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132-475: The series was directed by Chuck Jones and other prominent Hollywood animators, and the voice of Private Snafu was performed by Mel Blanc . The character was created by director Frank Capra , chairman of the U.S. Army Air Force First Motion Picture Unit , and most shorts were written by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel , Philip D. Eastman , and Munro Leaf . Although the United States Army gave Walt Disney

264-434: A TV 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." Some have noted that comedian Eric Andre

396-399: A cameo 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

528-599: A 76-issues Bugs Bunny series (translated and reprinted from the American comics) in the mid-1970s. The Danish publisher Egmont Ehapa produced a weekly reprint series in the mid-1990s. The Bugs Bunny comic strip ran for almost 50 years, from January 10, 1943, to December 30, 1990, syndicated by the Newspaper Enterprise Association . It started out as a Sunday page and added a daily strip on November 1, 1948. The strip originated with Chase Craig , who did

660-751: A Bugs Bunny comic book from Dec. 1952/Jan. 1953 to 1983. The company also published 81 issues of the joint title Yosemite Sam and Bugs Bunny from December 1970 to 1983. During the 1950s Dell also published a number of Bugs Bunny spinoff titles. Creators on those series included Chase Craig , Helen Houghton , Eleanor Packer , Lloyd Turner , Michael Maltese , John Liggera, Tony Strobl , Veve Risto, Cecil Beard, Pete Alvorado, Carl Fallberg , Cal Howard , Vic Lockman , Lynn Karp, Pete Llanuza, Pete Hansen, Jack Carey, Del Connell, Kellog Adams, Jack Manning, Mark Evanier , Tom McKimson, Joe Messerli, Carlos Garzon, Donald F. Glut , Sealtiel Alatriste, Sandro Costa, and Massimo Fechi. The German publisher Condor published

792-681: A DVD containing all the Snafu cartoons entitled Private Snafu Golden Classics , and Bosko Video. The Private Snafu shorts were released on Blu-ray on November 19, 2015 by Thunderbean. At least one of the Private Snafu shorts was used as an exhibit piece: the short Spies was used for the World War II exhibit at the International Spy Museum . According to a postwar study of the Snafu cartoons,

924-455: A Who! (1970), but his main focus during this time was producing the feature film The Phantom Tollbooth , which did lukewarm business when MGM released it in 1970. Jones co-directed 1969's The Pogo Special Birthday Special , based on the Walt Kelly comic strip, and voiced the characters of Porky Pine and Bun Rab. It was at this point that he decided to start ST Incorporated. MGM closed

1056-417: 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 film It Happened One Night . In the film, Shapely addresses Clark Gable 's character Peter Warne as "Doc", and Warne mentions an imaginary person named "Bugs Dooley" to frighten Shapely. Referring to

1188-404: A bomb hidden inside a piano), The Goldbrick (run over by an enemy tank), A Lecture on Camouflage (large enemy bomb lands on him), Private Snafu vs. Malaria Mike (malaria), and Going Home (run over by a street car). Nine of the Snafu shorts feature a character named Technical Fairy, First Class. The Technical Fairy is a crass, unshaven, cigar-smoking miniature G.I. whose fairy wings bear

1320-556: A carrot. So, for the sake of expedience, Blanc munched and then spit the carrot bits into a spittoon , rather than swallowing them, and continued with the dialogue. One often-repeated story, which dates back to the 1940s, 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. In fact, in a 1984 interview with Tim Lawson , co-author of The Magic Behind The Voices: A Who's Who of Voice Actors , Blanc emphatically denied being allergic to carrots. Bugs Bunny

1452-406: A change to his fur from gray to a shade of mauve (though in the second season, his fur was changed back to gray). 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

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1584-447: A director (or "supervisor", the original title for an animation director in the studio) himself in 1938 when Frank Tashlin left the studio. The following year Jones created his first major character, Sniffles , a cute Disney-style mouse, who went on to star in twelve Warner Bros. cartoons. Jones initially struggled in terms of his directorial style. Unlike the other directors in the studio, Jones wanted to make cartoons that would rival

1716-422: A few minutes, then turned over the meeting to his attorney. His insulting manner had a unifying effect on the staff. Jones gave a pep talk at the union headquarters. As negotiations broke down, the staff decided to go on strike. Schlesinger locked them out of the studio for a few days, before agreeing to sign the contract. A Labor-Management Committee was formed and Jones served as a moderator. Because of his role as

1848-578: A fun-loving personality. After Pet Rabbit , however, subsequent Bugs appearances returned to normal: the Wild Hare visual design and personality returned, and Blanc re-used the Wild Hare voice characterization. Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt (1941), directed by Friz Freleng , became the second Bugs Bunny cartoon to receive an Academy Award nomination. The fact that it did not win the award was later spoofed somewhat in What's Cookin' Doc? (1944), in which Bugs demands

1980-509: A janitor. After graduating from Chouinard Art Institute , Jones got a phone call from a friend named Fred Kopietz, who had been hired by the Ub Iwerks studio and offered him a job. He worked his way up in the animation industry, starting as a cel washer; "then I moved up to become a painter in black and white, some color. Then I went on to take animator's drawings and traced them onto the celluloid. Then I became what they call an in-betweener, which

2112-412: A letter to Tex Avery , accusing Clampett of taking credit for ideas that were not his, and for characters created by other directors (notably Jones's Sniffles and Friz Freleng 's Yosemite Sam ). Their correspondence was never published in the media. It was forwarded to Michael Barrier , who conducted the interview with Clampett and was distributed by Jones to multiple people concerned with animation over

2244-410: A medieval Bugs trades blows with Yosemite Sam and his fire-breathing dragon (which has a cold), won an Academy Award for Best Cartoon Short Subject (becoming the first and only Bugs Bunny cartoon to win said award). Three of Jones' films— Rabbit Fire , Rabbit Seasoning and Duck! Rabbit, Duck! —compose what is often referred to as the "Rabbit Season/Duck Season" trilogy and were the origins of

