Bugs Bunny: The old gray hare

A Wild Hare, the first "official" Bugs Bunny cartoon, was released on July 27, 1940. Which means that today we celebrate the 70th birthday of the rascally rabbit. To mark the occasion, I am posting this classic cartoon. You'll note that, right from the start, Bugs enjoyed planting great big wet sloppy ones on Elmer Fudd. Not that there's anything wrong with that, you understand.

Happy Looney New Year!

Here's a hat-tip to Leonard Maltin for spreading the good news: The Cartoon Network will kick off 2009 with a New Year's Day marathon of Looney Tunes --a cavalcade of cartoon classics ranging from the 1930s to the '50s. A total of 95 shorts will showcase favorite Looney Tunes celebrities such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig, as well as "one-hit wonders" like Owl Jolson from the 1936 short I Love to Singa. Here's the schedule:

6 am EST

The Wabbit Who Came to Supper (Bugs Bunny)
You Ought to be in Pictures (Daffy Duck & Porky Pig)
Daffy Duck in Hollywood (Daffy)
Tortoise Beats Hare (Bugs)
I Love to Singa
Fresh Hare (Bugs)

7 am EST

Wackiki Wabbit (Bugs)
A Corny Concerto (Bugs, Porky & Elmer Fudd)
Porky in Wackyland (Porky)
Bugs Bunny & The Three Bears (Bugs)
Falling Hare (Bugs)
The Mouse-Merized Cat
Gee Whiz-z-z

8 am EST

Tom, Turk and Daffy (Daffy & Porky)
Buckaroo Bugs (Bugs)
Tweetie Pie (Tweetie)
Case of the Missing Hare (Bugs)
An Itch in Time (Elmer)
Hare Tonic (Elmer)

9 am EST

Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid (Bugs)
Crowing Pains (Foghorn Leghorn)
Hare Force (Bugs)
Trap Happy Porky (Porky)
Odor-Able Kitty (Pepe Le Pew)
Baby Bottleneck (Porky & Daffy)
Baseball Bugs (Bugs)

10 am EST

The Old Grey Hare (Bugs & Elmer)
Draftee Daffy (Daffy Duck)
Gorilla My Dreams (Bugs)
Porky's Pig Feat (Daffy & Porky)
Sniffles Bells The Cat (Sniffles)
Going! Going! Gosh! (Road Runner)
Bunny Hugged (Bugs)

11 am EST

Racketeer Rabbit (Bugs)
Tick Tock Tuckered (Daffy & Porky)
What's Cookin Doc (Bugs)
Bye, Bye Bluebeard (Porky)
Home Tweet Home (Tweety)
Super Rabbit (Bugs)

12 pm EST

Stage Door Cartoon (Bugs & Elmer)
A Pest in the House (Daffy & Elmer)
Walky Talky Hawky (Foghorn)
Canary Row (Tweety)
Swooner Crooner (Porky)
Nasty Quacks (Daffy)
Hyde and Hare (Bugs)

1 pm EST

Bugs Bunny Rides Again (Bugs)
Back Alley Oproar (Elmer & Sylvester)
Book Revue (Daffy)
For Sentimental Reasons (Pepe Le Pew)
Zipping Along (Road Runner)
Sandy Claws (Tweety)
Little Red Riding Rabbit (Bugs)

2 pm EST

Hair-Raising Hare (Bugs)
Hen House Henery (Foghorn)
The Big Snooze (Bugs & Elmer)
Daffy Duck Slept Hare (Daffy & Porky)
From A to Z-Z-Z-Z (Ralph Phillips)
A Hare Grows in Manhattan (Bugs)
The Honey-Mousers

3 pm EST

Slick Hare (Bugs)
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (Daffy)
Fast and Furry-ous (Road Runner)
Past Perfumance (Pepe Le Pew)
Feed The Kitty
Scaredy Cat (Porky & Sylvester)
Rabbit Seasoning (Bugs, Daffy & Elmer)

4 pm EST

High Diving Hare (Bugs)
Dog Pounded (Tweety & Sylvester)
Speedy Gonzales
Rabbit Hood (Bugs)
Long-Haired Hare (Bugs)
Birds Anonymous (Tweety & Sylvester)
Bugs & Thugs (Bugs)

5 pm EST

Broomstick Bunny (Bugs)
The Wearing of the Grin (Porky)
Ready, Set Zoom (Road Runner)
Buccaneer Bunny (Bugs & Yosemite Sam)
Lourve Come Back to Me (Pepe Le Pew)
Devil May Hare (Bugs & Tasmanian Devil)
Operation Rabbit (Bugs & Wile E. Coyote)

6 pm EST

Baby Buggy Bunny (Bugs)
Hyde and Go Tweet (Tweety & Sylvester)
Show Biz Bugs (Bugs & Daffy)
Satan's Waitin' (Tweety & Sylvester)
Ali Baba Bunny (Bugs & Daffy)
Drip Along Daffy (Daffy & Porky)
Bully For Bugs (Bugs)

7 pm EST

One Froggy Evening (Michigan J. Frog)
Duck Amuck (Daffy & Bugs)
Rhapsody Rabbit (Bugs)
What's Opera Doc (Bugs & Elmer)
Rabbit of Seville (Bugs)
Hardevil Hare (Bugs & Marvin the Martian)
Duck Dodgers in the 24 Century (Daffy & Marvin The Martian)