Release Date:

February 25, 1956

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny, Witch Hazel

Summary:

On Halloween night, Witch Hazel, who’s vain about her ugliness, has a visitor in the form of Bugs Bunny trick-or-treating as an even uglier witch. Intending to make this apparent witch beautiful, Hazel realizes this is actually Bugs in disguise and then chases him around her castle when she realizes the brew she’s working on requires a rabbit’s clavicle.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1385 and was released as a Looney Tune.

This is Hazel’s second appearance and easily her most memorable. This is also the first time she was voiced by June Foray (who even provided a commentary for this cartoon herself on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2 DVD set in 2004).

Speaking of which, Hazel’s transformation into a beautiful woman at the end when she mistakenly drinks her own beauty potion is actually a caricature of Foray.

Hazel’s genie magic mirror is a parody of the queen’s mirror in “Snow White”.

Tedd Pierce wrote this one.

Ernie Nordli did the layouts for this one.

The cartoon had several working titles during production which include, “I’m Witch You”, “Hare Witch You”, “Witch’s Hare”, “Hare-O-Ween”, “Hobgoblin Hare”, and “Which Hare Has the Toni?”.

The opening shot of the cartoon reveals that Hazel is a member of the “Malevolent Order of Witches”, which also has an affiliation with “AF of Elves”.

Before Hazel takes off on her broom (not realizing this isn’t the magic one), she exclaims, “Hi-Ho, Flivver! Away!”, which is of course a parody of The Lone Ranger.

The shot of Bugs silently giving a soulful-eyed teary expression to convince Hazel not to chop him with her meat cleaver became a meme.

With Bugs technically being an adult, it’s rather odd that he’s trick-or-treating, which is something children do.

Some of Hazel’s plants include “Wolf Bane” and “Toad Whortle”.

Favorite Scene:

The ending where Hazel gets tricked into drinking her own beauty potion, transforming her into a beautiful woman, and causing the genie in the mirror to fall in love with her and then pursue her on his magic carpet.

What Happens in This One:

In her castle on Halloween night, Hazel is preparing a brew and singing to the tune of “A Cup of Coffee, A Sandwich, and You”: “A cup of arsenic, a spider, some glue, a lizard’s gizzard, an eel’s heel, or two”. She then skips off to get “for little folk, some poison oak”, i.e., snipping off some poison ivy. Upon passing her mirror, she asks, “Magic mirror on the wall, who is the ugliest one of all?” The spirit in the mirror- a genie- appears and answers, “By my troth I will avow. There’s none that’s uglier than thou!” Hazel remarks, “I’m so deathly afraid of getting pretty as I grow older”, before realizing, “Pretty!” and then chuckling before running off (animated by Abe Levitow).

Meanwhile, Bugs is walking along, trick-or-treating in a witch costume. He removes his costume head to remark, “Boy! This trick-or-treating is a pretty nice racket! Pity it only comes once a year!”, before putting his mask back on (animated by Richard Thompson).

Stirring her brew, Hazel says to herself, “I could finish this goop tonight if only I had some…”, before a knock on her door is heard, much to her delight. “…guests”. She runs to the door and announces, “Coming, chaps!” It turns out to be Bugs at the door, holding out his bag. “Evening, granny. Do you have any goodies for a Halloween witch?” Hazel becomes confused at this as she asides, “Witch? I don’t remember seeing her at any of the Union meetings!”, before laughing, “But my! Isn’t she the ugliest little thing?” She then realizes this puts her title of the ugliest one of all in jeopardy and hastily runs to the magic mirror to ask nervously, “Magic mirror on the wall, who is the ugliest one of all?” The genie in the mirror takes a look at Bugs in his costume and answers, “Thou WERE’T the ugliest one, ‘tis true. But that creep is uglier far than you”. Hazel does a horrified take before sporting an evil smile upon getting an idea (animated by Thompson).

Hazel runs up to Bugs in a faux-delighted manner, “Darling!”, and brings him in by the hand, saying, “Come in!” four times (animated by Thompson). At a table with Bugs, Hazel informs, “I warn you, dearie. I’m going to worm all of your ugly secrets out of you. Tell me now. Who undoes your hair?” Patting the hair on his costume, Bugs asks, “Do you like it?” Hazel answers elated, “LIKE it!? Why, it’s absolutely HIDEOUS!” Bugs replies, “I did myself up tonight”. Hazel adds, “There’s nothing like a home permanent”, before realizing, “Oh, but I mustn’t be such a selfish hostess. Wait right here and I’ll serve up some tea and goodies”. She dashes off and peeks her head from a corner, “Make yourself homely!”, before making the same horrified noise from earlier. Bugs says to himself, “She may not be very pretty now, but she was somebody’s baby once” (animated by Ben Washam).

