at the end of 1930s, Bugs Bunny's excitement was at its peak. It was called "Golden Age” by many moviegoers, where classic characters like Mickey Mouse, Felix cat and Popeye they emerged and became huge hits on movie theaters, often being shown before the main movie.
Thinking about it, the Warner Bros. also decided to invest heavily in this area. At the year 1938, by the hands of the genius tex avery (one of the greatest animation creators of all time, responsible for creating: Daffy, Droopy, Picolino, among others), was born happy rabbit, a white rabbit, with a crazy personality, practically with the same characteristics as Daffy Duck (bred a year before).
Furthermore, happy rabbit appeared in a few drawings in the 1938 years and 1939, having its creation influenced by the rabbit Max Hare, created by Disney Studios and protagonist of some short films in the series “Silly Symphonies“. The character soon gained the voice of Honey Blanc, legend of American dubbing, who dubbed Long leg (and most Looney Tunes) for five decades.
Blanc's voice was a mixture of accents from the New York neighborhoods of the Bronx It's from brooklyn. A curiosity: in the beginning, the rabbit had a repetitive and irritating laugh, which ended up being transferred to Pica-Pau, a character that the artist also dubbed, a few years later.
Over time, the design and personality of the character has been changed; Long leg became more sarcastic and also ironic, however his look was toned down, becoming sweeter and less crazy. One of the sources of inspiration was the actor and film director Groucho Marx, where he got rid of the acid way and also the way of holding the carrot, just like Groucho held his famous cigar. Your name has been changed to bugs bunny, as a tribute to one of the artists who worked on his new look, Ben “bugs” hardaway.
In day July 27, 1940, the character officially debuted, alongside mint, who would be one of his most famous antagonists, eager to hunt down the “little towel“. It was the short film "A Caçada Maluca" ("A Wild Hare"), in which the character would also speak for the first time his most famous catchphrase: "What's up, old man?" (“What's Up, Doc?”).
With the great success of this animation, the directors of animation division of Warner Bros. they decided to turn the rabbit into a fixed character in the short films produced by the company.
Soon, World War II would take the world's attention, and this event ended up serving as “trampoline” to star in several animated characters, who fulfilled a worthy duty: distract the American people, shifting the focus a little from the climate of war, and boosting the morale of the population.
To get an idea, in some episodes, the rabbit (as well as several other characters from that time) was shown facing Nazi and Japanese soldiers and demoralizing enemy figures, such as Hitler himself.
This is the case of “Herr Mets Hare“, drawing from 1945, where Bugs deceives a Nazi soldier, posing as Hitler, and ends up meeting the commander of the Axle, in addition to impersonating Joseph Stalin.
In his various episodes, Bugs has always been alongside characters like mint, Euphrazino Fighter, Daffy, marvin O Martian, little stutter among other classic figures from the Warner Bros. universe. One of his most acclaimed films is “What's Opera, Old Man?”/ “What's Opera, Doc?”, 1957.
In this parody of Wagner's opera “The Ring of the Nibelungs”, Hortelino embodies the demigod Siegrfied, falling in love with the version of Bugs Bunny dressed as Brunnhilde.
The production reached a status never before achieved by a work in this medium, being the first drawing to be considered “culturally significant" for the US Library of Congress and chosen to be preserved in the National Cinema Registry, an entity from that country that preserves important works for the cultural identity of the population.
Not yet year 1960, the rabbit cartoons migrated to TV, when the broadcaster ABC acquired the rights to dozens of animations produced especially for the cinema and started showing them in the program “The Bugs Bunny Show"which lasted exact 40 years on the channel grid, going through numerous variations of time, title and format, but always with the star's shorts. With that, the character climbed the definitive step to become one of the greatest icons in the history of animation.
In the next special article, I will enter the universe of Baby Looney Tunes and Looney Tunes, with the participation of countless other protagonists and antagonists from the Warner Bros. universe.
And do you remember this classic design? 🙂
With Additional Information: Wikia
