Release Date:

July 24, 1954

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny, Witch Hazel

Summary:

Having read “Hansel and Gretel” and disgusted at the idea of a witch wanting to eat children, Bugs Bunny finds this happening in real life with Witch Hazel convincing the very same German-accented children that she’ll give them all the sweets they want if they come into her house. Bugs disguises as a truant officer, who warns Hansel and Gretel of Hazel’s plans, and they flee. Once Bugs reveals himself, Hazel decides to pursue Bugs as an alternative meal.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1303 and was released as a Looney Tune.

This is the first appearance of one of the most memorable female Looney Tunes characters, Witch Hazel, who always leaves bobby pins behind whenever she dashes out of frame. She would also appear in “Broomstick Bunny” (1956), “A Witch’s Tangled Hare” (1959), and “A Haunting We Will Go” (1966), as well as her own episode in Looney Tunes Cartoons, “Hex Appeal” (2022).

This is also the only time where Hazel is voiced by Bea Benaderet, as in her other Golden Age appearances, she is voiced by June Foray (and would end up becoming one of Foray’s most memorable voices).

This is the only Warner cartoon to parody Hansel and Gretel. Disney previously parodied it in the 1932 Silly Symphony, “Babes in the Woods”.

There was actually another cartoon Witch Hazel before this in the 1952 Donald Duck cartoon, “Trick or Treat”. This Witch Hazel, though, is a benevolent one who helps Huey, Dewey, and Louie get back at Donald for playing a mean trick on them. She was also voiced by Foray (since Jones couldn’t get Foray for this cartoon, Benaderet did the voice for this one only).

The cartoon was used in the 1982 compilation movie, “Bugs Bunny’s 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales”.

Some of Hazel’s spices include “Bee Stingers with Chutney”, “Worm Sweat Residue”, “Centipede Bunions with Chive”, and “Pickled Tarantula Elbows”.

A running gag involves the confusion about the German-like pronunciation of Hansel’s name.

While the original animation is still kept, the “Bugs Bunny in” card is now updated to where Bugs leans across all of the letters in both “Bugs” and “Bunny”.

Mel Blanc’s sound effect for the broomstick’s “Yipe!” noises would be reused by him for Dino, Fred and Wilma’s pet dog-like dinosaur in “The Flintstones”.

A different-sounding arrangement of “What’s Up Doc” plays under the opening credits.

The cartoon was considered for an Academy Award but was not nominated.

Favorite Scene:

After Hazel has drugged Bugs with a poisoned carrot and has gone down into her cellar to get “a nice fresh bottle of rabbit relish”, the prince from Snow White suddenly arrives and kisses Bugs’ hand mistaking him for the princess he’s supposed to wake. Bugs thanks him for bringing him out of that, “But you’re looking for Snow White. This here’s the story of Hansel and Gretel”, using the same German-like pronunciation of the former. The prince walks out pondering, “Hansel?” several times.

What Happens in This One:

Bugs is walking along while reading “Hansel and Gretel”: “And the nasty old witch planned to fatten the little boy and girl and throw them into the hot oven for her supper”. Appalled at the thought, he quietly says to himself, “Why, that dirty old-”. He continues walking and reading the story (and also unknowingly defies gravity when he walks across a small gap from a branch forming a bridge across two cliffs), “So while they was eatin’ the gingerbread from her house, she walked out with a big smile and craftily approaching the children, said-” At this exact moment, he hears a female voice taking over for him. It turns out that Hazel is doing the exact same thing in the story with the sweets-loving title characters, “Come into my house, children, and I’ll give you candy and ice cream and pickled herring and sweet and sour upside down cake and hard-boiled all-day suckers!” Hansel and Gretel are both enthusiastic about the idea before Hazel has them follow her, “Come, kiddies” as she sings to an original tune, “Let’s go eat the goodies, the goodies, the goodies. Let’s go eat the goodies. La-ta-ta-ta-ta”. Bugs decides, “This looks like a job for the Masked Avenger! But, since he ain’t around, I guess I’ll have to take care of it meself!” (animated by Ben Washam)

As Hansel and Gretel are busy eating a large mound of cake while sitting in a pot, Hazel is seen reading “Children Dishes” out of her recipe book which include dishes such as “Waif Waffles”, “Moppet Muffins”, “Urchin Pie”, “Kiddie Kippers”, “Children Chops”, and “Smorgas Boy”. Upon hearing a knock on the door, Hazel puts the lid atop them and says in a motherly-like voice, “Just a minute!” From inside the pot, Hansel and Gretel are still heard downing their cake. The knock is from Bugs disguised as a truant officer. Hazel asks him, “How do you do, sir? What can a kindly, harmless, old mother-type lady like me do for you?” Bugs explains, “I am the truant officer, madam. Why aren’t the children in school?” Pretending to not know what he’s talking about, Hazel asks, “Children? Children?” Bugs walks in and says, “Oh, come now. Don’t be coy. Where are they at?” He lifts the lid off the pot to find Hansel and Gretel still eating, before scolding Hazel, “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? Roasting children!” Hazel chuckles, “Call it a weakness”. Bugs then asks the two, “And, pray, what are your names, my poor children?” They answer respectively, “My name is Gretel”; “And my name is Hansel”, with the latter giving a German-like pronunciation of his name. Pondering “Hansel?” a few times in confusion, Bugs warns them, “Run for your dear little lives. She is a witch and means to eat you for her supper!” Shocked at this news, Hansel and Gretel run off and retort to Hazel in unison, “Ah! Your mother rides a vacuum cleaner!”, before running away into the distance (animated by Washam).

