Tortoise Beats Hare is a 1941 Merrie Melodies animated short directed by Tex Avery. The short stars Bugs Bunny and, in his first appearance, Cecil Turtle. Merrie Melodies end title Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. ... Bugs Bunny is an animated hare who appears in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated films produced by Warner Bros. ... Frederick Bean Fred/Tex Avery (February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, and director, famous for producing animated cartoons during The Golden Age of Hollywood animation. ... Charles E. Chuck McKimson, Jr. ... Melvin Jerome Blanc (May 30, 1908 – July 10, 1989) was a prolific American voice actor. ... Carl W. Stalling (November 10, 1892–November 29, 1972) was a noted composer and arranger of music for animated cartoons. ... Leon Schlesinger (1884 - December 25, 1949) was a Jewish producer at the Warner Bros. ... Warner Bros. ... is the 74th day of the year (75th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see 1941 (disambiguation). ... Logo celebrating Technicolors 90th Anniversary Technicolor is the trademark for a series of color film processes pioneered by Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation (a subsidiary of Technicolor, Inc. ... Merrie Melodies end title Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. ... Frederick Bean Fred/Tex Avery (February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, and director, famous for producing animated cartoons during The Golden Age of Hollywood animation. ... Bugs Bunny is an animated hare who appears in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated films produced by Warner Bros. ... Cecil Turtle is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ...

Plot

Animator Tex Avery introduced Cecil in the short Tortoise Beats Hare, released on March 15, 1941. Even from the cartoon's opening titles, Avery lets on that Bugs Bunny is about to meet his match. Bugs wanders onto the title card munching his obligatory carrot and absent-mindedly begins reading the title card, grossly mispronouncing all of the credits (but gets Carl Stalling's name right), such as [əˈvɛɹɪ] for "Avery" rather than the correct [ˈeɪvəɹɪ]. When he finally gets to the title itself, he becomes outraged, tears apart the title card, and rushes to Cecil Turtle's house. He then bets the little, sleepy-eyed turtle ten dollars that he can beat him in a race. An animator is an artist who creates multiple images called frames that form an illusion of movement called animation when rapidly displayed. ... Frederick Bean Fred/Tex Avery (February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, and director, famous for producing animated cartoons during The Golden Age of Hollywood animation. ... Short subject is an American film industry term that historically has referred to any film in the format of two reels, or approximately 20 minutes running time, or less. ... is the 74th day of the year (75th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see 1941 (disambiguation). ... Carl W. Stalling (November 10, 1892–November 29, 1972) was a noted composer and arranger of music for animated cartoons. ... For other uses, see Turtle (disambiguation). ... This article is about the speed competition. ...

Cecil accepts Bugs' bet and quickly (for him, anyway) calls up Chester Turtle and eight other cousins, all of whom look and sound like Cecil (some have deeper voices, some have higher voices). After talking to Chester about the bet, he tells him to call the other cousins and tell them to be ready when he comes to their position, and to "give him the works". Fade to black (he possibly says goodbye and hangs up). The race begins several days later, and as Bugs runs relentlessly toward the finish line, Cecil and his relatives take turns showing up at just the right moment to baffle the bunny. In the end, Bugs is convinced he has won, only to see Cecil (or one of his kin) across the finish demanding the money. Bugs suggests that he has been tricked, and all ten turtles approach and reply, "It's a possibility!" Voice actor Mel Blanc supplies Cecil's drowsy drawl, which is like a slowed-down version of Blanc's later characterization of Barney Rubble. For other uses, see Trickster (disambiguation). ... A voice actor (also a voice artist) is a person who provides voices for animated characters (including those in feature films, television series, animated shorts), voice-overs in radio and television commercials, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, video games, puppet shows, and amusement rides. ... Melvin Jerome Blanc (May 30, 1908 – July 10, 1989) was a prolific American voice actor. ... Barney Rubble. ...

"Tortoise Beats Hare" is, of course, a take off of the Aesop fable "The Tortoise and the Hare". But even more directly, it is Avery's parody of the 1934 Disney Silly Symphony, The Tortoise and the Hare. Interestingly, Max Hare from the earlier Disney film is often cited as one of the inspirations behind Bugs Bunny. Aesop, as conceived by Diego Velázquez Aesop, as depicted in the Nuremberg Chronicle by Hartmann Schedel in 1493. ... For other uses, see Fable (disambiguation). ... The Tortoise and the Hare, illustrated by Milo Winter in a 1919 Aesop anthology The Tortoise and the Hare, illustrated in a 1921 story anthology The Tortoise and the Hare is a fable attributed to Aesop. ... In contemporary usage, a parody (or lampoon) is a work that imitates another work in order to ridicule, ironically comment on, or poke some affectionate fun at the work itself, the subject of the work, the author or fictional voice of the parody, or another subject. ... Year 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display full 1934 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Old logo from 1985-2006 Walt Disney Pictures refers to several different entities associated with The Walt Disney Company: Walt Disney Pictures, the film banner, was established as a designation in 1983, prior to which Disney films since the death of Walt Disney were released under the name of the... Silly Symphonies is a series of cartoons made by Walt Disney Productions. ...

Avery left Warner Bros. before he could produce any new cartoons featuring Cecil. However, he introduced a similar character in 1943 named Droopy Dog. Droopy would even take some of his tricks from his slow-and-steady predecessor, such as using his relatives to help him outsmart a wolf. Year 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... A standard Droopy opening title card from the early 1950s. ... Wolf Wolf Man Mount Wolf Wolf Prizes Wolf Spider Wolf 424 Wolf 359 Wolf Point Wolf-herring Frank Wolf Friedrich Wolf Friedrich August Wolf Hugo Wolf Johannes Wolf Julius Wolf Max Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf Maximilian Wolf Rudolf Wolf Thomas Wolf As Name Wolf Breidenbach Wolf Hirshorn Other The call...

Notes

• When Bugs sees Cecil sitting at the finishing line, he calls him a "blankedy, blank, blank turtle." It appears that he meant to call Cecil curse words, which were also very common among the US culture—though considered taboo for films—in the 1940s.
• This was Tex Avery's 54th cartoon and Bugs 3rd film.

Look up Profanity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Avaibilty

It is included on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2 DVD set.

Elmers Pet Rabbit is a 1940 Merrie Melodies cartoon starring Elmer Fudd and, ostensibly, Bugs Bunny. ... This is a list of the various animated cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny. ... Hiawathas Rabbit Hunt is a Warner Bros. ...

External links

• Tortoise Beats Hare at the Internet Movie Database
• Tortoise Beats Hare at YouTube