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| Bugs made six more appearances during ]. The first of them was Robert Clampett's ], first released on ], ]. Bugs again takes pleasure in tormenting Elmer Fudd, who is casted as a gold prospector in the desert. The second of them was ], first released on ], ]. In it a lion tries to proove he is still "King of the Jungle" by hunting a small, defenseless animal and chooses Bugs as his intended victim. The ] soon finds out than in a battle of witts he is the defenseless one. But also discovers that Bugs has someone he answers to:his wife. It was the first and last appearance of Mrs. Bugs Bunny as Bugs is later again depicted as a bachelor. The short is more notable in being the first Bugs' short in two years to be directed by ]. | Bugs made six more appearances during ]. The first of them was Robert Clampett's ], first released on ], ]. Bugs again takes pleasure in tormenting Elmer Fudd, who is casted as a gold prospector in the desert. The second of them was ], first released on ], ]. In it a lion tries to proove he is still "King of the Jungle" by hunting a small, defenseless animal and chooses Bugs as his intended victim. The ] soon finds out than in a battle of witts he is the defenseless one. But also discovers that Bugs has someone he answers to:his wife. It was the first and last appearance of Mrs. Bugs Bunny as Bugs is later again depicted as a bachelor. The short is more notable in being the first Bugs' short in two years to be directed by ]. | ||
| The third was Robert Clampett's ], first released on , ]. In it Mama Buzzard encourages her fledglings to learn to hunt for themselves. ], both physicaly and mentaly the runt of the litter chooses Bugs as his target. Not only he fails but Bugs has to return him to his mother. The dimunative ] made his debut in this film and would re-appear later. He was based on ], a ] character voiced by ] ]. Beaky also somewhat resembled ] and the voice provided by his ] ] (died in ], ]) was also somewhat reminiscent of that of ], Goofy's voice actor. In any case his creator Robert Clampett seemed to be getting the hang of directing Bugs Bunny by this point. This short 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 ] 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 addopted by the other directors and their units as well. | |||
| Since then Bugs has appeared in numerous cartoon shorts in the Looney Tunes series as well as in a Saturday morning and syndicated ]. Considered an ideal actor, he was directed by ], ], ] and ] and starred in feature films, including '']'' which co-starred ]. | Since then Bugs has appeared in numerous cartoon shorts in the Looney Tunes series as well as in a Saturday morning and syndicated ]. Considered an ideal actor, he was directed by ], ], ] and ] and starred in feature films, including '']'' which co-starred ]. | ||
Revision as of 17:16, 29 July 2003
Bugs Bunny is a fictional character, appearing in the Looney Tunes series of cartoons. According to his bio, he was "born" in 1940 in Brooklyn, New York. But according to Mel Blanc, his voice actor, his accent is an equal blend of someone from the Bronx and someone from Brooklyn. He soon wound up on the Warner Brothers studio lot.
According to film and animation historians, Bugs Bunny first appeared in the cartoon short Porky's Hare Hunt, first released on April 30, 1938. The short was co-directed by Cal Dalton and Joseph Benson Hardaway, the later better known as Ben Hardaway and nick-named "Bugs". The cartoon was more or less a copy of Porky's Duck Hunt, first released on July 7,1937, directed by Tex Avery and introducing Daffy Duck. Following 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. This unnamed new character , with Mel Blanc already acting as his voice actor, would hardly be recognizable to today's audiences. And his introductory words were "Jiggers, fellers!". Perhaps more characteristicaly he quotted Groucho Marx in saying "Of course, you know, this means war.". Porky was the first of Bugs' opponents to end up hospitalized.
His second appearance was in Prest-O Change-O, first released on March 25, 1939, directed by Chuck Jones. There 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. Bugs kisses one of the dogs twice. This is considered the first time where Bugs kisses his antagonist in order to confuse him. This is also the first time where his antagonist manages to defeat him.
His third appearance was in Hare-um Scare-um, first released in August 12, 1939, again 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 grey bunny instead of a white one. The plot of the short was simple, Bugs was confronting another hunter and his hunting dog. But 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.