2376-524: A military secret—for the armed forces only. Surveys to ascertain the soldiers' film favorites showed that the Snafu cartoons usually rated highest or second highest. Each cartoon was produced in six weeks. The shorts were classified government documents. Martha Sigall , employed at the ink and paint department, recalled the government security measures imposed on the staff working on them. They had to be fingerprinted and given FBI security clearances; they also had to wear identification badges at work. Workers at

2508-624: A new Schlesinger director, Tex Avery . There was no room for the new Avery unit in Schlesinger's small studio, so Avery, Jones, and fellow animators Bob Clampett , Virgil Ross , and Sid Sutherland were moved into a small adjacent building they dubbed "Termite Terrace". When Clampett was promoted to director in 1937, Jones was assigned to his unit; the Clampett unit was briefly assigned to work with Jones's old employer, Ub Iwerks , when Iwerks subcontracted four cartoons to Schlesinger in 1937. Jones became

2640-478: A new series of Tom and Jerry shorts (1963–1967) as well as the television adaptations of Dr. Seuss 's How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966) and Horton Hears a Who! (1970). He later started his own studio, Chuck Jones Enterprises, where he directed and produced the film adaptation of Norton Juster 's The Phantom Tollbooth (1970). Jones's work along with the other animators was showcased in

2772-645: A pet dog) and Speedy Gonzales , in the middle of a cul-de-sac with their neighbors Yosemite Sam, Granny , and Witch Hazel . In 2015, Bugs starred in the direct-to-video film Looney Tunes: Rabbits Run , and later returned to television yet again as the star of Cartoon Network and Boomerang 's comedy series New Looney Tunes (formerly Wabbit ). In 2020, Bugs began appearing on the HBO Max streaming series Looney Tunes Cartoons . His design for this series primarily resembles his Bob Clampett days, complete with yellow gloves and his signature carrot. His personality

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2904-476: A pitchman for companies including Kool-Aid and Nike . His Nike commercials with Michael Jordan as "Hare Jordan" for the Air Jordan VII and VIII became precursors to Space Jam . As a result, he has spent time as an honorary member of Jordan 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

3036-452: A postal-themed drawing. Avery Dennison printed the Bugs Bunny stamp sheet, which featured "a special ten-stamp design and was the first self-adhesive souvenir sheet issued by the U.S. Postal Service ." A younger version of Bugs is the main character of Baby Looney Tunes , which debuted on Kids' WB in 2001. In the action-comedy Loonatics Unleashed , his definite descendant Ace Bunny

3168-481: A recount (claiming to be a victim of " sa-bo-TAH-gee ") after losing the Oscar to James Cagney and presents a clip from Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt to prove his point. By 1942, Bugs had become the number one star of Merrie Melodies . The series was originally intended only for one-shot characters in films after several early attempts to introduce characters ( Foxy , Goopy Geer , and Piggy ) failed under Harman – Ising . By

3300-778: A separate character). While Bugs made a cameo in Porky Pig's Feat (1943), this was his only appearance in a black-and-white Looney Tunes film. He did not star in a Looney Tunes film until that series made its complete conversion to only color cartoons beginning in 1944. Buckaroo Bugs was Bugs' first film in the Looney 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). Bugs' popularity soared during World 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

3432-690: A short made for the United States Air Force to encourage airmen to re-enlist. The lead character, John McRoger, bears strong resemblance to Snafu, albeit updated to Jones's mid-1950s style, while he encounters Grogan, Technical Gremlin First Class, an updated version of the Technical Fairy from the WWII Snafu shorts. Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002)

3564-501: A suave mosquito to get him in the end—literally. In Gas Snafu throws away his gas mask and is almost killed by poison gas . In Spies , Snafu leaks classified information a little at a time until the Axis enemies piece it together, ambush his transport ship, and literally blow him to hell. Six of Snafu's shorts actually end with him being killed due to his stupidity: Spies (blown up by enemy submarine torpedoes), Booby Traps (blown up by

3696-570: A supervisor in the studio, he could not himself join the union. Jones created many of his lesser-known characters during this period, including Charlie Dog , Hubie and Bertie , and The Three Bears . During World War II , Jones worked closely with Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss , to create the Private Snafu series of Army educational cartoons (the character was created by director Frank Capra ). Jones later collaborated with Seuss on animated adaptations of Seuss' books, including How

3828-586: A television adaptation of all Tom and Jerry theatricals produced to that date. This included major editing, including writing out the African-American maid, Mammy Two-Shoes , and replacing her with one of Irish descent voiced by June Foray . In 1964, Sib Tower 12 was absorbed by MGM and was renamed MGM Animation/Visual Arts . His animated short film, The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics , won

3960-461: 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." The carrot-chewing scenes are generally followed by Bugs' most well-known catchphrase, "What's up, Doc?", which was written by director Tex 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

4092-783: Is a cartoon character created in the late 1930s at Warner Bros. Cartoons (originally Leon Schlesinger Productions ) and voiced originally by Mel Blanc . Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated short films , produced by Warner Bros. Earlier iterations of the character first appeared in Ben Hardaway 's Porky's Hare Hunt (1938) and subsequent shorts before Bugs's definitive characterization debuted in Tex Avery 's A Wild Hare (1940). Bob Givens , Chuck Jones , and Robert McKimson are credited for defining Bugs's design. Bugs

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4224-451: Is a combination of Freleng's trickery, Clampett's defiance, and Jones’ resilience, while also maintaining his confident, insolent, smooth-talking demeanor. Bugs is voiced by Eric Bauza , who is also the current voice of Daffy Duck and Tweety , among others. In 2020, the USPS issued a new set of Bugs stamps . This was a part from a collection honoring the classic Looney Tunes characters. Bugs

