Happy birthday to Bugs Bunny! Seventy years old and still as smart-alecky as ever. Starpulse has a good article. I have the six-volume Warner Bros. Golden Collection of Looney Tunes and Merry Melodies; it’s one of my treasured possessions. Being the studio’s premier cartoon character, Bugs features or guest stars in most (or at least a plurality) of the cartoons in the set. Many are classics, but my all-time favorite is probably What’s Opera, Doc?
Warners had many great characters in its cartoon stable, but Bugs is probably the most well-known. Brash, confident, clever, and always ready with a wisecrack, Bugs I think appealed to so many be because he, like the Marx Brothers before him, stood for the “average Joe” who could square off with bullies, bureaucrats, and the self-important jerks who annoy us on an otherwise pleasant day. Bugs does those things we’d like to do, but can’t. And so they have a timeless quality that keeps them meaningful to us, long after many of the other cartoons have been forgotten by all but collectors.
Hmm. I think a cartoon film-festival is in order tonight. As Bugs would say, “Maestro! Music, please!“
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Bugs was, of course, a part of my childhood. I liked the repartee rather than the chases, and actually I’m more of a Daffy fan. I’ve seen a few of the old ones on DVD (thanks Netflix), and still enjoy them.
OTOH, as a parent, I’m holding off on sharing with my 8 yr old daughter. We watched a couple together, and she was quick to point out the rules that are broken in the cartoons, that she’s not allowed to do. Caused a bit of confusion, so we’ll just have to wait.
PS: And before you ask, I’m very particular about what she watches or reads. It’s not just Bugs. 🙂
Can’t argue with that, though I grew up watching unedited Tom & Jerry cartoons and never put an iron in anyone’s face. That I remember… 🙂
My all-time favorite character, however, is Marvin Martian. You have to love anyone who wants to blow up the Earth, just because it’s blocking his view of Venus.
Hey, you don’t mess with a guy’s space-modulator, no matter what planet he’s from.
Me, I’m gonna call Duck Dodgers, in the twenty-fourth-and-a-half century.