| Witch Hazel | |
|---|---|
| Looney Tunes character | |
 | |
| First appearance | Bewitched Bunny (July 24, 1954; 71 years ago (1954-07-24)) |
| Created by | Chuck Jones |
| Voiced by |
|
| In-universe information | |
| Alias | Witch Lezah |
| Species | Human |
| Occupation | Witch |
Witch Hazel is ananimated cartoon character in theWarner Bros.Looney Tunes andMerrie Melodies series of cartoons and TV shows. Witch Hazel is afairy tale witch antagonist with green skin, a round figure, bulbous facial features, and a single tooth. The name is a pun on thewitch-hazel plant andfolk remedies based on it.
Created byChuck Jones during thegolden age of American animation, the character was originally voiced byBea Benaderet in 1954'sBewitched Bunny. Benaderet would later be replaced byJune Foray, who voiced the character almost exclusively beginning with 1956'sBroom-Stick Bunny and concluding with 2002'sTwick or Tweety.Tress MacNeille would briefly voice Witch Hazel from 1992 to 1994 for episodes ofTiny Toon Adventures andAnimaniacs. After Foray's departure from the role, the character was voiced byRoz Ryan from 2011 to 2013 forThe Looney Tunes Show (as Witch Lezah) and byCandi Milo from 2017 onward.
Different characters of the same name appeared in several studios' short films throughout thegolden age of American animation: the first was in theDisney cartoonTrick or Treat (1952), voiced byJune Foray.[3] Inspired bythis character,Chuck Jones created his own witch forWarner Bros., reusing the same pun.[4] Jones could do this because the name was already in use in commercial products;[3] Foray said that the characters were also not expected to have any longevity.[5] In her initial appearance,Bewitched Bunny (1954), she is voiced byBea Benaderet. Starting withBroom-Stick Bunny (1956), Foray took over voicing the character.[3] To differentiate the characters, Foray said that she performed the Disney version with a British accent, but the Warner Bros. version was "all American".[6]
Despite their common name, Jones' Witch Hazel is a much different witch from her Disney counterpart. The Looney Tunes character is a highly stylized villainess. Her rotund, green-skinned body is wrapped in a plain, blue dress and supported by twig-like legs. She has wild black hair from whichhairpins fly and spin in midair whenever she zooms off on her broom or cackles in glee over her next evil scheme and she wears a crumpled black hat. Her nose and chin jut bulbously from her face and her mouth sports a single tooth. She has two pets: a tarantula named Paul, and a black cat. She also has two magic brooms: one for sweeping the floor and one for flying.
In her appearances in Chuck Jones' cartoons, Witch Hazel was a sweet, lovable grandmother type of person...who just happened to be an evil witch. She was always smiling and laughing, and she loved doing grandmotherly things such as baking cookies and serving lots of ice cream to children...even as she prepared to eat them alive, as inBewitched Bunny when she broughtHansel and Gretel into her home.
Bewitched Bunny retells thefairy tale aboutHansel and Gretel. Witch Hazel plays the witch who attempts to cook and eat the titular children. Bugs Bunny witnesses her coax the children inside and saves them from Witch Hazel's clutches because the Masked Avenger is not around. Once the witch realizes that Bugs is arabbit, she chases him to put him into her witch's brew. Upon putting Bugs into a sleeping spell, he is awoken by a kiss fromPrince Charming; Bugs then tells him that he is in the wrong story. Bugs eventually uses Hazel's own magic against her and transforms her into a female rabbit, to whom he is instantly attracted. He then walks away with her while he breaks thefourth wall and comments, "Ah sure, I know. But aren't they all witches inside?"
InBroom-Stick Bunny, Witch Hazel takes great pride in her status as the ugliest witch. Whiletrick-or-treating onHalloween as a witch, Bugs Bunny visits Witch Hazel's house and she mistakes him for an actual witch. So does her magic mirror, which warns, "You're an ugly one, 'tis true; butthat creep is uglier far than you!" Jealous that this newcomer is uglier than herself, Hazel attempts to trick the "witch" into drinking a "Pretty Potion" disguised as tea. Bugs removes his mask to drink it and she becomes obsessed with using the rabbit in her witch's brew. Hazel captures him by tricking him with a carrot. Hazel is about to kill Bugs, but becomes distraught when his sad eyes remind her of Paul, her pettarantula. Bugs calms her down with a beverage which turns out to be the Pretty Potion. Transformed into a beautiful young woman, Hazel asks her magic mirror if she is still ugly. The genie in her mirror instantly falls in love with her and Hazel flies off into the night on herflying broomstick and the genie chases after her on hismagic carpet. Bugs calls Air Raid headquarters to alert them about a "Flying sorceress chased by a genie with light brown hair."
