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| '''Bugs Bunny''' is a ], appearing in the ] series of ]s. According to his bio, he was "born" in ] in ], ]. But according to ], his ], his accent is an equal blend of someone from ] and someone from ]. He soon wound up on the ] studio lot. | |||
| According to film and ] historians, Bugs Bunny first appeared in the cartoon short ], first released on ], ]. The short was co-directed by ] and Joseph Benson Hardaway, the later better known as ] and nick-named "Bugs". The cartoon was more or less a copy of ], first released on ],], directed by ] and introducing ]. Following this earlier film, the short cast ] 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 ] 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 ], first released on ], ], directed by ]. There he serves as the pet rabbit of Sham-Fu the Magician, an ]. 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 ], first released in ], ], again directed by Dalton and Hardaway. ], 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 ] animators in honor of his creator, Ben "Bugs" Hardaway. | |||
| His fourth appearance was in '']'' by ],first released on ], ]. There both Bugs and ] 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 ], first released on ], ]. It was in this cartoon that he first emerged from his ] hole to ask Elmer Fudd,, now a hunter, "]?". It is considered the first fully developed appearance of the character. | |||
| Bugs then made a cameo in ]'s ], first released on ], ] to announce the birth of 260 rabbits. His seventh appearance, finally introduced the audience to the nme Bugs Bunny which up till then was only used among the Termite Terrace. It was Chuck Jones' ], first released on ], ]. 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 ]. | |||
| 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 ]. | |||
| He is noted for his feuds with ], ], ], and even ], who usually takes on the ]. 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 ]) 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 ], ''the Gremlin'', his record is rather dismal; his overconfidence tends to work against him. | |||
| The Bugs Bunny short, '']'', in which a medieval Bugs Bunny traded blows with Yosemite Sam (as the Black Knight) and his fire-breathing dragon, was awarded an ]. '']''', Chuck Jones' cartoon starring Bugs and Elmer parodying ] ], has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States ] and selected for preservation in the ]. It was, at the time, the only cartoon short to have achieved this honour. | |||
| ==Recommended 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) | |||
| '''Links''': | |||
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