Bugs Bunny Lives

At least on the Internet and TV re-runs. Before there were movie marathons, there were Saturday mornings at local movie house that kicked off with ten free cartoons, an episode from a movie serial like “Superman,” followed by a double feature. Among the cartoons thee were sure to be several “Loony Tunes and Merry Melodies.” What a shelf life these classic animated shorts have had.

Good old Bugs Bunny was the best of all the Loonies. He was one of the first anti-heroes (later we had “Bugsy,” whose name must have somehow derived from “Bugs”), a walking contradiction, half con man, half lovable innocent. The same crazy rabbit who kept asking, “What’s up, doc?” also said: “Don’t take life too seriously. You’ll never get out alive.”

And what cartoon character ever had a funnier nemesis than the stuttering, clueless Elmer Fudd. I laughed at Looney Tunes all through childhood. So did my kids. Their kids will too.

Here’s a taste of the great Bugs in action on YouTube:

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