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!“
A Seat By The Fire 