2023 marks the 85th Anniversary of Bug Bunny’s first animated appearance in 1938’s “Porky’s Hare Hunt.” Debuting originally as Happy Rabbit, Bugs eventually became one of the most iconic animated characters of all time. In honor of the landmark anniversary, we’re discussing every animated appearance by Bugs Bunny. We’re big fans of Bugsy and we hope that you are, too.
Follow us on this massive journey where we discover and re-discover Every Bugs Bunny Ever.
The Wabbit Who Came to Supper (1942)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Written by Michael Maltese
Music by Carl W. Stalling
Animation by Richard Bickenbach
I have a big sentimental value attachment to “The Wabbit Who Came to Supper.” When I was a kid we didn’t have cable television, but VHS tapes were readily available and often cheap. Back then stores would sell cartoon compilation tapes filled with hours of animated shorts for dirt cheap (often times they were a dollar, two dollars tops). So my mom and dad would buy at least four of them and give them to me and my brother and sister, and we’d watch them for hours. I spent so many days watching random shorts from MGM and Warner.
Basically, it consisted of whatever was public domain at the time, as the “unofficial” compilation tapes were filled with public domain animated shorts. That’s basically how I familiarized myself with Popeye, and Felix the Cat, and how I fell in love with the Fleischer Brothers Superman series.