Oily Hare is a Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies short, released in 1952, directed by Robert McKimson, written by Tedd Pierce, and starring Bugs Bunny. The title is a pun on oily hair, as with the earlier cartoon Slick Hare, along with the plot-line actually having to do with oil. The plot is similar to the short The Fair-Haired Hare, which was released one year earlier and features Devil Rich Texan as Bugs' antagonist. Oily Hare also recycles the same ending where Bugs' home is filled with explosives and blown up.
Along Highway $101.00, approximately 531 miles from "Dollar$, Texas" and near "Deepinahearta", Texas, Bugs' rabbit hole in "Deepinahola", Texas upsets oil tycoon Devil Rich Texan, who sounds and acts like Yosemite Sam, because it is not producing any oil.
Devil Rich Texan pulls up to the hole in a green stretch limousine that is so long that it requires a long-distance telephone operator in the middle of the car to connect the tycoon to his chauffeur, Maverick, so he can tell Maverick (who does not have a speaking role, but communicates by nodding his head) to stop the car. The tycoon says: "Stop the car, Maverick! There's a hole on my property that ain't a-gushin' oil!" On the back door of the limousine, a crest is shown which carries the legend, "Devil Rich Texan".
Once Maverick stops the car, pulls a motor scooter out from behind the driver's seat (a Western saddle) and rides the scooter back to Devil Rich Texan's back door.
Devil Rich Texan surveys the situation and builds a derrick over top of the hole. Bugs comes up and asks "What's up doc?" Then He explains and tells Bugs to "git". Bugs tells him that the hole is, in fact, his home and tells the tycoon to drill someplace else.
Devil Rich Texan tries to evict Bugs, which gets Bugs' dander up. He sends down a box of dynamite and Bugs gives the tycoon a birthday cake with the dynamite sticks for candles. "Now who could'a knowed it was my birthday, especially when it 'tain't?" asks the tycoon. Bugs then asks the him to make a wish. Devil Rich Texan says: "Ah wish...Ah wish...nah: I've got too much of that filthy green stuff already! I know!" He tries to blow out the candles but the dynamite blows up in his face and blowing his nose off in the process.
Devil Rich Texan tries to trick Bugs by saying, "I've got a proposition to talk to you about." When Bugs shows himself, Devil Rich Texan tries to shoot ("What I've got to say, I'm a-sayin' with lead!"), but Bugs fits a pipe through his ladder that has a funnel on one end and an elbow on the other, so then it will direct the bullets into his butt. Devil Rich Texan, enraged, orders Maverick to get Bugs out. Bugs steals Maverick's clothes and comes out dressed as Maverick. Then he decides to get Bugs himself, but can't find him. Bugs lifts the hat to show it's him. Devil Rich Texan calls for Maverick, who's still in Bugs' hole. Then he, ignorant of the situation, calls up the hole for Maverick to lower some dynamite. Bugs sends down as much as possible, at Devil Rich Texan's demands, who says: "I'll blow the critter to the outskirts of Dallas!" The hole is so loaded with sticks of dynamite that Devil Rich Texan, who is in the hole, can't see his hand before his face. Bugs calls down and tells him to look in his left hand dresser drawer for his "cigareet" lighter, which he uses while still in the hole.
After the explosion, instead of oil, a gusher of carrots comes out of the hole and Bugs exclaims: "Hey! Looks like I brought in a carrot gusher!". After chomping on one of them, he senses some of the audience's slight disbelief at what they're seeing, adding "Yeah, I know, I know...but anything can happen in 'Tex-ay-us'!"
Oily Hare at the Internet Movie Database