4356-619: Is an anthropomorphic gray-and-white rabbit or hare who is characterized by his flippant, insouciant personality. He is also characterized by a Brooklyn accent, his portrayal as a trickster , and his catchphrase "Eh... What's up, doc?". Through his popularity during the golden age of American animation , Bugs became an American cultural icon and Warner Bros.' official mascot . Bugs starred in more than 160 short films produced between 1940 and 1964. He has since appeared in feature films, television shows, comics, and other media. He has appeared in more films than any other cartoon character,

4488-539: 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. 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). In his autobiography, Blanc claimed that another proposed name for

4620-730: Is his usual catchphrase. Although it was usually Porky Pig who brought the Looney Tunes films to a close with his stuttering, "That's all, folks!", Bugs replaced him at the end of Hare Tonic and Baseball 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!" After World War II, Bugs continued to appear in numerous Warner Bros. cartoons, making his last "Golden Age" appearance in False Hare (1964). He starred in over 167 theatrical short films, most of which were directed by Friz Freleng, Robert McKimson, and Chuck Jones. Freleng's Knighty Knight Bugs (1958), in which

4752-427: Is presented there in a range of comical positions and facial expressions. Bugs made his return to movie theaters in the 2021 Space Jam sequel Space Jam: A New Legacy , this time starring NBA superstar LeBron James . In 2022, a new pre-school animated series titled Bugs Bunny Builders aired on HBO Max and Cartoonito . He is again voiced by Eric Bauza. Bugs has also appeared in numerous video games , including

4884-411: Is the guy that does the drawing between the drawings the animator makes". While at Iwerks, he met a cel painter named Dorothy Webster, who later became his first wife. Jones joined Leon Schlesinger Productions , the independent studio that produced Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies for Warner Bros. , in 1933 as an assistant animator. In 1935 he was promoted to animator and assigned to work with

5016-529: Is the leader of the Loonatics team and seems to have inherited his ancestor's Brooklyn accent and rapier wit. In 2011, Bugs Bunny and the rest of the Looney 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

5148-475: Is the nearest contemporary comedic equivalent to Bugs. They attribute this to, "their ability to constantly flip the script on their unwitting counterparts." Under current US copyright law , Bugs Bunny is due to enter the public domain in between 2033 and 2035. However, this will only apply (at first) to the character's depiction as Happy Rabbit in Porky's Hare Hunt which was published in 1938 (which will enter

5280-491: Is the ninth most-portrayed film personality in the world and has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . According to Chase Craig , who wrote and drew the first Bugs Bunny comic Sunday pages and the first Bugs comic 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 including Charlie Thorson . In those days,

5412-597: Is the pet rabbit of unseen 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. The rabbit's third appearance comes in Hare-um Scare-um (1939), directed again by Dalton and Hardaway. This cartoon—the first in which he

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5544-606: The Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2 DVD set. Jones received an Honorary Academy Award in 1996 by the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , for "the creation of classic cartoons and cartoon characters whose animated lives have brought joy to our real ones for more than half a century." At that year's awards show, Robin Williams , a self-confessed "Jones-aholic", presented

5676-811: The Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Special Project. In 1997, Jones was awarded the Edward MacDowell Medal . In 1999, he founded the non-profit Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, in Costa Mesa, California, an art education "gymnasium for the brain" dedicated to teaching creative skills, primarily to children and seniors, which is still in operation. In his later years, he recovered from skin cancer and received hip and ankle replacements. Jones died of congestive heart failure on February 22, 2002, at his home in Corona del Mar, Newport Beach at

5808-794: The Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle series, Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout , Bugs Bunny: Rabbit Rampage , Bugs Bunny in Double Trouble , Looney Tunes B-Ball , Looney Tunes Racing , Looney Tunes: Space Race , Bugs Bunny Lost in Time , Bugs Bunny and Taz Time Busters , Loons: The Fight for Fame , Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal , Scooby Doo and Looney Tunes: Cartoon Universe , Looney Tunes Dash , Looney Tunes World of Mayhem and MultiVersus . "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

5940-606: The Few Quick Facts series of Army-commissioned training films produced by other studios. In addition, Weapons of War (1945) was originally planned to be part of the Few Quick Facts series but was left out, while Another Change (1945) produced by Disney was probably also left out of the Few Quick Facts series. While Private Snafu is well known for educating military soldiers, a few other similar series were produced for slightly different purposes. Produced by Walter Lantz Productions and later Warner Bros. Cartoons, Mr. Hook

6072-720: The Leon Schlesinger Production's Termite Terrace studio, the studio that made Warner Brothers cartoons, where they created and developed the Looney Tunes characters. During the Second World War , Jones directed many of the Private Snafu (1943–1946) shorts which were shown to members of the United States military . After his career at Warner Bros. ended in 1962, Jones started Sib Tower 12 Productions and began producing cartoons for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , including

6204-575: The Looney Tunes characters. Jones resumed working with Warner Bros. in 1976 with the animated TV adaptation of The Carnival of the Animals with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Jones also produced The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (1979), which was a compilation of Jones's best theatrical shorts, new Road Runner shorts for The Electric Company series and Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales (1979). New shorts were made for Bugs Bunny's Bustin' Out All Over (1980). From 1977 to 1978, Jones wrote and drew

6336-853: The Production Code Administration and so were not subject to the Motion Picture Production Code . Most of the Private Snafu shorts are educational, and although the War Department had to approve the storyboards , the Warner directors were allowed great latitude in order to keep the cartoons entertaining. Through his irresponsible behavior , Snafu demonstrates to soldiers what not to do while at war. In Private Snafu vs. Malaria Mike , for example, Snafu neglects to take his malaria medications or to use his repellent, allowing

