What is now regarded as a prototypical version of Bugs Bunny is seen in the 1938 short Porky's Hare Hunt, though little is identifiably 'Bugs' besides the long ears and fluffy tail. Indeed, Bugs appeared to evolve from a much simpler, one-dimensional character - Happy Rabbit - who went on to star in several shorts up to and including 1940. In Elmer's Candid Camera (1940) we see what were in fact the foundations of a comedy pairing that was to grace the screen for decades to come - but it wasn't until A Wild Hare that Bugs and Elmer had evolved, more or less, into how we might visualise the characters today, despite Bugs' 'Happy Rabbit' persona having been previously credited as 'Bugs Bunny' in the earlier short Elmer's Pet Rabbit (1940).
By 1940, Bugs' persona had evolved substantially, mostly due to Mel Blanc's voice characterisation. Having initially allocated a Woody Woodpecker-esque vocal and guffaw to his prototype, Blanc gave Bugs a distinctive New York accent which helped shape his character into someone somewhat edgier and less goofy-sounding. By 1942, Bugs had surpassed Porky Pig in popularity, and became their star and icon throughout the war period. This era enabled the establishment of the character as a cultural icon, raising spirits throughout the Second World War.
Afterwards, Bugs maintained his popularity, starring in the role of the 'straight man' opposite recently established rival Daffy Duck, who too had evolved by the 1950s from his wacky, screwball roots into a more mature comic foil. The cartoons most often noted for having kick-started this rivalry comprise the 'Rabbit Season/Duck Season' trilogy, directed by Chuck Jones, which is regarded by many as his crowning achievement. The shorts are Rabbit Fire (1951), Rabbit Seasoning (1952) and Duck! Rabbit, Duck! (1953). Bugs also starred in a number of music-based shorts, including 1950's Rabbit of Seville and Chuck Jones' 1957 classic What's Opera, Doc? Both shorts derive inspiration from previous efforts to juxtapose Bugs alongside the hapless hunter, simultaneously combining the comedy pairing with classical music parodies, the latter of which became the first short to be inducted into the National Film Registry in 1992. Bugs' versatility also resulted in his being juxtaposed against an array of adversaries, including Yosemite Sam, Rocky and Mugsy, Marvin the Martian and the Tasmanian Devil, as well as some memorable one-shot characters such as Pete Puma.
Bugs' final cartoon appearance of the 'Golden Age' was in 1964's False Hare, which sees him outsmart a dim-witted wolf and his inanely detached nephew. Following the initial closing of the Warner Bros Studios and the subsequent establishment of Depatie-Freleng Enterprises, there was a notable Bugs Bunny drought. Despite the continuation of The Bugs Bunny Show on ABC and CBS, Bugs made no appearances outside of the bridging sequence format until Bugs and Daffy's Carnival of the Animals, a 1976 television special. A number of other TV special appearances meant that he starred in several new shorts - the first since 1964 - and he also starred in several theatrical compilation films including The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (1979) and Daffy Duck's Quackbusters (1988), featuring the final theatrical appearance of Mel Blanc as his voiceover artist.
It was not, however, until 1990 when Bugs Bunny made his comeback to the theatrical short following a hiatus which lasted more than two decades. The short was titled Box Office Bunny, and saw voice actor Jeff Bergman assume the role. In 1996, Bugs starred alongside Michael Jordan in Joe Pytka's Space Jam, voiced by Billy West, and in 1999, Bugs became the star of his first ever PlayStation video-game based on his Golden Age shorts, Bugs Bunny Lost in Time, which later spawned an indirect sequel Bugs Bunny and Taz: Time Busters. During the early noughties, Bugs also starred in a number of shorts and web-toons, as well as the 2003 live-action/animation-hybrid Looney Tunes Back in Action - a movie that was undeservedly panned upon release. Since, Bugs has undergone something of a makeover (again) for The Looney Tunes Show, a series which debuted in 2011 and concluded after two reasonably successful seasons.
And there you have it. Bugs Bunny's 75-year career condensed in a single blog post. Naturally, a great deal of significant moments in Bugs' history have been omitted, but it seemed appropriate to acknowledge the character's longevity. Call him whatever you want - varmint, wascally wabbit, camera hog... With new series Wabbit in the pipeline, due for release later this year, this long-eared, carrot-chomping septuagenarian doesn't look set to retire to his burrow any time soon.
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