Tortoise Wins by a Hare

Tortoise Wins by a Hare is a 1943 Merrie Melodies short directed by Bob Clampett.

Title[]

The title is a pun on the term "by a hair," meaning "by a small amount."

Plot[]

After being mad while wondering how Cecil won, Bugs again challenges Cecil to a race after viewing footage from their previous encounter two years earlier, which seems to depict Cecil as having won fairly instead of by cheating Bugs with his cousins. Bugs then goes to Cecil's tree home disguised as an old man to ask the turtle his secret. Cecil, not in the least bit fooled by the disguise, tells him his streamlined shell lets him win, and produces a set of blueprints for his "air-flow chassis". The turtle ends the conversation with the comment, "Oh, and another thing... Rabbits aren't very bright, either!" just before slamming the door in the enraged bunny's face. Not getting the hint that the turtle's story is a humbug, Bugs builds the device and prepares for the race.

Meanwhile, the bunny mob learns of the upcoming match-up and places all its bets on Bugs. ("In fact, we don't even think that the toitle will finish... Do we, boys?" "Duh, no, Boss, no!") The race begins, and Bugs still outpaces his reptilian rival. However, in his new get-up, the dim-witted gangsters mistake him for the turtle. Cecil reinforces this misconception by dressing in a gray rabbit suit and munching on some delicious carrots. The mobsters thus make the shelled Bugs' run a nightmare, ultimately giving the race to Cecil (in an aside to the audience, as the rabbits cheer him, Cecil remarks, "I told you rabbits aren't very bright!"). When Bugs (who, by this time, realizes he's been had) removes the chassis and sobbingly reveals that he's the rabbit, the rabbit gangsters remark, in mock-Bugsy style, "Ehhh, now he tells us!" and commit suicide by shooting themselves with a single bullet that goes through the sides of all of their heads.

Caricatures[]

• Bill Thompson's Old Timer character

Music cues[]

• In the Stirrups (by J.S. Zamecnik)
  • Plays during the opening race.
• Black Coffee (by Al Hoffman, Maurice Sigler and Al Goodhart)
  • Plays when Bugs obsesses over losing the race.
• Tain't No Good (by Guy Wood)
  • Plays when Cecil explains to Bugs why he wins.
• Black Coffee (by Al Hoffman, Maurice Sigler and Al Goodhart)
  • Plays again during the shot of the newspaper and the gambling ring.
• We Did It Before [and We Can Do It Again] (by Cliff Friend and Charles Tobias)
  • Sung by the turtles as "He Did It Before and He Can Do It Again".
• Frat (by John F. Barth)
  • Plays when Bugs first uses the streamlined chassis.
• Tain't No Good (by Guy Wood)
  • Plays again when Cecil is wearing the bunny suit while eating a carrot.
• Frat (by John F. Barth)
  • Plays again when Bugs runs through the mine field and when Bugs passes Cecil and declares that he's going to win
• This Is Worth Fighting For (by Sam H. Stept)
  • Plays at the end when Bugs tells the gangster rabbits he's "THE RABBIT" and the gangster rabbits commit suicide.^[2]

Availability[]

(1988) VHS
Cartoon Moviestars: Bugs! (with a.a.p opening titles)

(1988) LaserDisc
Cartoon Moviestars: Bugs! and Elmer!

(1991) VHS
Bugs Bunny Collection: Bugs Bunny's Zaniest Toons

(1991) LaserDisc
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 1, Side 10: The Art of Bugs

(1992) VHS
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 10: The Art of Bugs

(2000) VHS
Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition, Vol. 7 Welcome to Wackyland (1995 USA Turner "dubbed" version)

(2003) DVD
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1, Disc 3 (restored without DVNR) (with optional commentary by Mark Kausler)

(2003) DVD
Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 1, Disc 1

(2004) DVD
Looney Tunes Collection All Stars Volume 1

(2004) DVD
Looney Tunes Collection All Stars Volumes 1 & 2, Disc 1

(2010) DVD
3 Spooky DVD Treats

(2012) DVD
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2, Disc 2 (restored with DVNR) (with optional commentary by Mark Kausler)

