Independent Films, Film Profiles

Frigid Hare

Frigid Hare is a 1948 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies short, released in 1949, and was directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese. The title can be seen as a simply play on "frigid air" and/or on the refrigerator brand called "Frigidaire".While traveling to Miami Beach for an overdue vacation from Warner Brothers, Bugs Bunny mistakenly ends up at the South Pole, having yet again missed the left turn at Albuquerque. While there, he meets a young penguin being pursued by an Eskimo hunter. Bugs sends the hunter in the opposite direction but finds the penguin has grown attached to him. Wanting to get back to his vacation, Bugs distracts the penguin, then pushes him down a snowbank, only to see him land in the hunter's bag. Bugs starts to resume his journey but is overcome by his better nature and rescues the penguin. Although successful, Bugs grumbles that he only has four days of vacation left, only to learn from the penguin that, at the South Pole, the nights are six months long. Figuring this means he can stretch his four-day vacation until July 1953, Bugs dons top hat and tails and accompanies the penguin on "a nice long formal vacation."