Wet Hare

Wet Hare is a 1962 Looney Tunes short directed by Robert McKimson.
== Title ==
The title is a play on the phrase "wet hair."
== Plot ==
Bugs Bunny is taking his morning shower under a waterfall, singing "April Showers" (à lá Al Jolson) when the water stops flowing. He decides that beavers are responsible, and, after a brief delirium that the supply has permanently dried up, climbs up the waterfall to the source of the problem. The "beavers" turn out to be the villainous Blacque Jacque Shellacque, who has built an illegal rock dam in an effort to control the water supply and sell it at inflated prices. Bugs asks Jacque what would happen if certain rocks become loose, to which Jacque simply states he would replace them. Bugs then tricks Jacque into removing a tiny rock, which despite Jacque's skepticism, dislodges the dam ("This is stupid - what could happen by taking just one little...").
Later, Bugs resumes showering, but Jacque has built a replacement dam ("This time I build him stronger!"). Jacque expects another sabotage attempt from Bugs, and thinks he's still one step ahead of the rabbit when he spots what he believes to be a phony shark fin in the impounded water. The shark is real, however, and Jacque panickingly calls out for help. This distraction, implicitly set up by Bugs, allows the rabbit to bust the dam by rowing and crashing a log through it, claiming he is "saving" Jacque from the shark ("This is being saved?").
Still later, Bugs has resumed showering again, but Jacque has built an even bigger replacement dam, and gloats at Bugs from above. Unintimidated, Bugs turns to the audience and quotes Red Skelton's "mean widdle kid": "He don't know me vewy well, do he?". Bugs then sends a lighted stick of dynamite towards the new Shellacque-built dam, but as Jacque tends to it (or vice-versa, as the dynamite blows up in Jacque's face off-screen), he doesn't immediately notice a huge raft full of lighted dynamite subsequently headed toward the dam, blowing it to pieces.
Finally fed up with Bugs, Jacque fires his rifle into the waterfall, thinking he's killed off his nemesis once and for all ("So much for crazy seec rabbets! Bah!"). Nearby, Bugs - watering his carrot garden - sees that his record player has been destroyed by Jacque. Although mad at first, Bugs calmly declares his time-honored, Groucho Marx-inspired warning: "Of course you know, this means war."
Later, a triumphant Jacque boasts about his new steel dam, but quickly finds his water supply has been cut off. Bugs, it turns out, has turned the tables and built a dam of his own. An angry Jacque retrieves a cannon and blows the dam apart, only to find another rabbit-built dam. Jacque blows that one up as well, only to find more dams (with Bugs taunting him each time not blow them up) until he finally reaches the Grand Cooler Dam. Jacque tries to blow that dam up as well, but the attempt fails and he is knocked backwards into a waiting paddy wagon that carts him off. "He's not foolin' me. He'll be back..." says Bugs as he watches his nemesis being taken away. "Like, uh, in about twenty years?"
== Caricatures ==
* Al Jolson
* Red Skelton
* Groucho Marx
== Availability ==
Looney Tunes Collector's Choice Vol. 3.jpg|(2024) Blu-ray Looney Tunes Collector's Choice: Volume 3 (restored)
=== Streaming ===
lt boomerang.jpg|Boomerang App (2018 - )
lt hbo max.jpg|HBO Max (2020 - 2022) (restored)
== Censorship ==
*These following scenes were cut from this cartoon's airing on ABC:
**Bugs asks, "I don't want to sound nave, Jacque, but what gives you the right to dam up the river?" after which Shellacque points a gun at Bugs and replies, "This gives me the right. Any objections?" and Bugs inquires as to whether Jacque's is a safe dam, and is answered by, "Naturellement. I build him myself."
**Later, after Bugs directs a stick of dynamite on a tiny raft toward Blacque Jacque's dam and Jacque captures the dynamite in a net and carries it off camera where the explosion occurs, Jacque staggers into view, his features and clothes indicating that he was directly caught in the dynamite detonation. By eliminating this, ABC left the viewer to speculate about the effect of the explosion on Shellacque.
== Gallery ==
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Screenshot-2021-12-01-2784725456.png
Wet Hare LC.jpg|Lobby card
WetHareLeadSheet1.jpg
WetHareLeadSheet2.jpg
WetHareLeadSheet3.jpg
Category:Bugs Bunny Cartoons
Category:Cartoons directed by Robert McKimson
Category:1962
Category:Shorts
Category:Looney Tunes Shorts
Category:Bugs Bunny Robert McKimson
Category:Cartoons with music by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons animated by George Grandpré
Category:Cartoons animated by Ted Bonnicksen
Category:Cartoons animated by Warren Batchelder
Category:Cartoons animated by Keith Darling
Category:Cartoons written by Dave Detiege
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with layouts by Robert Gribbroek
Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Robert Gribbroek
Category:Cartoons produced by David H. DePatie