Bugs Bunny: 50 Years and Only One Grey Hare [Hardcover]

Joe Adamson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1990

This splendid biographical celebration shares the story of America's most popular animated television star on the occasion of his fiftieth birthday. Backed by a huge Warner Bros. 200 illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

YA-- A retrospective view of the creation and highly successful life of the most famous "wabbit" in America. Wonderful illustrations, text, and dialogue tell the story of those people who created and directed the star. YAs who are into cartoons and animation will love this book.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Co; 1st edition (April 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805011900
• ISBN-13: 978-0805011906
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,126,037 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ultimate Tribute to the "Wascally Wabbit", June 5, 2001

By 

Rachel Newstead "finder of forgotten animation" (Appleton, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bugs Bunny: 50 Years and Only One Grey Hare (Hardcover)

Quick quiz--who is the only cartoon character with a service record in the United States Marine Corps?

If you said "Bugs Bunny", you're right on target. Such was the "scwewy wabbit's" impact during the years of World War II, the Marines insisted that he "enlist," giving him dog tags and ID papers complete with paw prints. At the end of the war, he was honorably discharged as a master sergeant!

Such gestures are hardly surprising, according to Joe Adamson. Bugs' debut in 1940 marked the convergence of a rebellious spirit and a dire period in our history when just such an attitude was sorely needed. We needed to see Bugs nonchalantly thumb his nose at his adversaries when we were facing our most frightening adversaries of all--namely Germany and Japan.

He did not spring to life fully formed, however. Bugs, in seminal form, appeared in a number of cartoons in the late thirties, but was not the wabbit we know him to be. Crazy, out of control, and posessing a Goofy-like voice, he seemed more at home in Bob Clampett's Wackyland than facing the business end of Elmer Fudd's shotgun. Adamson takes us through these early incarnations of Bugs, and gives us a quick history of the Leon Schlesinger studio that spawned him. Schlesinger's outfit had been a decidedly low-rent operation producing second-rate imitations of Disney cartoons when the great "Tex" Avery arrived--and promptly stood the industry on its ear. To Avery, "cute" was out--and a manic, self-aware approach was in. Some two years after the first proto-Bugs cartoons, Avery restyled the embryonic rabbit to fit the new studio philosophy. When faced with a gun-toting hunter, Bugs did not scream or run away, but responded with a smart-alecky "What's up, Doc?"--and immediately shocked and delighted audiences.

Even at the height of his success, Adamson says, the rabbit continued to change and grow, most notably at the hands of his self-styled "analyist," Chuck Jones. Bugs under Jones became a thinking character, fighting only when provoked (and uttering the immortal words "Of course you realize this means war.") This Bugs was a winner, someone who seemed to know something his adversaries Elmer Fudd and Daffy Duck did not. And audiences loved him all the more for it.

Inevitably, as with all stars, Bugs underwent a period of decline, and Adamson takes us through this era as well. The long run on television, the ill-conceived specials and compilation movies are discussed (Chuck Jones' "Carnival Of The Animals" musical feature was the low point). Significant in its absence is Bugs' big-screen re-emergence in "Space Jam"--understandable since this book was first published in 1990 (the best possible excuse for an updated edition, Mr. Adamson.) A detailed background of Bugs and his various opponents takes up the back section of the book, and is quite interesting. There aren't as many behind-the-scenes stories as in Jones' "Chuck Amuck", but it also spares us the endless self-congratulation of Chuck's tome.

This book is a must read for anyone wanting to know the right way to run an animation studio--namely, leave the animators alone (free from interference from networks and parents' groups) and let the magic happen. Leon Schlesinger, who rarely supervised the animators' work if he could help it, unwittingly had the right approach all along.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I loved it!, October 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Bugs Bunny: 50 Years and Only One Grey Hare (Hardcover)

Joe Adamson really hit the spot. I'm the world's biggest Bugs Bunny fan and I was thrilled to discover that somebody cared enough about this true American hero and his life to write a book about him! Even though it was pretty long, it held my attention to the end (when I nearly cried). Few people that are my age really know how important Bugs was to our country - after all, he gave us hope for victory during WWII. I'm really glad Adamson decided to write this book from the views of Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, and Mel Blanc - it was really good! The photos and paintings really added to it, too. Throughout the whole thing, I learned a ton about this "wascally wabbit". I now know I can confidently answer any question in the world about Bugs Bunny!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Reference, September 28, 2005

By 

Rod - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bugs Bunny: 50 Years and Only One Grey Hare (Hardcover)

Any Bugs Bunny collector/enthusiast must have this book. The filmography alone at the end of the book is worth the price as a reference. I can compare it to my videos and Golden Collection DVDs and see what was covered. Great insights and sketches, big full color photos... you will not be disappointed.