6468-483: The 1930s and whose voice might be described as New York Irish . In Bugs' following cartoon Elmer's Pet Rabbit , Blanc created a completely new voice for Bugs, which sounded like a Jimmy Stewart impression, but the directors decided the previous Wild 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 as celery , were tried, but none of them sounded like

6600-429: The 1942 The 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. 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 voiced

6732-464: The 1942 short The Draft Horse . The cartoon that was generally considered his turning point was The Dover Boys . Released the same year, it noticeably featured quickly-timed gags and extensive use of limited animation . Despite this, Schlesinger and the studios heads were still dissatisfied and begun the process to fire him, but they were unable to find a replacement due to a labor shortage stemming from World War II , so Jones kept his position. He

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6864-434: The 1950s, except for a brief period in 1953 when Warner closed the animation studio. During this interim, Jones found employment at Walt Disney Productions , where he teamed with Ward Kimball for a four-month period of uncredited work on Sleeping Beauty (1959). Upon the reopening of the Warner animation department, Jones was rehired and reunited with most of his unit. In the early 1960s, Jones and his wife Dorothy wrote

6996-522: The 1965 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film . Jones directed the classic animated short The Bear That Wasn't . As the Tom and Jerry series wound down (it was discontinued in 1967), Jones produced more for television. In 1966, he produced and directed the TV special How the Grinch Stole Christmas ! , featuring narration by Boris Karloff . Jones continued to work on other TV specials such as Horton Hears

7128-410: The 1988 live-action/animated comedy Who Framed Roger Rabbit , Bugs appeared as one of the inhabitants of Toontown. However, since the film was being produced by Disney , 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

7260-478: The Air Jordan I, named the "Air Jordan Mid 1 Hare", along with a women's equivalent inspired by Lola Bunny called the "Air Jordan Mid 1 Lola", along with a commercial featuring Bugs and Ahmad Rashad . 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. In a CNN broadcast on July 31, 2002,

7392-764: The Animals aired in 1976. From the late 1970s through the early 1990s, Bugs was featured in various animated specials for network television, such as Bugs Bunny's Thanksgiving Diet , Bugs Bunny's Easter Special , Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales , and Bugs Bunny's Bustin' Out All Over . Bugs also starred in several theatrical compilation features during this time, including the United Artists distributed documentary Bugs Bunny: Superstar (1975) and Warner Bros.' own releases: The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (1979), The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie (1981), Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales (1982), and Daffy Duck's Quackbusters (1988). In

7524-662: The Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck animated sequences that bookend its sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990). Jones directed animated sequences for various features such as a lengthy sequence in the film Stay Tuned (1992) and a shorter one seen at the start of the Robin Williams vehicle Mrs. Doubtfire (1993). Also during the 1980s and 1990s, Jones served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute . Jones's final Looney Tunes cartoon

7656-578: The Grinch Stole Christmas! in 1966. Jones directed such shorts as The Weakly Reporter , a 1944 short that related to shortages and rationing on the home front. During the same year, he directed Hell-Bent for Election , a campaign film for Franklin D. Roosevelt . Jones created characters through the late 1930s, late 1940s, and the 1950s, which include his collaborative help in co-creating Bugs Bunny and also included creating Claude Cat , Marc Antony and Pussyfoot , Charlie Dog , Michigan J. Frog , Gossamer , and his four most popular creations, Marvin

7788-533: The Groovie Goolies . He did, however, have two cameo appearances in the 1974 Joe Adamson short A Political Cartoon ; one at the beginning of the short where he campaigns on behalf of equal rights for cartoon characters everywhere, and another in which he is interviewed at a pet store, where he is on sale as an " Easter Rabbit ". Bugs was animated in this short by Mark Kausler. He did not appear in new material on-screen again until Bugs and Daffy's Carnival of

7920-656: The Lifetime Achievement Award at the World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb in 1988. Jones was a historical authority as well as a major contributor to the development of animation throughout the 20th century. In 1990, Jones received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement . He received an honorary degree from Oglethorpe University in 1993. For his contribution to

8052-540: The Line , won the Best Animated Short . Robin Williams presented Jones with an Honorary Academy Award in 1996 for his work in the animation industry. Film historian Leonard Maltin has praised Jones's work at Warner Bros., MGM and Chuck Jones Enterprises. In Jerry Beck 's The 50 Greatest Cartoons , a group of animation professionals ranked What's Opera, Doc? (1957) as the greatest cartoon of all time, with ten of

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8184-572: The Martian , Pepé Le Pew , Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner . Jones and writer Michael Maltese collaborated on the Road Runner cartoons, Duck Amuck , One Froggy Evening , and What's Opera, Doc? . Other staff at Unit A whom Jones collaborated with include layout artist, background designer, and co-director Maurice Noble ; animator and co-director Abe Levitow ; and animators Ken Harris and Ben Washam . Jones remained at Warner Bros. throughout

8316-732: The Navy featuring Private Snafu's brother "Seaman Tarfu" (for "Things Are Really Fucked Up") was planned, but only one was produced before the war came to a close: Private Snafu Presents Seaman Tarfu in the Navy . As now-declassified work of the United States government , all Private Snafu shorts are in the public domain and are thus freely available in numerous places, including on YouTube and Internet Archive . Warner Home Video has begun including Private Snafu shorts as bonus material on their Looney Tunes Golden Collection . Other commercial DVDs are available from Thunderbean Animation, who released

8448-483: The Take it Back Foundation. This music video features various celebrities, including Pat Benatar , Natalie Cole , Charlie Daniels , Lita Ford , Quincy Jones , B. B. King , Queen Latifah , Kenny Loggins , Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller , Bette Midler , Randy Newman , Tone Lōc , Ozzy Osbourne , Brenda Russell , Al B. Sure! , Ricky Van Shelton , Barry White , and Stevie Wonder , along with Melba Moore as herself and

