Happy 75th birthday, Bugs Bunny!
July 27, 2015 marks the 75th "birthday" of Bugs Bunny, one of the most remarkably talented cartoon characters ever created.
As suave as Cary Grant, as wise-cracking as Groucho Marx, a gifted soft-shoe dancer, and a pugnacious righter of wrongs who stood up to bullies (even, during World War II, to Hitler himself), Bugs was the most American of iconic cartoon figures.
By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan
"Elmer's Candid Camera"
"Elmer's Candid Camera" (March 2, 1940)
Director: Chuck Jones
Bugs Bunny was the leading figure in Warner Brothers' Merrie Melodie and Looney Tunes cartoon stable. But prior to his first official appearance (in Tex Avery's "A Wild Hare"), prototypes of the character were tried out in several films that tested his looks, his voice, his moxie, and even his laugh (which here sounds similar to Woody Woodpecker's).
In "Elmer's Candid Camera," the rabbit makes life miserable for newbie nature photographer Elmer Fudd (who himself had been undergoing considerable design alterations.). The film did, at least, set the template for Bugs and Elmer's relationship, in which the dolt was always topped by the clever bunny.
Character Development
Left: Animator's character sheets for Bugs, from 1940-1943, show the rabbit becoming more streamlined, slick and malleable.
"A Wild Hare"
"A Wild Hare" (July 27, 1940)
Director: Tex Avery
"What's up, doc?"
Though not named, the rabbit being hunted by Elmer Fudd in Tex Avery's "A Wild Hare" exhibits the style, mannerisms and even the catch-phrase of Bugs Bunny, and is regarded as his first official film appearance.
"The Heckling Hare"
"The Heckling Hare" (July 5, 1941)
Director: Tex Avery
This wonderfully ridiculous cartoon features a protracted climactic fall from a cliff, with Bugs and Willoughby clutching onto each other for dear life, until they remind us that, yes, this is a cartoon - the rules of real life don't apply!
"Super Rabbit"
"Super-Rabbit" (April 3, 1943)
Director: Chuck Jones
"You mean able to leap the highest buildings, etcetera, etcetera? Well, ain't that cozy!"
Thanks to a scientist and his "super vitamized, locked-in-flavorized, heliumized, modern dizionized super carrots," Bugs Bunny exhibits the same superhero traits as Superman. He flies off to Deepinaharta, Texas, to take on Cottontail Smith, a hunter who hates nothing more than rabbits. By the end, Bugs has taken on the guise of a real superhero. (Semper fi!)
"Falling Hare"
"Falling Hare" (Oct. 30, 1943)
Director: Robert Clampett
The ease and consistency with which Bugs Bunny dispatched his antagonists was completely thrown out the window in this hilarious short featuring a gremlin intent on wrecking a WWII bomber. Bugs is even tricked into (almost) blowing himself up - something Bugs always managed to get other characters to do with aplomb.
"What's Cookin' Doc?"
"What's Cookin' Doc?" (Jan. 8, 1944)
Director: Robert Clampett
"It's sa-bo-tah-gee! I demand a recount!"
Bugs is not exactly humble. Attending the annual Academy Awards presentation, he is shocked, shocked! that the Oscar goes to James Cagney and not him. He then shows highlights of his award-worthy acting, and is thus honored with the Academy's booby prize.
"Buckaroo Bugs"
"Buckaroo Bugs" (Aug. 26, 1944)
Director: Robert Clampett
Bugs Bunny wasn't one to play villains, but here he gleefully robs all the carrots from the Victory Garden (as well as armloads of wartime rationed goods). The only thing to stand in his way is the lawman from Brooklyn, Red Hot Ryder - and naturally, the clueless Ryder doesn't stand a chance.
"The Old Grey Hare"
"The Old Grey Hare" (Oct. 28, 1944)
Director: Robert Clampett
We get to see two iterations of the classic Bugs vs. Elmer matchup - first, fast-forward to the year 2000, when each is aged and wrinkly (and Elmer is armed with a "Buck Wogers Wightning-Quick Wabbit Killer"); and then in flashback, when as babies they first set eyes on each other. No matter the era, there is still no love lost between them (and always plenty of dynamite).
"Hare Conditioned"
"Hare Conditioned" (Aug. 11, 1945)
Director: Chuck Jones
Bugs: "I'd like to see something nice in a pair of bedroom slippers."
Floorwalker: "Confidentially, so would I!"
Poor Bugs finds out that when his gig as a department store window display is about to end, he's destined for a display in their taxidermy department. He consequently leads the store's floorwalker on a chase through each department, allowing Bugs one of many opportunities during his career to appear in drag.
"Hair-Raising Hare"
"Hair-Raising Hare" (May 25, 1946)
Director: Chuck Jones
"Uh-oh: Think fast, rabbit!"
Bugs is lured to the castle of an evil scientist (a Peter Lorre look-a-like), where he must escape the clutches of a large, hairy orange monster wearing tennis shoes. Fortunately for Bugs, he is able to divert his adversaries' attention on a dime, such as when he decides to give the monster a manicure.
"A Hare Grows in Manhattan"
"A Hare Grows in Manhattan" (May 23, 1947)
Director: Friz Freleng
Movie star Bugs Bunny regales a Hollywood gossip columnist with the story of his life, with flashbacks to his hard-scrapple youth on the streets of New York, where he tap-danced to "The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady" while fighting off packs of bully dogs.
"High Diving Hare"
"High Diving Hare" (April 30, 1949)
Director: Friz Freleng
While Elmer Fudd was always too stupid a foil to ever really pose a threat to Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam was dogged, ornery and usually packed TWO firearms. Yet he still managed to be tricked into doing himself in, which in "High Diving Hare" means falling from a great height over, and over, and over again.