Bugs Bunny was pitted against Witch Hazel for the last time inA Witch's Tangled Hare (1959), aparody ofMacbeth. This short was directed byAbe Levitow. Rabbit is once again the missing ingredient to Witch Hazel's brew and Bugs happens to be in the area. Meanwhile, aWilliam Shakespeare look-alike observes the action in search of inspiration. Bugs finds out that the man is not William Shakespeare, but is actually a man named Sam Crubish. Witch Hazel hears this and it appears that the two know each other but have not seen each other in a while because Crubish had the wrong apartment number, "2B". The poet and Witch Hazel leave talking about who made the mistake. Bugs Bunny quotes the famous line fromHamlet – "To be, or not to be, that is the question."
The Bugs Bunny shortTransylvania 6-5000 (1963) features a brief, silent cameo appearance from Witch Hazel (or a character very similar to her) as Bugs briefly transformsCount Bloodcount, the cartoon'svampire antagonist, into her through the use of a magic spell.
Once production shifted toDePatie–Freleng Enterprises, Witch Hazel appeared in the cartoonA-Haunting We Will Go (1966), which also starredDaffy Duck andSpeedy Gonzales.
All four of Witch Hazel's originalLooney Tunes short cartoons were edited and repurposed into the 1977 television specialBugs Bunny's Howl-oween Special. June Foray recorded new and redubbed dialogue for Witch Hazel in the special, including in newly animated content to link the classic clips together into one narrative.
Witch Hazel made a cameo in the deleted "Pig Head" scene of the filmWho Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). She is seen flying around on Beelzebub before getting struck by lightning.
Witch Hazel has appeared in cameos in various Warner Bros. productions, such as the movieSpace Jam (1996) and its stand-alone sequelSpace Jam: A New Legacy (2021), the video gamesThe Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle 2 (in which she is the primary antagonist),Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time (in which she appears as aboss and also appears on the cover of the game) andLooney Tunes Collector: Alert! (2000), one episode each ofAnimaniacs (in a Rita and Runt episode),The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries,Pinky and the Brain,Tiny Toon Adventures andDuck Dodgers (which referencesBroom-Stick Bunny and where June Foray returns to do her voice). She was also featured as the lead antagonist inDC Comics' three-issueBugs Bunny miniseries from 1990 (though at the ending of the storyline, her appearance there is actually revealed to be a disguisedWile E. Coyote). She was used as an enemy in Scott Lowenstein'sBugs Bunny Crazy Castle 4 and her silhouette can be seen on the cover of the game. Witch Hazel has a cameo in thevideo game adaptation ofLooney Tunes: Back in Action as a painting parodying theMona Lisa in the Louvre Museum. Witch Hazel is also spotted in aMetLife commercial in 2012.
Witch Hazel also makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in the filmLooney Tunes: Rabbits Run.
Witch Hazel also starred in theNew Looney Tunes segments "Finders Keepers, Losers Sweepers", "Hiccups and Downs" and "It's Snout or Never".
Witch Hazel made her first appearance in theLooney Tunes Cartoons short "Hex Appeal", which is part of a Halloween special titledBugs Bunny's Howl-O-Skreem Spooktacula.
Witch Hazel appears in theTeen Titans Go! episode, "Warner Bros. 100th Anniversary". She is among the Looney Tunes characters guests for the Warner Bros. centennial celebration.
The 2011 animated seriesThe Looney Tunes Show introduces Witch Hazel renamed toWitch Lezah.[3] Lezah ("Hazel" spelled backwards) is voiced byRoz Ryan, who gives the character a pronouncedblack accent. In the series, she isGossamer's mother. Unlike the other characters and her original character, she is always serious and gives advice that is not nonsensical and is more calm. She has a contradictory relationship with Daffy; she once threatened him into helping Gossamer make friends. Once Gossamer has friends she asks Daffy to stay away despite all his hard work. She has been ahypnotherapist by trade, as seen in "Point, Laser Point", where she providedSylvester with services when he was in denial about his relationship with his mother. In "It's a Handbag", she helped Daffy recall who took his handbag. In "Best Friends Redux", Witch Lezah has a time portal in her home, which Daffy uses to jealously ensure that Bugs Bunny and Rodney Rabbit never meet. When nobody knows Daffy, Witch Lezah, who is unaffected by the time change, sends Daffy back in time to correct it, as it's ultimately because of Rodney that Bugs and Daffy met and became friends. Daffy uses Witch Lezah's time portal again to make sure he and Porky Pig meet.
