Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a fictional character created in the late 1930s at Warner Bros. Cartoons (originally Leon Schlesinger Productions) and voiced originally by Mel Blanc.[4] Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated short films, produced by Warner Bros. Earlier iterations of the character first appeared in Ben Hardaway's Porky's Hare Hunt (1938) and subsequent shorts before Bugs's definitive characterization debuted in Tex Avery's A Wild Hare (1940).[1] Bob Givens, Chuck Jones, and Robert McKimson are credited for defining Bugs's design.[1]
Bugs Bunny
Porky's Hare Hunt
(preliminary version)[1]
(April 30, 1938)
A Wild Hare (official version)[1]
(July 27, 1940)
Cal Dalton
Charles Thorson (1939–1940)
Official
Bob Givens (1940–1943)
Robert McKimson (1943–)
Mel Blanc (1938–1989)
Jeff Bergman (1990–1993, 1997–1998, 2002–2004, 2007, 2011–present)
Greg Burson (1990–2000)
Billy West (1996–2006)
Joe Alaskey (1997–2011)
Sam Vincent (Baby Looney Tunes; 2001–2006)
Eric Bauza (2018–present)
(see below)
Wabbit
Varmint
Rabbit
Male
Lola Bunny (girlfriend)
Clyde Bunny (nephew)
Ace Bunny (descendant)
Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray-and-white rabbit or hare who is characterized by his flippant, insouciant personality. He is also characterized by a Brooklyn accent, his portrayal as a trickster, and his catchphrase "Eh... What's up, doc?". Through his popularity during the golden age of American animation, Bugs became an American cultural icon and Warner Bros.' official mascot.[5]
Bugs starred in more than 160 short films produced between 1940 and 1964.[6] He has since appeared in feature films, television shows, comics, and other media. He has appeared in more films than any other cartoon character, is the ninth most-portrayed film personality in the world[7] and has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[8]
Comics
Comic books
Bugs Bunny was continuously featured in comic books for more than 40 years, from 1941 to 1983, and has appeared sporadically since then. Bugs first appeared in comic books in 1941, in Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Comics #1, published by Dell Comics. Bugs was a recurring star in that book all through its 153-issue run, which lasted until July 1954. Western Publishing (and its Dell imprint) published 245 issues of a Bugs Bunny comic book from Dec. 1952/Jan. 1953 to 1983. The company also published 81 issues of the joint title Yosemite Sam and Bugs Bunny from December 1970 to 1983. During the 1950s Dell also published a number of Bugs Bunny spinoff titles.
Creators on those series included Chase Craig, Helen Houghton,[156] Eleanor Packer,[157] Lloyd Turner,[158] Michael Maltese, John Liggera,[159] Tony Strobl, Veve Risto, Cecil Beard, Pete Alvorado, Carl Fallberg, Cal Howard, Vic Lockman, Lynn Karp, Pete Llanuza, Pete Hansen, Jack Carey, Del Connell, Kellog Adams, Jack Manning, Mark Evanier, Tom McKimson, Joe Messerli, Carlos Garzon, Donald F. Glut, Sealtiel Alatriste, Sandro Costa, and Massimo Fechi.
The German publisher Condor published a 76-issues Bugs Bunny series (translated and reprinted from the American comics) in the mid-1970s. The Danish publisher Egmont Ehapa produced a weekly reprint series in the mid-1990s.
Comic strip
The Bugs Bunny comic strip ran for almost 50 years, from January 10, 1943, to December 30, 1990, syndicated by the Newspaper Enterprise Association. It started out as a Sunday page and added a daily strip on November 1, 1948.[160]
The strip originated with Chase Craig, who did the first five weeks before leaving for military service in World War II.[161] Roger Armstrong illustrated the strip from 1942 to 1944.[162] The creators most associated with the strip are writers Albert Stoffel (1947–1979)[163] & Carl Fallberg (1950–1969),[164] and artist Ralph Heimdahl, who worked on it from 1947 to 1979.[165] Other creators associated with the Bugs Bunny strip include Jack Hamm, Carl Buettner, Phil Evans, Carl Barks (1952), Tom McKimson, Arnold Drake, Frank Hill, Brett Koth, and Shawn Keller.[166][167]
Copyright status
Under current US copyright law, Bugs Bunny is due to enter the public domain in between 2033 and 2035.[173][a] However, this will only apply (at first) to the character's depiction as Happy Rabbit in Porky's Hare Hunt which was published in 1938 (which will enter the US public domain in 2033). His later persona debut in 1940 will enter the US public domain in 2035. Although most of his pre-1948 cartoons had been in US public domain since the early 1970s, other versions of him with later developments may persist under copyright until the entry of his post-1948 cartoons in the public domain.
Language
The American use of Nimrod to mean "idiot" is often said to have originated from Bugs's exclamation "What a nimrod!" to describe the inept hunter Elmer Fudd.[174] However, it is Daffy Duck who refers to Fudd as "my little nimrod" in the 1948 short "What Makes Daffy Duck",[175] and the Oxford English Dictionary records earlier negative uses of the term "nimrod".[176]