Remember the Bugs Bunny cartoon version of Hansel and Gretel?
The two rather large German children are being readied for dinner by Witch Hazel. Of course, who should come along, but Bugs.
IIRC, he’s looking for another fairy tale character and Hazel tells him he’s in the wrong story that this one is Hansel and Gretel. He walks off saying Hansel? over and over again.
Once he figures out the kids are in danger, he gets to work saving them. Later, Prince Charming comes along looking for Sleeping Beauty and Bugs informs him of which story he’s in. He, too, walks off repeating “Hansel?”
I know a lot of the Looney Tunes made references to then-current movies, events, celebrities, etc, so I was wondering if this was supposed to mean anything.
I had always assumed one of the cast / crewmembers was named Hansel and they were ripping on him.
Trying to remember I can only come up with Chuck Jones, Blanc, Foray, Michael Maltese, Phillip DeGuard, Maurice Jones, and Carl W. Stalling. (I watched a whooooooole lot of Bugs Bunny growing up).
Researching the subject uncovers an Ottawa woman named Judith Hansel who complained about the cartoon’s closing line:
Bugs: [to audience, while walking off with the voluptuous female rabbit Witch Hazel has been transformed into] Yeah, yeah, I know. But aren’t they all witches inside?
My guess, this was just a cover for the fact that she was pissed off that the toon (“Bewitched Bunny”) had implied she had a stupid name.