The Old Grey Hare

The Old Grey Hare is a 1944 Merrie Melodies short directed by Robert Clampett.
== Title ==
The title is a double play on words. One is the typical pun between "hare" and "hair", with the bunny (who was already grey-haired) rendered "old and grey" for this cartoon. The title also refers to the old song, "The Old Gray Mare". Some theater cards for this cartoon gave the alternate spelling, The Old Gray Hare.
== Plot ==
Elmer Fudd sits under a tree, crying over never being able to catch Bugs Bunny. A voice tells Elmer that he would eventually catch him, and proceeds to transport him "far into the future" past the years 1950, 1960, 1970, etc., until reaching the then-distant year of 2000.
This offers the chance to use some contemporary gags with a futuristic twist, as Elmer finds a year 2000 newspaper. In sporting news, "Bing Crosby's Horse Hasn't Come In Yet!" (Crosby was known for investing in racehorses that did poorly). One headline says, Smellevision Replaces Television! Carl Stalling sez "It will never work!" 
By now, both Elmer and Bugs are very old and wrinkled ("What's up, prune-face?") - Bugs even has a large white beard and a cane - and lumbago - but their chase resumes. This time Elmer is armed with a "Buck Rogers" ray gun. After a short chase (at slow speed, due to their ages), Elmer gets the upper hand, shooting Bugs with his ultra-modern weapon.
At the moment when it seems Elmer has finally beaten his nemesis, the apparently dying Bugs thinks back to when he and Elmer were much younger. This leads to a flashback sequence with a baby Elmer hunting a baby Bugs (both are still in diapers; Bugs is drinking carrot juice from a baby bottle; Elmer is crawling and toting a pop-gun; and they interrupt their chase to take a baby nap-time together.)
After the flashback is over, a tearful Bugs starts to dig his own grave, with Elmer getting equally emotional. Just at the point where it seems that Bugs is going to bury himself, he switches places with the weeping and distracted Elmer, and cheerfully buries him alive instead ("So long, Methuselah!") The buried Elmer quips, "Weww [well] anyway, that pesky wabbit is out of my wife [life] fowevew [forever] and evew [ever]!" However, Bugs suddenly pops in and repeats the popular catchphrase of the "Richard Q. Peavey" character from The Great Gildersleeve, "Well, now, I wouldn't say that," plants a kiss on Elmer, then hands him a large firecracker with a lit fuse, and quickly departs. While Elmer shivers and doesn't do anything, the screen immediately fades out and Robert Clampett's famous vocalized "Bay-woop!" is heard with the firecracker still hissing. The "That's all, Folks!" card appears already pre-written and the firecracker explodes off-screen, rumbling and shaking the on-screen title card.
==Caricatures==
*Bing Crosby
*Richard LeGrand's character Richard Q. Peavey
==Availability==
Viddy-Oh! For Kids VHS 2.jpg|(1986) VHS Viddy-Oh! For Kids Cartoon Festivals: Bugs Bunny Cartoon Festival Featuring "Little Red Riding Rabbit"
Viddy-Oh! For Kids VHS 4.jpg|(1986) VHS Viddy-Oh! For Kids Cartoon Festivals: Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd Cartoon Festival Featuring "Wabbit Twouble"
Lt bbss ld.jpg|(1988) LaserDisc Bugs Bunny: Superstar
Lt bbs.jpg|(1988) VHS Bugs Bunny: Superstar (a.a.p print)
Golden Age LT Vol 1.jpg|(1991) LaserDisc The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 1, Side 10: The Art of Bugs
Lt galt vhs 10.jpg|(1992) VHS The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 10: The Art of Bugs
Lt bumper woolworths.jpg|(1995) VHS Bumper Edition (Woolworths Exclusive)
LTCE VOL 7 WELCOME TO WACKYLAND.jpg|(2000) VHS Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition Volume 7: Welcome To Wackyland (1995 Turner dubbed version, edited)
LTGC Vol.4.jpg|(2006) DVD Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 4, Disc 2 (Bugs Bunny Superstar, Part 2) (1995 Turner dubbed version, but uses opening and closing titles from the 90s scan of Bugs Bunny Superstar, preserving the original end gag)
Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 5.jpg|(2007) DVD Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5, Disc 3 (with optional audio commentary by Greg Ford)
The Essential Bugs Bunny.jpg|(2010) DVD The Essential Bugs Bunny, Disc 1 (restored)
Looney Tunes Showcase - Volume 1.jpg|(2012) Blu-ray Looney Tunes Showcase: Volume 1,
51LA0AzTVqL. SL500 AA300 .jpg|(2011) Blu-ray Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc 1 (restored)
LTPC VOL 1 DVD.jpg|(2012) DVD Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc 1 (restored)
BB SS DVD Warner Archive.jpg|(2012) DVDAmazon Bugs Bunny: Superstar (restored)
Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection.jpg|(2020) Blu-ray Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection, Disc 1 (restored)
===Streaming===
lt hbo max.jpg|HBO Max (2020 - 2023)
lt max.jpg|Max (2023 - )
==Censorship==
*When this cartoon aired on The WB, the part where baby Elmer points his toy gun at baby Bugs' face and baby Bugs cracks his bottle of carrot juice over baby Elmer's head was cut.http://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/censored-n-o.aspx
* See "Notes" section below for edits done to the end gag where the cartoon ends with elderly Bugs giving elderly Elmer a stick of dynamite after burying him in his own grave and the title card shakes in response to the off-screen explosion.
