Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.

In the 1988 animated/live action movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Bugs was shown as one of the inhabitants of Toontown. However, since the film was being produced by Disney, Warner Bros. would only allow the use of their biggest star if he got an equal amount of screen time as Disney's biggest star, Mickey Mouse. Sony VAIO VGN-SR290JVB/C Battery

Because of this, both characters are always together in frame when onscreen. For the same reasons, Bugs never calls Mickey by his name, only referring to him as "Doc," while Mickey calls him "Bugs."

Bugs made an appearance in the 1990 drug prevention special Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue. This special is notable for being the first time that somebody other than Mel Blanc voiced Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.Sony VAIO VGN-SR290JVH/C Battery

(In this special, both characters were voiced by Jeff Bergman.) Bugs was also featured in The Earth Day Special showing his displeasure on how man started mistreating the environment.

Bugs Bunny came back to the silver screen in Box Office Bunny in 1990. This was the first Bugs Bunny cartoon short since 1964 to be released to theaters, and it was created for the Bugs Bunny 50th anniversary celebration.Sony VAIO VGN-SR290NTB Battery

It was followed in 1991 by(Blooper) Bunny, a short that has gained a cult following among some animation fans for its edgy humor.

In 1997, Bugs appeared on a U.S. postage stamp, the first cartoon to be so honored, beating the iconic Mickey Mouse. The stamp is number seven on the list of the ten most popular U.S. stamps, as calculated by the number of stamps purchased but not used. Sony VAIO VGN-SR29VN/S Battery

The introduction of Bugs onto a stamp was controversial at the time, as it was seen as a step toward the 'commercialization' of stamp art. The postal service rejected many designs, and went with a postal-themed drawing. Avery Dennison printed the Bugs Bunny stamp sheet, which featured "a special ten-stamp design and was the first self-adhesive souvenir sheet issued by the U.S. Postal Service."Sony VAIO VGN-SR29XN/S Battery

A younger version of Bugs is the main character of Baby Looney Tunes, which debuted on Cartoon Network in 2002. In the action comedy Loonatics Unleashed, his definite descendant Ace Bunny is the leader of the Loonatics team and seems to have inherited his ancestor's Brooklyn accent and comic wit. Strangely, Bugs was one of the few Looney Tunes characters who never appeared in the 2003 Duck Dodgers series.Sony VAIO VGN-SR2RVN/S Battery

Bugs has appeared in numerous video games, including the Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle series, Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout, Bugs Bunny: Rabbit Rampage and the similarBugs Bunny in Double Trouble, Looney Tunes B-Ball, Space Jam, Looney Tunes Racing, Looney Tunes: Space Race, Bugs Bunny Lost in Time, and its sequel, Bugs Bunny and Taz Time Busters, and Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal.Sony VAIO VGN-SR390NAB Battery

Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. (though the name was occasionally given in full form as Warner Brothers during the company's early years) is an American producer of film and television entertainment. It arms 20th Century Fox.Sony VAIO VGN-SR390NAH Battery

One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank, California and New York, New York. Warner Bros. has several subsidiary companies, including Warner Bros. Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros. Sony VAIO VGN-SR41M/P Battery

Television, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Home Video, New Line Cinema, TheWB.com, and DC Comics. Warner owns half of The CW Television Network.

1903–25: Founding

The corporate name honors the four founding Warner brothers (born Wonskolaser) —Harry (born Hirsch), Albert (born Aaron), Sam (born Szmul), and Jack (born Jacob), whose parents had emigrated to North America from Poland, which was at that time part of the Russian Empire.Sony VAIO VGN-SR41M/S Battery

The three elder brothers began in the movie theatre business, having acquired a movie projector with which they showed films in the mining towns of Pennsylvania and Ohio. They opened their first theater, the Cascade, in New Castle, Pennsylvania in 1903. (The site of the Cascade later became the Cascade Center, a shopping, dining and entertainment complex honoring its Warner Bros. heritage, though in late 2010 all of the businesses have closed and the complex is currently for sale.)Sony VAIO VGN-SR49VN/H Battery

When this original theatre building in New Castle was in danger of being demolished, the modern Warner Bros. called the modern building owners, and arranged a 3 way even splitting of the cost of saving it, between the state, Warner Bros, and the modern owners. The owners noted the fact that they were taking phone calls from all over the country in reference to the historical significance of the humble building that should be saved historically. Sony VAIO VGN-SR51B/P Battery

In 1904, the Warners founded the Pittsburgh-based Duquesne Amusement & Supply Company, to distribute films.

Within a few years this led to the distribution of pictures across a four-state area. In 1912, Harry Warner hired an auditor named Paul Ashley Chase. By the time of World War I they had begun producing films, and in 1918 the brothers opened the Warner Bros.studio on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.Sony VAIO VGN-SR51B/S Battery

Sam and Jack Warner produced the pictures, while Harry and Albert Warner and their auditor and now controller Chase handled finance and distribution in New York City. It was during World War I and their first nationally syndicated film was My Four Years in Germany based on a popular book by former American Ambassador James W. Gerard. Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MF Battery

On April 4, 1923, with help from a loan given to Harry Warner by his banker Motley Flint,[6] they formally incorporated as Warner Brothers Pictures, Incorporated. However, as late as the 1960s, Warner Bros. claimed 1905 as its founding date.[7]

The first important deal for the company was the acquisition of the rights to Avery Hopwood's 1919 Broadway play, The Gold Diggers, from theatrical impresario David Belasco.Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MF/P Battery

However, what really put Warner Bros. on the Hollywood map was a dog, Rin Tin Tin,[8] brought from France after World War I by an American soldier.[9] Rin Tin Tin debuted in the feature Where the North Begins. The movie was so successful that Jack Warner agreed to sign the dog to star in more films for $1,000 per week.Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MF/S Battery

Rin Tin Tin became the top star at the studio. Jack Warner nicknamed him "The Mortgage Lifter"[8] and the success boosted Darryl F. Zanuck's career. Zanuck eventually became a top producer for the studio[11] and between 1928 and 1933 served as Jack Warner's right-hand man and executive producer, with responsibilities including the day-to-day production of films.Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MF/W Battery

More success came after Ernst Lubitsch was hired as head director;[10] Harry Rapf left the studio and accepted an offer to work at MGM.[13]Lubitsch's film The Marriage Circle was the studio's most successful film of 1924, and was on The New York Times best list for the year.Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MR Battery

Despite the success of Rin Tin Tin and Lubitsch, Warners was still unable to achieve star power.[14] As a result, Sam and Jack decided to offer Broadway actor John Barrymore the lead role in Beau Brummel.[14] The film was so successful that Harry Warner agreed to sign Barrymore to a generous long-term contract;Sony VAIO VGN-SR59VG Battery

like The Marriage Circle, Beau Brummell was named one of the ten best films of the year by The New York Times.[15] By the end of 1924, Warner Bros. was arguably the most successful independent studio in Hollywood,[15] but it still competed with "The Big Three" Studios (First National, Paramount Pictures, and MGM).Sony VAIO VGN-SR59VG/H Battery

As a result, Harry Warner – while speaking at a convention of 1,500 independent exhibitors in Milwaukee, Wisconsin – was able to convince the filmmakers to spend $500,000 in newspaper advertising,[17] and Harry saw this as an opportunity to finally be able to establish theaters in big cities like New York and Los Angeles.Sony VAIO VGN-SR70B/S Battery

As the studio prospered, it gained backing from Wall Street, and in 1924 Goldman Sachs arranged a major loan. With this new money, the Warners bought the pioneerVitagraph Company which had a nation-wide distribution system.[17] In 1925, Warners also experimented in radio, establishing a successful radio station, KFWB, in Los Angeles.Sony VAIO VGN-SR72B/P Battery

1925–35: Sound, Color, Style

Warner Bros. was a pioneer of films with synchronized sound (then known as "talking pictures" or "talkies"). In 1925, at the urging of Sam, the Warners agreed to expand their operations by adding this feature to their productions.Sony VAIO VGN-SR72B/S Battery

Harry, however, opposed it, famously wondering, "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" By February 1926, the studio suffered a reported net loss of $333,413.

After a long period of denying Sam's request for sound, Harry now agreed to accept Sam's demands, as long as the studio's use of synchronized sound was for background music purposes only.Sony VAIO VGN-SR73JB/S Battery

The Warners then signed a contract with the sound engineer company Western Electric and established Vitaphone. In 1926, Vitaphone began making films with music and effects tracks, most notably, in the feature Don Juan starring John Barrymore. The film was silent, but it featured a large number of Vitaphone shorts at the beginning. Sony VAIO VGN-SR74FB/S Battery

To hype Don Juan's release, Harry Warner also acquired the large Piccadilly Theater in Manhattan, New York and renamed it the Warner Theater.

