He can thus be seen in the older Warner Bros. Entertainment, but also one of the most recognizable characters in the world.
Due to Bugs' popularity during the golden age of American animation, he became not only an American cultural icon and the official mascot of Warner Bros. He is also characterized by a Brooklyn accent, his portrayal as a trickster, and his catch phrase "Eh.What's up, doc?". īugs is an anthropomorphic gray and white rabbit or hare who is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality. Though a similar character first appeared in the WB cartoon Porky's Hare Hunt (1938) and a few subsequent shorts, the definitive characterization of Bugs Bunny is widely credited to have debuted in director Tex Avery's Oscar-nominated film A Wild Hare (1940).
Bugs is best known for his starring roles in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated short films, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons) and voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Sam Vincent ( Baby Looney Tunes 2001–2006)īugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Paul, Minnesota and Huntsville, Alabama.Warner Bros. The show was on view in New York City Fort Worth, Texas Seattle, Washington St. The Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibit Service toured, “What’s Up Doc? The Animation of Chuck Jones,” from 2014 to 2017. Though more recent animated characters from Bart Simpson to Eric Cartman have established themselves through a sliding scale of meanness, Bugs remains the loveable character that only plays tricks on those who deserve it most. From his opera debut in “What’s Opera, Doc?” to his jaunt in live action films, such as Space Jam, Bugs Bunny doesn’t change. Perhaps what audiences love the most about Bugs Bunny is not his unique personality, but his ability to stay true to it. Still, Bugs moved past that questionable phase and continues to win the hearts and laughs of the people all over the world. War-era films star Bugs as the hero pitted against offensively caricatured Japanese and German soldiers. The Marine Corps gave him honorary status as a private after he appeared in a marine uniform exclaiming that a marine was a real superman, in the 1943 film “Super-Rabbit.” But like any public figure, Bugs has engaged in his fair share of controversial activity. In that same era, Bugs successfully straddled the world of entertainment and politics, sneaking his way into World War II propaganda and advertisements for war bonds. Within four years, films starring Bugs from the “Merrie Melodies” and “Looney Tunes” series were popular enough to be sold to theaters in a separate category called “Bugs Bunny Specials.”
‘You wrote it.’ ‘No I discovered under the circumstances that this is what he would say.”įor years after Bugs first uttered his signature question, it seemed as though America couldn’t get enough of the character and his trickster ways. “He would come home in the evening and say to my mother, ‘You won’t believe what Bugs Bunny said today!’ ‘What do you mean?,’ she would say. “ attitude was that Bugs already existed and they were just writing about him,” says Jones Clough. But for the directors and audiences alike, Bugs was more than just a cartoon character. They wanted him to be a nice person, but not a pushover. “It was very important that he be provoked,” said Chuck Jones in a 1998 interview, “because otherwise he’d be a bully and we didn’t want that. And while every director put his own spin on Bugs Bunny, they all agreed on one thing: Bugs was never to be mean-spirited.
According to Linda Jones Clough, the business parter and daughter of famed animator Chuck Jones, Bugs rocketed to fame because he was “character driven, rather than gag driven,” Jones Clough says. Unlike Disney’s Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, who came with their own set of physical characteristics but lacked any hint of personality, Bugs was defined by his wiseacre attitude and witty banter. The “Looney Tunes” and “Merrie Melodies” films came out of the Warner Brothers animation studios, where a team of artists, directors and voice actors collaborated on the classic cartoons. Courtesy of The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity