Bugs at 75

I learned from a Variety article by Tim Gray that Bugs Bunny is 75 today.

He first appeared in ‘The Wild Hare’, directed by Tex Avery, on 27 July, 1940.

https://dailymotion.com/video/x20s0p3

When I was a kid I watched a lot of vintage cartoons, but Bugs Bunny was by far my favourite. I loved his sense of humour, and the madcap ways he managed to evade capture (mostly). Bug got out his scrapes through his imagination and smarts, which is what appealed to me most.

This is a photo of a plastic model of Bugs I’ve owned since I was a kid, which I took this afternoon. He’s getting extra carrots, but no sign of gun-wielding hunters…

//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Here’s one of my favourite Bugs cartoons, ‘What’s Opera, Doc?’, directed by Chuck Jones.

https://dailymotion.com/video/x1atzuy

I loved that Bugs regularly cross-dressed in the cartoons, although I had no idea when I was a kid that there was an element of subversion to this.

Here is Bugs in all his spectacular glory in drag as Brunhilde in ‘What’s Opera, Doc?’

Man, I’m digging those vibrant colours!

Happy Birthday Bugs!