==Notes==
*This cartoon's title card is virtually identical to that of "Buckaroo Bugs", which was released two months earlier. Coincidentally, both cartoons are directed by Bob Clampett.
*This cartoon lacks a visible MPPDA number on the credit card.
*In this short, Bugs Bunny in his normal adult age is not shown, just as a baby bunny and as an elderly rabbit.
*Bugs' voice as a baby is virtually identical to that of Tweety, while Elmer's voice as a baby is basically a sped-up version of his normal voice.
*This is the first cartoon where something referring to the beginning happens at the end, where the usual "That's all Folks!" ending card is shown.
*When an old Elmer is reading the newspaper, the names of Bing Crosby and Carl Stalling are shown.
*The caption under Baby Elmer's picture reads "Only 3½ Years Old," a reference to Billy Gray's catchphrase.
*While Baby Bugs is babbling to Elmer as a baby, the words of his catchphrase, "What's up, doc?" appear, and Elmer reads them.
**A similar gag would show up in the later Popeye the Sailor cartoon "Popeye, the Ace of Space". When Popeye is captured by aliens, they babble the words "......on this typical Earthman specimen", and Popeye reads them.
*This is the final cartoon to bear the byline "WARNER BROS." on the opening title. All cartoons after this include "PICTURES INC." under the byline. 
**It is also the final cartoon to bear the byline "Produced by WARNER BROS. CARTOONS, Inc." on the opening title.
*This cartoon would be used as the final cartoon for the documentary Bugs Bunny: Superstar.
*This is one of the several Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies shorts to have ending gags involving the closing titles. Others include "Porky's Duck Hunt" (1937), "Stop! Look! And Hasten!" (1954), and "Box Office Bunny" (1991) (all of which have been edited on television in one form or another, due to some channels not allowing the cartoons to have their original ending cards).
*The USA Turner dubbed version, which used to air on Cartoon Network and currently airs on the Latin American, Canadian, and American Boomerang (excluding an appearance in The Bob Clampett Show and the first "June Bugs" marathon) channels, has the original shaking end card replaced by the 1947–48 Merrie Melodies card, which does not shake (though the explosion sound is still heard). This edit also occurs on Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition Volume 7: Welcome To Wackyland VHS release from Columbia House which also uses this exact same print.
**While the USA Turner dubbed version replaces the ending title card with the 1947–48 Merrie Melodies dubbed card seen on most USA dubbed versions, the European Turner dubbed version, which airs on the Cartoon Network/Boomerang channels in European countries, has blue borders and preserves the original ending card and the explosion gag. In this version, the original end card shakes, and the "DUBBED VERSION (C) 1995 TURNER ENTERTAINMENT, CO." disclaimer fades up at the end.
==Gallery==
OldGreyHareCredits1.png
OldGreyHareCredits2.png
The Old Grey Hare (1).jpg
Crosby's Horse.jpg
Television replaced.jpg
Screenshot 2022-12-04 101142.png
Screenshot 2022-12-04 101224.png
The Old Grey Hare (11).jpg
The Old Grey Hare (38).jpg|"Well now, I wouldn't say that..."
The Old Grey Hare (40).jpg
U-g-PJY25W0.jpg|Lobby card
22606ps.jpg|Lobby card
189045 10150123679353926 223597233925 6375129 1648472 n.jpg|Lobby card
Oldgrayhare-sm.jpg|Production model sheet
The Old Grey Hare (1944) - Family Signs.jpg
==References==
fr:Adieu, monde cruel
Category:Bugs Bunny Cartoons
Category:Elmer Fudd Cartoons
Category:Shorts
Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts
Category:1944
Category:Bugs Bunny: Superstar Cartoons
Category:Cartoons directed by Bob Clampett
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan
Category:Cartoons produced by Eddie Selzer
Category:Cartoons animated by Basil Davidovich
Category:Cartoons with layouts by Thomas McKimson
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons in a.a.p. package
Category:Cartoons that contain excerpts from "Powerhouse"