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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio, Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class,

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Speaker 1: a show that raises the curtain on everyday history and

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Speaker 1: lets it take a bow. I'm Gay Bluesier and today

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Speaker 1: we're celebrating the birth of Cartoon Royalty by taking a

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Speaker 1: closer look at the official big screen debut of the

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Speaker 1: One and Only Bugs Bunny. The day was July Cartoon

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Speaker 1: Icon Bugs Bunny appeared for the first time in the

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Speaker 1: Warner Brothers animated short a Wild Hair. Although he later

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Speaker 1: became the face of the Loony Tunes series, Bugs debut

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Speaker 1: short was actually part of the Merry Melodies line, though

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Speaker 1: there's really not much differ prints between the two series

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Speaker 1: besides the name and theme music. The theatrical short featured

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Speaker 1: a now classic setup that most cartoon fans will find

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Speaker 1: quite familiar. A gun toting hunter, Elmer Fudd sneaks through

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Speaker 1: a forest in search of rabbits or wabbits. As he

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Speaker 1: cost them be very fully quiet, I'm hunting wabbitsh Boy

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Speaker 1: wabbit twigs. He manages to lure one out of hiding

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Speaker 1: with a carrot, but quickly gets more than he bargained for.

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Speaker 1: As the clever rabbit proceeds to outsmart him at every turn,

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Speaker 1: while also planting a few sloppy kisses on him for

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Speaker 1: good measure. Say you wouldn't be that schooy wabbit? Would

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Speaker 1: you could be gone? You all mean rabbit. No one

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Speaker 1: knew it at the time, but the short marked the

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Speaker 1: beginning of a long and hilarious partnership. The idea of

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Speaker 1: a bumbling hunter being outwitted by an animal, usually a rabbit,

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Speaker 1: was a common theme and animation at the time. In fact,

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Speaker 1: the artists at Warner Brothers had already used that basic

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Speaker 1: premise four times before A Wild Hair hit theaters. The

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Speaker 1: first occasion was in a night short called Porky's Hair Hunt,

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Speaker 1: directed by Ben Hardaway. As the title suggests, Porky Pig

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Speaker 1: was the hapless hunter in that short, but the hair

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Speaker 1: in question wasn't bugs bunny. Instead, he was a kind

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Speaker 1: of prototype known around the studio simply as the happy Rabbit.

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Speaker 1: That character made three further appearances in nineteen thirty nine

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Speaker 1: and nineteen forty, including in hare Um scare Um, also

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Speaker 1: directed by Ben Hardaway, as ell Is, in Presto Chango,

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Speaker 1: and in Elmer's Candid Camera, both directed by Chuck Jones.

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Speaker 1: The character's appearance was refined little by little along the way,

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Speaker 1: but those early incarnations still look, sound, and behave differently

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Speaker 1: than the rabbit who would become Bugs Bunny. One major

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Speaker 1: distinction was that Happy Rabbit was wacky and chaotic, similar

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Speaker 1: to Daffy Duck, a far cry from the suave, cool

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Speaker 1: headed Bugs. Happy was more unhinged and even how to

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Speaker 1: manic laugh that sounded a lot like Woody Woodpecker, a

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Speaker 1: character that Hardaway would later co create with Walter Lance.

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Speaker 1: Those early shorts were key to the formation of Bugs Bunny,

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Speaker 1: and in a roundabout way, they even provided his name

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Speaker 1: to one of the character model sheets for Harum. Scarum

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Speaker 1: identified the rabbit as Bugs Bunny. However, that wasn't intended

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Speaker 1: as the character's name and was instead a reference to

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Speaker 1: the shorts director Ben Hardaway. His nickname happened to be Bugs,

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Speaker 1: and since the rabbit was being used in his shorts,

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Speaker 1: the drawing was labeled as Bugs Bunny. That's Bugs with

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Speaker 1: an apostrophe after the s. Even though a Wild Hair

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Speaker 1: is now considered the character's first official appearance, his name

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Speaker 1: isn't spoken in that short, nor does it appear on screen.

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Speaker 1: That milestone came the following year with the release of

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Speaker 1: the Chuck Jones short Elmer's Pet Rabbit. The character was

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Speaker 1: a proven hit by that point, so the studio decided

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Speaker 1: retroactively that he deserved a name. Tex Avery proposed calling

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Speaker 1: the new star Jack e Rabbit, but that was passed

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Speaker 1: over in favor of the more alliterative name from the

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Speaker 1: earlier model sheet. Bugs Bunny was given his very own

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Speaker 1: title card starting with that short, and it was a

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Speaker 1: way to formally introduce the character to the public. That said,

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Speaker 1: even though he goes unnamed in a wild hair, it

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Speaker 1: was that short the turn to non a script gray

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Speaker 1: Rabbit into the Bugs Bunny we all know and love.

