Taz did not appear again, though, until 1962's "Bill of Hare", which returned him to confronting Bugs Bunny, who again deflects the attention of the on-the-loose carnivore by promising to help him to procure meat from other animals. He tricks Taz into hunting for a moose on a train track and into swallowing shish kabab made of dynamite.
The cartoon opens in a seaside town where a crate is being unloaded from a
cargo ship, belonging to the Snodgrass Scientific Expedition. The crew is shown
trying to carefully hoist the crate from the ship to the dock, but the net holding
the crate breaks, causing it to fall and break open, releasing the Tasmanian
Devil. Taz immediately scuttles the ship and, while buzzing through the water,
bites a shark, causing it to jump out of the water and moan in pain.
Taz then comes on shore and smells food being cooked. He sees Bugs Bunny under
the pier trying to cook a meal in a kettle. Taz promptly throws Bugs into the
pot, but hearing singing in the pot, opens it up. Bugs, disguised as an old
man orders Taz to close the door, but when Taz tries to look again, Bugs, disguised
as a lady, slaps him and pokes him in the eyes. Angered, Taz rips the shower
curtains, placed by Bugs, but once he is in the pot, he hears Bugs begging him
to stop drowning him. Bugs (who was outside the pot, gargling seltzer water
to imitate drowning) jackhammers the pot shot and transports the pot to a cannon,
where he puts the pot inside the cannon and fires it like a cannonball into
the ocean.
Click here to watch a clip |
Bugs is next seen using a rotisserie to roast carrots over an open fire when
Taz catches up with him. Taz quickly ties Bugs to the rotisserie and begins
to cook him over the fire. Bugs (out of picture) instructs Taz to turn him faster
and as Taz complies, it is revealed that he is really turning a crank of a truck
engine. Taz is run over by the truck and Bugs escapes once again.
Later, as Bugs is looking at the cook book, wondering what else to cook, Taz
grabs him and makes a rabbit sandwich. Before Taz can take a bite, Bugs convinces
him that his only food source is a moose. Wanting to catch a moose, Taz lets
go of Bugs and they go to a train tunnel, which Bugs is passing off as a moose
cave. Bugs explains that once he hears a moose, he'll blow a whistle to tell
Taz to go in and clobber the moose.
The first time, Bugs hears a train whistle and blows his own whistle. The moment
Taz rushes into the tunnel, he gets clobbered by a Northbound train. Bugs suggests
that Taz face south when attacking a northbound moose, but once they hear another
train approaching, Taz gets clobbered by a Southbound train. Thinking that he
didn't do proper research on moose attack techniques, Bugs goes into the tunnel
to look up more research. Just as Taz is starting to snap out of his daze, Bugs
comes riding out of the tunnel on a real moose, that runs Taz over.
Click here to watch a clip |
Taz corners Bugs again but Bugs tricks Taz by assuming a disguise as a waiter in a restaurant and takes an order from Taz. When Bugs plays a violin, Taz, starting to cry from the sad song, takes the violin and eats it. Bugs returns with a skewer with three lit dynamite sticks, which Taz promptly eats. The dynamite blows up in Taz's stomach, and Taz chases Bugs. Bugs shuts him behind a door, but Taz breaks it down.
After receiving a tip that Bugs is under the door, Taz goes down it, but Bugs
shuts the door, attaches a hook, and calls to some off screen men. The hook
then lifts up the door, revealing Taz is trapped in a cage.
Later Taz is seen in a cage in the city zoo when Bugs attempts to take his food
order again. Remembering what happened previously, Taz lowers a sign in his
cage that reads "PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS." Bugs then playfully
wonders what made Taz lose his appetite so soon.
Title | Bill of Hare (1962) |
Story | John Sturn |
Animation | Keith Darling, Ted Bonnicksen, Warren Batchelder and George Grand Pré |
Layouts and Backgrounds | Robert Gribbroek |
Filmeditor | Treg Brown |
Voice Characterization | Mel Blanc |
Music | Milt Franklyn |
Directed by | Robert Mc Kimson |