Today (July 27th) is Bugs Bunny’s birthday from 1940. Bugs Bunny is one of the most beloved and iconic cartoon characters of all time. He is the star of the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated shorts, produced by Warner Bros. since 1940. He is known for his flippant personality, his Brooklyn accent, being a trickster, and his catchphrase “Eh… What’s up, doc?”.

You are probably not aware that one of the major sources of inspiration for Bugs Bunny was Aesop’s Fables, the collections of stories from ancient Greece. It was the story of the race of the Tortoise & the Hare that Disney used in a 1935 Oscar-winning short cartoon that largely inspired the creation of Bugs Bunny in 1940 and started the Bug Bunny transformation to what he is today.

You will find cartoons based on Greek mythology all over the place, some more obvious than others. Some of the more obvious ones are Triton in The Little Mermaid, Marvin the Martian (he is based on Ares/Mars), and Pluto the dog (named after Hades/Pluto). There are also less obvious references to Greek myths like for example The Beauty & the Beast (based on Cupid & Psyche), and even Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White are examples of modern cartoons linked to Greek Mythology.

The History of Bugs Bunny and His Inspiration from Max Hare

How did Bugs Bunny come to be? Who created him and what influenced his design and character? In this article, we will explore the history of Bugs Bunny and his inspiration from Max Hare, an earlier Disney character who starred in several cartoons in the 1930s.

The Prototype Bugs Bunny

The first appearance of a Bugs Bunny was in a 1938 cartoon called Porky’s Hare Hunt, directed by Ben “Bugs” Hardaway and Cal Dalton. In this cartoon, Porky Pig is a hunter who encounters a white rabbit that annoys him with various pranks. The rabbit has some of the traits of the later Bugs Bunny, but looks very different. He has a round head, a long nose, a high-pitched voice, and no gloves. He also does not say “What’s up, doc?” or eat carrots.

The original Bugs Bunny was based on an earlier character created by Hardaway and Dalton, a rabbit named Happy Rabbit, who appeared in two cartoons in 1937 and 1938. Happy Rabbit was also a white rabbit who tormented a hunter, but he had a different design and voice. He also did not have a name, and was simply referred to as “the rabbit” in the credits.

The name “Bugs Bunny” came from Hardaway’s nickname, “Bugs”. He had drawn a sketch of the rabbit for a new cartoon, and labeled it “Bugs’ Bunny”. The name stuck, and was used for the first time in a 1941 cartoon called Elmer’s Pet Rabbit.

The Official Bugs Bunny

The official debut of Bugs Bunny as we know him today was in a 1940 cartoon called A Wild Hare, directed by Tex Avery and featuring the voice of Mel Blanc. In this cartoon, Bugs Bunny meets his arch-nemesis, Elmer Fudd, for the first time. He also utters his famous catchphrase, “What’s up, doc?” for the first time, as well as eats a carrot in a casual manner. He also has a more refined design, with a gray fur, a flatter head, a shorter nose, a lower-pitched voice, and gloves.

The official Bugs Bunny was the result of the collaboration of several directors and animators, who each contributed to his design and personality. Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, Bob Givens, and Robert McKimson are credited for defining Bugs’s appearance, while Mel Blanc, Michael Maltese, and Warren Foster are credited for defining his voice and dialogue.

Bugs Bunny quickly became a popular and influential character in American animation and culture. He starred in more than 160 short films between 1940 and 1964, and won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1958 for Knighty Knight Bugs. He also appeared in feature films, television shows, comics, video games, and other media. He has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and is the ninth most-portrayed film personality in the world.

The Inspiration from Max Hare

One of the largest inspirations for Bugs Bunny was Max Hare, a character created by Disney in 1934. Max Hare was a brown hare who starred in several cartoons, most notably The Tortoise and the Hare, which won an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film in 1935. Max Hare was a confident, cocky, and fast-talking character, who often outsmarted his slower and dimmer opponents. He also had a similar design to the later Bugs Bunny, with a round head, a long nose, and gloves.

Max Hare was not the only Disney character who influenced Bugs Bunny. Other characters, such as Mickey Mouse, Dopey, and Pinocchio, also had some impact on Bugs’s design and personality. However, Max Hare was the most direct and obvious inspiration, as he was also a hare who starred in his own series of cartoons. Jaime Weinman, the author of Anvils, Mallets and Dynamite, the Unauthorized Biography of Looney Tunes discusses the Bugs Bunny inspiration from Max Hare, among many other interesting facts about Looney Tunes.

Bugs Bunny was not a copy of Max Hare, but rather a parody and a subversion of him. Bugs Bunny was more sarcastic, rebellious, and unpredictable than Max Hare, who was more straightforward, conventional, and predictable. Bugs Bunny also had a different relationship with his antagonists, who were more sympathetic and relatable than Max Hare’s, who were more antagonistic and unsympathetic. Bugs Bunny also had a different tone and style, as he was more influenced by the urban and contemporary culture of the 1940s, while Max Hare was more influenced by the rural and traditional culture of the 1930s.

You can watch the original Oscar-winning Disney short cartoon that inspired Bugs Bunny about the Tortoise and the Hare below. To learn more about Aesop, view our previous blog post about Aesop’s Fables. Or take a look at the official Looney Tunes website for their latest projects.