(2012) Blu-ray
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2, Disc 2 (restored with DVNR) (with optional commentary by Mark Kausler)

(2014) DVD
Looney Tunes Center Stage Volume 1

(2015) DVD
Looney Tunes Center Stage

(2016) DVD
Looney Tunes Triple Feature

(2018) DVD
Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection Volumes 1-3 Repack

Streaming[]

HBO Max (2020 - 2023) (restored with DVNR)

Max (2023 - ) (restored with DVNR)

Censorship[]

• The ending where the gambling ring shoots themselves after realizing that they have been trying to sabotage Bugs throughout the cartoon has been cut from many TV prints of this cartoon, including versions shown on the Turner channels Cartoon Network (excluding its appearance on "The Bob Clampett Show"), TBS, and TNT.^[3] The version that aired on Turner Classic Movies' animated anthology show Cartoon Alley used a fake fade-out after the suicide instead of the iris-out used on TBS and TNT or the dissolve to the dubbed version ending card used on Cartoon Network's non-Bob Clampett Show appearances and currently on Boomerang.^{[citation needed]}
• The TBS version also shortens the part where the rabbits pounce on Bugs before he can reach the finish line.^[3]
• MeTV airings of this cartoon left in the gang beating up Bugs scene that was cut on TBS and the suicide end gag that is commonly cut on other networks (except for an airing on 15 April 2023 and 9 March 2024, when it was cut, with the ending now showing just the gangsters' remark and cuts straight to them falling down.), but edited the scene with the newspaper announcing Bugs' and Cecil's race by digitally blurring the word "Jap" in a headline about a cruiser being blown up in the Pacific. In subsequent airings, the word "Jap" is digitally edited out instead of blurred. The same gag appears in "What's Cookin' Doc?", which was never edited on MeTV.
  • On 15 January 2022, MeTV showed this cartoon mostly uncensored, keeping in the word "Jap".
  • A 26 August 2024 airing on MeTV Toons retained the word "Jap", but cut the gambling ring shooting themselves.

Notes[]

• This is the first cartoon to use the modern Bugs Bunny design by Robert McKimson, which is taller, with puffier cheeks, rounded eyes, and more prominent front teeth. It would not become his standard look until the late 1940s when all the animation directors of Warner Bros. Cartoons settled on using McKimson's Bugs design from this cartoon.
• Adolf Hitler's name appears in the newspaper in a news story about Hitler committing suicide, which did not happen until two years after this cartoon was released.
• The newspaper in the cartoon shares the same information as the 1 November 1942 issue of The Chicago Tribune minus the Hitler committing suicide tagline, which only appears in the cartoon. This newspaper also appears in two other shorts that Bob Clampett directed, including the Private Snafu short "Fighting Tools", released the same year, and in another Bugs Bunny cartoon, "What's Cookin' Doc?" which was released the following year.
• Michael Sasanoff's name appears on the blueprint.
• The scene where Bugs puts on his swimming cap and adjusts it is reused from "The Heckling Hare".
• The film is a sequel to Tex Avery's 1941 Merrie Melodies short "Tortoise Beats Hare", also starring Bugs Bunny and Cecil Turtle. Bob Clampett took Avery's scenario and altered it for the beginning of this film.
  • The first 43 seconds of this short is reused footage from that cartoon.
• The USA dubbed print uses the 1947–48 end card and retains the original 1941–55 "Merrily We Roll Along" cue, while the EU dubbed print uses the 1937–38 end card with 1938–41 cue.^{[4][5][dead link]}
• Cecil Turtle's character design in Looney Tunes Cartoons is based on his design from this short.

Gallery[]

Lobby card

Ending that is often edited on American television

The accuracy of Adolf Hitler's suicide

Version used on Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1

Version used on Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2 (DVNR artifacts)

The subtle shift from Rod Scribner's animation to Robert McKimson's animation^[6]

MeTV censorship

Later MeTV censorship

Later uncensored airing on MeTV

The comparison between the cartoon's 1 November 1942 issue of The Chicago Tribune parodied as The Chicago Tribunk and the actual Chicago Tribune issue of the same day

Storyboard panels

References[]

External links[]

• "Tortoise Wins by a Hare" at tvtropes.org