Using potions such as “Beauty Ointment”, “Pretty Pills”, “Alure Unguent”, “Handsome Oil”, “De-Uglifying Oil”, and “Eau d’Exotic”, Hazel prepares a beauty potion while singing another variant of “A Cup of Coffee, A Sandwich, and You”: “A cup of tea, a cookie, and you”. Back at the table, she pours a cup of it for Bugs and seemingly for herself, “It’s a special brew of my own. I think you’ll like it”. Bugs looks at it, before Hazel becomes impatient, “Come on! Come on! Drink it! Drink it!” Bugs realizes, “Oh, oh, I’m sorry. I-I forgot. I’ll, uh, I’ll have to take off me mask first”. Hazel becomes confused at the word, “Mask?” After having removed said mask, Bugs remarks, “There. That’s better”. Realizing this is “a rabbit!?”, Hazel dashes off upon remembering something as Bugs replies, “Yeah. Couldn’t tell, could ya?” After Hazel exits, Bugs gives the audience a slightly worried look (animated by Washam).

Hazel looks in her recipe book and finds out her brew requires a rabbit’s clavicle, causing her to let out an “Ah-ha!” in a slight whisper. Sensing something ominous, Bugs gets up to leave, “Y’know, my delicate inner sense of danger warns me that there’s something faintly unhealthy in the atmosphere of this cottage”. He suddenly comes face to face with Hazel ready to chop him with a meat cleaver. Bugs lets out a quiet “Eep!” before running off, “Eh, pardon me, auntie, but, uh, I got a lot of trick-or-treating to catch up on, so I’ll bid you a civil adieu”. Bugs dashes away so fast that Hazel ends up missing (animated by Washam). She chases him all around her castle, all the while cackling fiendishly. Hazel then passes her magic broom closet and decides to pursue Bugs on her magic broom. Shouting, “Hi-ho, Flivver! Away!”, she begins to take off on what is seemingly that very broom, but the broom begins moving around like a proper one. On the floor, Hazel chuckles at her mistake, “Crazy me! That was my SWEEPING broom!” (animated by Levitow)

Stopping to catch his breath, Bugs pants, “WOW! That old babe means to do me serious hurt!” He then senses a carrot being lowered from behind him. It turns out that Hazel is using a fishing pole with said carrot as bait to reel him in. She successfully does and catches him in a net (animated by Levitow).

Hazel is seen sharpening her meat cleaver on a grinding wheel, with Bugs tied up. Walking up to him with the cleaver, Hazel states, “There! That’s sharp enough to split a hare!”, and then realizes what she just said. “Split a hair!? (laughs)” Just as she’s about to chop into him, Bugs gives a soulful-eyed, teary expression that causes Hazel to drop her cleaver and begin weeping loudly. Bugs asks her, “What’s the matter, dearie?” Hazel stops crying to answer, “You remind me of… of Paul!” Bugs: “Paul?” Hazel reveals who Paul is, “My pet tarantula!”, before she continues crying (animated by Ken Harris).

Still tied up, Bugs walks over to the table, “Look, granny. We can’t carry the torch for our loved ones forever. Ya gotta pull yourself together”. He then carries the beauty potion with his mouth over to her and instructs, “Here. Drink this”. Not realizing what she’s been given, Hazel drinks it without thinking, causing the beauty potion to take effect and turn her into a beautiful red-haired woman still wearing the witch’s hat. Hazel reacts in shock at what happened to her and asks the mirror in a far sweeter voice, “Magic mirror on the wall, who is the ugliest one of all?” (animated by Harris) Upon seeing the new Hazel, the genie in the mirror immediately falls in love and lets out a “Rowr! Rowr!” He comes out of the mirror and attempts to grab her as she exclaims, “Eee!” Hazel runs off to her magic broom closet and flees out of the castle on her real magic broom with the genie following on his magic carpet. Having freed his arms from the ropes but still wearing them, Bugs is seen talking on the phone, “Hello, Air Raid Headquarters? Well, you’re not gonna believe this! But I just saw a genie with light brown hair chasing a flying sorceress!” (animated by Thompson)

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