Herr Meets Hare

Herr Meets Hare is a 1945 Merrie Melodies short directed by I. Freleng.
== Plot ==
Walter Winchell discusses the end of Germany, saying that "Germany has been battered into a fare-thee-well", and musing about where the high leadership, and "Fatso" Goering in particular has gone. The scene soon cuts to the Black Forest, where Hermann Goering, in bemedaled lederhosen, is "soothing his jangled nerves" marching while on a hunt. Nearby, a familiar furrow in the ground appears, with a hole at the end.
Bugs pops out of the hole, and bemused, asks Goering about the directions to Las Vegas, oblivious to his location. Goering replies "Las Wegas? Why, there is no Las Wegas in Chermany!" For once genuinely alarmed by his mistaken destination, Bugs hightails it, saying "'Joimany'? Yipe!" Goering chases after him, shooting at him with his musket.
A few chases occur in which Bugs insults the integrity of Goering's medals by bending one with his teeth. Goering, suckered into bending one himself, declares them ersatz and mumbles all sorts of anti-Hitler sentiments. "Oh, how I hate that Hitler swine, that phony fuehrer, that..." Bugs masquerades as Hitler using a bit of black mud, and faces the surprised Goering. Goering disappears in a flash to change into his Nazi uniform adorned with all sorts of medals. After the usual Nazi salute, Bugs berates him in fake German as he strips Goering of his medals (Klooten-flooten-blooten-pooten-meirooten-tooten!) and even his belt, causing Goering to "kiss" in reverence, saying in order: "Look! I kiss mein Fuehrer's hand. I kiss right in Der Fuehrer's Face!" The joke being the wildly popular song of the time of the same name by Spike Jones. Afterwards, Goering exclaims, "Oh, I'm a bad flooten-boy-glooten!" Later, when the gig is up, Bugs rides in on a white horse, dressed as Brunhilde, from Wagnerian opera, to the tune of the "Pilgrims' Chorus" from Tannhäuser. Goering, entranced, responds by dressing up as Siegfried. The two dance, before Bugs once again makes a fool of Goering and escapes.
Eventually, Goering captures Bugs using a hawk. "Do you think he'll catch me, doc?" "He'll have you back here faster thank you can say Schicklgruber." He brings him back to Adolf Hitler, who is playing solitaire, where he identifies him as "Bugsenheimer Bunny" (as opposed to "Weisenheimer" or "wise guy") to der Fuehrer. Realistic hand prints are visible on a wall map. As Herr Hitler talks of the great rewards he's going to pile upon Goering for this act of heroism, he opens the bag to reveal Bugs dressed as Joseph Stalin, complete with an enormous pipe, staring back at him. Hitler and Goering flee in terror. Bugs asks in a Russian accent, citing a (Raleigh) cigarette ad catch-phrase of that era, "Does your tobacco taste different lately?"
== Caricatures ==
* Walter Winchell
* Hermann Goering
* Adolf Hitler
* Lou Costello - "Oh, I'm a bad flooten-boy-glooten!"
* Joseph Stalin
== Critical Reaction ==
Like other American movies, "Herr Meets Hare" was available to German prisoners of war in the United States. The Germans did not like it; prisoner of war Hans Goebler said, "You saw Hermann Goering standing there full of decorations, then all of a sudden a rabbit showed up and took all the decorations off, and stuff like that. And we didn't care for that."Waters, Michael R., Mark Long, and William Dickens. Lone Star Stalag: German Prisoners of War at Camp Hearne. 2004, Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 978-1-58544-545-5, page 27.
== Availability ==
Cartoon Moviestars 2.jpg|(1989) VHS Cartoon Moviestars: Bugs and Daffy: The Wartime Cartoons
LT Laserdisc 2.jpg|(1989) LaserDisc Cartoon Moviestars: Bugs and Daffy: The Wartime Cartoons
Golden-Age-of-Looney-Tunes-3-F.jpg|(1992) LaserDisc The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 3, Side 2: Bugs Bunny
lt hollywood canteen.jpg|(2008) DVD Hollywood Canteen (1995 Turner dubbed version)
lt homefront.jpg|(2008) DVD Homefront
Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 6.jpg|(2008) DVD Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 6, Disc Two
== Censorship ==
This cartoon was part of the "Twelve Missing Hares" that were barred from airing on Cartoon Network's June 2001 Bugs marathon due to World War II propaganda.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHNTv3oQoE8 As with the other members of the "Twelve Missing Hares" as described in the unreleased ToonHeads episode, it was originally intended to air in the marathon, but was pulled due to executive backlash from AOL Time Warner.
Although the short has seldom aired on television, the cartoon did see limited broadcast on a special one-hour episode of ToonHeads about cartoons from the WWII era. It has also appeared on the Turner Classic Movies show Cartoon Alley. The cartoon was eventually released on the final volume of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD collection, at which point the collection was aimed for collectors over the general audience.
== Notes ==
* Earliest known cartoon to reuse the red Color Rings with the black background, which were previously used from 1942 to 1944.
* This short, coming a few months before the collapse of the Third Reich, was one of the last major wartime cartoons from Warner Brothers. "Draftee Daffy" was the last.
* "Herr Meets Hare" was the first time that Bugs would realize he "shoulda made a left toin at Albukoykee." "Frigid Hare" is the first time Bugs says this famous line in a Chuck Jones cartoon. 
* The extended dance sequence in the middle of the film would later be retooled by Chuck Jones into his Bugs Bunny cartoon "What's Opera, Doc?"
* The handprints represent a signature of background artist Robert Gribbroek, who is not credited in this film.
* While the short was produced by Eddie Selzer, the lobby card bills this short as a Leon Schlesinger production.
* The film was copyrighted on 26 December 1944.https://books.google.com/books?id=hEBhAAAAIAAJ&q=vitaphone#v=snippet&q=vitaphone&f=false
== Gallery ==
HerrMeetsHareCredits1.png
HerrMeetsHareCredits2.png
41460139 1881874421902428 3002831891146473472 n.jpg|Lobby card
41413727 1838709019574983 8691733464468160512 n.jpg|Lobby card
File:Herr Meets Hare.jpg|Background cel
File:Hare meets Herr.jpg|Background cel
== References ==
Category:Bugs Bunny Cartoons
Category:Shorts
Category:Cartoons directed by Friz Freleng
Category:1945
Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts
Category:Cartoons written by Michael Maltese
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons produced by Eddie Selzer
Category:Caricatures of real people
Category:Cartoons in a.a.p. package
Category:Wartime Shorts