Don Juan premiered at the Warner Theater in New York on August 6, 1926. Throughout the early history of film distribution, theater owners hired orchestras to attend film showings and provide soundtracks.Sony VAIO VGN-SR90FS Battery

Through Vitaphone, however, Warner Bros. produced eight Vitaphone shorts (which aired at the beginning of every showing of Don Juan across the country) in 1926, and got many film production companies to question the necessity. While Don Juan was a success at the box office, it did not earn back its production cost and Lubsitch left Warner for MGM.Sony VAIO VGN-SR90NS Battery

By April 1927, the Big Five studios (First National, Paramount, MGM, Universal, and Producers Distributing) had put the Warner brothers in financial ruin,and Western Electric renewed Warner's Vitaphone contract with terms that allowed other film companies to test sound.Sony VAIO VGN-SR90S Battery

As a result of the financial problems the studio was having, Warner Bros. took the next step and released The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson. This movie, which has very little sound dialog but does feature sound segments of Jolson singing, was a sensation. It signaled the beginning of the era of "talking pictures" and the twilight of the silent era. Sony VAIO VGN-SR90US Battery

However, as Sam died, the brothers were at his funeral and could not attend the premiere. Jack became sole head of production. Sam's death also had a great effect on Jack's emotional state, as Sam was arguably Jack's inspiration and favorite brother. In the years to come, Jack ran the studio with an iron fist.Sony VAIO VGN-SR91NS Battery

Firing of studio employees soon became his trademark.[30] Among those whom Jack fired were Rin Tin Tin (in 1929) and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. – who had served as First National's top star since the brothers acquired the studio in 1928—in 1933.[30]

Thanks to the success of The Jazz Singer, the studio was suddenly flush with cash. Jolson's next film for the company, The Singing Fool was also a success.Sony VAIO VGN-SR91PS Battery

With the success of these first talkies (The Jazz Singer, Lights of New York, The Singing Fool, and The Terror), Warner Bros. became one of the top studios in Hollywood and the brothers were now able to move out from the Poverty Row section of Hollywood and acquire a big studio in Burbank, California. They were also able to expand studio operations by acquiring the Stanley Corporation, a major theater chain.Sony VAIO VGN-SR91S Battery

This gave them a share in rival First National Pictures, of which Stanley owned one-third. In a bidding war with William Fox, Warner Bros. bought more First National shares on September 13, 1928; Jack Warner also appointed producer Darryl Zanuck as the studio's manager of First National Pictures.Sony VAIO VGN-SR91US Battery

In 1929, Warner Bros also bought the St. Louis-based theater chain Skouras Brothers. Following this take-over, Spyros Skouras, the driving force of the chain, became general manager of the Warner Brothers Theater Circuit in America. He worked successfully in that post for two years and managed to eliminate the losses and eventually even increase the profits. Sony VAIO VGN-SR92NS Battery

This was a welcome gain given the financial hardships occasioned by the Great Depression.

In addition, Harry Warner was also able to acquire a string of music publishers and form Warner Bros. Music. In April 1930, the Warner Bros. acquired Brunswick Records. Harry also obtained a string of radio companies, foreign sound patents, and even a lithograph company.Sony VAIO VGN-SR92PS Battery

After establishing Warner Bros. Music, Harry appointed his son, Lewis, to serve as the company's head manager.

In 1929, Harry was also able to produce an adaptation of a Cole Porter musical titled Fifty Million Frenchmen. Through First National, the studio's profit increased substantially. Sony VAIO VGN-SR92S Battery

After the success of the studio's 1929 First National film Noah's Ark, Harry also agreed to make Michael Curtiz a major director at the Burbank studio.[39] Mort Blumenstock, a First National screenwriter, became a top writer at the brothers' New York headquarters.[Sony VAIO VGN-SR92US Battery

In the third quarter of 1929, Warner Bros. gained complete control of First National, when Harry purchased the company's remaining one-third share from Fox.[35] TheJustice Department agreed to allow the purchase if First National was maintained as a separate company.Sony VAIO VGN-SR93DS Battery

When the Great Depression hit, Warner asked for and got permission to merge the two studios; soon afterward Warner Bros. moved to the First National lot in Burbank. Though the companies merged, the Justice Department required Warner to produce and release a few films each year under the First National name until 1938. For 30 years, certain Warner productions were identified (mainly for tax purposes) as 'A Warner Bros. – First National Picture.'Sony VAIO VGN-SR93JS Battery

In the latter part of 1929, Jack Warner hired sixty-one year old actor George Arliss to star in Disraeli,[42] which was a surprise success.[42] Arliss won an Academy Award for Best Actor and went on to star in nine more movies with the studio.[42] In 1930, Harry acquired more theaters in Atlantic City, despite the beginning of the Great Depression.Sony VAIO VGN-SR93PS Battery

In July 1930, the studio's banker, Motley Flint, was murdered by a disgruntled investor in another company.[44]

By 1931, however, the studio began to feel the effects of the Depression as the general public became unable to afford the price of a movie ticket.[45] In 1931, the studio reportedly suffered a net loss of $8 million,[45] and an additional $14 million the following year.Sony VAIO VGN-SR93YS Battery

In 1931, Warner Bros. Music head Lewis Warner died from an infection.[44]

Around that time, Warner Bros. head producer Darryl Zanuck hired screenwriter Wilson Mizner.[46] While at the studio, Mizner had hardly any respect for authority and found it difficult to work with studio boss Jack Warner,[46] but nevertheless became a valuable asset.Sony VAIO VGN-SR94FS Battery

As time went by, Warner became more tolerant of Mizner and helped invest in Mizner's Brown Derby restaurant.[46] On April 3, 1933, Mizner died from a heart attack.[47]

In 1928, Warner Bros. released Lights of New York, the first all-talking feature. Due to its success, the movie industry converted entirely to sound almost overnight. Sony VAIO VGN-SR94GS Battery

By the end of 1929, all the major studios were exclusively making sound films. In 1929, National Pictures released their first film with Warner Bros.,Noah's Ark.[48] Despite its expensive budget, Noah's Ark was profitable.[49] In 1929, Warner Bros. released On with the Show, the first all-color all-talking feature. This was followed by Gold Diggers of Broadway which was so popular it played in theatres until 1939. Sony VAIO VGN-SR94HS Battery

The success of these two color pictures caused a color revolution (just as the first all-talkie had created one for talkies). Warner Bros. released a large number of color films from 1929 to 1931, including The Show of Shows (1929), Sally (1929), Bright Lights(1930), Golden Dawn (1930), Hold Everything (1930), Song of the Flame (1930), Song of the West (1930), Sony VAIO VGN-SR94VS Battery

The Life of the Party (1930), Sweet Kitty Bellairs (1930), Under A Texas Moon (1930), Bride of the Regiment (1930), Viennese Nights(1931), Woman Hungry (1931), Kiss Me Again(1931), Fifty Million Frenchmen (1931), and Manhattan Parade (1932). In addition to these, scores of features were released with Technicolor sequences as well as a numerous variety of short subjects. The majority of these color films were musicals.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ35B/B Battery

Three years later, the audience had grown so tired of musicals, the studio was forced to cut the musical numbers of many of the productions and advertise them as straight comedies. The public had begun to associate musicals with color and thus the movie studios began to abandon its use. Warner Bros. had a contract with Technicolor to produce two more pictures in that process.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ54B/B Battery

As a result, the first horror films in color were produced and released by the studio: Doctor X (1932) andMystery of the Wax Museum(1933). In the latter part of 1931, Harry Warner rented the Teddington Studios in London, England. The studio focused on making 'quota quickies' for the domestic British market and Irving Asher was appointed as the studio's head producer.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ55B/B Battery

In 1934, Harry Warner officially purchased the Teddington Studios.

In February 1933, however, Warner Bros. produced 42nd Street, a very successful musical that saved the company from bankruptcy. In the wake of 42nd Street's success, the studio produced further profitable musicals.These starred Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell and were mostly directed by Busby Berkeley.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ55GN/B Battery

In 1935, the revival suffered a major blow when Berkeley was arrested after killing three people while driving drunk.[56] By the end of the year, people again tired of Warner Bros. musicals,[54] and the studio – after the huge profits made by the 1935 film Captain Blood – shifted its focus on producing Errol Flynn swashbucklers.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ56 Battery

1931–1935: Pre-code realistic period

With the collapse of the market for musicals, Warner Bros., under production head Darryl F. Zanuck, turned to more socially realistic storylines, "torn from the headlines" pictures many in the media said glorified gangsters; Warner Bros. soon became known as a "gangster studio".Sony VAIO VGN-SZ561N Battery

The studio's first gangster film, Little Caesar, was a great box office success[60] and Edward G. Robinson was a star in many of the subsequent wave of Warner gangster films.[61] The studio's next gangster film, The Public Enemy,[62] made James Cagney arguably the studio's new top star,[63] and Warner Bros. was now convinced to make more gangster films.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ562N Battery

Another gangster film the studio produced was the critically acclaimed I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, based on a true story and starring Paul Muni. In addition to Cagney and Robinson, Muni was also given a big push as one the studio's top gangster stars after appearing in the successful film, which got audiences to question the legal system in the United States.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ57N Battery

By January 1933, the film's protagonist Robert Elliot Burns – who was still imprisoned in New Jersey – and a number of different chain gang prisoners nationwide in the United States were able to appeal and were released. In January 1933, Georgia chain gang warden J. Harold Hardy – who was also made into a character in the film – sued the studio for displaying "vicious, untrue and false attacks" against him in the film.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ58GN Battery

After appearing in the film The Man Who Played God, Bette Davis became a top star for the studio.

