Bugs Bunny that another proposed name for the character was "Happy Rabbit." In the actual cartoons and publicity, however, the name "Happy" only seems to have been used in reference to Bugs Hardaway. In "Hare-um Scare-um", a newspaper headline reads, "Happy Hardaway." Animation historian David Gerstein disputes that "Happy Rabbit" was ever used as an official name, believing that the only usage of the term was from Mel Blanc himself in humorous and fanciful tales he told about the character's development in the 1970s and 1980s; the name "Bugs Bunny" was used as early as August 1939, in the Motion Picture Herald,
Bugs Bunny Rides Again and the "William Tell Overture" were already associated with the Old West, cowboys, and cattle, and were familiar to audiences. "Der Erlkönig", the "Inflamatus", and the "Sonata Pathétique" fit the function of generic dramatic or agitated music used in genre films. In contrast, the titular tune of "Bugs Bunny Rides Again" is styled after the music of vaudeville shows.* Bugs Bunny Rides Again Bugs Bunny Rides Again is a 1948 Warner Bros. "Merrie Melodies" short, released in 1948, directed by Friz Freleng, and written by Tedd Pierce and Michael Maltese. The short is both part of the Western and a