Hold the Lion, Please

Hold the Lion, Please is a Merrie Melodies cartoon, first released on June 13, 1942, distributed by the Vitaphone Corporation and Warner Bros.. This skit is Bugs Bunny's tenth appearance and Chuck Jones' 39th Warner Bros. cartoon.

The short was directed by Chuck Jones, animated by Ken Harris and scripted by Tedd Pierce. Musical Direction was assigned to Carl Stalling.

The title is an obvious play on the expression used by switchboard operators of the day, asking the caller to "hold the line." The Three Stooges made a short with a similar title, Hold That Lion, which also featured a renegade lion.

Synopsis
The short focuses on a lion who is trying to prove he is still "King of the Jungle" by hunting a small, defenseless animal. He chooses Bugs Bunny as his intended victim. The lion soon finds out that, in a battle of wits, he is the defenseless one. However, the lion eventually gets Bugs under one paw while raising the other one, claws extended, and looking angry; a truly frightened-looking Bugs could be facing his end. Just then the lion gets a phone call from his wife, changing the lion's demeanor from ferocious to meek. He apologizes to Bugs that he can't "stay and kill him," and then dashes home. Bugs ridicules the lion's apparent submissiveness, but we soon see that he has someone to answer to as well: his own wife, who sends Bugs slinking into the rabbit hole while "Mrs. Bugs Bunny" (according to the arrow pointing to her) shows the audience that she "wears the pants in this family." Mrs. Bugs' higher-pitched voice is similar to that of Tweety Bird minus the speech impediment. It is the sole appearance of a Mrs. Bugs Bunny, as Bugs is ever afterward depicted as a bachelor.

Cast

 * Mel Blanc voiced Bugs Bunny, Monkey, Giraffe, Mrs. Bugs Bunny.
 * Tedd Pierce voiced Leo the Lion.
 * Tex Avery voiced the Hippo.