Hare Conditioned is certainly not the most entertaining of the Bugs Bunny Looney Toons, it certain demonstrates the series flexibility.

 

Los Angeles, May 31, 2025

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (May 2025).