8580-620: The Technical Fairy transforms Private Snafu into the superhero Snafuperman, who takes bungling to a super-powered level through his carelessness. Later in the war, however, Snafu's antics became more like those of fellow Warner character Bugs Bunny , a savvy hero facing the enemy head-on. The cartoons were intended for an audience of soldiers (as part of the bi-weekly Army-Navy Screen Magazine newsreel), and so are quite risqué by 1940s standards, with minor cursing, bare-bottomed GIs, and plenty of scantily clad (and even semi-nude) women. The depictions of Japanese and Germans are hostile-comic, par for

8712-533: The abundance of high-quality paper and pencils. Later, in one art school class, the professor gravely informed the students that they each had 100,000 bad drawings in them that they must first get past before they could possibly draw anything worthwhile. Jones recounted years later that this pronouncement came as a great relief to him, as he was well past the 200,000 mark, having used up all that stationery. Jones and several of his siblings went on to artistic careers. During his artistic education, he worked part-time as

8844-427: The age of 89. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered at sea. After his death, Cartoon Network aired a 20-second segment tracing Jones's portrait with the words "We'll miss you". Also, the Looney Tunes cartoon Daffy Duck for President , based on the book that Jones had written and using Jones's style for the characters, originally scheduled to be released in 2000, was released in 2004 as part of disc three of

8976-933: The animation division in 1970, and Jones once again started his own studio, Chuck Jones Enterprises. He produced a Saturday morning children's TV series for the American Broadcasting Company called The Curiosity Shop in 1971. In 1973, he produced an animated version of the George Selden book The Cricket in Times Square and subsequently produced two sequels. Three of his works during this period were animated TV adaptations of short stories from Rudyard Kipling 's The Jungle Book : Mowgli's Brothers , The White Seal and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi . During this period, Jones began to experiment with more realistically designed characters, most of which had larger eyes, leaner bodies, and altered proportions, such as those of

9108-504: The animation studios open during the war—by producing such training films, the studios were declared an essential industry. The character has since made a couple of brief cameos: the Animaniacs episode "Boot Camping" has a character looking very much like Private Snafu, and the Futurama episode " I Dated a Robot " shows Private Snafu on the building-mounted video screen for a few seconds in

9240-483: The celebrated Mel Blanc (Private Snafu's voice was similar to Blanc's Bugs Bunny characterization, and Bugs himself actually made cameos in the Snafu episodes Gas and Three Brothers ). Toward the end of the war, other studios began producing Snafu shorts as well (the Army accused Schlesinger of padding his bills), though these were never filmed before the war ended. The Snafu films are also partly responsible for keeping

9372-434: The character for 52 years, from Bugs' debut in the 1938 short Porky's Hare Hunt until Blanc's death in 1989. Blanc described the voice he created for Bugs in 1940's A Wild Hare as a combination of Bronx and Brooklyn accents; however, Tex Avery claimed that he asked Blanc to give the character not a New York accent per se , but a voice like that of actor Frank McHugh , who frequently appeared in supporting roles in

9504-444: The character was "Happy Rabbit." In the actual cartoons and publicity, however, the name "Happy" only seems to have been used in reference to Bugs Hardaway. In Hare-um Scare-um , a newspaper headline reads, "Happy Hardaway." Animation historian David Gerstein disputes that "Happy Rabbit" was ever used as an official name, arguing that the only usage of the term came from Mel Blanc himself in humorous and fanciful tales he told about

9636-613: The character's development in the 1970s and 1980s; the name "Bugs Bunny" was used as early as August 1939, in the Motion Picture Herald , in a review for the short Hare-um Scare-um . Thorson had been approached by Tedd 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 in Toby Tortoise Returns (Disney, 1936). For Hardaway, Thorson created

9768-502: 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

9900-452: The course in wartime U.S. The Snafu shorts are notable because they were produced during the Golden Age of Warner Bros. animation. Directors such as Chuck Jones , Friz Freleng , Bob Clampett , and Frank Tashlin worked on them, and their characteristic styles are in top form. P. D. Eastman was a writer and storyboard artist for the Snafu shorts. Voice characterizations were provided by

10032-738: The documentary, Bugs Bunny: Superstar (1975). Jones directed the first feature-length animated Looney Tunes compilation film, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (1979). In 1990 he wrote his memoir, Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist , which was made into a documentary film, Chuck Amuck (1991). He was also profiled in the American Masters documentary Chuck Jones: Extremes & Inbetweens – A Life in Animation (2000) which aired on PBS . Jones won three Academy Awards . The cartoons which he directed, For Scent-imental Reasons , So Much for So Little , and The Dot and

10164-609: The duck in a rabbit suit". The white rabbit had an oval head and a shapeless body. In characterization, he was "a rural buffoon ". Mel Blanc gave the character a voice and laugh much like those he later used for Woody Woodpecker . He was loud, zany with a goofy, guttural laugh. The rabbit character was popular enough with audiences that the Termite Terrace staff decided to use it again. The rabbit comes back in Prest-O Change-O (1939), directed by Chuck Jones , where he

10296-521: The early 1990s television series Tiny Toon Adventures , as the principal of Acme Looniversity and the mentor of Babs and Buster Bunny . He made further cameos in Warner Bros.' subsequent animated TV shows Taz-Mania , Animaniacs , and Histeria! Bugs returned to the silver screen in Box-Office Bunny (1991). This was the first Bugs Bunny cartoon since 1964 to be released in theaters and it

10428-493: The end of Super-Rabbit (1943), Bugs appears wearing a United States Marine Corps dress blue uniform. As a result, the Marine Corps made Bugs an honorary Marine master sergeant . From 1943 to 1946, Bugs was the official mascot of Kingman Army Airfield , Kingman, Arizona , where thousands of aerial gunners were trained during World War II. Some notable trainees included Clark Gable and Charles Bronson . Bugs also served as