In 1933, relief for the studio came after Franklin D. Roosevelt became president and was able to stimulate the economy with the New Deal;[70] because of this economic rebound, Warner Bros. again became profitable.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ58GN/C Battery

The same year, long time head producer Darryl F. Zanuck quit. One reason was Harry Warner's relationship with Zanuck had become strained after Harry strongly opposed allowing Zanuck's film Baby Face to step outside Hays Code boundaries. Also, the studio reduced Zanuck's salary as a result of the losses as a result of the Great Depression, and Harry continued to refuse to restore it in the wake of the New Deal's rebound.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ58N Battery

Zanuck resigned and established his own company. In the wake of Zanuck's resignation, Harry Warner agreed to again raise the salary for studio employees.

In 1933, Warner was able to bring newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan films into the Warner Bros. fold.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ61MN/B Battery

Hearst had previously been signed with MGM, but ended the association after a dispute with the company's head producer Irving Thalberg over the treatment of Hearst's long standing mistress, actress Marion Davies, who was struggling for box office success. Through his partnership with Hearst, Warner was able to sign Davies to a studio contract.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ61VN/X Battery

Hearst's company and Davies' films, however, could not increase the studio's profits.

In 1934, the studio lost over $2.5 million, of which $500,000 was the result of a fire at the Burbank studio at the end of 1934, destroying 20 years worth of early Vitagraph, Warner Bros., and First National films. The following year, Hearst's film adaption of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) failed at the box office and the studio's net loss increased.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ61WN/C Battery

During this time, Warner Bros. President Harry Warner and six other movie studio figures were indicted of conspiracy to violate the Sherman Antitrust Act,[78] through an attempt to gain a monopoly over theaters in the St Louis area. In 1935, Harry was put on trial;[78] after a mistrial, Harry sold the company's movie theaters, at least for a short time, and the case was never reopened.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ640N/B Battery

1935 also saw the studio rebound with a net profit of $674,158.00.[81]

By 1936, contracts of musical and silent stars were not renewed and new talent, tough-talking, working-class types, were hired who more suitably fit in with these sort of pictures. Stars such as Dorothy Mackaill, Bebe Daniels, Frank Fay, Winnie Lightner, Sony VAIO VGN-SZ645P3 Battery

Bernice Claire, Alexander Gray, Alice White, and Jack Mulhall that had characterized the urban, modern, and sophisticated attitude of the 1920s gave way to stars such James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Edward G. Robinson, Warren William, andBarbara Stanwyck who would be more acceptable to the common man. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ650N/C Battery

The studio was one of the most prolific producers of Pre-Code pictures and had a lot of trouble with the censors once they started clamping down on what they considered indecency (around 1934). As a result, Warner Bros. turned out a number of historical pictures from around 1935 in order to avoid confrontations with the Breen office. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ660N/C Battery

In 1936, following the success of The Petrified Forest, Jack Warner also signed Humphrey Bogart to a studio contract. Warner, however, did not think Bogart was star material,[84] and decided to only cast Bogart in infrequent roles as a villain opposite either James Cagney or Edward Robinson over the next five years.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ670N/C Battery

After Hal B. Wallis succeeded Zanuck in 1933 and the Hays Code began to be enforced in 1935, the studio was forced to abandon this realistic approach in order to produce more moralistic, idealized pictures. The studio naturally turned to historical dramas which would not cause any problems with the censors. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ680ND Battery

Other offerings included melodramas (or "women's pictures"), swashbucklers, and adaptations of best-sellers, with stars like Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Paul Muni, and Errol Flynn. In 1936, Bette Davis, by now arguably the studio's top star, was unhappy with the roles Warner was giving her. She fled to England and tried to break her contract with Warner Bros.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ691N/X Battery

Davis lost the lawsuit and soon returned to America. Although many of the studio's employees had problems with Jack Warner, they considered Albert and Harry fair.

Code era

This period also saw the disappearance of a large number of actors and actresses who had characterized the realistic pre-Code era but who were not suited to the new trend into moral and idealized pictures. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ71E/B Battery

Warner Bros. remained a top studio in Hollywood since the dawn of talkies, but this changed after 1935 as other studios, notably MGM, quickly overshadowed the prestige and glamor that previously characterized Warner Bros. However, in the late 1930s, Bette Davis became the studio's top draw and was even dubbed as "The Fifth Warner Brother."Sony VAIO VGN-SZ71VN/X Battery

In 1935, Cagney sued Jack Warner for breach of contract. Cagney claimed Warner had forced him to star in more films than his contract required. Cagney eventually dropped his lawsuit after a cash settlement. Nevertheless, Cagney left the studio to establish an independent film company with his brother Bill.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ71WN/C Battery

The Cagneys released their films though Grand National Films, however they were not able to get good financing for their productions and ran out of money after their third film. Cagney then agreed to return to Warner Bros., after Jack Warner agreed to a contract guaranteeing Cagney would be treated to his own terms.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ74B/B Battery

After the success of Yankee Doodle Dandy at the box office, Cagney again questioned if the studio would meet his salary demand and again quit to form his own film production and distribution company with his brother Bill.

Another employee with whom Warner had troubles was studio producer Bryan Foy. In 1936, Wallis hired Foy as a producer for the studio's low budget B-films leading to his nickname "the keeper of the B's".Sony VAIO VGN-SZ750N/C Battery

Foy was able to garnish arguably more profits than any other B-film producer at the time.[88] During Foy's time at the studio, however, Warner fired him seven different times.[94]

During 1936, the studio's film The Story of Louis Pasteur proved a box office success[95] and Paul Muni, the film's star, won the Oscar for Best Actor in March 1937.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ75B/B Battery

The studio's 1937 film The Life of Emile Zola gave the studio its first Best Picture Oscar.

In 1937, the studio hired Midwestern radio announcer Ronald Reagan. Although Reagan was initially a small-time B-film actor,[96]Warner Bros. was impressed by his performance in the final scene of Knute Rockne, All American,[96] and agreed to pair him with Errol Flynn in their film Santa Fe Trail (1940). Reagan then returned to B-films.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ76 Battery

After his performance in the studio's 1942 Kings Row, Warner decided to make Reagan a top star and signed him to a new contract, tripling his salary.[97]

In 1936, Harry Warner's daughter Doris read a copy of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind and was interested in making a film adaptation.[98] Doris then offered Mitchell $50,000 for the book's screen rights.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ770N/C Battery

Jack, however, refused to allow the deal to take place, realizing it would be an expensive production.[98]

Another studio actor who proved to be a problem for Jack Warner was George Raft. Warner had signed Raft in 1939, hoping he could substitute in gangster pictures when either Robinson or Cagney were on suspension. Raft had difficulty working with Bogart and refused to co-star in any film with him.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ77N Battery

Eventually, Jack Warner agreed to release Raft from his contract. Following Raft's departure, the studio gave Bogart the role of Roy Earl in the 1941 film High Sierra, which helped establish him as one of the studio's top stars; following High Sierra, Bogart was also given a role in John Huston's successful 1941 remake of the studio's 1931 failure, The Maltese Falcon.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ780 Battery

1930: Birth of Warner's cartoons

Warner's cartoon unit had its roots in the independent Harman and Ising studio. From 1930 to 1933, Disney alumni Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising produced a series of musical cartoons for Leon Schlesinger, who sold the shorts to Warner.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ78N Battery

Harman and Ising introduced their character Bosko in the first Looney Tunes cartoon, Sinkin' in the Bathtub, and created a sister series, Merrie Melodies, in 1931.

Harman and Ising broke away from Schlesinger in 1933 due to a contractual dispute, taking Bosko with them to MGM. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ791N/X Battery

As a result, Schlesinger started his own studio, Leon Schlesinger Productions, which continued with Merrie Melodies while starting production onLooney Tunes starring Buddy, a Bosko clone. By the end of the decade, a new Schlesinger production team, including directors Friz Freleng, Tex Avery, Robert Clampett, and Chuck Jones was formed. Schlesinger's staff developed a fast-paced, irreverent style that made their cartoons immensely popular worldwide.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ84NS Battery

In 1936, Avery directed a string of cartoons, starring Porky Pig, which established the character as the studio's first bona fide star. In addition to Porky Pig, Warner Bros. cartoon characters Daffy Duck (who debuted in the 1937 short Porky's Duck Hunt) andBugs Bunny (who debuted in the 1940 short A Wild Hare) also achieved star power.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ84PS Battery

By 1942, the Schlesinger studio had surpassed Walt Disney Studios as the most successful producer of animated shorts in the United States.

Warner Bros eventually bought Schlesinger's cartoon unit in 1944 as a division, renamed it as Warner Bros. Cartoons. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ84S Battery

Unfortunately, the unit was indifferently treated by senior management, beginning with the installation of Edward Selzer as senior producer, whom the creative staff considered an interfering incompetent. Furthermore, Jack Warner, who had little regard for his company's short film product, reputedly was so ignorant of his animation division that he was mistakenly convinced that the unit produced cartoons of Mickey Mouse, rival company Walt Disney Pictures' flagship character.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ84US Battery

Furthermore, he sold off the unit's pre-1948 library for a mere $3000 each, which proved a short sighted transaction in light of the considerable long term value that the company's animation product proved to have.

Warner Brothers Cartoons continued, with intermittent interruptions, until 1969 when it was dissolved when the parent company ceased film short production entirely. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ85NS Battery

Regardless of this treatment, its characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird, Sylvester, and Porky Pig became central to the company's image in subsequent decades. Bugs in particular remains a mascot to Warner Bros.' various divisions and Six Flags (which Time Warner previously owned). Sony VAIO VGN-SZ85S Battery

In fact, it was the success of the compilation film, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie in 1980, featuring the archived film of these characters that prompted Warner Brothers to organizeWarner Brothers Animation as a new production division to restart production of original material.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ85US Battery

World War II

According to Jack Warner in his autobiography, prior to the United States entering World War II, the head of Warner Bros. sales in Germany, Philip Kauffman, was murdered by the Nazis in Berlin in 1936. Harry Warner produced the successful anti-German film The Life of Emile Zola (1937).Sony VAIO VGN-SZ94NS Battery

After that, Harry supervised the production of several more anti-German films, including Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939), The Sea Hawk (1940), which made King Phillip II an equivalent of Hitler, Sergeant York, and You're In The Army Now (1941). After the United States officially entered World War II, Harry Warner decided to focus on producing war films.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ94PS Battery

Also, one-fourth of the studio's employees, including Jack Warner and his son Jack Jr., were drafted or enlisted.

Among the films the studio made during the war were Casablanca, Now, Voyager, Yankee Doodle Dandy (all 1942), This Is the Army, and Mission to Moscow (both 1943), the latter became controversial a few years afterwards. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ94S Battery

At the premieres of Yankee Doodle Dandy (in Los Angeles, New York, and London), audiences purchased $15.6 million in war bonds for the governments of England and the United States. By the middle of 1943, however, it became clear audiences were tired of war films. Despite the growing pressure to abandon production of war films, Warner continued to produce them, losing money in the process.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ94US Battery

Eventually, in honor of the studio's contributions to the war cause, the United States Government named a Liberty ship after the brothers' father, Benjamin Warner, and Harry Warner was given the honor of christening the ship. By the time the war ended, $20 million in war bonds were purchased through the studio,Sony VAIO VGN-SZ95NS Battery

the Red Cross collected 5,200 pints of plasma from studio employees, and 763 of the studio's employees served in the armed forces, including Harry Warner's son-in-law Milton Sperlingand Jack's son Jack Warner Jr.

Following a dispute over ownership of Casablanca's Oscar for Best Picture, head producer Hal B. Wallis broke with Warner and resigned.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ95S Battery

After Casablanca made Bogart one of the studio's top stars, Bogart found his relationship with Jack Warner deteriorating. In 1943, Olivia de Haviland (whom Warner was now loaning to different companies) sued Warner for breach of contract.

Warners cut its film production in half during the war, eliminating its B Picture unit in 1941. Bryan Foy was quickly snapped up by 20th Century Fox.Sony VAIO VGN-SZ95US Battery

De Haviland had refused to accept an offer to portray famed abolitionist Elizabeth Blackwell in an upcoming film for Columbia Pictures. Warner responded by sending 150 telegrams to different film production companies, warning them not to hire her for any role. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ121 Battery

Afterwards, de Haviland discovered employment contracts in the United States could only serve a duration of seven years; de Haviland had been under contract with the studio since 1935. The court ruled in de Haviland's favor and she left the studio. Through de Haviland's victory, many of the studio's longtime actors were now freed from their contracts, and Harry Warner decided to terminate the studio's suspension policy.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ13 Battery

The same year, Jack Warner also signed newly-released MGM actress Joan Crawford, a former top star who found her career fading. Crawford's first role with the studio was 1944's Hollywood Canteen. Her first starring role at the studio, in the title role as Mildred Pierce (1945), revived her career and earned her an Oscar for Best Actress.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ130N/B Battery

After World War II: changing hands

The record attendance figures of the World War II years made the Warner brothers rich. The gritty Warner image of the 1930s gave way to a glossier look, especially in women's pictures starring Davis, de Havilland, and Crawford.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ131 Battery

The 1940s also saw the rise of Bogart. In the post-war years, Warner Bros. continued to create new stars, like Lauren Bacall and Doris Day. The studio prospered greatly after the war.[127] By 1946, company payroll reached $600,000 a week[128] and net profit $19.4 million.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ132/N Battery

One problem for Warner Bros., however, was Jack Warner's refusal to meet Screen Actors Guild salary demands. In September 1946, the employees engaged in a month-long strike. In retaliation, Warner-during his 1947 testmony before Congress, for making the 1942 Russian propaganda film Mission to Moscow – accused a number of studio employees of having ties to Communists.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ132N Battery

By the end of 1947, the studio reached a record net profit of $22 million. This dropped 50% the following year.

On January 5, 1948, Warner offered the first color newsreel, covering the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl Game. In 1948, Bette Davis, still the studio's top actress and now fed up with Jack Warner, was a big problem for Harry after she and a number of her fellow colleagues left the studio after completing the filmBeyond the Forest.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ150N/B Battery

Warner was a party to the United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. anti-trust case of the 1940s. This action, brought by the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission, claimed the five integrated studio-theater chain combinations restrained competition. The Supreme Court heard the case in 1948, and ruled in favor of the government. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ150N/N Battery

As a result, Warner and four other major studios were forced to separate production from exhibition. In 1949, the studio's net profit was only $10 million.

Warner Bros. set up two semi-independent production units that made films for the studio. One of these was Harry Warner's son-in-law Milton Sperling's United States Pictures.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ160CB Battery

In the early 1950s, the threat of television had grown greatly, and in 1953, Jack Warner decided to take a new approach to compete with the rising threat. In the wake of United Artists successful 3D film Bwana Devil, he decided to expand into 3D films with the studio's 1953 film House of Wax. Unfortunately, despite the success of House of Wax, 3-D films soon lost their appeal among moviegoers.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ160N/B Battery

In 1952 Warner Bros. made their first film (Carson City) in "Warnercolor" the studio's name for Eastman Color.

3-D almost caused the demise of the Warner Bros. cartoon studio. Having completed a 3D Bugs Bunny cartoon, Lumber Jack-Rabbit, Jack Warner ordered the animation unit to be shut down, erroneously believing that all cartoons hence would be produced in the 3D process.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ16GN/B Battery

Several months later, Warner relented and reopened the cartoon studio. Fortunately, Warner Bros. had enough of a backlog of cartoons and a healthy reissue program so that there was no noticeable interruption in the release schedule.

After the downfall of 3D films, Harry Warner decided to use CinemaScope in future Warner Bros. films.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ16N Battery

One of the studio's firstCinemaScope films, The High and the Mighty (now owned by John Wayne's company Batjac), enabled the studio to show a profit.

Early in 1953, the Warner theater holdings were spun off as Stanley Warner Theaters; Stanley Warner's non-theater holdings were sold to Simon Fabian Enterprises, and its theaters merged with RKO Theatres to become RKO-Stanley Warner Theatres.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ16N/B Battery

By 1956, however, the studio was losing money. By the end of 1953, the studio's net profit was $2.9 million and ranged between $2 and $4 million for the next two years. In February 1956, Jack Warner sold the rights to all of the studio's pre-1950 films to Associated Artists Productions (which merged with United Artists Television in 1958).Sony VAIO VGN-TZ17/N Battery

In May 1956, the brothers announced they were putting Warner Bros. on the market. Jack, however, secretly organized a syndicate – headed by Boston banker Serge Semenenko – to purchase 800,000 shares, 90% of the company's stock. After the three brothers sold, Jack – through his under-the-table deal – joined Semenenko's syndicate and bought back all his stock, 200,000 shares.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ170N/B Battery

Shortly after the deal was completed in July, Jack – now the company's largest stockholder – appointed himself new president. By the time Harry and Albert learned of their brother's dealings, it was too late. Shortly after the deal was closed, Jack Warner announced the company and its subsidiaries would be "directed more vigorously to the acquisition of the most important story properties, talents, and to the production of the finest motion pictures possible."Sony VAIO VGN-TZ170N/N Battery

Warner Bros. Television

By 1949, with the success of television threatening the film industry more and more, Harry Warner decided to shift his focus towards television production. However, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) would not permit it.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ17GN/B Battery

After an unsuccessful attempt to convince other movie studio bosses to switch their focus to television, Harry abandoned his television efforts.

The other Warner brother, Jack, began his hatred of television with problems with Milton Berle being hired by the studio to make an unsuccessful film Always Leave Them Laughing during the peak of his television popularity. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ17N Battery

Warner felt that Berle was not strong enough as a lead to carry a film and that people would not pay to see the man they could see on television for free. However Jack Warner was pressured into using Berle, even replacing Danny Kaye with him. Berle's outrageous behaviour on the set and the film's massive failure proving Jack Warner right led to Jack Warner forbidding television sets appearing in the studio's film sets.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ18/N Battery

In 1954, the studio was finally able engage in television through the successful Warner Bros. Television unit run by William T. Orr, Jack Warner's son-in-law. Warner Bros. Television provided the ABC with a weekly show, Warner Bros. Presents; the show featured a rotating series of shows based on three of the studio's film successes, Kings Row, Casablanca and Cheyenne, followed by a promotion for one of Warner's big screen films.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ180N/RC Battery

It was not a success. The studio's next effort, making a weekly series out of Cheyenne, would be. Cheyenne was television's first one hour Western with two episodes placed together for feature film release outside the United States. In the tradition of their B Pictures, the studio followed up with a series of rapidly produced popular Westerns, such as Maverick, Bronco, and Colt .45.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ185N/WC Battery

The success of these series helped to make up for the losses on the film side.[154] As a result, Jack Warner decided to emphasize television production.[155] Warners then produced a series of popular private detective shows beginning with 77 Sunset Strip(1958–64) followed by Hawaiian Eye (1959–1963),Bourbon Street Beat (1960) and Surfside Six (1960–1962).Sony VAIO VGN-TZ18GN/X Battery

Within a few years, the studio, in a matter reminiscent of their problems with James Cagney and Bette Davis, provoked hostility among their emerging contract TV stars like Clint Walker and James Garner, who sued over a contract dispute[156] and won. Edd Byrnes was not so lucky and bought himself out of his contract.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ18N Battery

Jack Warner was angered by the perceived ingratitude of television actors, who evidently showed more independence than film actors, and this deepened his contempt for the new medium. Many of Warners television stars appeared in the casts of Warner's cinema releases of the time. In 1963 as a result of a court decision Warners has to cease their contracts with their television stars, engaging them for specific series or film roles. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ190N/B Battery

In the same year Jack Webb took over the television unit and did not have any successes.

