Pre-Hysterical Hare

{{Infobox film

| image = Pre-Hysterical Hare Lobby Card.PNG

| caption = Lobby card.

| director = Robert McKimson

| story = Tedd Pierce

| animator = Character animation:
Ted Bonnicksen
Warren Batchelder
Tom Ray
George Grandpré

| layout_artist = Robert Gribbroek

| background_artist = William Butler

| starring = Mel Blanc
Dave Barry
(uncredited)

| music = John Seely

| producer = John Burton, Sr.

| studio = Warner Bros. Cartoons

| distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures

| released = {{Film date|1958|11|01}}

| color_process = Technicolor

| runtime = 7 minutes

| language = English

}}

Pre-Hysterical Hare is a 1958 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Robert McKimson and written by Tedd Pierce.{{cite book |last1=Beck |first1=Jerry |last2=Friedwald |first2=Will |title=Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons |date=1989 |publisher=Henry Holt and Co |isbn=0-8050-0894-2 |page=311}} The short was released on November 1, 1958, and stars Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd.{{cite book |last1=Lenburg |first1=Jeff |title=The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons |date=1999 |publisher=Checkmark Books |isbn=0-8160-3831-7 |accessdate=6 June 2020 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780816038312/page/60/mode/2up |pages=60–62}} The two are in their usual hunter-and-bunny antics, but set in the Stone Age. The first half of the title is a play on "prehistorical".

This cartoon marks one of the few instances where Elmer Fudd is voiced by somebody other than Arthur Q. Bryan during the latter's lifetime, being voiced by Dave Barry instead. The film contains footage from the 1950 short film Caveman Inki directed by Chuck Jones and animated by Lloyd Vaughan, Ken Harris, Phil Monroe and Ben Washam.

Plot

The narrative beings Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd in a contemporary setting, where Elmer persistently fires his gun at Bugs. Bugs momentarily breaks the fourth wall to comment on the perennial chaos of Rabbit Season. He then leaps over a stone dike and unexpectedly falls into what he surmises to be a cave of giant Indigenous Americans, deduced from a colossal powder horn labeled as a time capsule from 10,000 BC to be opened in 1960 AD.

Inside, Bugs discovers a film reel, which he takes back to his hole to view using his film projector. The film depicts various anachronistic prehistoric scenes, including dinosaurs and mammals clashing, before introducing Elmer Fuddstone, a caveman version of Elmer, who declares his intent to hunt a sabre-toothed rabbit, a primitive incarnation of Bugs.

As Fuddstone engages in various slapstick hunting attempts, including a failed vine snare and a mishap with a poisonous berry, Bugs repeatedly outsmarts him. Bugs suggests the future invention of gunpowder and firearms, prompting Fuddstone to experiment with these ideas. His rudimentary gunpowder explodes, leaving him charred but determined.

Bugs then assists in creating a primitive firearm using a hollow stick and a taro root. When Elmer tries to use this makeshift gun, Bugs tricks him by reversing the barrel, causing Elmer to shoot himself in the face.

The film concludes with Bugs commenting that no hunters are a match for "smart rabbits", when a modern-day Elmer enters Bugs' hole and responds by saying "Oh that's what you think, Rabbit!", while inadvertently pointing his gun at himself and repeats his ancestor’s mistake. As Elmer accidentally shoots himself, Bugs remarks, "That's what I think", and imitates Elmer's trademark laughter.

Background music

This is one of six cartoons (and the only Bugs Bunny cartoon) scored by using stock music by John Seely of Capitol Records from the Hi-Q library because of a musicians' strike in 1958. The others are Hook, Line and Stinker, Weasel While You Work, Hip Hip-Hurry!, Gopher Broke, and A Bird in a Bonnet.