10560-637: The entries being directed by Jones including Duck Amuck (1953), Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century (1953), One Froggy Evening (1955), Rabbit of Seville (1950), and Rabbit Seasoning (1952). Charles Martin Jones was born on September 21, 1912, in Spokane, Washington , to Mabel McQuiddy (née Martin) (1882–1971) and Charles Adams Jones (1883–?). When he was six months old, he moved with his parents and three siblings to Los Angeles, California . In his autobiography, Chuck Amuck , Jones credits his artistic bent to circumstances surrounding his father, who

10692-564: The film (which was edited in following the success of A 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 in Candid Camera and A Wild Hare , but with yellow gloves, as seen in Hare-Um Scare-Um , and no buck teeth, has a lower-pitched voice and a more aggressive, arrogant and thuggish personality instead of

10824-631: 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. Blanc gave Bugs the voice of a city slicker. The rabbit was as audacious as he had been in Hare-um Scare-um and as cool and collected as in Prest-O Change-O . Immediately following on A Wild Hare , Bob Clampett 's Patient Porky (1940) features

10956-399: 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

11088-707: The first crack at creating the cartoons, Leon Schlesinger of the Warner Bros. animation studio underbid Disney by two-thirds and won the contract. Disney had also demanded exclusive ownership of the character and merchandising rights. The goal was to help enlisted men with weak literacy skills learn through animated cartoons (and also supplementary comic books). They featured simple language, racy illustrations, mild profanity, and subtle moralizing. Private Snafu did (almost) everything wrong, so that his negative example taught basic lessons about secrecy, disease prevention, and proper military protocols. Private Snafu cartoons were

11220-634: The first five weeks before leaving for military service in World War II . Roger Armstrong illustrated the strip from 1942 to 1944. The creators most associated with the strip are writers Albert Stoffel (1947–1979) & Carl Fallberg (1950–1969), and artist Ralph Heimdahl , who worked on it from 1947 to 1979. Other creators associated with the Bugs Bunny strip include Jack Hamm , Carl Buettner, Phil Evans, Carl Barks (1952), Tom McKimson, Arnold Drake , Frank Hill, Brett Koth, and Shawn Keller. Like Mickey Mouse for Disney , Bugs Bunny has served as

11352-474: The first official Bugs Bunny cartoon. It is the first film where both Elmer Fudd and Bugs, both redesigned by Bob Givens , are shown in their fully developed forms as hunter and tormentor, respectively; the first in which Mel Blanc uses what became Bugs' standard voice; and the first in which Bugs uses his catchphrase, "What's up, Doc?" A Wild Hare was a huge success in theaters and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Cartoon Short Subject . For

11484-417: 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

11616-451: The honorary award to Jones, calling him "The Orson Welles of cartoons", and the audience gave Jones a standing ovation as he walked onto the stage. For himself, a flattered Jones wryly remarked in his acceptance speech, "Well, what can I say in the face of such humiliating evidence? I stand guilty before the world of directing over three hundred cartoons in the last fifty or sixty years. Hopefully, this means you've forgiven me." He received

11748-429: The ink and paint department were given only ten cels at a time in an effort to prevent them from figuring out the story content. The name "Private Snafu" comes from the unofficial military acronym SNAFU ("Situation Normal: All Fucked Up"), with the opening narrator in the first cartoon merely hinting at its usual meaning as "Situation Normal, ... All Fouled Up!" The shorts did not have to be submitted for approval at

11880-404: The insignia of a technical sergeant , and who wears only socks, shorts, and a uniform hat. When he appears, he grants Snafu's wishes, most of which involve skipping protocol or trying to do things the quick and sloppy way. The results typically end in disaster, with the Technical Fairy teaching Snafu a valuable lesson about proper military procedure. For example, in the 1944 cartoon Snafuperman ,

12012-408: The mascot for Warner Bros. and its various divisions. According to Guinness 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. On December 10, 1985, Bugs became the second cartoon character (after Mickey) to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . He also has been

12144-542: The mascot for 530 Squadron of the 380th Bombardment Group, 5th Air Force , U.S. Air Force , which was attached to the Royal Australian Air Force and operated out of Australia's Northern Territory from 1943 to 1945, flying B-24 Liberator bombers. 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

12276-480: The mid-1930s, under Leon 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 by Robert McKimson , then an animator in Clampett's unit, for Tortoise Wins by a Hare (1943), with more slanted eyes, longer teeth and a much larger mouth. The redesign at first

12408-450: 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 by Walt Disney Animation Studios ' tendency to draw animals in

12540-412: The more primitive voice. Candid Camera' s Elmer character design is also different: taller and chubbier in the face than the modern model, though Arthur Q. Bryan 's character voice is already established. While Porky's Hare Hunt was the first Warner Bros. cartoon to feature what would become Bugs Bunny, A Wild Hare , directed by Tex Avery and released on July 27, 1940, is widely considered to be

12672-589: The most profitable cartoon studio in the United States. In company with cartoon studios such as Disney and Famous Studios , Warners pitted its characters against Adolf Hitler , Benito Mussolini , Francisco Franco , and the Japanese . 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. One US Navy propaganda film saved from destruction features

12804-742: The motion picture industry, Jones has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7011 Hollywood Blvd . He was awarded the Inkpot Award in 1974. In 1996, Jones received an Honorary Oscar at the 68th Academy Awards. Three short films directed by Jones have been inducted into the National Film Registry by the United States Film Preservation Board : What's Opera, Doc? , inducted in 1992; Duck Amuck, inducted in 1999; and One Froggy Evening , inducted in 2003. Jones's life and legacy were celebrated on January 12, 2012, with

