Porky's Hare Hunt (preliminary version)[1] (April 30, 1938; 86 years ago (1938-04-30)) A Wild Hare (official version)[1] (July 27, 1940; 84 years ago (1940-07-27))
Bugs starred inmore 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 theHollywood Walk of Fame.[8]
Bugs' preliminary debut (as an unnamed white rabbit) inPorky's Hare Hunt (1938)
According toChase Craig, who wrote and drew the first Bugs Bunny comicSunday pages and the first Bugscomic book, "Bugs was not the creation of any one man; however, he rather represented the creative talents of perhaps five or six directors and many cartoon writers includingCharlie Thorson.[9] 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] A prototype Bugs rabbit with some of the personality of a finalized Bugs, though looking very different, was originally featured in the filmPorky's Hare Hunt, released on April 30, 1938. It was co-directed byBen "Bugs" Hardaway and an uncredited directorCal Dalton (who was responsible for the initial design of the rabbit). This cartoon has an almost identical plot to Avery'sPorky's Duck Hunt (1937), which had introducedDaffy Duck.Porky Pig is again cast as a hunter tracking a silly prey who is more interested in driving his pursuer insane and less interested in escaping.Hare Hunt replaces the little black duck with a small white rabbit. According toFriz Freleng, Hardaway and Dalton had decided to "dress the duck in a rabbit suit".[11] The white rabbit had an oval head and a shapeless body. In characterization, he was "aruralbuffoon".Mel Blanc gave the character a voice and laugh much like those he later used forWoody Woodpecker. He was loud, zany with a goofy,guttural laugh.[12] The rabbit character was popular enough with audiences that theTermite Terrace staff decided to use it again.[13]
The rabbit comes back inPrest-O Change-O (1939), directed byChuck Jones, where he is the pet rabbit ofunseen character Sham-Fu the Magician. Two dogs, fleeing the local dogcatcher, enter the rabbit's absent master's house. The rabbit harasses them but is ultimately bested by the bigger of the two dogs. This version of the rabbit was cool, graceful, and controlled. He retained the guttural laugh but was otherwise silent.[12]
The rabbit's third appearance comes inHare-um Scare-um (1939), directed again by Dalton and Hardaway. This cartoon—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 film, gave the character a name. He had written "Bug's Bunny" on the model sheet that he drew for Hardaway.[13][14] In promotional material for the cartoon, including a surviving 1939 presskit, 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).[15]
In his autobiography, Blanc claimed that another proposed name for the character was "Happy Rabbit."[16] In the actual cartoons and publicity, however, the name "Happy" only seems to have been used in reference to Bugs Hardaway. InHare-um Scare-um, a newspaper headline reads, "Happy Hardaway."[17] Animation historianDavid Gerstein disputes that "Happy Rabbit" was ever used as an official name, arguing that the only usage of the term came fromMel Blanc himself in humorous and fanciful tales he told about the character's development in the 1970s and 1980s; the name "Bugs Bunny" was used as early as August 1939, in theMotion Picture Herald, in a review for the shortHare-um Scare-um.[18]
Thorson had been approached byTedd Pierce, head of the story department, and asked to design a better look for the rabbit. The decision was influenced by Thorson's experience in designing hares. He had designed Max Hare inToby Tortoise Returns (Disney, 1936). For Hardaway, Thorson created the model sheet previously mentioned, with six different rabbit poses. Thorson's model sheet is "a comic rendition of the stereotypical fuzzy bunny". He had a pear-shaped body with a protruding rear end. His face was flat and had large expressive eyes. He had an exaggerated long neck, gloved hands with three fingers, oversized feet, and a "smart aleck" grin. The result was influenced byWalt Disney Animation Studios' tendency to draw animals in the style of cute infants.[11] He had an obvious Disney influence, but looked like an awkward merger of the lean and streamlined Max Hare fromThe Tortoise and the Hare (1935) and the round, soft bunnies fromLittle Hiawatha (1937).[12]
In Jones'Elmer's Candid Camera (1940), the rabbit first meetsElmer Fudd. This time the rabbit looks more like the present-day Bugs, taller and with a similar face—but retaining the more primitive voice.Candid Camera's Elmer character design is also different: taller and chubbier in the face than the modern model, thoughArthur Q. Bryan's character voice is already established.