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Speaker 1: Director Tex Savery and animator Virgil Ross were largely responsible

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Speaker 1: for the character's makeover. Instead of being a wacky bundle

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Speaker 1: of nervous energy, they made Bugs a smart, alec sarcastic,

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Speaker 1: self assured, and utterly unafraid even with a gun in

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Speaker 1: his face. His personality was informed by several Hollywood stars

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Speaker 1: of the day, including comedian and actor Groucho Marx, who snappy,

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Speaker 1: wise cracks and trickster persona provided the perfect basis for

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Speaker 1: the quick witted rabbit. Even bugs trademark carrot munching was

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Speaker 1: reportedly inspired by Hollywood leading man Clark Gable had nibbled

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Speaker 1: on a carrot while leaning against a fence in a

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Speaker 1: scene from N four's It Happened One Night, and animators

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Speaker 1: thought that laid back behavior would be even better suited

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Speaker 1: for an actual rabbit. Of course, the image of Bugs

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Speaker 1: Bunny nonchalantly chewing a carrot instantly brings to mind his

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Speaker 1: famous catchphrase, watch up Doctor. The line was added to

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Speaker 1: a Wild Hair by tex Avery, who later explained that

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Speaker 1: it was a common expression in his home state of Texas.

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Speaker 1: The director didn't think much of the line at the time,

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Speaker 1: but when the short screened in theaters, audiences went wild

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Speaker 1: for it. The idea of a rabbit having such a

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Speaker 1: calm response to a hunter struck a chord, with viewers

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Speaker 1: subverting their expectations and signaling that Bugs Bunny was not

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Speaker 1: your garden variety rabbit. That said, the line might not

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Speaker 1: have played so well if it weren't delivered by the

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Speaker 1: incomparable Mel Blank. He had voiced happy Rabbit in the

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Speaker 1: earlier shorts, but the direction had been to make the

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Speaker 1: voice similar to Daffy Duck, a popular established character who

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Speaker 1: was also voiced by Mel Blank. However, the actor decided

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Speaker 1: to put a fresh spin on Bugs after reading a

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Speaker 1: note on the revised drawings of the character. It described

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Speaker 1: him as quote a tough little stinker, which led Mel

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Speaker 1: to try out a new Brooklyn accent to capture the

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Speaker 1: right attitude. The character and his voice certainly have plenty

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Speaker 1: of attitude, but the artists who brought Bugs to life

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Speaker 1: always made sure he never came across as mean spirited.

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Speaker 1: In interview, director Chuck Jones reflected on this critical distinction, saying, quote,

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Speaker 1: it was very important that he'd be provoked, because otherwise

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Speaker 1: he'd be a bully. We didn't want that. We wanted

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Speaker 1: him to be a nice person. In other words, Bugs

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Speaker 1: would never go looking for a fight, and he would

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Speaker 1: never humiliate someone just for fun. But he wasn't a

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Speaker 1: pushover either. His wits and tricks would only be deployed

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Speaker 1: against those who had it coming, and we're always in

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Speaker 1: service of teaching them a lesson. That formula was a

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Speaker 1: hit from the start with both audiences and critics. A

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Speaker 1: Wild Hair received an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Short

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Speaker 1: at ninety one, along with another short starring Bugs called

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Speaker 1: Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt. Neither of those shorts won the award.

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Speaker 1: That honor went to MGM's Milky Way, but the attention

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Speaker 1: did encourage other cartoon directors to use Bugs Bunny in

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Speaker 1: their own films. So for the better part of the

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Speaker 1: next forty years, Bugs starred and just under a hundred

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Speaker 1: and seventy theatrical shorts, many from legendary directors like Bob Clampett,

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Speaker 1: Friz Freeling, Robert Tashlyn, and of course, Chuck Jones. Bugs

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Speaker 1: eventually got his Oscar Too, winning Best Animated Short for

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Speaker 1: ninety Night Bugs in nineteen fifty nine. In the decades

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Speaker 1: that followed, Bugs made the jump to the small screen,

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Speaker 1: where he and his looney pouse became a mainstay of

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Speaker 1: Saturday morning children's programming. He got plenty of attention from

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Speaker 1: adults to including his own star on the Hollywood Walk

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Speaker 1: of Fame, the first postage stamp to feature an animated character,

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Speaker 1: in the first animated short to be inducted into the

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Speaker 1: Library of Congress's National Film Registry, And in case you're wondering,

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Speaker 1: that short was What's Opera doc The nineteen fifty seven

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Speaker 1: parody of Wagner's operas that's widely considered the pinnacle of

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Speaker 1: Bug's career. All these years later, Bugs Bunny remains almost

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Speaker 1: as relevant as ever. New cartoon shorts and even full

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Speaker 1: length films featuring the character continue to be made, and

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Speaker 1: every one of them owes a huge debt to a

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Speaker 1: wild Hair. It may not be bugs best work, but

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Speaker 1: it's the short that gave him the personality, voice and

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Speaker 1: mannerisms that later made him one of the greatest cartoon

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Speaker 1: characters of all time. Mickey Mouse, eat your heart out.

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Speaker 1: I'm Gay Blusier and hopefully you now know a little

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Speaker 1: more about cartoon history today than you did yesterday. If

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Speaker 1: you enjoyed today's show, consider following us on Twitter, Facebook,

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Speaker 1: an Instagram at t d i HC Show, and if

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Speaker 1: you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to send

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Speaker 1: them my way at this day at I heeart media

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Speaker 1: dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show,

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Speaker 1: and thank you for listening. I'll see you back here

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Speaker 1: again tomorrow for another day in History class. What's up done?

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Speaker 1: What's cooking? What's up done? Oh you're looking for Bunch Bunny.

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Speaker 1: Bunch Think dot is gonna hunt, think just to get

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Speaker 1: a rabbitskin. Without a rabbits gonna get what's up done,

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Speaker 1: what's cooking? Hey, look out, sap, someone que