Disappointed at their departure, Hazel laments, “Oh dear. There goes my supper”. Bugs then takes off his disguise as he tells her, “No hard feelings, granny. But just remember that any rabbit’s too smart for ya”. Hazel immediately cheers up at this as she gets an idea, “Ah ha! That’s it! Rabbit stew!” She then locks the door and starts swinging her meat cleaver in ecstasy. Nervously munching a carrot, Bugs asks, “Eh… what’s up, doctress?”, before he runs off so fast, Hazel only ends up splitting the tie collar that flies off of his neck. As he runs off, Bugs remarks, “Me and my generous impulses!” (animated by Ken Harris)

Hazel whistles for her magic broom, that has a mind of its own, to walk out. After she gets on it, she tells us, “Notice how I ride sidesaddle. It proves I’m a lady of quality”. She takes off after Bugs on the broom, only for Bugs to open the lower half of a Dutch door, causing Hazel to smack right into it, causing her to fall off. The broom’s handle has also been broken from the impact, with it running back to where it came from while saying, “Yipe!” over and over again. Hazel realizes while scoffing, “Well what’s the use of BEING a witch if you don’t use witchcraft, huh?” She dashes off to where her spices are and looks at the sleeping potions (animated by Harris).

Using one of said sleeping potions, Hazel mixes it while reciting, “Bubble, bubble, pour it in. For that rabbit’s pretty thin”. She takes a ladle-full of some of the potion and pours it into a carrot with a hole in it. Bugs peeks out of a room and sniffs, “What’s cookin?” Acting excited, he chants in a sing-song voice, “I get to lick the pot! I get to lick the pot!”, and dips his fingers in there for a taste, only for Hazel to shove him away like a child, “Get your hands out of that pot. Now, out until I call you”. Hazel says to herself, “Land sakes! I never saw such a hungry rabbit!”, before laughing and filling up the carrot’s hole with the piece that was missing. She calls, “Come and get it!” before Bugs comes out and exclaims, “Mm mm!” Hazel walks away with mother-talk, “Now, you eat the nice carrot all up and Mother will get your bed ready”. Realizing what she just said, she says in amusement, “Mother” before laughing and zooming away. While slicing up some vegetables in a pot, she sings to the tune of “Rock-a-bye Baby”, “Rock-a-bye, rabbit, in the hot oven. Into my mouth, for dinner, I’m shovin’” (animated by Harris).

Having finished the carrot and not suspecting anything, Bugs decides, “Y’know, she’s not such a bad old girl after all”. Hazel then reveals, “Got ya, didn’t I, ya smart-aleck! That carrot was poisoned!” Bugs asks, “Poisoned?” and then makes two gasping-like noises. Hazel becomes impatient, “Come on, come on. Hurry it up”, only for Bugs to tell her, “Wait a minute, can’t ya!? I got one left!” He makes this one final gasping noise before silently passing out (animated by Washam).

Hazel puts him in the pot and goes down into her cellar, “Now for a nice fresh bottle of rabbit relish”. After she laughs about this, the cellar door from atop her suddenly shuts from the sudden arrival of the Prince from Snow White and his horse. The Prince steps in and kisses Bugs’ hand. Bugs wakes up at this, but sets the Prince straight, “Well, thanks large, mac, for bringing me out of that. But you’re looking for Snow White. This here’s the story of Hansel and Gretel”, using the same German-like pronunciation of Hansel’s name from earlier. Equally confused as Bugs was, the Prince walks out pondering, “Hansel?” aloud several times (animated by Lloyd Vaughan).

Hazel then appears out of the cellar and shouts, “Ah ha!” Bugs lets out an “Uh oh”, runs out of the pot, and runs to another Dutch door, opening the upper half, which Hazel also runs smack into. This, however, leads to a dead end. Hazel begins to step over the Dutch door, believing she finally has Bugs trapped, “Ah ha! Now I’ve gotcha!” Bugs looks around and spots a glass case containing a “Magic Powder” that reads, “In Case of Emergency, Break Glass”. He breaks it with the hammer attached and then throws the magic powder bomb inside at Hazel. The explosion transforms the room into an upside down springtime-like setting and Hazel herself into a pretty yellow female rabbit, who says to Bugs in a sexy voice, “Hello”. Bugs comes up to her and repeats, “Hello” before asking while holding out his arm, “Eh, goin’ MY way?” She confirms in a flirting manner, “Mm-hmm” and walks off with him. She lets out the same chuckle Hazel did, but Bugs isn’t fazed. “Ah, sure, I know. But aren’t they ALL witches inside?” (animated by Vaughan)

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½