Warner Bros. Family Entertainment

The family film label of Warner Bros.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ190N/BC Battery

Warner Bros. Records

Warner Bros. was already the owner of extensive music-publishing holdings, whose tunes had appeared in countless Warners cartoons (arranged by Carl Stalling) and television shows (arranged by Max Steiner ).

In 1958 the studio launched Warner Bros. Records. Initially the label released recordings made by their television stars whether they could sing or not and records based on the soundtracks of favourite Warner Bros. Television shows.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ191N/XC Battery

In 1963, Jack Warner agreed to a "rescue takeover" of Frank Sinatra's Reprise Records. The deal gave Sinatra US$1.5 million and part ownership of Warner Bros. Records, with Reprise becoming a sub-label; most significantly for Warner Bros.'s future music operations, the deal also brought Reprise manager Morris "Mo" Ostin into the company.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ195N/XC Battery

In 1964, upon seeing the profits record companies made from Warner film music, Jack Warner decided to claim ownership of the studio's film soundtracks and focus on making profits through Warner Bros. Records.[160] In its first eighteen months, Warner Bros. Records lost around $2 million.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ198N/RC Battery

New owners

Warner Bros. rebounded in the late 1950s, specializing in adaptations of popular plays like The Bad Seed (1956), No Time for Sergeant swift (1958), and Gypsy (1962).

With his health slowly recovering from a car accident whilst on holiday to France in 1958, Jack returned to the studio and made sure his name was featured in studio press releases.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ250N/B Battery

In each of the first three years of the 1960s, the studio's net profit was a little over $7 million. Warner paid an unprecedented $5.5 million for the film rights to the Broadway musical My Fair Lady in February 1962. The previous owner, CBS director William S. Paley, set terms including half the distributor's gross profits "plus ownership of the negative at the end of the contract."Sony VAIO VGN-TZ250N/N Battery

In 1963, the net profit dropped to $3.7 million. By the mid-1960s, motion picture production was in decline. There were few studio-produced films and many more co-productions (for which Warner provided facilities, money, and distribution), and pickups of independently made pictures.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ250N/P Battery

With the success of the studio's 1965 Broadway play The Great Race, as well as its soundtrack,Warner Bros. Records became a profitable subsidiary. The studio's 1966 film Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? was a huge success at the box office.

In November 1966, Jack gave in to advancing age and the changing times, selling control of the studio and its music business to Seven Arts Productions, run by the Canadian investors Elliot and Kenneth Hyman, for $32 million.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ27/N Battery

The company, including the studio, was renamed Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. Jack Warner did, however, remain studio president until the summer of 1967, when Camelot failed at the box office and Warner gave up his position to the studio's longtime publicity director, Ben Kalmenson;[167] Warner did, however, remain on board as an independent producer and vice-president.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ270N/B Battery

With the success of the studio's 1967 filmBonnie and Clyde, Warner Bros was making profits once again.

Two years later, the Hymans, now fed up with Jack Warner, accepted a cash-and-stock offer from an odd conglomerate called Kinney National Company for more than $64 million. Kinney owned a Hollywood talent agency, Ashley-Famous, and it was Ted Ashley who led Kinney head Steve Ross to purchase Warner Bros.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ27N Battery

Ashley became the new head of the studio, and the name was changed to Warner Bros., Inc. once again. Jack Warner, however, was outraged by the Hymans' sale,[168] and decided to retire.[168]

Although movie audiences had shrunk, Warner's new management believed in the drawing power of stars, Sony VAIO VGN-TZ28/N Battery

signing co-production deals with several of the biggest names of the day, among them Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Barbra Streisand, and Clint Eastwood, carrying the studio successfully through the 1970s and 1980s. Warner Bros. also made major profits on films built around the characters of Superman and Batman, owned by Warner Bros. subsidiary DC Comics.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ285N/RC Battery

Abandoning the mundane parking lots and funeral homes, the refocused Kinney renamed itself in honor of its best-known holding, Warner Communications. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Warner Communications branched out into other business, such as its acquiring of video game company Atari, Inc. in 1976, and later the Six Flagstheme parks.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ28N Battery

From 1971 until the end of 1987, Warner's international distribution operations were a joint venture with Columbia Pictures, and in some countries, this joint venture also distributed films from other companies (like EMI Films and Cannon Films in the UK). Warner ended the venture in 1988 and joined up with Walt Disney Pictures; this joint venture lasted until 1993, when Disney created Buena Vista International.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ290EAB Battery

In 1972 in a cost-cutting move, Warner and Columbia Pictures formed a partnership called The Burbank Studios in which they would share production facilities utilitizing the Warner lot in Burbank. The partnership ended in 1990 when Columbia moved into the former MGM studio lot in Culver City.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ290EAN Battery

To the surprise of many, flashy, star-driven Warner Communications merged in 1989 with the white-shoe publishing company Time Inc. Though Time and its magazines claimed a higher tone, it was the Warner Bros. film and music units which provided the profits.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ290EAP Battery

The Time Warner merger was almost derailed when Paramount Communications (Formerly Gulf+Western, later sold to Viacom), launched a $12.2 billion dollar hostile takeover bid for Time Inc., forcing Time to acquire Warner for $14.9 billion dollar cash/stock offer. Paramount responded with a lawsuit filed in Delaware court to break up the merger. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ295N/XC Battery

Paramount lost and the merger proceeded.In 1997, Time Warner sold the Six Flags unit. The takeover of Time Warner in 2000 by then-high-flying AOL did not prove a good match, and following the collapse in "dot-com" stocks, the AOL name was banished from the corporate nameplate.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ298N/XC Battery

Since 1995

In 1995, Warner and station owner Tribune Company of Chicago launched The WB Network, finding a niche market in teenagers. The WB's early programming included an abundance of teenage fare like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Smallville, Dawson's Creek, and One Tree Hill. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ33/B Battery

Two dramas produced by Spelling Television, 7th Heaven and Charmed also helped bring The WB into the spotlight, with "Charmed" lasting eight seasons and being the longest running drama with female leads and "7th Heaven" surviving eleven seasons and being the longest running family drama and longest running show for The WB.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ33/N Battery

In 2006, Warner and CBS Paramount Televisiondecided to close The WB and CBS's UPN and jointly launch The CW Television Network. In 1999, Terry Semels and Robert Daly resigned as heads of the studio after a career of 13 Oscar nominated films. Many of Warner's top stars were considering quitting because of their absence.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ33/W Battery

Daly and Semels were said to popularize the modern model of partner financing and profit sharing for film production. In the late 1990s, Warner obtained rights to the Harry Potter novels, and released feature film adaptations of thefirst in 2001, the second in 2002, the third in June 2004, the fourth in November 2005, and the fifth on July 11, 2007. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ350N/B Battery

The sixthwas slated for November 2008, but Warner moved it to July 2009 only three months before the movie was supposed to come out, citing the lack of summer blockbusters in 2009 (due to the Writer's Strike) as the reason. The decision was purely financial, and Alan Horn said, "There were no delays. I’ve seen the movie. It is fabulous. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ350N/N Battery

We would have been perfectly able to have it out in November.”[171] This resulted in a massive fan backlash.[172] The seventh and final adaptation was released in two parts: Part 1 in November 2010 and Part 2 in July 2011.

Over the years, Warner Bros. has had distribution and/or co-production deals with a number of small companies. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ350N/P Battery

These include (but are not limited to) Amblin Entertainment, The Zanuck Company, Morgan Creek Productions (now working with Universal Studios), Regency Enterprises (now working with 20th Century Fox), Village Roadshow Pictures, Icon Productions, Legendary Pictures, Heyday Films, Alcon Entertainment, Lakeshore Entertainment,Sony VAIO VGN-TZ370N/B Battery

Malpaso Productions, Virtual Studios, Silver Pictures (including Dark Castle Entertainment), The Ladd Company, Castle Rock Entertainment and The Geffen Film Company. Green Hat Films, Troublemaker Studios, DC Entertainment, Appian Way Productions, GK Films, Media Rights Capital, Syncopy Films, Cruel and Unusual Films and Spyglass Entertainment.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ37N/G Battery

Warner Bros. played a large part in the discontinuation of the HD DVD format. On January 4, 2008, Warner Bros. announced that they would drop support of HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray Disc. HD DVDs would continue to be released through May 2008 (when their contract with the HD DVD promotion group expired), but only following Blu-ray and DVD releases. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ37N/P Battery

This started a chain of events which resulted in HD DVD development and production being halted by Toshiba on February 16, 2008, ending the format war.

