Bugs Bunny, a famous Warner Bros. cartoon character known for his one-liners and calm demeanor, first appeared in Porky’s Hare Hunt in 1938. He was originally a small white rabbit but later became a gray rabbit. Bugs Bunny has appeared in numerous films, including the duck season/rabbit season trilogy and What’s Opera, Doc?, and has his own television show. He is considered one of the most popular Looney Tunes characters and was even featured on an American postage stamp.
Bugs Bunny is a popular Warner Bros. cartoon character who is famous for his one-liners and ability to handle any situation with a calm demeanor. Today’s audience knows Bugs as a gray rabbit, but in the beginning he was a small white rabbit. He made his first screen appearance in an animated short called Porky’s Hare Hunt on April 30, 1938.
The short film was directed by Cal Dalton and Ben Hardaway. Hardaway’s nickname, incidentally, was Bugs. In this particular animated film, the character Porky Pig played a hunter who was being harassed by a little white rabbit who is more interested in driving Porky crazy than running away from a hunter. This movie was Bugs’ first introduction to the world.
The animators decided to use the character in another film. Bugs’ second appearance in movies was in 1939 with the cartoon Prest-O Change-O. Bugs Bunny played a wizard’s pet rabbit who pesters two dogs who seek shelter in the wizard’s house during a storm.
The irreverent rabbit made his third appearance that same year in a film called Hare-um Scare-um. The film was directed by Dalton and Hardaway, but animator Gil Turner informally gave the rabbit its name. Turner wrote Bugs’ Bunny on the pattern sheet as Turner always thought the bunny was Hardaway’s creation. This cartoon featured Bugs as a gray rabbit instead of his previous versions as a white rabbit.
Hare-um Scare-um was Bugs’ first time singing in a movie and the first time he dressed up as a woman. Dressing up as a transvestite was a frequent occurrence in the Bugs films. After this animated short, the rabbit was officially named Bugs Bunny after its creator Hardaway.
The 1940 film Elmer’s Candid Camera marked Bugs Bunny’s fourth appearance in cinema. Bugs and Elmer Fudd have been slightly changed into the characters audiences are most familiar with today. On July 27, 1940, Bugs showed up in a movie called Wild Hare and uttered his signature line What’s up, Doc? for the first time.
It wasn’t until September 14, 1940, in the movie Patient Porky, that Bugs Bunny’s name was actually used in a movie. The American public has finally learned the name of the popular cartoon character. In January 1941, Bugs appeared in his first leading role, Elmer’s Pet Rabbit.
The clever rabbit’s calm, witty personality endeared him to World War II audiences, and Bugs quickly became one of the most popular Looney Tunes characters. In 1942 his look is refined; artists made her teeth less prominent and her face rounder. In 1958, Bugs Bunny’s animated short Knighty Knight Bugs won an Academy Award for Best Short Subject Subject: Cartoons of 1958.
Some of the cartoons with Bugs have become American classics. Rabbit fire, rabbit and duck seasoning, rabbit duck! are three cartoons that are called the duck season / rabbit season trilogy. They are widely regarded as some of director Chuck Jones’ best work.
In 1957, What’s Opera, Doc? it featured Bugs and Elmer in a parody of Wagner’s opera Der Ring des Nibelungen. The United States Library of Congress has since declared it culturally significant and it has been selected by the National Film Registry for preservation in its archives.
Bugs Bunny moved to television in the fall of 1960, starring in The Bugs Bunny Show, a program that ran on television for 40 years. It featured some of the original Warner Brothers shorts mixed with new Bugs cartoons. It originally aired in prime time but moved to Saturday morning reruns after completing two seasons.
Bugs has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and has appeared in numerous cartoons, movies and video games. In 1997, he was the first cartoon character to appear on an American postage stamp. A 2002 issue of TV Guide declared him the greatest cartoon character of all time.
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