Weekend Viewing: The Witch Hazel Trilogy

Can’t find what I was originally going to post for Halloween, so the fallback position is, as always, some Bugs Bunny cartoons (which count as TV ’cause that’s where we all saw them for the first time). And the ultimate Halloween antagonist for Bugs is Witch Hazel, a green, cackling, bobby-pin-shedding witch created by Chuck Jones in 1954’s "Bewitched Bunny," where she was voiced by Bea Benaderet (Betty Rubble).

Witch Hazel came back, this time voiced by June Foray, in 1956’s "Broom-Stick Bunny," which actually takes place on Halloween night:

And in 1959 Abe Levitow, one of Jones’ animators, directed Witch Hazel in "A Witch’s Tangled Hare" -- not as good as the first two, so think of it as the "Return of the Jedi" of the trilogy. Except shorter and much less painful.