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Broom-Stick Bunny is a Looney Tunes short released in 1956 and directed by Chuck Jones.

Plot[]

It's Halloween night, and Witch Hazel's brewing some kind of magic potion. As she goes about her business, she pauses at her magic mirror and asks it who's the ugliest one of all (similar to the Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs). The genie in the mirror replies that she, Witch Hazel, is the ugliest one of all ("By my troth, I will avow: there's none that's uglier than thou"). Hazel explains to the audience that she's "deathly afraid" of getting prettier as she gets older (a fear that's fully justified at the end of the short).

Meanwhile, Bugs Bunny's out trick-or-treating dressed as a witch, his face hidden by an ugly green mask. He calls on Witch Hazel, who, seeing his costume, mistakes him for an actual witch ("I don't remember seeing her at any of the union meetings"). After making a comment about Bugs's appearance ("Isn't she the ugliest little thing"), she dashes to her magic mirror and asks it a second time who's the ugliest one of all. The genie in the mirror, also not realizing that Bugs is just a rabbit in a costume, admits that he actually finds Bugs far uglier ("Thou wert the ugliest one, 'tis true. But that creep is uglier far than you").

The jealous witch hatches a plot: she invites the disguised Bugs in for tea and prepares a brew containing various beauty enhancers. Bugs is about to drink the tea when he remembers that he's still wearing his mask, and takes it off. Seeing that her "rival" is actually a rabbit, Witch Hazel dashes off to consult her potion book. Sure enough, the last ingredient for the potion she was brewing earlier is a rabbit's clavicle (a bone in the shoulder).

While she's gone, Bugs suspects there's trouble afoot and makes to leave ("You know, my delicate inner sense of danger warns me that there's something faintly unhealthy in the atmosphere of this cottage"), but he's stopped at the door by Witch Hazel brandishing a meat cleaver. Bugs flees, stating, "Uh, pardon me, auntie, but uh, I've got a lot of trick-or-treatin' to catch up on so I'll bid you a civil adue!", with the cackling witch chasing him throughout her house.

She dashes to her magic broom closet to grab her flying broomstick to keep up with him, but she had accidentally grabbed her magic sweeping broom, which starts sweeping with her on it before she lets go ("Crazy me, that was my sweeping broom") she says to the audience. As Bugs hides (knowing "that old bag means to do me serious hurt!"), Witch Hazel finally traps Bugs using a carrot on a fishing rod.

Back at her cauldron, Hazel prepares to kill Bugs and use him in her potion. She's about to bring her cleaver down on the trussed-up rabbit, but he plays to her sympathies, gazing back at her with tear-filled doe eyes. Hazel then bursts into tears, claiming his innocent face reminds her of Paul, her pet tarantula. Bugs tries comforting her by bringing her the cup of beauty elixir disguised as tea, which she unknowingly drinks. Witch Hazel instantly changes into a gorgeous redhead with a slender but curvy build (naturally, Milt Franklyn strikes up "Oh, You Beautiful Doll"), which of course horrifies her, since she was a woman known for relishing here croneliness.

Horrified, Hazel dashes to her magic mirror a third time and meekly asks (in a softer, sexier tone of voice to match her beautiful new appearance) the genie in the mirror if she's still ugly. The genie, upon seeing the witch's new look, immediately falls in love with her and lunges to grab her after giving a very Bob Hope-like "ROWR, ROWR!".

Hazel flees on her actual flying broomstick, with the genie chasing her on his magic carpet, slowly gaining on her as well. Bugs, who's still at Hazel's house, promptly calls the local air raid headquarters to report "a genie with light brown hair chasing a flying sorceress!".

Witch Hazel[]

This is the first Warner Bros. short for which June Foray provides the voice of Witch Hazel. Jones had wanted Foray to replicate the voice she had provided for a different Witch Hazel in Disney films when he directed the earlier "Bewitched Bunny". However, Foray initially refused, fearing that it would bother Disney producers and put her in danger of losing future jobs. Jones was forced to substitute Bea Benaderet. Similarly, when Hazel becomes beautiful near the end, she is a caricature of June Foray herself. This idea was carried over to an episode of Duck Dodgers.