His fourth appearance was in Elmer's Candid Camera by Chuck Jones,first released on March 2, 1940. There both Bugs and Elmer Fudd were redesigned to the appearances that would become familiar to audiences. It was the first meeting of the two characters. Elmer is just interested in taking photos of the country landscape but Bugs has found him a convenient victim to harass, just for the fun of it. Bugs true personality would then emerge in Tex Avery's A Wild Hare, first 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.
Bugs then made a cameo in Robert Clampett's Patient Porky, 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. It was Chuck Jones' Elmer's Pet Rabbit, first released on January 4, 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. The first of them was Tex Avery's Tortoise Beats Hare, first released on March 22, 1941. It was based on a tale of Aesop, where a hare challenges a turtle to a race and looses due to his own overconfidence. But in this short Bugs was simply outwitted by his rival Cecil Turtle. The later had placed identicaly-looking relatives of his all over the cource of the race to convince Bugs that he had outrun him. It was the first short where Bugs found himself at the receiving end of a plan aiming at the humiliation of an antagonist.Tex Avery would later re-use the idea of a large number of identical-looking relatives acting like a single person in his shorts starring Droopy Dog.
The second of them was Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt, first released on June 7, 1941. There Bugs found himself being hunted by "Little Hiawatha", a small version of Hiawatha. The short makes several references to "The Song of Hiawatha" , an epic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It should be perhaps noted that a cartoon short named Little Hiawatha, had already been released on May 15, 1937 featuring Hiawatha during his early childhood. It had been directed by David Dodd Hand (January 23, 1900 - October 11, 1986) as part of the Silly Symphonies series produced by Walt Disney. In any case "Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt" was the first short to have Bugs facing an Native American. Perhaps more importantly it was the first of Bugs' shorts to be directed by Friz Freleng.
The third was Tex Avery's The Heckling Hare, firts released on July 12, 1941. In this case he faced not another hunter but instead a hound called Willoughby. In style that was at the time becoming typical of the character Bugs easily outwitted and tormented his antagonist through the short and there was only one thing puzzling him:"Let's see...what can I do to this guy next?".
Avery also directed the next of Bugs' shorts All this and Rabbit Stew first released on September 20, 1941. Bugs faces yet another hunter but this time he is an African American caricature, based on the tradition of Blackface performance. After outwitting, tormenting and humiliating his opponent Bugs convinces him to decide the outcome of their confrontation by throwing dice. Bugs strips the man of everything he has, including his clothes. At the end the man is left naked except of a fig leaf. He comments at his situation:"Just call me Adam", a reference to the story of Adam and Eve included in the Genesis. This was the last short starring Bugs to be directed by Avery who soon left the Studio after an argument of uncertain content with producer Leon Schlesinger. He would continue his career in the animation studio of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Bugs made his sixth and last appearance during the year in Wabbit Twouble, first released on December 20, 1941. It was directed by Robert Clampett who up till that point had only used Bugs in a cameo appearance made the previous year(see above). Bugs again became the unprovoked tormentor of Elmer Fudd. The later was just seaking peace and relaxation during his vacation at "Jellostone National Park" (a play on the name of Yellowstone National Park). Besides Bugs, Elmer is also disturbed by an angry bear. By the end of the short all three of them have been arrested and jailed by the park ranger for disturbing the peace. The short is mainly noted for another redesign of Elmer as a somewhat taller and significantly fatter man than usual. The new appearance was modelled after his voice actor Arthur Q. Bryan.
Bugs then made a cameo in the travelogue short Crazy Cruise, first released in March 26, 1942. Tex Avery and Robert Clampett shared the credits for its direction. It is notable only because it was the last short Tex Avery directed while working for the Termite Terrace.