Warner Bros. and National CineMedia have formed a partnership to provide pre-feature entertainment and advertising in movie theaters nationwide.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ37N/R Battery

Warner Bros. celebrated its 90th anniversary on June 1, 2008 even though the company celebrated for its 85th anniversary for films only.

In 2009, Warner Bros. became the first studio in history to gross more than $2 billion domestically in a single year.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ37N/X Battery

Warner Bros. is responsible for the Harry Potter film series, the highest grossing film series of all time, both domestic and international without inflation adjustment. It is also responsible for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 as Warner Bros.' highest grossing movie ever (the former was The Dark Knight).Sony VAIO VGN-TZ38N/X Battery

IMAX Corp. has finalized a pact with Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. Pictures unit to release as many as 20 giant-format films through 2013.

Since 2006, Warner Bros operated a joint venture with China Film Group Corporation and HG to form Warner China Film HG to produce films in Hong Kong and China, including Connected, which is a remake of the 2004 thriller film Cellular, they have co-produced many other Chinese films as well.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ398U/XC Battery

In 2010, Warner announced its intention to buy Leavesden Film Studios near London, where the Harry Potter films were shot, making Warner Bros. the first studio since MGM in the 1940s to establish a permanent base in Europe.

In 2010, Warner Bros. had a deal with French film distributor, Pathé to handle their films for theatrical distribution in the UK with 20th Century Fox still distributing their film catalog for DVD release.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ50B Battery

Flixster including Rotten Tomatoes was acquired by Warner Bros. in May 2011.

Film library

Over the years, a series of mergers and acquisitions have helped Warner Bros. (the present-day Time Warner subsidiary) to accumulate a diverse collection of movies, cartoons, and television programs.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ90HS Battery

In the aftermath of the 1948 antitrust suit, uncertain times led Warner Bros. in 1956 to sell most of its pre-1950 films and cartoons to a holding company called Associated Artists Productions (a.a.p.). a.a.p. also got the Fleischer Studios and Famous Studios Popeyecartoons originally from Paramount. Two years later, a.a.p. was sold to United Artists (UA), which held them until 1981, when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer bought UA.Sony VAIO VGN-TZ90NS Battery

Five years later, Turner Broadcasting System, having failed to buy MGM, settled for ownership of the MGM/UA library. This included almost all the pre-May 1986 MGM film and television library with the exception of those owned by United Artists (i.e. James Bond franchise), although some UA material were included such as the a.a.p. library, the U.S. rights to a majority of the RKO Radio Pictures library, and the television series Gilligan's Island. Sony VAIO VGN-TZ90S Battery

In 1991, Turner Broadcasting System bought animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions, and much of the back catalog of both Hanna-Barbera and Ruby-Spears Productionsfrom Great American Broadcasting, and three years later, Turner bought New Line Cinema and Castle Rock Entertainment.Sony VAIO VPC CW2MFX/PU Battery

In 1996, Time Warner bought Turner Broadcasting System, and as a result, the pre-1950 sound films and the pre-August 1948 cartoon library (excluding the B&W Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies which WB bought back as it merged with Seven Arts but including the Harman-Ising Merrie Melodies, save Lady, Play Your Mandolin! which was bought back by WB when merging with 7A) returned to WB ownership.Sony VAIO VPC S11V9E/B Battery

WB tried to buy back the pre-1950 sound films and pre-August 1948 cartoons from MGM/UA in 1982, but the deal fell through.

In 2007, Warner Bros. added the Peanuts/Charlie Brown library to its collection (this includes all the television specials and series outside of the theatrical library, which continues to be owned by CBS and Paramount through United Feature Syndicate, licensor and owner of the Peanuts material).Sony VAIO VPCB119GJ/B Battery

In 2008, Warner Bros. absorbed New Line Cinema, as a result, Warner added the New Line Cinema film and television library to its collection. On October 15, 2009, Warner Bros. acquired the home entertainment rights to the Sesame Street library, in conjunction with Sesame Workshop. Sony VAIO VPCB11AGJ Battery

The Warner Bros. Archives

The University of Southern California Warner Bros. Archives is the largest single studio collection in the world. Donated in 1977 to USC's School of Cinema-Television by Warner Communications, the WBA houses departmental records that detail Warner Bros. activities from the studio's first major feature, My Four Years in Germany (1918), to its sale to Seven Arts in 1968.Sony VAIO VPCB11AVJ Battery

UA donated pre-1949 Warner Bros. nitrates to the Library of Congress and post-1951 negatives to the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Most of the company's legal files, scripts, and production materials were donated to the University of Wisconsin–Madison.Sony VAIO VPCB11V9E Battery

Bugs Bunny is a fictional animated character who starred in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated short films produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions, which became Warner Bros. Cartoons in 1944. Bugs starred in 167 shorts during the Golden Age of American animation, and cameoed in many others, including few appearances in non-animated films. He is an anthropomorphic hare or rabbit.Sony VAIO VPCB11X9E Battery

According to Bugs Bunny: 50 Years and Only One Grey Hare, he was born on July 27, 1940 in Brooklyn, New York in a warren under Ebbets Field, home of the Brooklyn Dodgers. In reality, he was created by many animators and staff, including Tex Avery, who directed A Wild Hare, Bugs' debut role, and Robert McKimson, who created the definitive "Bugs Bunny" character design.Sony VAIO VPCCW18FJ/P Battery

According to Mel Blanc, the character's original voice actor, Bugs has a Flatbush accent. Bugs has had numerous catchphrases, the most prominent being a casual "Eh... What's up, doc?", usually said while chewing a carrot.

He is the most prominent of the Looney Tunes characters as his calm, flippant insouciance endeared him to American audiences during and after World War II. He is also a mascot of the Looney Tunes, as well as Warner Bros. in general.Sony VAIO VPCCW18FJ/R Battery

A rabbit (named as "Happy Rabbit") with some of the personality of Bugs, though looking very different, first appears in the cartoon short Porky's Hare Hunt, released on April 30, 1938. Co-directed by Ben "Bugs" Hardaway and an uncredited Cal Dalton (who was responsible for the initial design of Happy), this short has an almost identical plot to Tex Avery's 1937 cartoonPorky's Duck Hunt, which had introduced Daffy Duck. Sony VAIO VPCCW18FJ/W Battery

Porky Pig is again cast as a hunter tracking a silly prey less interested in escape than in driving his pursuer insane. The latter short replaces the little black duck with a small white rabbit. Happy introduces himself with the odd expression "Jiggers, fellers", and Mel Blanc gave Happy a voice and laugh almost like that he would later use for Woody Woodpecker.Sony VAIO VPCCW19FJ/W Battery

This cartoon also first uses the famous Groucho Marx line, "Of course you realize, this means war!" This rabbit was so popular with its audience that the Schlesinger staff decided to use it again.

Happy appears again in 1939's Prest-O Change-O, directed by Chuck Jones, where he is the pet rabbit of unseen character Sham-Fu the Magician.Sony VAIO VPCCW1AFJ Battery

Two dogs, fleeing the local dogcatcher, enter his absent master's house. Happy harasses them, but is ultimately bested by the bigger of the two dogs.

His third appearance is in another 1939 cartoon, Hare-um Scare-um, directed by Dalton and Hardaway. This short, the first where he is depicted as a gray bunny instead of a white one, is also notable for Happy's first singing role. Sony VAIO VPCCW1AHJ Battery

Charlie Thorson, lead animator on the short, gave the character a name. He had written "Bugs' Bunny" on the model sheet that he drew for Hardaway, e rabbit model sheet to be Hardaway's property. In promotional material for the short, including a surviving 1939 presskit, the name on the model sheet was altered to become the rabbit's own name: "Bugs" Bunny (quotation marks only used at the very beginning).Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E Battery

In his later years, Mel Blanc stated that a proposed name was "Happy Rabbit". Oddly, "Happy" was only used in reference to Bugs Hardaway. In the cartoon Hare-um Scare-um, a newspaper headline reads, "Happy Hardaway".

In Chuck Jones' Elmer's Candid Camera Happy first meets Elmer Fudd. This rabbit looks more like the present-day Bugs, taller and with a similar face.Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/B Battery

This rabbit, however, speaks with a rural drawl. The early version of Elmer is also different from the present-day one, much fatter and taller, although Arthur Q. Bryan's voice is the same as it would be later. In Robert Clampett's 1940 Patient Porky, a similar rabbit appears to trick the audience into thinking that 750 rabbits have been born.Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/L Battery

Bugs Bunny emerges

A Wild Hare, directed by Tex Avery and released on July 27, 1940, is the first cartoon where both Elmer Fudd and Bugs are shown in their fully developed forms as hunter and tormentor. In this cartoon Mel Blanc first uses what would become Bugs' standard voice;Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/P Battery

this cartoon also marks the first time that Bugs uses his catchphrase, "What's up, Doc?" Animation historian Joe Adamson counts A Wild Hare as the first "official" Bugs Bunny short. The short was a huge success in theaters and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/R Battery

Bugs's second appearance, in Jones' 1941 short Elmer's Pet Rabbit, introduces the audience to the name Bugs Bunny, which until then had only been used among the Termite Terrace employees. It was also the first short where he received billing under his now-famous name, but the card, "featuring Bugs Bunny", was just slapped on the end of the completed short's opening titles when A Wild Hareproved an unexpected success.Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/W Battery

However, Bugs' voice in this cartoon is noticibly different, and his design was slightly altered as well. For the next several cartoons produced afterwards, Bugs' original design and voice fromA Wild Hare would be re-used.

