Development of Bugs Bunny and of the character. A model sheet by Charlie Thorson describes this prototype character as "Bugs' Bunny" (note the apostrophe) but in most of the cartoons the character is unnamed. Virgil Ross, the animator for "A Wild Hare" describes how the character came to be named in the interview published by "Animato!" magazine #19. Mel Blanc often told the story of the creation of the character and its name. He suggested that the character be named after the character's initial director, Ben "Bugs" Hardaway. Blanc's own book, "That's Not All Folks" published by Warner Books in 1988, describes the "tough
The Bugs Bunny Show in unison. For the final chorus, a lineup of "Looney Tunes" characters joins Bugs and Daffy onstage (Porky Pig is absent from the procession). "The Bugs Bunny Show" proved beneficial to the Warner Bros. cartoon staff, as it allowed the studio to remain open despite the shrinking market for theatrical animated shorts. The final first-run episode of the original "Bugs Bunny Show" aired on August 7, 1962, and the Warner Bros. animation studio closed the following spring. ABC began re-running "The Bugs Bunny Show" on Saturday mornings in mid-August 1962 until September 1967 when it was moved to Sunday mornings