Welcome to another installment of Drawn and Quartered: The Lost Episodes. Originally, I was saving this for a post about cartoons whose lost and edited scenes were done before theatrical release and said scenes are either lost to time or have been rediscovered decades later. I figured, since the previous cartoon I covered and the next one I will cover are rather dull, I thought I’d give my readers something interesting, like a color cartoon that’s basically a rough draft version of what the Bugs Bunny vs. Elmer Fudd cartoons would be like:
Director(s): Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton
Summary: Upset over the soaring price of meat (aren’t we all...though this was made back in the late 1930s, not the mid-to-late 2020s. Anyone who thinks the past is better than the present can bend over and stuff a fat one up their [...sorry, manners]), an angry-looking Egghead clone (named John Sourpuss, according to the script, the model sheets, and other behind-the-scenes documents used in planning and outlining the cartoon) takes his dog with him to go hunting...and encounter a crazy rabbit that charitably can be considered a protoype version of Bugs Bunny (and is, according to animation historians, professional and amateur).
Fun Facts:
- As you can tell from the summary, this is an early version of a Bugs vs. Elmer Fudd cartoon, specifically 1940’s “A Wild Hare” (directed by Tex Avery) and any cartoon where it’s Bugs vs. a human antagonist (and some anthropomorphic animals, like the hillbilly vultures, Pappy and Elvis, from “Backwoods Bunny” [though I think their best work was on the 1960 Foghorn Leghorn cartoon “The Dixie Fryer”]). It has most of the hallmarks: Bugs dressing in drag to seduce his antagonist, the antagonist going nuts after repeatedly being defeated, and Bugs tricking humans and animals alike. The “singing about how crazy he is” is more of a hallmark associated with Daffy Duck back when he actually lived up to his name and wasn’t a greedy, egotistical jerk or a comic loser. The early Bugs Bunny was basically described as “Daffy Duck in a rabbit suit,” but I’d also like to add that early Bugs Bunny (at least the Hardaway and Dalton version) had a laugh that sounded like Woody Woodpecker.
- Porky Pig makes an appearance in this short...as part of a banner that advertises a theatrical showing of a Looney Tune cartoon. The WB cartoons did meta humor before it was everywhere, and yet, it’s funnier than most modern examples. Wonder why? (she asked as if she didn’t know).
- Sorry, no inflation calculator today, as there are no actual numbers on how much meat cost back in 1939 for me to compare it to 2026. That definitely would have been helpful. You can look up the information yourself if you’re that curious.
The Channel(s): Theatrical version that made its rounds on television and home media until just recently, though some places do air the edited version (more on that in the next segment)
Part(s) Edited: Prior to 2011, there was speculation online (and possibly offline, but mostly online) about a possible lost ending after the part where John Sourpuss foolishly challenges proto-Bugs Bunny to and his family to fight him, followed by a music sting, a fade to black, and the "That's All, Folks!" ending card. Seems like a Bolivian Army ending (as it’s described on TV Tropes) would have been a good way to go out, but no, apparently there was more to it. The old Censored Cartoons Page (and a lot of classic cartoon forums) had two suppositions on what could have been cut:
Supposition #1: The warren of proto-Bugs Bunnies leap on John Sourpuss and whale on him just as the cartoon closes out. Very common to think that that would be the end.
Supposition #2: Same as above, only with a rather hilariously morbid scene of the big cartoon cloud of violence clearing and John and his dog being reduced to heads and rolling off into the sunset as the short closes out. Yeah, the Looney Tunes cartoons weren’t at that level of twisted comedy just yet (and, even if they were, the Hays Office probably would have intervened — especially if Bob Clampett were involved). This is a Hardaway and Dalton cartoon. Their shorts weren’t anything to write on this blog about (I’m so sure this is the only short that actually has had censorship done to it), though I do like “Bars and Stripes Forever” and “Hobo Gadget Band” for childhood nostalgia reasons, thanks to TBS and TNT being the closest thing my family had to Cartoon Network before Comcast turned it into a basic cable channel in 1999. I know the Mandela effect and misremembering events from childhood can be a helluva drug, but who thought that could have been a believable ending to this? I’ll tell you who: the people who discussed the lost ending on this late 1990s/early 2000s edit of the old Censored Cartoons Page.
So, which ending is the true ending that was found in 2011?
Neither.
“Wait, are you saying the abrupt ending is how it’s always been?”
No, I’m saying there was a third option that, to me, seems weaksauce compared to the two endings that could have been. The actual ending of “Hare-um Scare-um” goes like this:
According to David Gerstein's blog, the actual ending shows John Sourpuss disheveled (but not decapitated) after being beaten by the proto-Bugs clan. Proto-Bugs returns to give John his busted rifle, commenting that he should get it fixed, lest someone get hurt, then returns to his loony self by bouncing on his head like a pogo stick down the road. John then snaps in frustration and does the same thing.
If the ending sounds familiar, it’s because it’s almost the same ending as the one for “Daffy Duck and Egghead” and Gerstein surmises that the ending was cut before theatrical release for that very reason. No, I don’t know or have a good personal reason why an ending would get the axe before theatrical release or upon being reissued just because it was a clone of a previous ending, especially since “Hare-um Scare-um” as a whole already feels like a cross between a less successful “Daffy Duck and Egghead” and “A Wild Hare” if Tex Avery wasn’t involved.
What Grinds My Gears About the Edit(s): This is one of those cases where the edit doesn’t bother me much (probably because I’m used to seeing it more frequently than the uncut version, even though I have access to both the uncut version and the edited version). What bothers me is the fact that it’s cut for such a mundane reason (though I’ve heard more mundane and inexplicable reasons than this and will continue to hear them for as long as this blog is active). On the bright side, the lost ending is found and has been released, but, as the “Availability Uncut” and “Is/Was It on Streaming or Digital Download” sections will show, the full, uncut version isn’t as widely available as it should be.
Video Comparison:
Availability Uncut: As I mentioned before, “Hare-um Scare-um” had both the theatrical release without the lost ending and the original version with the lost ending released, so I’ve called upon my old friend, Phyllis, the Physical Media Release Table to show us what physical media releases had the theatrical version without the lost ending and which had the original cut with the lost ending:
Release Title | Format | Year of Release | Edited Theatrical Version | Uncut, Original Version |
Golden Age of Looney Tunes, volume 2, side 2 (“Early Wabbits”) | Laser Disc | 1992 | Yes | No |
Invisible Stripes (bonus feature, 1995 dubbed version) | DVD | 2010 | Yes | No |
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection, volume 2 (disc 2, restored to standard definition) | DVD | 2012 | No | Yes |
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection, volume 2 (disc 2, restored to high definition) | Blu-ray | 2012 | No | Yes |
Is/Was It on Streaming or Digital Download: While Phyllis’ table makes it clear there’s a 50/50 split between which releases had the “lost ending” cut and which had the “abrupt ending” cut, Stanley Streamer’s table shows us that the porportions are more 75/25:
Streaming Service | How Long the Short Was on the Service | Edited Theatrical Version | Uncut, Original Version |
Boomerang App | 2019 to 2024 | No | Yes |
HBO Max | 2020 to 2023 | No | Yes |
Max | 2023 to 2025 | No | Yes |
Tubi | 2025 and ongoing as of this writing | Yes | No |
‘Til next time: Stay Looney and Be Merrie!
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