WhilePorky's Hare Hunt was the first Warner Bros. cartoon to feature what would become Bugs Bunny,A Wild Hare, directed byTex Avery and released on July 27, 1940, is widely considered to be the first official Bugs Bunny cartoon.[1][19] It is the first film where both Elmer Fudd and Bugs, both redesigned byBob Givens, are shown in their fully developed forms as hunter and tormentor, respectively; the first in whichMel Blanc uses what became 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 anAcademy Award nomination forBest Cartoon Short Subject.[21]
For the film, Avery asked Givens to remodel the rabbit. The result had a closer resemblance to Max Hare. He had a more elongated body, stood more erect, and looked more poised. If Thorson's rabbit looked like an infant, Givens' version looked like an adolescent.[11] Blanc gave Bugs the voice of a city slicker. The rabbit was as audacious as he had been inHare-um Scare-um and as cool and collected as inPrest-O Change-O.[12]
Immediately following onA Wild Hare,Bob Clampett'sPatient Porky (1940) features acameo appearance by Bugs, announcing to the audience that 750 rabbits have been born. The gag uses Bugs'Wild Hare visual design, but his goofier pre-Wild Hare voice characterization.
The second full-fledged role for the mature Bugs,Chuck Jones'Elmer's Pet Rabbit (1941), is the first to use Bugs' name on-screen: it appears in a title card, "featuring Bugs Bunny," at the start of the film (which was edited in following the success ofA Wild Hare). However, Bugs' voice and personality in this cartoon is noticeably different, and his design was slightly altered as well; Bugs' visual design is based on the earlier version inCandid Camera andA Wild Hare, but with yellow gloves, as seen inHare-Um Scare-Um, and no buck teeth, has a lower-pitched voice and a more aggressive, arrogant and thuggish personality instead of a fun-loving personality. AfterPet Rabbit, however, subsequent Bugs appearances returned to normal: theWild Hare visual design and personality returned, and Blanc re-used theWild Hare voice characterization.
Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt (1941), directed byFriz Freleng, became the second Bugs Bunny cartoon to receive an Academy Award nomination.[22] The fact that it did not win the award was later spoofed somewhat inWhat's Cookin' Doc? (1944), in which Bugs demands a recount (claiming to be a victim of "sa-bo-TAH-gee") after losing the Oscar toJames Cagney and presents a clip fromHiawatha's Rabbit Hunt to prove his point.[23]
World War II
Evolution of Bugs' design over the years
By 1942, Bugs had become the number one star ofMerrie Melodies. The series was originally intended only for one-shot characters in films after several early attempts to introduce characters (Foxy,Goopy Geer, andPiggy) failed underHarman–Ising. By the mid-1930s, underLeon Schlesinger,Merrie Melodies started introducing newer characters.Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid (1942) shows a slight redesign of Bugs, with less-prominent front teeth and a rounder head. The character was later reworked byRobert McKimson, then an animator in Clampett's unit, forTortoise Wins by a Hare (1943), with more slanted eyes, longer teeth and a much larger mouth. The redesign at first was only used in the films created by Clampett's unit, but in time it was taken up by the other directors, with Freleng andFrank Tashlin the first. McKimson would use another version of the rabbit by Jean Blanchard until 1949 (as didArt Davis for the one Bugs Bunny film he directed,Bowery Bugs) when he started using the version he had designed for Clampett. Jones came up with his own slight modification, and the voice had slight variations between the units.[14] Bugs also made cameos in Avery's final Warner Bros. cartoon,Crazy Cruise.[24]
Since Bugs' fifth appearance inA Wild Hare, he appeared in colorLooney Tunes andMerrie Melodies films (making him one of the few recurring characters created for the series in the Schlesinger era prior to the full conversion to color), alongside Egghead,Inki,Sniffles, andElmer Fudd (who actually co-existed in 1937 along with Egghead as a separate character). While Bugs made a cameo inPorky Pig's Feat (1943), this was his only appearance in a black-and-whiteLooney Tunes film. He did not star in aLooney Tunes film until that series made its complete conversion to only color cartoons beginning in 1944.Buckaroo Bugs was Bugs' first film in theLooney Tunes series and was also the last Warner Bros. cartoon to credit Schlesinger (as he had retired and sold his studio to Warner Bros. that year).[23]
Bugs' popularity soared duringWorld War II because of his free and easy attitude, and he began receiving special star billing in his cartoons by 1943. By that time, Warner Bros. had become the most profitable cartoon studio in the United States.[25] In company with cartoon studios such as Disney andFamous Studios, Warners pitted its characters againstAdolf Hitler,Benito Mussolini,Francisco Franco, and theJapanese.Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips (1944) features Bugs at odds with a group of Japanese soldiers. This cartoon has since been pulled from distribution due to its depiction of Japanese people.[citation needed] OneUS Navypropaganda film saved from destruction features the voice of Mel Blanc in "Tokyo Woes"[26] (1945) about the propaganda radio hostTokyo Rose. He also faces off againstHermann Göring and Hitler inHerr Meets Hare (1945), which introduced his well-known reference toAlbuquerque as he mistakenly winds up in theBlack Forest of'Joimany' instead ofLas Vegas,Nevada.[27] Bugs also appeared in the 1942 two-minute U.S.war bonds commercial filmAny Bonds Today?, along with Porky and Elmer.
