Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare

Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare is a 1964 Merrie Melodies short directed by Robert McKimson.
== Title ==
The title is a play on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde from the Robert Louis Stevenson story Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
== Plot ==
The Tasmanian Devil approaches the Jungle. A woodpecker taps a warning on a tree, which we see as a subtitle on the bottom on the screen. "Warning! Tasmanian Devil approaching at 9 o'clock!" Two giraffes end up running. Some beavers use their tails to beat out the message "Take Cover! Devil is Coming! Take Cover! Repeat - Take Cover!" A bear and a moose fighting hear this and end up running. As a stampede of animals leave the jungle, Bugs is bathing in a nearby pond, unaware that Taz has spotted him.
Disliking the taste of Bugs' soap, Taz washes the soap off with a bucket of water, and then adds some ketchup. Bugs thinks that the ketchup is blood and freaks out, telling Taz to find a doctor. Taz runs to a medical hut and yells the situation, only to find Bugs (dressed as a doctor) instead. "Right on time for your annual checkup, I see," Bugs says to Taz. Bugs paints Taz's tongue green and puts spotted glasses on him. He asks Taz if he sees spots on his eyes. Taz says "Duh, yeah, little itty-bitty spots." Then Bugs gives him nitroglycerin and Bugs tells Taz that the medicine works best if you shake after you swallow. He puts an electric belly firmer vibrating belt on Taz and Taz explodes.
Now Bugs is dressed as Sigmund Freud. He makes Taz lay on a couch and talk about his childhood. Taz talks about how he was a bad little boy. Bugs asks him to slow down because he has got to write down all the good stuff. He looks at his watch and says it's time to go, folds Taz and the couch into a suitcase, puts it in a mailbox, gets picked up by a mail truck. It comes back by a mail truck covered with stickers from all the countries he's been to. Taz runs after Bugs and then end up in a hospital zone. Bugs rolls himself by on a gurney. Inside the hospital Bugs is a nurse and he tells Taz "Congratulations, it’s a boy!" Bugs gives Taz something and calls it a bouncing baby boy, and he bounces it just to show him. Taz gives Bugs a cigar and unwraps the baby, which is actually a bomb. As Bugs walks away, the cigar that Taz gave him turns out to be an exploding cigar, leaving the poor bunny in blackface. "I just wonder if he's as dumb as he looks?" Bugs wonders.
As the exploded Taz spins in, Bugs then dresses as a surgeon and calls Taz as his assistant. Bugs leaves the room and Taz looks at the patient. It ends up being the robotic Frankenstein's monster and he beats up Taz, then, in a backfiring moment, heads for Bugs as the monster goes out of control. It ends with Bugs being beaten up by the monster off stage and both the dazed Bugs and Taz staggering back onscreen, bruised and wrapped in bandages while Bugs groans, "Is there a doctor in the house? Huh, is there?"
== Availability ==
BUGS BUNNY TRUTH OR HARE.jpg|(1992) VHS Bugs Bunny Truth or Hare
StarsOfSpaceJam Taz.jpg|(1996) VHS Stars of Space Jam: Tasmanian Devil
Bumper06.jpg|(1996) VHS Special Bumper Collection (Vol. 6)
Space Jam Double Feature.jpg|(1997) VHS Space Jam Double Feature
Spacetaz.jpg|(1997) LaserDisc Japanese Looney Tunes LaserDiscs Tasmanian Devil
Taz's Jungle Jams.jpg|(1998) VHS Looney Tunes Presents: Taz's Jungle Jams
SuperStars Bugs.jpg|(2010) DVD Looney Tunes Super Stars' Bugs Bunny: Hare Extraordinaire (cropped to widescreen)
51LA0AzTVqL. SL500 AA300 .jpg|(2011) Blu-ray Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc Two
LTPC VOL 1 DVD.jpg|(2012) DVD Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc Two
lt ss3p.jpg|(2013) DVD Looney Tunes Super Stars 3-Pack, Disc 1
lt ssfm.jpg|(2014) DVD Looney Tunes Super Stars Family Multi-Feature, Disc 1
lt sosj td dvd.jpg|(2018) DVD Stars of Space Jam: Tasmanian Devil
lt sosj cv1.jpg|(2018) DVD Stars of Space Jam Collection Volume 1
=== Streaming ===
lt boomerang.jpg|Boomerang App ( - )
lt hbo max.jpg|HBO Max (2020 - 2020) (removed)
== Censorship ==
* When this cartoon aired on CBS's The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show, the scene of Bugs spoon-feeding Taz nitroglycerine and strapping him to an exercise belt was cut to make it look like Bugs strapped Taz to the exercise belt and exploded from that. Also cut on CBS was the scene of Bugs (disguised as a maternity ward nurse) giving a round bomb disguised as a baby to Taz and Taz giving Bugs an exploding cigar.
* When this cartoon aired on ABC's The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show, the nitroglycerin/exercise belt was left in, as was the first half of the bomb baby/exploding cigar scene. The only part cut from the latter sequence was Bugs with a cigar in his mouth and the cigar exploding on him.http://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/censored-d.aspx 
** The exploding cigar was also cut when it aired on MeTV, despite MeTV initially airing this short uncut, allowing the exploding cigar gag on other shorts (provided that the victim wasn't in blackface), and leaving in a scene where Bugs tricks Taz into thinking a cowboys and Indian fight in a televised Western is Taz's hormones fighting with his capillaries. In November 2022, however, MeTV aired the short uncut again.
== Notes ==
* This is Bugs Bunny's final short in the Merrie Melodies series.
* This is the final appearance of Taz during the Golden Age of Animation.
* This is the only time Bugs Bunny and the Tasmanian Devil both lose in the end. It is also the final time Bugs is defeated at the end of the short in the Golden Age.
* This cartoon was shown in theaters with The Incredible Mr. Limpet during its original release.
== Gallery ==
DrDevilandMrHareCredits1.png
DrDevilandMrHareCredits2.png
Dr-devil-mr-hare.jpg|Lobby card
Wb-lc-drdevil-16x20-framed.jpg|Lobby card
51XH+EPD7kL. AC UL246 SR190,246 .jpg|Lobby card
Ddamh.jpg|Lobby card
== References ==
Category:Shorts
Category:1964
Category:Bugs Bunny Cartoons
Category:Taz Cartoons
Category:Cartoons directed by Robert McKimson
Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts
Category:Bugs Bunny Robert McKimson
Category:Cartoons with music by Bill Lava
Category:Cartoons written by John Dunn
Category:Cartoons animated by George Grandpré
Category:Cartoons animated by Warren Batchelder
Category:Cartoons produced by David H. DePatie
Category:Cartoons animated by Ted Bonnicksen
Category:Cartoons with layouts by Robert Gribbroek
Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Robert Gribbroek
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc