Bugs Bunny (nickname) George Washington Bunny (Full name) | |
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[[File:|250px]] Bugs Bunny art of the original series | |
Species | Rabbit |
Gender | Male |
Aliases | Elegant Mess |
Relatives | Hugo Hare (uncle) Clyde Bunny (nephew) |
Citizenship | Beverly Hills, California |
Confidants | Honey Bunny Porky Pig Buster Bunny Babs Bunny Lola Bunny Daffy Duck (occasionally) |
Rivals | Daffy Duck Elmer Fudd Yosemite Sam Blacque Jacque Shellaque Marvin the Martian Taz Tasmanian Devil Wile E. Coyote Curt and Pumpkinhead Martin Gossamer Slap-Happy Stanley Mojo Jojo |
Signature | "Ehhh, what's up, Doc?" "Of course you know realize, this means war!" "Ain't I a stinker?" |
First appearance | "Porky's Hare Hunt" (first appearance, as a nameless white rabbit) (1937) "A Wild Hare" (as a gray and white rabbit with a Brooklyn accent) (1939) |
Voiced by | Mel Blanc (1937–1989) Jeff Bergman (1990–1992; 1998; 2011–present) Keith Scott (1990) Greg Burson (1991–1998) Noel Blanc (1992) John Kassir (1994) Billy West (1996–2006) Joe Alaskey (1998–2012) Samuel Vincent (2002–2005) Scott Innes (2006) Eric Bauza (2018) |
[[File:|250px]] Bugs as he appeared in his fifth cartoon, "A Wild Hare". | |
Bugs Bunny is the main character in the Looney Tunes series.
General Informations
Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character. He is best known for his starring roles in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of theatrical short films produced by Warner Bros. during the Golden Age of American Animation. His popularity during this era led to his becoming an American cultural icon, as well as a corporate mascot of the Warner Bros. company.[1] He was originally voiced by Mel Blanc, but is now voiced by a variety of voice actors, primarily by Jeff Bergman.[2]
Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray hare famous for his relaxed, passive personality, his pronounced Mid-Atlantic accent which Blanc described as being a mixture of Brooklyn and Bronx accents,[3] his depiction as a mischievous trickster, and his catchphrase "Eh, what's up, doc?" usually said while chewing a carrot.
Since his fifth cartoon in 1940's "A Wild Hare",[4] Bugs has appeared in various short films, feature films, compilations, television series, music records, comic books, video games, award shows, amusement park rides, and commercials. He has also appeared in more films, short and feature length, than any other cartoon character,[5] is the ninth most-portrayed film personality in the world,[5] and has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[6]
When TV Guide compiled a list of the fifty greatest cartoon characters of all time as part of the magazine's 50th anniversary in 2002, Bugs Bunny was given the honor of Number One.[7][8] In a CNN broadcast, a TV Guide editor talked about the group that created the list. The editor also explained why Bugs pulled top billing: "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."[9]
He appeared in numerous cartoon shor in the Looney Tunes series as well as a Saturday morning and syndicated animated series. Considered an ideal actor, he was directed by Friz Freleng and Chuck Jones and several starred in feature films, including Space Jam which co-stared Michael Jordan.
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, was added to the Library of Congress's archive of motion pictures. It is currently (2002) the only short cartoon (as opposed to full-length feature film) included in the collection.
Voice Actors
- Mel Blanc (1937–1989)
History
Bugs' Prototype
According to Chase Craig, who was a member of Tex Avery's cartoon unit and later wrote and drew the first Bugs Bunny comic Sunday pages and Bugs' first comic book; "Bugs was not the creation of any one man but rather represented the creative talents of perhaps five or six directors and many cartoon writers. In those days, the stories were often the work of a group who suggested various gags, bounced them around and finalized them in a joint story conference."[10] Ben Hardaway's prototypical mischievous rabbit with some of the personality of Bugs (though looking very different), made his first appearance in the cartoon short "Porky's Hare Hunt", released 30 April 1938. Co-directed by Ben Hardaway and an uncredited Cal Dalton (who was responsible for the initial design of the rabbit), this short has an almost identical plot to Tex Avery's "Porky's Duck Hunt", which had introduced Daffy Duck. The aforementioned cartoon replaced the little black duck with a small white rabbit. Porky Pig was again cast as a hunter tracking a silly prey who is more interested in driving his pursuer insane and less interested in escaping. The rabbit introduced himself with the odd expression "Jiggers, fellers," and Mel Blanc gave the character a voice and laugh much like those he would later use for Woody Woodpecker. Said cartoon also gave the rabbit the famous Groucho Marx line, "Of course you realize, this means war!" The rabbit character was popular enough with audiences that the Termite Terrace staff decided to use it again.[11][12] According to Friz Freleng, Hardaway and Dalton had decided to dress the duck in a rabbit suit. The white rabbit had an oval head and a shapeless body. In characterization, he was "a rural buffoon". He was loud, zany with a goofy, guttural laugh. Blanc provided him with a hayseed voice.[13]
This rabbit returned in the short "Prest-O Change-O", directed by Chuck Jones, where he is the pet rabbit of unseen character Sham-Fu The Magician. Two dogs, fleeing the local dogcatcher, enter his absent master's house. The rabbit harasses them but is ultimately bested by the bigger of the two dogs.