Gallery[]

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v - e - d
Bugs Bunny short logo
1930s (Happy Rabbit)
Porky's Hare HuntPrest-O Change-OHare-um Scare-um
1940s
Elmer's Candid CameraA Wild HareElmer's Pet RabbitTortoise Beats HareHiawatha's Rabbit HuntThe Heckling HareAll This and Rabbit StewWabbit TwoubleThe Wabbit Who Came to SupperThe Wacky WabbitHold the Lion, PleaseBugs Bunny Gets the BoidFresh HareThe Hare-Brained HypnotistCase of the Missing HareTortoise Wins by a HareSuper-RabbitJack-Wabbit and the BeanstalkWackiki WabbitFalling HareLittle Red Riding RabbitWhat's Cookin' Doc?Bugs Bunny and the Three BearsBugs Bunny Nips the NipsHare Ribbin'Hare ForceBuckaroo BugsThe Old Grey HareStage Door CartoonHerr Meets HareThe Unruly HareHare TriggerHare ConditionedHare TonicBaseball BugsHare RemoverHair-Raising HareAcrobatty BunnyRacketeer RabbitThe Big SnoozeRhapsody RabbitRabbit TransitA Hare Grows in ManhattanEaster YeggsSlick HareGorilla My DreamsA Feather in His HareRabbit PunchBuccaneer BunnyBugs Bunny Rides AgainHaredevil HareHot Cross BunnyHare SplitterA-Lad-In His LampMy Bunny Lies Over The SeaHare DoMississippi HareRebel RabbitHigh Diving HareBowery BugsLong-Haired HareKnights Must FallThe Grey Hounded HareThe Windblown HareFrigid HareWhich Is WitchRabbit Hood
1950s
Hurdy-Gurdy HareMutiny on the BunnyHomeless HareBig House BunnyWhat's Up Doc?8 Ball BunnyHillbilly HareBunker Hill BunnyBushy HareRabbit of SevilleHare We GoRabbit Every MondayBunny HuggedThe Fair-Haired HareRabbit FireFrench RarebitHis Hare-Raising TaleBallot Box BunnyBig Top BunnyOperation: RabbitFoxy by Proxy14 Carrot RabbitWater, Water Every HareThe Hasty HareOily HareRabbit SeasoningRabbit's KinHare LiftForward March HareUpswept HareSouthern Fried RabbitHare TrimmedBully for BugsLumber Jack-RabbitDuck! Rabbit, Duck!Robot RabbitCaptain HareblowerBugs and ThugsNo Parking HareDevil May HareBewitched BunnyYankee Doodle BugsBaby Buggy BunnyBeanstalk BunnySahara HareHare BrushRabbit RampageThis is a Life?Hyde and HareKnight-mare HareRoman Legion-HareBugs' BonnetsBroom-Stick BunnyRabbitson CrusoeNapoleon Bunny-PartBarbary-Coast BunnyHalf-Fare HareA Star Is BoredWideo WabbitTo Hare Is HumanAli Baba BunnyBedeviled RabbitPiker's PeakWhat's Opera, Doc?Bugsy and MugsyShow Biz BugsRabbit RomeoHare-Less WolfHare-Way To The StarsNow, Hare ThisKnightly Knight BugsPre-Hysterical HareBaton BunnyHare-Abian NightsApes of WrathBackwoods BunnyWild and Woolly HareBonanza BunnyA Witch's Tangled HarePeople Are Bunny
1960s
Horse HarePerson to BunnyRabbit's FeatFrom Hare to HeirLighter Than HareThe Abominable Snow RabbitCompressed HarePrince ViolentWet HareBill of HareShishkabugsDevil's Feud CakeThe Million HareHare-Breadth HurryThe UnmentionablesMad as a Mars HareTransylvania 6-5000Dumb PatrolDr. Devil and Mr. HareThe Iceman DuckethFalse Hare
1970s-present
Bugs Bunny's Christmas CarolThe Fright Before ChristmasPortrait of the Artist as a Young BunnySpaced Out BunnyBox-Office BunnyBlooper BunnyInvasion of the Bunny SnatchersCarrotblancaFrom Hare to EternityDaffy Duck for PresidentHare and Loathing in Las Vegas
See also
Happy Rabbit
  1. Liebman, Roy (2003). Vitaphone Films: A Catalogue of the Features and Shorts (in en). McFarland, page 320. ISBN 978-0786412792. 
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