At left, Bugs even manages to get Sam to fall UP! (The rascally rabbit doesn't have to adhere to the laws of gravity because, he admits, "I never studied law.")
"Long-Haired Hare"
"Long-Haired Hare" (June 25, 1949)
Director: Chuck Jones
"Of course you know this means war!"
That battle cry, which Bugs Bunny raises whenever some unfeeling brute wants to interfere with his carefree life (in this case, an operatic singer who destroys Bugs' banjo), leads to a wonderfully nasty battle against the pompous Giovanni Jones. In addition to Bugs' impersonation of a bobbysoxer asking for Jones' autograph (beware of pens that are really dynamite!), the rabbit also appears as conductor Leopold Stokowski, leading the singer in an aria that truly brings down the house.
"8-Ball Bunny"
"8-Ball Bunny" (July 8, 1950)
Director: Chuck Jones
"Oooooh, I'm dy-ing!"
A top-hatted penguin (dubbed "Playboy" by Bugs) is lost, and the helpful rabbit offers to escort him home, only to find out that penguins come from the South Pole! Despite many travails in their journey across two continents to Antarctica (successfully surviving shipwrecks, alligators and cannibals), Bugs still manages to lose his cool - a rarity for the rabbit.
"Rabbit of Seville"
"Rabbit of Seville" (Dec. 16, 1950)
Director: Chuck Jones
"There,
You're nice and clean,
Although your face
Looks like it might have gone
Through
A
Ma-chine."
Beyond composer Carl Stalling's delightful scores for the Looney Tunes cartoons, he also helped shape some hilarious musical parodies, including this operatic duet between hunter Elmer Fudd and huntee Bugs Bunny, whose chase extends onto the stage of a production of Rossini's "Barber of Seville."
"Bunny Hugged"
"Bunny Hugged" (March 10, 1951)
Director: Chuck Jones
The mascot of professional wrestler Ravishing Ronald, who is being beaten to a pulp in the ring, Bugs Bunny offers to take his place against the monstrous Crusher. But as puny as Bugs may seem, there's nothing that a judiciously-applied needle can't accomplish to the right bottom.
"Rabbit Fire"
"Rabbit Fire" (May 19, 1951)
Director: Chuck Jones
The first of a trilogy of cartoons starring Bugs, Elmer and Daffy Duck, in which the two targets in Elmer's sights constantly throw him for a loop. Bugs not only turns the tables on Elmer, but also manages to constantly derail Daffy's plan to make sure it's rabbit and not duck on the menu tonight.
The trio also appeared in "Rabbit Seasoning" (1952) and "Duck! Rabbit! Duck!" (1953).
"Operation: Rabbit"
"Operation: Rabbit" (Jan. 19, 1952)
Director: Chuck Jones
Though silent in his films opposite the Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote here speaks in the sultry tones of a predator certain that some dumb rabbit will make for an easy catch. But no matter his technological ingenuity, Coyote is no match for Bugs Bunny (seen here disguising himself against a flying saucer targeting rabbits, only to reprogram it and send it on its explosive way back to Coyote HQ).
"The Hasty Hare"
"The Hasty Hare" (June 7, 1952)
Director: Chuck Jones
"How Halloween-y can you get?"
Marvin the Martian is assigned to bring back an Earth creature, but Bugs Bunny isn't one to cooperate easily.
"Bully for Bugs"
"Bully for Bugs" (Aug. 8, 1953)
Director: Chuck Jones
"Stop steaming up my tail! What do you wanna do, wrinkle it?"
Jones said that the inspiration for this classic cartoon came when a producer at Warner Brothers' cartoon unit suddenly announced one day, "I don't want any pictures about bullfighting! There's nothing funny about a bullfight." To which Jones and writer Michael Maltese's reaction was, since everything the producer ever said was absolutely wrong, "there must be something funny about a bullfight!"
They proved the producer wrong, with one of the funniest Looney Tunes ever.
"Baby Buggy Bunny"
"Baby Buggy Bunny" (Dec. 18, 1954)
Director: Chuck Jones
A paternal Bugs Bunny takes in a foundling, not realizing that it is actually a very tiny bank robber who has no hesitation about using firepower to retrieve his lost loot. As usual, Bugs manages to affect a very satisfying (and legally binding) comeuppance.
"What's Opera, Doc?"
"What's Opera, Doc?" (July 6, 1957)
Director: Chuck Jones
Jones' stylistically innovative parody of Wagnerian opera, in which hunter Elmer Fudd (sporting a Viking helmet) is off to "kill the wabbit," offers Bugs an opportunity to disguise himself as the Valkyrie Brunnhilde riding an overly-plump white steed (as he had in "Herr Meets Hare"). But the storyline turns much more tragic. ("Well, what did you expect in an opera? A happy ending?") Considered Jones' greatest achievement (in 1994 a poll of animators named it the greatest cartoon ever), it was the first animated short inducted to the Library of Congress' National Film Registry.
"Space Jam"
Bugs' last theatrical role during the Golden Age of Looney Tunes was the 1964 short, "False Hare," but his career continued on TV. He also had a cameo (as did virtually every Hollywood cartoon character) in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit."
In 1990 he appeared in "Box-Office Bunny," the first of several new theatrical shorts, and later starred in the live action/animated features "Space Jam" (left, with Michael Jordan) and "Looney Tunes: Back in Action."
"Duck Amuck"
"Duck Amuck" (Feb. 28, 1953)
Director: Chuck Jones
"Gee, ain't I a stinker?"
The wascally wabbit made a guest appearance at the end of "Duck Amuck," as the unseen animator who has put Daffy Duck though the most grueling and ignominious of situations.
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