A few days ago, I was thinking about my favorite Bugs Bunny cartoon. I bet you can’t guess, although it’s true most of my most beloved Bugs cartoons were directed by Chuck Jones. No, it’s not What’s Opera, Doc, considered by many, despite not winning the Oscar the year it was released, to be the best cartoon short in history. It’s not any number of other cartoons you might guess, including my close second, 1948’s Haredevil Hare, the first appearance of Marvin the Martian. My fovorite Bugs Bunny cartoon is 1952’s Water Water, Every Hare. As it happens, the anniversary of Water, Water, Every Hare is April 19th, and in the spirit of celebrating what I think it a perfect cartoon, I’m writing about Bugs Bunny, his history and art, and the important role Chuck Jones played in creating some of the best cartoons in history, all starring Warner Bros’ wascally wabbit, then I’ll circle back to talking about Water, Water, Every Hare, and try to convert a few of you folks to better appreciate the Gossomer co-starring cartoon I love so well.
Bugs Bunny is particularly interesting as a character, not just because he’s so sassy, but because he was developed by not one, but several important creators. Before Bugs went though a number of changes, got his name, and ultimately looked like the bunny we know and love, he premiered in a 1938 cartoon called Porky’s Hare Hunt. Interestingly, Silly Symphony’s 1935 short, The Tortoise and the Hare, features a somewhat similar storyline, and even the rabbits in each cartoon are similar. Many believe the earlier Disney cartoon was inspiration for the Looney Tunes short, which spawned a character that has arguably been more popular than Mickey Mouse over the years!
As to the similarities, you can be the judge. Here’s the Disney cartoon, Silly Symphony’s The Tortoise and the Hare:
Here are the first moments the rabbit that became Bugs appeared onscreen:
Porky’s Hare Hunt was created only a year after and is almost identical to Tex Avery’s Porky’s Duck Hunt, which introduced Daffy Duck in 1937. From his very first appearance, this troublemaking rabbit was voiced by vocal genius Mel Blanc.
Here’s an absolutely wonderful interview on David Letterman with Mel, who says he did over 400 different voices over his career, and called Bugs a “tough little stinker”:
The second cartoon with the Bugs Bunny prototype was in 1939, and directed by Chuck Jones. It was a Merry Melodies short called Presto Change-O, but Bugs still didn’t look even close to the character we know, and still wasn’t named. The first cartoon considered to be the official premiere of Bugs is Tex Avery’s 1940 short A Wild Hare. Animator and character designer Bob Givens had redesigned the rabbit into the earliest incarnation Bugs fans might recognize, and it’s also the first time Mel Blanc uses the voice we know and love, using his iconic New York accent and the catchphrase “What’s Up, Doc?” in connection with the character. A Wild Hare is the first time a Bugs Bunny cartoon was nominated for an Academy Award for best animated short.
Tex Avery, who has only four Bugs Bunny cartoons to his credit, then Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Bob McKimson, and Bob Clampett are all responsible for various aspects of developing and enhancing both Bugs Bunny’s design and character. It was a Chuck Jones cartoon that first showed Bugs Bunny’s name on-screen, with Elmer’s Pet Rabbit in 1941. Although originally Merry Melodies has been designed to create one-time-only characters, by 1942, Bugs had become its biggest star. His popularity soared during World War II, in large part because regardless of the seriousness or danger of any situation, he kept a cool head and a smart mouth. By 1943, he was getting special billing, and starred in a series of propaganda cartoons where he is the hero fighting everyone from Adolf Hitler, to Mussolini, and even gremlins trying to rip a fighter plane apart. That last is a 1943 short called Falling Hare, directed by Bob Clampett.
Falling Hare makes several references to Disney, which is interesting given Disney was in the process of creating a feature based on Roald Dahl’s The Gremlins. I was particularly fond of this cartoon, because my dad had an original copy of Dahl’s Disney book, which I still have!
Bob Clampett’s Falling Hare shows all the reasons Bugs Bunny became a household name during the second world war:
Following the war, Bugs Bunny entered his Golden Age, with most shorts of that era directed by Friz Frelend, Bob McKimson, and Chuck Jones.
Some of the most recognizable and beloved Bugs Bunny cartoons come from this era, in part because secondary characters like Friz Freleng’s Yosemite Sam (first appearance of many is 1945’s Hare Trigger), Bob McKimson’s Tasmanian Devil (debuting in 1954’s Devil May Hare), and Chuck Jones’s Marvin the Martian (1948’s Hare Devil Hare was his debut), Gossamer (or Rudolf, as he’s called in Water, Water, Every Hare), and Wile E Coyote, (whose second appearance is in 1952’s Operation Rabbit).
It’s arguably Chuck Jones who has the most enduring cartoons that have gotten the most play over the years. Hare Devil Hare is the cartoon where Marvin and Bugs Bunny first face off, and it is a worldwide favorite. There are Bugs/Elmer pairings like 1950’s Rabbit of Seville, and nearly everyone’s top pick, What’s Opera, Doc? from 1957.