At the end ofSuper-Rabbit (1943), Bugs appears wearing aUnited States Marine Corps dress blue uniform. As a result, the Marine Corps made Bugs an honorary Marinemaster sergeant.[28] From 1943 to 1946, Bugs was the official mascot ofKingman Army Airfield,Kingman, Arizona, where thousands of aerial gunners were trained during World War II. Some notable trainees includedClark Gable andCharles Bronson. Bugs also served as the mascot for 530 Squadron of the 380th Bombardment Group,5th Air Force,U.S. Air Force, which was attached to theRoyal Australian Air Force and operated out of Australia'sNorthern Territory from 1943 to 1945, flyingB-24 Liberator bombers.[29] Bugs riding an air delivered torpedo served as the squadron logo for Marine Torpedo/Bomber Squadron 242 in the Second World War. Additionally, Bugs appeared on the nose of B-24J #42-110157, in both the 855th Bomb Squadron of the 491st Bombardment Group (Heavy) and later in the 786th BS of the 466th BG(H), both being part of the 8th Air Force operating out of England.
In 1944, Bugs Bunny made a cameo appearance inJasper Goes Hunting, aPuppetoons film produced by rival studioParamount Pictures. In this cameo (animated by McKimson, with Blanc providing the usual voice), Bugs (after being threatened at gunpoint) pops out of a rabbit hole, saying his usual catchphrase; after hearing the orchestra play the wrong theme song, he realizes "Hey, I'm in the wrong picture!" and then goes back in the hole.[30] Bugs also made a cameo in thePrivate Snafu shortGas, in which he is found stowed away in the titular private's belongings; his only spoken line is his usual catchphrase.
Although it was usually Porky Pig who brought theLooney Tunes films to a close with his stuttering, "That's all, folks!", Bugs replaced him at the end ofHare Tonic andBaseball Bugs, bursting through a drum just as Porky did, but munching on a carrot and saying, in his Bronx/Brooklyn accent, "And that's the end!"
Post-World War II era
After World War II, Bugs continued to appear in numerous Warner Bros. cartoons, making his last "Golden Age" appearance inFalse Hare (1964). He starred in over 167 theatrical short films, most of which were directed by Friz Freleng, Robert McKimson, and Chuck Jones. Freleng'sKnighty Knight Bugs (1958), in which a medieval Bugs trades blows withYosemite Sam and his fire-breathing dragon (which has a cold), won anAcademy Award for Best Cartoon Short Subject (becoming the first and only Bugs Bunny cartoon to win said award).[31] Three of Jones' films—Rabbit Fire,Rabbit Seasoning andDuck! Rabbit, Duck!—compose what is often referred to as the "Rabbit Season/Duck Season" trilogy and were the origins of the rivalry between Bugs and Daffy Duck.[32] Jones' classicWhat's Opera, Doc? (1957), casts Bugs and Elmer Fudd in a parody ofRichard Wagner'sDer Ring des Nibelungen. It was deemed "culturally significant" by the United StatesLibrary of Congress and selected for preservation in theNational Film Registry in 1992, becoming the first cartoon short to receive this honor.[33]
In the fall of 1960,ABC debuted the prime-time television programThe Bugs Bunny Show. This show packaged many of the post-1948 Warners cartoons with newly animated wraparounds. Throughout its run, the series was highly successful, and helped cementWarner Bros. Animation as a mainstay ofSaturday-morning cartoons. After two seasons, it was moved from its evening slot to reruns on Saturday mornings.The Bugs Bunny Show changed format and exact title frequently but remained on network television for 40 years. The packaging was later completely different, with each cartoon simply presented on its own, title and all, though some clips from the new bridging material were sometimes used as filler.[34]
In the 1988live-action/animated comedyWho Framed Roger Rabbit, Bugs appeared as one of the inhabitants of Toontown. However, since the film was being produced byDisney, Warner Bros. would only allow the use of their biggest star if he got an equal amount of screen time as Disney's biggest star,Mickey Mouse. Because of this, both characters are always together in frame when onscreen.Roger Rabbit was also one of the final productions in which Mel Blanc voiced Bugs (as well as the otherLooney Tunes characters) before his death in 1989.[39]
Bugs later appeared in another animated production featuring numerous characters from rival studios: the 1990 drug prevention TV specialCartoon All-Stars to the Rescue.[40][41][42] This special is notable for being the first time that someone other than Blanc voiced Bugs and Daffy (both characters were voiced byJeff Bergman for this). Bugs also made guest appearances in the early 1990s television seriesTiny Toon Adventures, as the principal of Acme Looniversity and the mentor ofBabs and Buster Bunny. He made further cameos in Warner Bros.' subsequent animated TV showsTaz-Mania,Animaniacs, andHisteria!