This rabbit's third appearance came in "Hare-um Scare-um", once again directed by Hardaway and Dalton. This short (the first in which he is depicted as a gray bunny instead of a white one) is also notable as the rabbit's first singing role. Charlie Thorson, lead animator on the short, gave the character a different name. He had written "Bugs' Bunny" on the model sheet that he drew for Hardaway. In promotional material for the short, including a surviving 1939 press kit, the name on the model sheet was altered to become the rabbit's own name: "Bugs" Bunny (quotation marks only used, on and off, until 1944).[14]
In Chuck Jones' "Elmer's Candid Camera", the rabbit met Elmer Fudd for the first time. In this cartoon, the rabbit looked more like the present-day Bugs, taller and with a similar face—-but retaining the more primitive voice. Elmer's new character design was also different: fatter and taller than his early prototype model and his modern future model, although Arthur Q. Bryan's character voice was already established.
In recent years, many animation historians identify these prototypical Bugs cartoons as Bugs Bunny's early cartoons before he reaches his fame in "A Wild Hare", as evident in documentaries such as The Wabbit Turns 50 from WWOR in 1990. [15] This prototypical rabbit would often be called by fans and a few documentaries as "Happy Rabbit" when that was really not his real name. Even Cartoon Network's June Bugs marathons over the years acknowledges this by airing these cartoons alongside all the other Bugs Bunny cartoons, possibly indicating that both Bugs Bunny and this prototypical version are one of the same rabbit. [16][17][18]
Bugs' Transformation
"A Wild Hare", directed by Tex Avery and released 27 July 1940, the fifth cartoon to star Ben Hardaway's rabbit, is widely considered to be the first official Bugs Bunny cartoon.[19] It is the first film where both Elmer Fudd and Bugs, both redesigned by Bob Givens, are shown in their fully developed forms as hunter and tormentor, respectively; the first in which Mel Blanc uses what would become Bugs' standard voice; and the first in which Bugs uses his catchphrase, "What's up, Doc?"[20] A Wild Hare was a huge success in theaters and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Cartoon Short Subject.[21]
The second full-fledged role for the mature Bugs, Chuck Jones' "Elmer's Pet Rabbit", was the first to use the name Bugs Bunny on-screen: it appears in a title card, "featuring Bugs Bunny," at the start of the short (which was edited in following the success of "A Wild Hare"). However, Bugs' voice in this cartoon is significantly different (closer to Jones' take on the prototype-Bugs in "Elmer's Candid Camera"), and his design was slightly altered as well. After "Pet Rabbit", however, subsequent Bugs appearances returned to normal: the "Wild Hare" visual design and personality returned, and Blanc reused the "Wild Hare" voice characterization.
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeAM1vwEcFg
- ↑ Joe Adamson (1990), Bugs Bunny: 50 Years and Only One Grey Hare, Henry Holt & Co. ISBN 0805011900
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite news
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- ↑ Chase Craig recollections of "Michael Maltese," Chase Craig Collection, CSUN
- ↑ bp2.blogger.com
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Barrier (2003), p. 359-362
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ http://mfoxweb-001-site22.mysitepanel.net/viewtopic.php?t=2673
- ↑ https://archive.org/details/junebugs632001/4.+June+Bugs+(6-3-2001%2C+3%3B00AM).mp4
- ↑ https://archive.org/details/june-bugs-marathon-06-21-1998-part-2
- ↑ http://chomikuj.pl/bartnicki2/Dla+dzieci/Kr*c3*b3lik+Bugs+*5bBugs+Bunny*5d/1939/Bugs+Bunny+-+Prest-O+Change-O,373008129.mpg(video)
- ↑ Michael Barrier (2003), Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age, Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-516729-0
- ↑ Template:Cite book
- ↑ Template:Cite web