The Heckling Hare (1941) - The Internet Animation Database

The Heckling Hare

Release Date : July 5, 1941

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Bugs is pitted up against a hunting dog.

Note: "Unverified" credits may not be correct and should be taken with a grain of salt.

Tortoise Wins By a Hare (the scene where Bugs puts on his swimming cap and adjusts it is reused.)

The original ending had Bugs Bunny and Willoughby fall off three cliffs with Bugs telling the audience after the second fall and before the third, "Hold on to your hats, folks. Here we go again!". Leon Schlesinger intervened for unknown reasons, though there were two possibilities; One (the most popular) was that the "Hold on to your hats" line referred to a risqué joke at the time. The other, was that Schlesinger feared that Tex Avery had killed off Bugs Bunny by ending the cartoon with Bugs and Willoughby falling off the second cliff without a clear indication of whether or not they survived (according to Karl F. Cohen, Schlesinger found it inappropriate an ending). According to Martha Sigall, Leon Schlesinger found the second fall to be repetitious and objected to its inclusion because of that. He instructed Tex Avery to cut it, but he refused. Schlesinger overruled him as the boss and the cartoon was released with Bugs and Willoughby falling off the cliff once. This made Avery angry and left the studio which would lead him to work at MGM.

Last produced Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by Tex Avery (the next Bugs Bunny short after this, "All This and Rabbit Stew" was proudced before "The Heckling Hare".