In 1996, Bugs and the otherLooney Tunes characters appeared in the live-action/animated film,Space Jam, directed byJoe Pytka and starringNBA superstarMichael Jordan. The film also introduced the characterLola Bunny, who becomes Bugs' new love interest.Space Jam received mixed reviews from critics,[48][49] but was a box office success (grossing over $230 million worldwide).[50] The success ofSpace Jam led to the development of another live-action/animated film,Looney Tunes: Back in Action, released in 2003 and directed byJoe Dante. UnlikeSpace Jam,Back in Action was abox-office bomb,[51] though it did receive more positive reviews from critics.[52][53][54]
In 1997, Bugs appeared on aU.S. postage stamp, the first cartoon to be so honored, beating the iconic Mickey Mouse. The stamp is number seven on the list of the ten most popular U.S. stamps, as calculated by the number of stamps purchased but not used. The introduction of Bugs onto a stamp was controversial at the time, as it was seen as a step toward the 'commercialization' of stamp art. The postal service rejected many designs and went with a postal-themed drawing. Avery Dennison printed the Bugs Bunny stamp sheet, which featured "a special ten-stamp design and was the first self-adhesivesouvenir sheet issued by theU.S. Postal Service."[55]
21st century
A younger version of Bugs is the main character ofBaby Looney Tunes, which debuted onKids' WB in 2001. In the action-comedyLoonatics Unleashed, his definite descendant Ace Bunny is the leader of the Loonatics team and seems to have inherited his ancestor's Brooklyn accent and rapier wit.[56]
In 2011, Bugs Bunny and the rest of theLooney Tunes gang returned to television in the Cartoon Network sitcom,The Looney Tunes Show. The characters feature new designs by artist Jessica Borutski. Among the changes to Bugs' appearance were the simplification and enlargement of his feet, as well as a change to his fur from gray to a shade ofmauve (though in the second season, his fur was changed back to gray).[57] In the series, Bugs and Daffy Duck are portrayed as best friends as opposed to their usual pairing as friendly rivals. At the same time, Bugs is more vocally exasperated by Daffy's antics in the series (sometimes to the point of anger), compared to his usual level-headed personality from the original cartoons. Bugs and Daffy are friends with Porky Pig in the series, although Bugs tends to be a better friend to Porky than Daffy is. Bugs also dates Lola Bunny in the show despite the fact that he finds her to be "crazy" and a bit too talkative at first (he later learns to accept her personality quirks, similar to his tolerance for Daffy). Unlike the original cartoons, Bugs lives in a regular home which he shares with Daffy,Taz (whom he treats as a pet dog) andSpeedy Gonzales, in the middle of acul-de-sac with their neighbors Yosemite Sam,Granny, andWitch Hazel.
"Some people call me cocky and brash, but actually I am just self-assured. I'm nonchalant, imperturbable, contemplative. I play it cool, but I can get hot under the collar. And above all I'm a very 'aware' character. I'm well aware that I am appearing in an animated cartoon....And sometimes I chomp on my carrot for the same reason that a stand-up comic chomps on his cigar. It saves me from rushing from the last joke to the next one too fast. And I sometimes don't act, I react. And I always treat the contest with my pursuers as 'fun and games.' When momentarily I appear to be cornered or in dire danger and I scream, don't be consoined – it's actually a big put-on. Let's face it, Doc. I've read the script and I already know how it turns out."
