While director McKimson created a gem of a cartoon in Hurdy Gurdy Hare, the real genius in this cartoon is the music arrangement by Carl Stalling. When Gruesome Gorilla pursues Bugs through the byways of Manhattan, two musical themes predominate, one for our hero and the other for the ape. The two melodies intertwine so intimately, it's hard to tell that there are two, not one. This reaches its apex when Bugs takes to a ladder to escape his foe. He climbs up and down the ladder, while Gruesome pulls the ladder up or down so Bugs always ends up face-to-face with him. A xylophone (or, perhaps a marimba) plays a rising or falling scale to the motion of the ladder, while the rest of the orchestra plays a similar scale for Bugs, musically showing simultaneous up and down movement. In fact, the only flaw in this film is when, near the end, Bugs misquotes the proverb, "Music has charms to soothe the savage beast." Oh, well - anything can happen in a cartoon.
Review of Hurdy-Gurdy Hare