Many fans of Bugs and Daffy as foils love Ali Baba Bunny (1957) – but there are even cartoons with Bugs, Daffy, and Elmer, like 1952’s Rabbit Seasoning, and its follow-up, 1953’s Duck! Rabbit, Duck!, then there’s 1955’s Beanstalk Bunny, a delightful departure based on Jack and the Beanstalk.
It’s at the very least interesting, if not bizarre to note that it was Friz Freleng, NOT Chuck Jones, that won Bugs his one and only Oscar, for 1948’s Knighty Knight Bugs. Pepe le Pew won in 1949, BEFORE Bugs did, and even then, Chuck Jones, Pepe’s creator, didn’t win, the producer of the cartoon, Edward Selzer did. MGM and Hanna and Barbera’s Tom and Jerry decimated Bugs year upon year, winning 7 Oscars. *Gallic shrug*.
The Golden Age of Warner Brothers cartoons ended in 1964, and there was a long break of Bugs Bunny featured onscreen, broken by the tv specials and series of the 70s and 80s.
SO: That brings us back to my very favorite Bugs Bunny short, Water, 1952’s Water, Every Hare. The first cartoon that featured the character that became known as Gossamer was 1946’s Hair-Raising Hare.
The plot to Hair-Raising Hare is similar the the later film, in that it features Bugs winds up at a mad scientist’s castle, this time lured there by the Peter Lorre caricature as a meal for his orange monster, using a bunny fem-bot. Bugs winds up giving that monster a manicure, trapping the orange beast’s fingers with painful mousetraps. While it’s a fun cartoon, there’s more focus on the bunny fem-bot, and indeed the ending involves him following her offscreen.
I prefer Water, Water, Every Hare for a lot of reasons. First, the way Bugs winds up with the mad scientist is a rainstorm that floods his rabbit hutch and floats him up to the castle. The scientist is designed to look, this time, like Boris Karloff, my preferred Universal Monster performer. He’s also after Bugs to use his brain for his colossal robot. The monster, now called, not Gossamer but Rudolf and, having lost the green fingernails of the previous cartoon, is put at the mercy of Bugs as hairstylist. Seeing the monster hand bobby pins to Bugs and listening to his stylist ramblings is just **chef’s kiss**. Of course it all leads to Bugs giving the monster a “permanent” with dynamite.
There’s some business with Bugs using a “vanishing tonic” and disappearing, then using a “reducing tonic” and shrinking the monster, but the BEST PART, (and something completely inappropriate and delicious for a cartoon…) is when Bugs releases ether and both he and the mad scientist float through the castle halls high as a kite, and Bugs escapes. You can see the whole thing here:
As I mentioned, Chuck Jones is the director of not only Water, Water, Every Hare, but many wonderful cartoons from the Golden Age of Looney Tunes. Here he is talking to Charlie Rose about his career, and drawing various characters in the process:
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As part of my research on this particular cartoon and the blog, I reached out to Craig Kausen, grandson of Chuck Jones and son of Linda Jones, who started one of the first businesses that celebrated animation art as real art. Their company very kindly offered a few original production cels featuring Bugs Bunny for me to show here, all from their archives and most signed by Chuck Jones, who passed away in 2002. I am also able to show an old illustration based on Water, Water, Every Hare created by Chuck Jones. Click on the images for more information or to purchase!
This first image is particularly cool, because it’s from the opening sequence for Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Needless to say, it’s a rare original indeed, and perfect for fans of all things Gremlins! Also, it’s great because of course Bugs has a long-standing history with Gremlins! Here’s the opening sequence from the movie, where you’ll see the cel:
There are several pieces from 1980’s Bugs Bunny’s Bustin’ Out All Over, which is particularly timely, since that cartoon special is centered on the joy of spring and the coming of warmer weather.
This image is from one of the three new cartoons created for the special, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Bunny. You can see the exact cel in this sequence:
Here’s another great image from that cartoon:
This last image is from 1979, and The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie, which was a compilation of some of the best classic WB cartoons. As mentioned in the wiki page for this compilation, “In the introductory segment, Bugs Bunny recounts his encounters with various antagonists from past cartoons. This is followed by a satirical overview of comedy history and a pivotal scene where Bugs addresses his “several fathers.” Authored by Chuck Jones, this scene serves to refute claims made by animation director Bob Clampett in the 1970s that he solely created Bugs. Clampett’s absence from Bugs’ acknowledgments reflects the discord between Jones and Clampett at the time.”
Here is the original cel directly from the Chuck Jones estate available from the introductory segment, and it really captures Bugs as the “superstar” he is:
Then, lastly, here is the limited edition created based on an original illustration painting by Chuck Jones, capturing a pivotal scene from Water, Water, Every Hare, called “Dynamite Hare”:
This image, which is a giclee on canvas, is available in three sizes. We have just included the most popular size, which is 18 x 24, on our website, which is $950 in an edition of 750. The other sizes, all with 750 in the edition as well, are 12 x 16 ($450), 29 x 36 ($1350), and 39 x 48 ($1850). Reach out to the gallery if the other sizes are of interest!