Bugs and Elmer met again in Friz Freleng's The Wabbit Who Came to Supper, first released on March 28, 1942. Elmer is hunting Bugs when a telegraph informs him that he is going to inherit $3, 000, 000 dollars from his uncle Louie in condition that he never harms any animals and especialy rabbits. Bugs takes advantage of the situation to settle in Elmer's house and being a rather demanding house guest. At some point Elmer is informed that his uncle Louie died but due to inheritance taxes, he actualy inherits nothing. Bugs finaly leaves the house but soon sends a present for Elmer through mail. A box containing countless baby rabbitts who crowd Elmer's house.
Bugs' next appearance was in a commercial short named Any Bonds Today?, directed by Robert Clampett first released in April 2, 1942. During the short Bugs promotes the sale of governtment bonds to help finance USA's efforts in World War II. Bugs gives a song and dance number, then gives a blackface performance in parody of Al Jolson and he is joined at the finale by Elmer Fudd and Porky Pig. It is notable as the first musical short where Bugs appears. The fact that he is given top billing over both Elmer and Porky is evidence of his rising poularity at the time.
Bugs made six more appearances during 1942. The first of them was Robert Clampett's The Wacky Wabbit, first released on May 2, 1942. Bugs again takes pleasure in tormenting Elmer Fudd, who is casted as a gold prospector in the desert. The second of them was Hold the Lion, Please, first released on June 13, 1942. In it a lion tries to proove he is still "King of the Jungle" by hunting a small, defenseless animal and chooses Bugs as his intended victim. The lion soon finds out than in a battle of witts he is the defenseless one. But also discovers that Bugs has someone he answers to:his wife. It was the first and last appearance of Mrs. Bugs Bunny as Bugs is later again depicted as a bachelor. The short is more notable in being the first Bugs' short in two years to be directed by Chuck Jones.
The third was Robert Clampett's Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid, first released on , 1942. In it Mama Buzzard encourages her fledglings to learn to hunt for themselves. Beaky Bazzard, both physicaly and mentaly the runt of the litter chooses Bugs as his target. Not only he fails but Bugs has to return him to his mother. The dimunative vulture made his debut in this film and would re-appear later. He was based on Mortimer Snerd, a puppet character voiced by ventriloquist Edgar Bergen. Beaky also somewhat resembled Goofy and the voice provided by his voice actor Kent Rogers (died in July, 1944) was also somewhat reminiscent of that of Pinto Colvig, Goofy's voice actor. In any case his creator Robert Clampett seemed to be getting the hang of directing Bugs Bunny by this point. This short 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 addopted by the other directors and their units as well.
Since then Bugs has appeared in numerous cartoon shorts in the Looney Tunes series as well as in a Saturday morning and syndicated animated series. Considered an ideal actor, he was directed by Friz Freleng, Robert McKimson, Tex Avery and Chuck Jones and starred in feature films, including Space Jam which co-starred Michael Jordan.
He is noted for his feuds with Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, 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 likes 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 3 times) Bugs would often state "Of course, you realize this means war" (a line which Jones noted was taken from Groucho Marx) and the audience gives Bugs silent permission to inflict his havoc. When Bugs meets other characters who are also "winners", however, like Cecil the Turtle or, in WWII, the Gremlin, his record is rather dismal; his overconfidence tends to work against him.
The Bugs Bunny short, Knighty Knight Bugs, in which a medieval Bugs Bunny traded blows with Yosemite Sam (as the Black Knight) and his fire-breathing dragon, was awarded an Oscar. What's Opera, Doc?, Chuck Jones' cartoon starring Bugs and Elmer parodying Wagner's Ring, has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. It was, at the time, the only cartoon short to have achieved this honour.
Further reading
- Bugs Bunny: 50 years and Only one Grey Hare, by Joe Adamson (1990), Henry Holt, ISBN 0805018557
- Chuck Amuck : The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist by Chuck Jones, published by Farrar Straus & Giroux, ISBN 0374123489
- That's Not All, Folks! by Mel Blanc, Philip Bashe. Warner Books, ASIN 0446390895 (Softcover) ASIN 0446512443 (Hardcover)