Slick Hare
Slick Hare is a 1947 "Merrie Melodies" cartoon, directed by Friz Freleng. The film was released on November 1, 1947, and features Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. It parodies the Mocambo nightclub in Los Angeles—in the cartoon referred to as "The Mocrumbo". Mel Blanc voices Bugs, Arthur Q. Bryan voices Elmer Fudd, impressionist Dave Barry portrays Humphrey Bogart, and Carmen Miranda voices herself. The title is a pun on "hair", from an era when hair slicked down by oil was a popular fashion style for men. Plot. The cartoon opens with various shots of 1940s celebrities dining  and drinking at the Mocrumbo club—including such personalities as Gregory Peck using a straight razor to cut his steak in reference to his character in Hitchcock's "Spellbound", Ray Milland, in a spoof of "The Lost Weekend", pays for his drink with a typewriter and receives miniature typewriters as change; and Frank Sinatra, depicted exaggeratedly thin, so much so that he slips into his straw when trying to take a sip from his drink. Elmer Fudd is a waiter at the Mocrumbo and comes out to find that his next customer is Humphrey Bogart. Bogart tells Elmer that he  wants fried rabbit, within 20 minutes—"or else!"—pulling out a tommy gun to threaten Elmer. This puts Elmer in a bind, as the restaurant is "fwesh out of wabbit." However, during his frantic search for one, Elmer hears the sound of somebody munching on carrots in a corner of the kitchen and discovers Bugs Bunny in a crate of carrots. Elmer informs Bugs that Bogart wants to "have" him for dinner. Bugs immediately appears in a top hat, tailcoat and gloves and asks to have a peek at what is cooking. Elmer quickly puts a hand mirror into a pot and  Bugs, seeing his reflection, realizes that he himself is to be the main course. Bugs escapes the kitchen into the dining room where he is seated at a table dressed like Groucho Marx in an attempt to fool Elmer. Elmer then appears next to Bugs, dressed as Harpo Marx. Bugs tries to run away, but he bounces off the large stomach of Sydney Greenstreet. He runs into Carmen Miranda's dressing room and hides in her tutti-frutti hat. Carmen walks to the stage and performs "Sambaiana". As she exits, Elmer chases Bugs back onto the stage. Elmer, seeing the  audience, quickly runs offstage leaving Bugs to dance to the orchestra's samba rhythms. Elmer is seen next to the band sharpening his meat cleaver to the rhythm during the performance. Bugs then makes his way back to the kitchen, where he revels in the audience's appreciation of his performance by saying "Ah, my public! How they love me! A-huh-huh!" (the little laugh being a Jack Benny shtick). Elmer, holding a meat cleaver, rushes towards Bugs, and Bugs immediately dresses as a mustachioed waiter ordering pies and twice splatters Elmer in the face, first with a lemon  meringue pie and then with a banana cream pie. The third time (a comic triple), when Bugs orders a coconut custard pie with whipped cream, Elmer finally realizes that the waiter just might be Bugs and says: "You know what I think? I think that's the wabbit! Well, he who waughs wast, ha ha ha!" After producing the pie in an attempt to get the last laugh, Elmer throws it at Bugs, but Bugs ducks and the pie sails out into the dining room, hitting Bogart in the face. Bogart walks into the kitchen, grabs Elmer by his shirt , and asks him "Why did you hit me in a face wid a coconut custard pie with whipped cream?" Bogart then warns Elmer that he has just 5 minutes to come up with his fried rabbit. Elmer searches frantically, but cannot find a rabbit in time. Bogart returns, and sticks his hand in his jacket, menacingly; Elmer cowers, thinking he's about to die, but Bogart only pulls out a handkerchief to dab his forehead as he says resignedly "Baby will just have to have a ham sandwich instead." Upon hearing "Baby", Bugs jumps out of his hiding place  and takes his place on a platter as the main course (Lauren Bacall being "Baby") noting "Remember, garçon, the customer is always right! If it's rabbit Baby wants, rabbit Baby gets!" before howling and wolf whistling at Bacall. Production. Background artist Paul Julian visited the kitchen at the Mocambo, and based this cartoon's kitchen backgrounds on the unhygienic things he observed, later commenting in an interview: "I was so bloody revolted by it that I came back and made a documentary out of it!" Reception. Cartoon voice actor Keith Scott writes, "One of the last of Warner Bros. ' topical caricature cartoons, "Slick Hare" is much more accessible to a modern audience than some other entries in the movie-star parody genre. This is because Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd carry the comedy. With these two strong personalities in the foreground, the throwaway movie-star gags are more like the icing on a cake."