World War II

By 1942, Bugs had become the number one star of Merrie Melodies. Sony VAIO VPCCW21FX/B Battery

The series had originally been intended only for one-shot characters in shorts after several early attempts to introduce characters (Foxy, Goopy Geer and Piggy) failed under Harman–Ising. (In 1937, under Schlesinger, it had started introducing newer characters.) The 1942 short Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid shows a slight redesign of Bugs, with less-prominent front teeth and a rounder head.Sony VAIO VPCCW21FX/L Battery

The character was reworked by Robert McKimson, then an animator in Robert Clampett's unit. The redesign at first was only used in the shorts created by Clampett's unit, but in time it would be taken up by the other directors, with Freleng and Frank Tashlin the first. When McKimson was himself promoted to director, he created yet another version, with more slanted eyes, longer teeth and a much larger mouth.Sony VAIO VPCCW21FX/R Battery

He used this version until 1949 (as didArt Davis for the one Bugs Bunny cartoon he directed) when he started using the version he had designed for Clampett. Jones would come up with his own slight modification, and the voice had slight variations between the units.[2] Bugs also made cameos in Tex Avery's final Warner Bros. short, Crazy Cruise.Sony VAIO VPCCW21FX/W Battery

Since Bugs' debut in A Wild Hare, he had appeared only in color Merrie Melodie cartoons (making him one of the few recurring characters created for that series in the Leon Schlesinger era prior to the full conversion to color), alongside Elmer's prototype Egghead, Inki, Sniffles, and Elmer himself. Sony VAIO VPCCW26EC Battery

While he made a cameo appearance in the 1943 Porky and Daffy cartoon Porky Pig's Feat this was his only appearance in a black-and-white Looney Tune cartoon. He did not star in a cartoon in the Looney Tunes series until that series made its complete conversion to only color cartoons beginning with 1944 releases. Buckaroo Bugs was Bugs' first cartoon in the Looney Tunes series, and was also the last Warner Bros. cartoon to credit Leon Schlesinger.Sony VAIO VPCCW26FX/B Battery

Bugs' popularity soared during World War II because of his free and easy attitude, and began receiving special star billing in his cartoons by 1943. By that time Warner Bros. had become the most profitable cartoon studio in the United States. In company with cartoon studios such as Disney and Famous Studios, Warners put its characters against Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and the Japanese.Sony VAIO VPCCW28EC Battery

The 1944 short Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips features Bugs at odds with a group of Japanese soldiers. This cartoon has since been pulled from distribution due to its racial stereotypes of Japanese people. He also faces off against Herman Goering and Hitler in the 1945 short Herr Meets Hare, which introduced his well-known reference to Albuquerque as he mistakenly winds up in the Black Forest of 'Joimany' instead of Las Vegas, Nevada.Sony VAIO VPCCW28FJ/P Battery

Bugs also appeared in the 1942 two-minute U.S. war bonds commercial film Any Bonds Today, along with Porky and Elmer.

At the end of the 1943 short Super-Rabbit, Bugs appears wearing a United States Marine Corps dress blue uniform. As a result, the Marine Corps made Bugs an honorary Marine Master Sergeant.Sony VAIO VPCCW28FJ/R Battery

From 1943 to 1946, Bugs was the official mascot of Kingman Army Airfield, Kingman, Arizona, where thousands of aerial gunners were trained during World War II. Some notable trainees included Clark Gable and Charles Bronson. Bugs also served as the mascot for 530 Squadron of the 380th Bombardment Group, 5th Air Force, U.S. Air Force, which was attached to the Royal Australian Air Force and operated out of Australia's Northern Territory from 1943 to 1945, flying B-24 Liberator bombers. Sony VAIO VPCCW28FJ/W Battery

Bugs riding an air delivered torpedo served as the squadron logo for Marine Torpedo/Bomber Squadron 242 in the Second World War.

In 1944, Bugs Bunny made a cameo appearance in Jasper Goes Hunting, a short produced by rival studio Paramount Pictures. In this cameo (animated by Robert McKimson, with Mel Blanc providing the voice), Bugs pops out of a rabbit hole, saying his usual catchphrase; Bugs then says, "I must be in the wrong picture" and then goes back in the hole. Sony VAIO VPCCW29FJ/W Battery

The post-war era

After World War II Bugs appeared in numerous cartoon shorts in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series, making his last appearance in the theatrical cartoons in 1964 with False Hare. He was directed by Friz Freleng, Robert McKimson, Arthur Davis and Chuck Jones.Sony VAIO VPCCW2AFJ Battery

The short Knighty Knight Bugs (1958), in which a medieval Bugs trades blows with Yosemite Sam and his fire-breathing dragon (which has a cold), won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1959. Three of Chuck Jones' Bugs Bunny shorts — Rabbit Fire, Rabbit Seasoning, and Duck! Rabbit, Duck! — comprise what is often referred to as the "Duck Season/Rabbit Season" trilogy.Sony VAIO VPCCW2AHJ Battery

Jones' 1957 classic, What's Opera, Doc?, cast Bugs and Elmer in a parody of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. It has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry, the first cartoon short to receive this honor.Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E Battery

In the fall of 1960, ABC debuted the prime-time television program The Bugs Bunny Show. This show packaged many of the post-1948 Warners shorts with newly animated wraparounds. After two seasons, it was moved from its evening slot to reruns on Saturday mornings. Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/B Battery

The Bugs Bunny Show changed format and exact title frequently, but remained on network television for 40 years. The packaging was later completely different, with each short simply presented on its own, title and all, though some clips from the new bridging material were sometimes used as filler.Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/L Battery

After the classic cartoon era

After Mel Blanc died in 1989, Jeff Bergman, Greg Burson, Billy West, and Joe Alaskey became the new voices of Bugs Bunny and many of the other Looney Tunes, each taking turns doing Bugs' voice for various projects over the years.Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/P Battery

Bugs has made appearances in animated specials for network television, mostly composed of classic cartoons with bridging material added, including How Bugs Bunny Won the West, and The Bugs Bunny Mystery Special. Bugs Bunny's Busting Out All Over (1980) contained no vintage clips and featured the first new Bugs Bunny cartoons in 16 years.Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/R Battery

It opened with "Portrait Of The Artist As a Young Bunny", which features a flashback of Bugs as a child thwarting a young Elmer Fudd, while its third and closing short was "Spaced Out Bunny", with Bugs being kidnapped by Marvin the Martian to be a playmate for Hugo, an Abominable Snowman-like character. Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/W Battery

(A new Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner short filled out the half hour.) Compilation films included the independently produced Bugs Bunny: Superstar, using the vintage shorts then owned by United Artists; as well as Warner Bros. efforts The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie, The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie, Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island,Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: Sony VAIO VPCCW2S5C CN1 Battery

1001 Rabbit Tales and Daffy Duck's Quackbusters. He also made guest appearances in episodes of the 1990s television program Tiny Toon Adventures as the principal of Acme Looniversity and the mentor of Babs and Buster Bunny, and would later make occasional guest cameos on spinoffs Taz-Mania andAnimaniacs. He appears in the beginning of Gremlins 2: The New Batch, where he tries to ride the opening Warner Bros logo, but is interrupted by Daffy Duck.Sony VAIO VPCF112FX/B Battery

Bugs has had several comic book series over the years. Western Publishing had the license for all the Warner Brothers cartoons, and produced Bugs Bunny comics first for Dell Comics, then later for their own Gold Key Comics. Dell published 58 issues and several specials from 1952 to 1962. Gold Key continued for another 133 issues. Sony VAIO VPCF115FG/B Battery

DC Comics, the sister/subsidiary company of Warner Bros., has published several comics titles since 1994 that Bugs has appeared in. Notable among these was the 2000 four-issue miniseries Superman & Bugs Bunny, written by Mark Evanier and drawn by Joe Staton. This depicted a crossover between DC's superheroes and the Warner cartoon characters.Sony VAIO VPCF116FGBI Battery

Return to television

Bugs Bunny and the rest of the Looney Tunes gang returned to Cartoon Network in 2011 in a brand new show called The Looney Tunes Show, withJeff Bergman returning to voice both Bugs and Daffy Duck. This series will also feature the characters singing original songs as well. The show debuted on May 3, 2011.Sony VAIO VPCF117FJ/W Battery

A large difference between Bugs and Daffy's friendship in the show is that, whereas Bugs would hardly mind Daffy's flaws in the original cartoons, in the show Bugs is often and openly annoyed at Daffy's antics, sometimes to the point of aggression when Daffy becomes too obnoxious. He also dated Lola Bunny once, but found her to be "crazy" and a bit too talkative. Sony VAIO VPCF117HG/BI Battery

Though later on as the series progressed they did rekindle their relationship. Unlike the original cartoons, Bugs lives in a regular home, which he shares with Daffy. To earn income, Bugs earns money for having invented the Carrot Peeler.

