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Bugs Bunny starring in A Wild Hare

July 27, 1940: Bugs Bunny makes his cartoon debut in A Wild Hare. According to his biography, Bugs was born in 1940 in Brooklyn, New York. He was the hare-brained child of many men, including Ben Hardaway who created the prototype in 1938, Bob Clampett, Tex Avery who developed his personality, Robert McKimson who created his character design, and Mel Blanc, his voice.

Bugs’s pugnacious personality is portrayed against a list of enemies who include Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Daffy Duck, and Wile E. Coyote, among scores of others. Bugs Bunny is usually provoked by his nemesis and then when pushed beyond endurance drawls, “Of course you realize, ‘DIS means war!” This set up allowed the audience to enjoy his constant victories without dear Bugs ever looking like a bully.

Bugs Bunny was a star of the Looney Tunes group, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. enterprise. Bosko was their first major star in 1930 and by 1935, they had a megastar on their hands when Porky Pig took center stage. Daffy Duck followed in 1937. Bugs Bunny, however, is one of the most recognized faces, real or imagined, in the world.

The first animated cartoon, in the traditional sense, was “Fantasmagorie” by Émile Cohl released in 1908. Walt Disney introduced Steamboat Willie with Mickey Mouse in 1928 which introduced sound to the mix. The very first computer generated imagery film was produced in 1995 by Pixar Animation Studios. Toy Story was released in November of that year.

“Back then, my idol was Bugs Bunny, because I saw a cartoon of him playing ball – you know, the one where he plays every position himself with nobody else on the field but him? Now that I think of it, Bugs is still my idol. You have to love a ballplayer like that.” – Nomar Garciaparra

“My generation grew up watching ‘Bugs Bunny’ and ‘Roadrunner’ cartoons. But that didn’t make me want to go out and pick up a wooden mallet and hit people on the head.” – Tod Burke

“The rabbit is considered a kind and intelligent creature in Cambodian culture.” – Bugs Bunny

“Sometimes it was hard to tell where my dad’s personality left off and his characters began, … He was a method actor and taught me that I had to ‘become’ the character in order to effectively do the voice.” – Noel Blanc

Also on this day, in 1794 Robespierre was arrested in Paris.
Bonus Link:  In 1586, Sir Walter Raleigh brought some tobacco back to England.