Bugs Bunny's fast-talking speech pattern was inspired to a degree by the character of Oscar Shapely in the 1934 filmIt Happened One Night. In the film, Shapely addressesClark Gable's character Peter Warne as "Doc", and Warne mentions an imaginary person named "Bugs Dooley" to frighten Shapely.[66] Referring to the same film,Friz Freleng,Chuck Jones andBob Clampett all claimed that Bugs' nonchalant carrot-chewing style came from a scene where Gable's character eats a carrot while talking.[67]
"'What's up Doc?' is a very simple thing. It's only funny because it's in a situation. It was an all Bugs Bunny line. It wasn't funny. If you put it in human terms; you come home late one night from work, you walk up to the gate in the yard, you walk through the gate and up into the front room, the door is partly open and there's some guy shooting under your living room. So what do you do? You run if you have any sense, the least you can do is call the cops. But what if you come up and tap him on the shoulder and look over and say 'What's up Doc?' You're interested in what he's doing. That's ridiculous. That's not what you say at a time like that. So that's why it's funny, I think. In other words it's asking a perfectly legitimate question in a perfectly illogical situation."
— Chuck Jones on Bugs Bunny's catchphrase "What's up Doc?"[68]
The carrot-chewing scenes are generally followed by Bugs' most well-known catchphrase, "What's up, Doc?", which was written by directorTex Avery for his first Bugs Bunny film,A Wild Hare (1940). Avery explained later that it was a common expression in his native Texas and that he did not think much of the phrase. Back then "doc" meant the same as "dude" does today. When the cartoon was first screened in theaters, the "What's up, Doc?" scene generated a tremendously positive audience reaction.[20][69]
Another catchphrase associated with the character's tendency to play thetrickster is "Ain't I a stinker", an acknowledgement that he engages in unfair tactics.[70] used as early as the 1940s in shorts like the 1942The Wacky Wabbit. This was notably exhibited in the 1953 short,Duck Amuck, in which Daffy Duck endures various humiliations at the hands of the unseen cartoonist, who in the end is revealed to be Bugs Bunny, who then says this line.[71][72]
Voice actors
The following are the various vocal artists who have voiced Bugs Bunny over the last 80-plus years for both Warner Bros. official productions and others:
Mel Blanc
Mel Blanc was the original voice of Bugs and voiced the character for nearly five decades.
Mel Blanc voiced the character for 52 years, from Bugs' debut in the 1938 shortPorky's Hare Hunt until Blanc's death in 1989. Blanc described the voice he created for Bugs in 1940'sA Wild Hare as a combination ofBronx andBrooklyn accents; however,Tex Avery claimed that he asked Blanc to give the character not a New York accentper se, but a voice like that of actorFrank McHugh, who frequently appeared in supporting roles in the 1930s and whose voice might be described asNew York Irish.[14] In Bugs' following cartoon,Elmer's Pet Rabbit, Blanc created a completely new voice for Bugs, which sounded like aJimmy Stewart impression, but the directors decided the previousWild Hare voice was better. Though Blanc's best known character was the carrot-chomping rabbit, munching on the carrots interrupted the dialogue. Various substitutes, such ascelery, were tried, but none of them sounded like a carrot. So, for the sake of expedience, Blanc munched and then spit the carrot bits into aspittoon, rather than swallowing them, and continued with the dialogue. One often-repeated story, which dates back to the 1940s,[73] is that Blanc was allergic to carrots and had to spit them out to minimize any allergic reaction, but his autobiography makes no such claim.[16] In fact, in a 1984 interview withTim Lawson, co-author ofThe Magic Behind The Voices: A Who's Who of Voice Actors, Blanc emphatically denied being allergic to carrots.
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 incomic books in 1941, inLooney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Comics #1, published byDell Comics. Bugs was a recurring star in that book all through its 153-issue run, which lasted until July 1954.Western Publishing (and itsDell 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 titleYosemite Sam and Bugs Bunny from December 1970 to 1983. During the 1950s Dell also published a number of Bugs Bunny spinoff titles.
The German publisher Condor published a 76-issues Bugs Bunny series (translated and reprinted from the American comics) in the mid-1970s. The Danish publisherEgmont Ehapa produced a weekly reprint series in the mid-1990s.
