July 27:

July 27, 2012

July 27: Bugs Bunny made his cartoon debut

Bugs Bunny was “born” in 1940 in Brooklyn, NY. His accent is a cross between a Brooklyn accent and a Bronx accent.

The character Bugs Bunny was influenced by an early Disney character, Max Hare. Bugs Bunny appeared in his first short cartoon in 1938, entitled Porky’s Hare Hunt. The cartoon short was directed by Ben “Bugs” Hardaway and Cal Dalton. Porky Pig was a hunter against a prey (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck) which was more interested in driving Porky crazy rather than run away from him.

Bugs Bunny made his second cartoon appearance 1939, in a cartoon entitled Prest-O-Change-O, in which he plays the rabbit of a magician who is never seen on camera.

Bugs Bunny’s fourth and probably most memorable appearance was in the 1940 short cartoon entitled Elmer’s Candid Camera, in which both characters would meet and start a long war that is still very much alive today. The personality in which Bugs Bunny is famous for emerged in 1940 on Tex Avery’s Wild Hare.

It was in this episode that for the first time, Bugs Bunny would come up out of his rabbit hole and utter the now famous quote “what’s up, Doc?” to Elmer Fudd. On Bugs Bunny’s seventh television appearance, he finally got the name Bugs Bunny.

In 1942 Bugs Bunny would undergo a few redesigns to his front teeth to make them stand out more; his head was also redesigned to look more round.

Bugs Bunny was also very popular during World War II, appearing in a two minute U.S war bonds commercial called Any Bonds Today. In 1944 Bugs Bunny was at odds with a group of Japanese soldiers, Bugs was praised for this during World War II, but the cartoon has since been pulled from distribution due to its stereotypes.

Check out this War Bond commercial: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xg14p_u-s-war-bonds-commercial-bugs-bunny_news