Comprehensive information and links about Bugs Bunny

Bugs Bunny series of cartoons, and is one of the most recognizable characters, real or imaginary, in the world. According to his biography, he was "born" in 1940 in Brooklyn, New York and the product of many fathers: Ben "Bugs" Hardaway (who created a prototypical version of the character in 1938's "Porky's Hare Hunt"), Bob Clampett, Tex Avery (who developed Bugs' definitive personality in 1940), Robert McKimson (created the definitive Bugs Bunny character design), Chuck Jones, and Friz Freleng. According to Mel Blanc, his voice actor, his accent is an equal blend of someone from the Bronx and someone from Brooklyn.

He is noted for his catchphrase of "Eh, what's up, doc?" and his feuds with Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Marvin Martian, Daffy Duck, and even Wile E. Coyote, who usually takes on the Road Runner. Almost invariably, Bugs comes out the winner in these conflicts, because that is in his nature. This is especially obvious in films directed by Chuck Jones, who liked to pit "winners" against "losers". Worrying that audiences would lose sympathy for an aggressor who always won, Jones found the perfect way to make Bugs sympathetic in the films by having the antagonist repeatedly bully, cheat or threaten Bugs in some way. Thus offended, (usually three times) Bugs would often drawl "Of course you know, dis means war" (a line which Jones noted was taken from Groucho Marx) and the audience gives Bugs silent permission to inflict his havoc, having earned his right to retaliate andor defend himself. Other directors like Friz Freleng had Bugs go out of his way to help others in trouble, again creating an acceptable circumstance for his mischief. When Bugs meets other characters who are also "winners", however, like Cecil the Turtle in , his record is rather dismal; his overconfidence tends to work against him.

Bugs Bunny has some similarities to figures from mythology and folklore, and might be seen as sort of modern trickster.

"Bugs" or "Bugsy" as a nickname means "crazy".

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A suggested early influence

A number of animation historians believe Bugs to have been influenced by an earlier Disney character called Max Hare. Max, designed by Charlie Thorson, first appeared in the , directed by Wilfred Jackson. The story was based on a fable by Aesop and cast Max against Toby Tortoise, and won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film for 1934. Max also appeared in the sequel .

The only solid connection between Max and Bugs however is Charlie Thorson. He was also responsible for the redesign of Bugs from a white to a gray rabbit for his third appearance , released on April 30, 1938. The short was co-directed by Cal Dalton and Ben Hardaway whose nickname was "Bugs". The cartoon had an almost identical theme to a 1937 cartoon, , directed by Tex Avery and introducing Daffy Duck. Following the general plot of this earlier film, the short cast Porky Pig as a hunter against an equally nutty prey, who was more interested in driving his hunter insane than running away. But instead of a black duck, his current prey was a tiny, white rabbit. The rabbit introduces himself with the expression "Jiggers, fellers," and Mel Blanc gave the rabbit a voice and laugh that he would later use to voice Woody Woodpecker. In this cartoon, he also quoted Groucho Marx for the first time (from the movie , directed by Chuck Jones, where he serves as the pet rabbit of Sham-Fu the Magician, an unseen character. When two dogs enter the house of his absent master while seeking refuge from a storm, the rabbit starts harassing them, but is ultimately bested by the bigger of the two dogs.

His third appearance was in another 1939 cartoon, , directed by Dalton and Hardaway. Gil Turner, the animator for this short, was the first to give a name to the character. He had written "Bugs' Bunny" on his model sheet, meaning he considered the character to be Hardaway's. This short was also the first where Bugs was depicted as a gray bunny instead of a white one; the redesign having been done by Charlie Thorson (see above). The short is notable as featuring Bugs' first singing role and also the first time where he dresses in drag to seduce his antagonist. Following this short he was given the name "Bugs" by the Termite Terrace animators in honor of his creator, Ben "Bugs" Hardaway. "Bugs" or "Bugsy" as a name also fit the Bunny's early characterization, as it was popular vernacular for "crazy".

His fourth appearance was in the 1940 short by Chuck Jones. There, both Bugs and Elmer Fudd were redesigned to the appearances that would become familiar to audiences. It was also the first meeting of the two characters.

, released on July 27, 1940. It was in this cartoon that he first emerged from his rabbit hole to ask Elmer Fudd, now a hunter, “What's up, Doc?" It is considered the first fully developed appearance of the character. Animation historian Joe Adamson counts as the first Bugs Bunny short, with the previous shorts being different one-shot bunnies bearing only coincidental resemblance to Bugs.

Bugs then made a cameo in Robert Clampett's , first released on September 14, 1940 to announce the birth of 260 rabbits. His seventh appearance finally introduced the audience to the name Bugs Bunny, which up till then was only used among the Termite Terrace employees. It was Chuck Jones' , released in January 1941. It was also the first short where he got top billing. He would soon become the most prominent of the Looney Tunes characters as his calm, flippant insouciance endeared him to American audiences during and after World War II.

Bugs would appear in five more shorts during 1941: was also the first of four Bugs shorts to feature a chubbier remodel of Elmer Fudd, a short-lived attempt to have Fudd more closely resemble his voice actor, comedian Arthur Q. Bryan.

series, which had originally been intended only for one-shot shorts. Among Bugs' 1942 shorts included Friz Freleng's also marks a slight redesign of Bugs, making less prominent his front teeth and making his head look rounder. The man responsible for this redesign was Robert McKimson at the time working as an animator under Robert Clampett. The redesign at first was only used in the shorts created by Clampett's production team but in time it would be adopted by the other directors and their units as well.

Other 1942 Bugs shorts included Chuck Jones' .

Bugs Bunny was popular during the World War II years because of his bombastic attitude, and began receiving special star billing in his cartoons by 1943. Like Disney and Famous Studios had been doing, Warners put Bugs in opposition to the time's biggest enemies: Adolf Hitler, Herman Goering, and the Japanese. The 1944 short , features Bugs at odds with a group of Japanese soldiers. This cartoon has since been pulled from distribution due to its extreme stereotypes.

Among his most notable civilian shorts during this period are Bob Clampett's . Considered an ideal actor, he was directed by Friz Freleng, Robert McKimson, Tex Avery and Chuck Jones and starred in feature films, including (1958), in which a medieval Bugs Bunny traded blows with Yosemite Sam and his fire-breathing dragon, won the Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons of 1958. Three of Chuck Jones' Bugs Bunny shorts--, and has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. It was the first cartoon short to have achieved this honor. It is also remembered for Elmer's unique take on "Ride of the Valkyries:" "Kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit...!"

In the fall of 1960, , a television program which packaged many of the post-1948 Warners shorts with newly animated wraparounds, debuted on ABC. The show was originally aired in prime-time, and after two seasons it was moved to reruns on Saturday mornings. changed formats frequently, but it remained on network television for 40 full years.

When Mel Blanc died in 1989, Joe Alaskey and Billy West became the new "voices" to Bugs Bunny and the rest of the Looney Tunes, taking turns doing the voices at various times.

Bugs has also made appearances in animated holiday specials including 1980s which featured the first new Bugs Bunny cartoons in 16 years with "Portrait Of The Artist As a Young Bunny", which features a flashback of Bugs as a child thwarting a young Elmer Fudd, and "Spaced Out Bunny", with Bugs being kidnapped by Marvin the Martian to be a playmate for Hugo the Abominable Snowman. Also, there have been various compilation films made by Warner Bros., including as the principal of Acme Looniversity and the mentor of Babs and Buster Bunny.

Like Mickey Mouse for The Walt Disney Company, Bugs has served as the mascot for Warner Bros. Studios and its various divisions. He and Mickey are the first cartoon characters to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In the 1988 animatedlive action movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," Bugs is shown as one of the inhabitants of Toon Town. However, since the movie was being made by Disney, Warner Brothers would only allow the use of their biggest toon star if he got an equal amount of screen time as Disney's biggest star, Mickey Mouse. Because of this, both characters are always together in frame when on the screen.

Bugs made an appearance in the 1990 drug prevention video

In 1997, Bugs appeared on a U.S. postage stamp, the first toon so honored, beating even the iconic Mickey Mouse. The stamp is number seven on the list of the ten most popular U.S. stamps, as calculated by the number of stamps purchased but not used. A younger version of Bugs is the main character of which debuted on Cartoon Network in 2002.

Also, Bugs has appeared in numerous video games, including the compiled a list of the 50 greatest cartoon characters of all time as part of the magazine's 50th anniversary. Bugs Bunny was given the honor of number 1. [1] [2]

In a CNN broadcast on July 31, 2002, a editor talked about how they went about creating the list. The editor also talked about Bugs being named the greatest toon character. As the editor explained: "His stock...has never gone down...Bugs is the best example...of the smart-aleck American comic. He not only is a great cartoon character, he's a great comedian. He was written well. He was drawn beautifully. He has thrilled and made many generations laugh. He is tops." [3]

developed the character of Ace Bunny as a modernized, superhero successor to Bugs Bunny in the series. The character was originally going to be called Buzz Bunny but this was changed due to a pre-existing trademark. The design of Ace Bunny was modified and made less menacing than in his earlier preproduction model appearance, partially in response to an Internet petition started by a 11 year old Bugs Bunny fan.

, Leonard Maltin, Revised Edition 1987, Plume ISBN 0452259932 (Softcover) ISBN 061364753X (Hardcover)