Bugs' star on theHollywood Walk of FameStatue evoking Bugs Bunny at Butterfly Park Bangladesh
LikeMickey Mouse forDisney, Bugs Bunny has served as the mascot forWarner Bros. and its various divisions. According toGuinness World Records, Bugs has appeared in more films (both short and feature-length) than any other cartoon character, and is the ninth most portrayed film personality in the world.[7] On December 10, 1985, Bugs became the second cartoon character (after Mickey) to receive a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame.[8]
He also has been a pitchman for companies includingKool-Aid andNike. His Nike commercials withMichael Jordan as "Hare Jordan" for the Air Jordan VII and VIII became precursors toSpace Jam. As a result, he has spent time as an honorary member ofJordan Brand, including having Jordan's Jumpman logo done in his image. In 2015, as part of the 30th anniversary of Jordan Brand, Nike released a mid-top Bugs Bunny version of the Air Jordan I, named the "Air Jordan Mid 1 Hare", along with a women's equivalent inspired byLola Bunny called the "Air Jordan Mid 1 Lola", along with a commercial featuring Bugs andAhmad Rashad.[178]
In 2002,TV Guide compiled a list of the 50 greatest cartoon characters of all time as part of the magazine's 50th anniversary. Bugs Bunny was given the honor of number 1.[179][180] In aCNN broadcast on July 31, 2002, aTV 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."[181] Some have noted that comedianEric Andre is the nearest contemporary comedic equivalent to Bugs. They attribute this to, "their ability to constantly flip the script on their unwitting counterparts."[182]
Copyright status
Under currentUS copyright law, Bugs Bunny is due to enter the USpublic domain in between 2033 and 2035.[183][a] However, this will only apply (at first) to the character's depiction asHappy Rabbit inPorky's Hare Hunt which was published in 1938 (which will enter the US public domain in 2034). The debut of his later persona in 1940 will enter the US public domain in 2036. 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.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) – first, and so far, only appearance in aDisney film; appeared alongside Disney's mascot,Mickey Mouse, for the first time – Oscar winner
Box-Office Bunny (1990) – first theatrically released short since 1964
The American use ofnimrod to mean "idiot" is often said to have originated from Bugs's exclamation "What a nimrod!" to describe the inept hunter Elmer Fudd.[184] However, it is Daffy Duck who refers to Fudd as "my little nimrod" in the 1948 shortWhat Makes Daffy Duck,[185] and theOxford English Dictionary records earlier negative uses of the term "nimrod".[186]
^ab"'Bugs Bunny''".Encyclopædia Britannica. Britannica.com.Archived from the original on June 3, 2008. RetrievedSeptember 20, 2009.
^abcBarrier, Michael (November 6, 2003).Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age. United States: Oxford University Press. p. 672.ISBN978-0-19-516729-0.
^Motion Picture Herald: August 12, 1939[permanent dead link] "...With gun and determination, he takes to the field and tracks his prey in the zany person of "Bugs" Bunny, a true lineal descendant of the original Mad Hatter if there ever was one..."
^McCorry, Kevin; Cooke, Jon."Looney Tunes On Television".The Ultimate Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Website. Archived fromthe original on December 2, 2010. RetrievedNovember 12, 2010.
^You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story (2008), p. 255.
^WB retained a pair of features from 1949 that they merely distributed, and all short subjects released on or after September 1, 1948; in addition to all cartoons released in August 1948.
^"Point of View: Moose and Squirrel". News From ME.Archived from the original on February 1, 2022. RetrievedFebruary 1, 2022.Blanc did Bugs from the start, all through the various prototype versions. One brief exception is Bugs' line, "Of course you know, this means war" in Porky's Hare Hunt. That one line was done by director-storyman Ben "Bugs" Hardaway.
^abScott, Keith (October 3, 2022).Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, Vol. 2. BearManor Media.
^"Carols by Candlelight". National Boys Choir of Australia. December 24, 2013.Archived from the original on October 29, 2020. RetrievedNovember 16, 2020.
^Ron Goulart,Encyclopedia of American Comics. New York, Facts on File, 1992.ISBN9780816025824 pp. 33-4,37,57,73-74,106,262-263.
^John Cawley. "Back to the Rabbit Hole: Koth and Krller, the Men Behind the New and Improved Bugs Bunny Comic Strip."Animato no.20 (Summer 1990), pp.30-31.
^Garner, Bryan A. (3rd Edition, 2009).Garner's Modern American Usage, p. liii. Oxford University Press.ISBN0-19-538275-7.
^Arthur Davis (director) (February 14, 1948).What Makes Daffy Duck (Animated short). Event occurs at 5:34.Precisely what I was wondering, my little Nimrod.
^Oxford English Dictionary 3rd edition, updated 2020,s.v.
Sergi, Joe (2015).The Law for Comic Book Creators: Essential Concepts and Applications. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company.ISBN978-1-4766-1733-6.OCLC903489229.
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