12936-551: The newspaper comic strip Crawford (also known as Crawford & Morgan ) for the Chicago Tribune-NY News Syndicate . In 2011 IDW Publishing collected Jones's strip as part of their Library of American Comic Strips. In 1978, Jones's wife Dorothy died. He married Marian Dern, the writer of the comic strip Rick O'Shay in 1981. On December 11, 1975, shortly after the release of Bugs Bunny: Superstar , which prominently featured Bob Clampett , Jones wrote

13068-468: 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 in Jasper Goes Hunting , a Puppetoons film produced by rival studio Paramount Pictures . In this cameo (animated by McKimson, with Blanc providing

13200-435: The official grand opening of The Chuck Jones Experience at Circus Circus Las Vegas . Many of Jones's family welcomed celebrities, animation aficionados and visitors to the new attraction when they opened the attraction in an appropriate and unconventional way. Among those in attendance were Jones's widow, Marian Jones; daughter Linda Clough; and grandchildren Craig, Todd and Valerie Kausen. Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny

13332-406: The opening credits. While Private Snafu was never officially a theatrical cartoon character when the series was launched in 1943 (with the debut short Coming! Snafu , directed by Chuck Jones), a proto-Snafu does appear, unnamed and in color, in Jones' cartoon The Draft Horse , released theatrically one year earlier, on May 9, 1942. This appearance would serve as the basis for Snafu's character in

13464-466: 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

13596-420: The other hand, typically embraced the wisdom of authority figures. Leaf's heroes were in between, and seemed more ambiguous toward independence and authority. Note: All shorts were created by Warner Bros. Cartoons for the U.S. War Department unless otherwise noted. The films, being produced for the U.S. government, are in the public domain . In addition to his own shorts, Snafu made some cameo appearances in

13728-406: 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. Another catchphrase associated with the character's tendency to play the trickster is "Ain't I a stinker", an acknowledgement that he engages in unfair tactics. used as early as the 1940s in shorts like

13860-505: The prime-time television program The 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 cement Warner Bros. Animation as a mainstay of Saturday-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

13992-507: The quality and design to that of ones made by Walt Disney Production . As a result, his cartoons suffered from sluggish pacing and a lack of clever gags, with Jones himself later admitting that his early conception of timing and dialog was "formed by watching the action in the La Brea Tar Pits ". Schlesinger and the studio heads were unsatisfied with his work and demanded that he make cartoons that were more funny. He responded by creating

14124-487: The rivalry between Bugs and Daffy Duck. Jones' classic What's Opera, Doc? (1957), casts Bugs and Elmer Fudd in a parody of Richard Wagner 's Der Ring des Nibelungen . It was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1992, becoming the first cartoon short to receive this honor. In the fall of 1960, ABC debuted

14256-412: The same film, Friz Freleng , Chuck Jones and Bob Clampett all claimed that Bugs' nonchalant carrot-chewing style came from a scene where Gable's character eats a carrot while talking. "'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

14388-489: The screenplay for the animated feature Gay Purr-ee . The finished film featured the voices of Judy Garland , Robert Goulet and Red Buttons as cats in Paris, France. The feature was produced by UPA and directed by his former Warner Bros. collaborator, Abe Levitow. Jones moonlighted to work on the film since he had an exclusive contract with Warner Bros. UPA completed the film and made it available for distribution in 1962; it

14520-404: The series. The 24th film of the series, Going Home , produced in 1945, was never released. The premise is what damage could be done if a soldier on leave talks too much about his unit's military operations. In the film, Snafu discusses a "secret weapon" with his girlfriend which was unnervingly (and unintentionally) similar to the atomic bombs under development. In 1945, a series of cartoons for

14652-429: The small budget, the shorts use limited animation , which had yet to be popularized by mainstream studios at the time. Warner Bros. also produced a short entitled Dive Bombing Crashes, a cartoon made for a joint-series called Pilot Safety, featuring Grampaw Pettibone . Two shorts were known to be made, the second of which was produced by UPA . Chuck Jones would later direct a 1955 cartoon entitled A Hitch In Time ,

14784-421: The stories were often the work of a group who suggested various gags, bounced them around and finalized them in a joint story conference." A prototype Bugs rabbit with some of the personality of a finalized Bugs, though looking very different, was originally featured in the film Porky's Hare Hunt , released on April 30, 1938. It was co-directed by Ben "Bugs" Hardaway and an uncredited director Cal Dalton (who

14916-472: The style of cute infants. He had an obvious Disney influence, but looked like an awkward merger of the lean and streamlined Max Hare from The Tortoise and the Hare (1935) and the round, soft bunnies from Little Hiawatha (1937). In Jones' Elmer's Candid Camera (1940), the rabbit first meets Elmer Fudd . This time the rabbit looks more like the present-day Bugs, taller and with a similar face—but retaining

15048-401: 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. Bugs also made a cameo in the Private Snafu short Gas , in which he is found stowed away in the titular private's belongings; his only spoken line

15180-537: The voice had slight variations between the units. Bugs also made cameos in Avery's final Warner Bros. cartoon, Crazy Cruise . Since Bugs' fifth appearance in A Wild Hare , he appeared in color Looney Tunes and Merrie 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 , and Elmer Fudd (who actually co-existed in 1937 along with Egghead as

15312-574: The voice of Mel Blanc in "Tokyo Woes" (1945) about the propaganda radio host Tokyo Rose . He also faces off against Hermann Göring and Hitler in Herr Meets Hare (1945), which introduced his well-known reference to Albuquerque as he mistakenly winds up in the Black Forest of 'Joimany' instead of Las Vegas , Nevada . Bugs also appeared in the 1942 two-minute U.S. war bonds commercial film Any Bonds Today? , along with Porky and Elmer. At

15444-509: The voice of Tibi the Take it Back Butterfly, Dr. John as himself and the voice of Yakety Yak, Derrick Stevens as the voice of MC Skat Kat , and Squeak as the voice of Fatz. In 1996, Bugs and the other Looney Tunes characters appeared in the live-action/animated film, Space Jam , directed by Joe Pytka and starring NBA superstar Michael Jordan . The film also introduced the character Lola Bunny , who becomes Bugs' new love interest. Space Jam received mixed reviews from critics, but

15576-729: The wartime experiences of authors Theodor Geisel ( Dr. Seuss ), Philip D. Eastman , and Munro Leaf shaped their successful postwar children's books, especially the use of simple language, and some of the themes. Dr. Seuss wrote The Cat in the Hat (1957) because Geisel believed the widely used Dick and Jane primers were too boring to encourage children to read. Geisel, Eastman, and Leaf authored books designed to promote personal responsibility, conservation, and respect for multiculturalism. Some racial characterisations are considered questionable today. Geisel's characters were often portrayed as rebels who displayed independence of mind. Eastman's characters, on

15708-501: The years. Through the 1980s and 1990s, Jones was painting cartoon and parody art, sold through animation galleries by his daughter's company, Linda Jones Enterprises. Jones was the creative consultant and character designer for two Raggedy Ann animated specials and the first Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas special A Chipmunk Christmas . He made a cameo appearance in the film Gremlins (1984) and he wrote and directed

15840-506: Was From Hare to Eternity (1997), which starred Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam , with Greg Burson voicing Bugs. The cartoon was dedicated to Friz Freleng , who had died in 1995. Jones's final animation project was a series of 13 shorts starring a timber wolf character he had designed in the 1960s named Thomas Timber Wolf. The series was released online by Warner Bros. in 2000. From 2001 until 2004, Cartoon Network aired The Chuck Jones Show which features shorts directed by him. The show won

15972-458: Was a box office success (grossing over $ 230 million worldwide). The success of Space Jam led to the development of another live-action/animated film, Looney Tunes: Back in Action , released in 2003 and directed by Joe Dante . Unlike Space Jam , Back in Action was a box-office bomb , though it did receive more positive reviews from critics. In 1997, Bugs appeared on a U.S. postage stamp ,

16104-433: Was actively involved in efforts to unionize the staff of Leon Schlesinger Studios . He was responsible for recruiting animators, layout men, and background people. Almost all animators joined, in reaction to salary cuts imposed by Leon Schlesinger . The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio had already signed a union contract, encouraging their counterparts under Schlesinger. In a meeting with his staff, Schlesinger talked for

16236-566: Was also one of the final productions in which Mel Blanc voiced Bugs (as well as the other Looney Tunes characters) before his death in 1989. Bugs later appeared in another animated production featuring numerous characters from rival studios: the 1990 drug prevention TV special Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue . This special is notable for being the first time that someone other than Blanc voiced Bugs and Daffy (both characters were voiced by Jeff Bergman for this). Bugs also made guest appearances in

16368-515: Was an American animator , painter, voice actor and filmmaker, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of shorts. He wrote, produced, and/or directed many classic animated cartoon shorts starring Bugs Bunny , Daffy Duck , Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner , Pepé Le Pew , Marvin the Martian , and Porky Pig , among others. Jones started his career in 1933 alongside Tex Avery , Friz Freleng , Bob Clampett , and Robert McKimson at

16500-486: Was an unsuccessful businessman in California in the 1920s. He recounted that his father would start every new business venture by purchasing new stationery and new pencils with the company name on them. When the business failed, his father would quietly turn the huge stacks of useless stationery and pencils over to his children, requiring them to use up all the material as fast as possible. The children drew frequently, owing to

16632-420: Was continuously featured in comic books for more than 40 years, from 1941 to 1983, and has appeared sporadically since then. Bugs first appeared in comic books in 1941, in Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Comics #1, published by Dell Comics . Bugs was a recurring star in that book all through its 153-issue run, which lasted until July 1954. Western Publishing (and its Dell imprint) published 245 issues of

16764-480: Was created for Bugs' 50th anniversary celebration. It was followed by (Blooper) Bunny , a cartoon that was shelved from theaters, but later premiered on Cartoon Network in 1997 and has since gained a cult following among animation fans for its edgy humor. Later that year, Bugs appeared in Yakety Yak, Take it Back , a live-action/animated all-star public service music video produced by Warner Bros. Animation for

16896-438: Was created to encourage American Navy personnel to buy war bonds and hold them until the end of the war. Also around the same time, Hugh Harman Productions created a short series called Commandments for Health , along with a character named Private McGillicuddy. McGillicuddy was a US Marine who shared similarities to Snafu (both even voiced by Mel Blanc ), but this series has a much greater emphasis on health care. Because of

17028-452: 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. Bugs did not appear in any of the post-1964 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies films produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises or Seven Arts Productions , nor did he appear in Filmation 's Daffy Duck and Porky Pig Meet

17160-422: Was only used in the films created by Clampett's unit, but in time it was taken up by the other directors, with Freleng and Frank Tashlin the first. McKimson would use another version of the rabbit by Jean Blanchard until 1949 (as did Art 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

17292-677: Was picked up by Warner Bros. When Warner Bros. discovered that Jones had violated his exclusive contract with them, they terminated him. Jones's former animation unit was laid off after completing the final cartoon in their pipeline, The Iceman Ducketh , and the rest of the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio was closed in early 1963. With business partner Les Goldman, Jones started an independent animation studio, Sib Tower 12 Productions, and brought on most of his unit from Warner Bros., including Maurice Noble and Michael Maltese. In 1963, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contracted with Sib Tower 12 to have Jones and his staff produce new Tom and Jerry cartoons as well as

17424-459: Was responsible for the initial design of the rabbit). This cartoon has an almost identical plot to Avery's Porky's Duck Hunt (1937), which had introduced Daffy 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 to Friz Freleng , Hardaway and Dalton had decided to "dress

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