Bugs has feuded with Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Willoughby the Dog, Marvin the Martian, Beaky Buzzard, Daffy Duck,Sony VAIO VPCF118FJ/W Battery

Porky Pig, Tasmanian Devil, Cecil Turtle ,Witch Hazel, Rocky and Mugsy, Wile E. Coyote, the Crusher, Gremlin, Big Bad Wolf,Count Blood Count and a host of others. Bugs almost always wins these conflicts, a plot pattern which recurs in Looney Tunes films directed by Chuck Jones.Sony VAIO VPCF119FC Battery

Concerned that viewers would lose sympathy for an aggressive protagonist who always won, Jones arranged for Bugs to be bullied, cheated, or threatened by the antagonists while minding his own business, justifying his subsequent antics as retaliation or self-defense. He's also been known to break the fourth wall by "communicating" with the audience, Sony VAIO VPCF119FC/BI Battery

either by explaining the situation (e.g. "Be with you in a minute, folks!"), describing someone to the audience (e.g. "Feisty, ain't they?"), clueing in on the story (e.g. "That happens to him all during the picture, folks."), explaining that one of his antagonists' actions have pushed him to the breaking point ("Of course you know, this means war."), etc.Sony VAIO VPCF119FJ/BI Battery

Bugs will usually try to placate the antagonist and avoid conflict, but when an antagonist pushes him too far, Bugs may address the audience and invoke his catchphrase "Of course you realize this means war!" before he retaliates, and the retaliation will be devastating. Sony VAIO VPCF11AFJ Battery

This line was taken from Groucho Marx and others in the 1933 film Duck Soup and was also used in the 1935 Marx film A Night at the Opera. Bugs would pay homage to Groucho in other ways, such as occasionally adopting his stooped walk or leering eyebrow-raising (in Hair-Raising Hare, for example) or sometimes with a direct impersonation (as in Slick Hare).Sony VAIO VPCF11AGJ Battery

Other directors, such as Friz Freleng, characterized Bugs as altruistic. When Bugs meets other successful characters (such as Cecil Turtle in Tortoise Beats Hare, or, in World War II, the Gremlin of Falling Hare), his overconfidence becomes a disadvantage. Sony VAIO VPCF11AHJ Battery

Most of Bugs' antagonists are extremely dim-witted, and Bugs is easily able to outwit and torment them, though on occasion they will manage to get the best of Bugs. Daffy Duck, who is considerably more intelligent, is unaffected by Bugs' usual schemes, and the two usually end up fighting a battle of wits, though Bugs is still the superior.Sony VAIO VPCF11JFX/B Battery

During the 1940s, Bugs was immature and wild, but starting in the 1950s his personality matured and his attitude was less frenetic. Though often shown as highly mischievous and violent, Bugs is never actually malicious, and only acts as such in self-defense against his aggressors; the only two cartoons where Bugs ever served as an antagonist were Buckaroo Bugs and Duck Amuck;Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E Battery

the latter cartoon depicts him as far more sadistic than usual, as he becomes the cartoonist and abuses his newfound divine powers to torture Daffy.

Bugs Bunny's nonchalant carrot-chewing standing position, as explained by Chuck Jones,Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E/H Battery

Friz Freleng, and Bob Clampett, originated in a scene in the film It Happened One Night, in which Clark Gable's character leans against a fence, eating carrots rapidly and talking with his mouth full to Claudette Colbert's character. This scene was well known while the film was popular, and viewers at the time likely recognized Bugs Bunny's behavior as satire.Sony VAIO VPCF11MFX/B Battery

The carrot-chewing scenes are generally followed by Bugs Bunny's most well-known catchphrase, "What's up, Doc?", which was written by director Tex Avery for his first Bugs Bunny short, 1940s A Wild Hare. Avery explained later that it was a common expression in his native Texas and that he did not think much of the phrase. When the short was first screened in theaters, the "What's up, Doc?" scene generated a tremendously positive audience reaction.Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E Battery

As a result, the scene became a recurring element in subsequent films and cartoons. The phrase was sometimes modified for a situation. For example, Bugs says "What's up, dogs?" to the antagonists in A Hare Grows in Manhattan, "What's up, Duke?" to the knight in Knight-mare Hare and "What's up, prune-face?" to the aged Elmer in The Old Grey Hare. Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E/B Battery

He might also greet Daffy with "What's up, Duck?" He used one variation, "What's all the hub-bub, bub?" only once, in Falling Hare.Another variation is used in Looney Tunes: Back In Action when he greets a lightsaber-wielding Marvin the Martian saying "What's up, Darth?"Sony VAIO VPCF11Z1E Battery

Several Chuck Jones shorts in the late 1940s and 1950s depict Bugs travelling via cross-country (and, in some cases, intercontinental) tunnel-digging, ending up in places as varied as Mexico (Bully for Bugs, 1953), the Himalayas (The Abominable Snow Rabbit, 1960) and Antarctica (Frigid Hare, 1949) all because he "shoulda taken that left toin at Albukoikee." Sony VAIO VPCF11Z1E/BI Battery

He first utters that phrase in Herr Meets Hare (1945), when he emerges in the Black Forest, a cartoon seldom seen today due to its blatantly topical subject matter. When Hermann Göring says to Bugs, "There is no Las Vegas in 'Chermany'" and takes a potshot at Bugs, Bugs dives into his hole and says, "Joimany! Yipe!", as Bugs realizes he's behind enemy lines. Sony VAIO VPCF11ZHJ Battery

The confused response to his "left toin" comment also followed a pattern. For example, when he tunnels into Scotland in 1948's My Bunny Lies over the Sea, while thinking he's heading for the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, California, it provides another chance for an ethnic stereotype: "Therrre's no La Brrrea Tarrr Pits in Scotland!" (to which Bugs responds, "Uh...what's up, Mac-doc?"). Sony VAIO VPCF127HGBI Battery

A couple of late-1950s shorts of this ilk also featured Daffy Duck travelling with Bugs ("Since when is Pismo Beach inside a cave?!").

Bugs Bunny has some similarities to figures from mythology and folklore, such as Br'er Rabbit, Nanabozho, or Anansi, and might be seen as a modern trickster (for example, he repeatedly uses cross-dressing mischievously). Sony VAIO VPCF137HG/BI Battery

Unlike most cartoon characters, however, Bugs Bunny is rarely defeated in his own games of trickery. One exception to this is the short Hare Brush, in which Elmer Fudd ultimately carries the day at the end; however, critics note that in this short, Elmer and Bugs assume each other's personalities—through mental illness and hypnosis, respectively—and it is only by becoming Bugs that Elmer can win. However, Bugs was beaten at his own game. Sony VAIO VPCS111FM/S Battery

In the short Duck Amuck he torments Daffy Duck as the unseen animator, ending with his line, "Ain't I a stinker?" Bugs feels the same wrath of an unseen animator in the short Rabbit Rampage where he is in turn tormented by Elmer Fudd. At the end of the clip Elmer gleefully exclaims, 'Well, I finally got even with that scwewy wabbit!"Sony VAIO VPCS115EC Battery

Although it was usually Porky Pig who brought the WB cartoons to a close with his stuttering, "That's all, folks!", Bugs would occasionally appear, bursting through a drum just as Porky did, but munching a carrot and saying in his Bronx-Brooklyn accent, "And dat's de end!"Sony VAIO VPCS115FG Battery

The name "Bugs" or "Bugsy" as an old-fashioned nickname means "crazy" (or "loopy"). Several famous people from the first half of the twentieth century had that nickname, like famous gangster, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, whom he disliked the nickname. It is now out of fashion as a nickname, but survives in 1950s–1960s expressions like "you're bugging me", as in "you're driving me crazy".Sony VAIO VPCS117GG Battery

Bugs wears white gloves, which he is rarely seen without, although he may remove one and use it for slapping an opponent to predicate a duel. Another glove-less example is the episode Long-Haired Hare, where Bugs pretends to be the famed conductor Leopold Stokowski and instructs opera star "Giovanni Jones" to sing and to hold a high note. Sony VAIO VPCS117GGB Battery

As Giovanni Jones is turning red with the strain, Bugs slips his left hand out of its glove, leaving the glove hovering in the air in order to command Jones to continue to hold the high note. Bugs then nips down to the mail drop to order, and then to receive, a pair of ear defenders. Bugs puts on the ear defenders and then zips back into the amphitheater and reinserts his hand into his glove as singer Jones is writhing on the stage, still holding that same high note.Sony VAIO VPCS118EC Battery

Bugs Bunny is also a master of disguise: he can wear any disguise that he wants to confuse his enemies: in Bowery Bugs he uses diverse disguises: fakir, gentleman, woman, baker and finally policeman. This ability of disguise makes Bugs famous because we can recognize him while at the same time realizing that his enemies are stumped.Sony VAIO VPCS119FJ/B Battery

Bugs has a certain preference for the female disguise: Taz, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam were fooled by this sexy bunny (woman) and in Hare Trimmed, Sam discovers the real face of "Granny" (Bugs's disguise) in the church where they attempt to get married. For all the gullible victims of all these disguises, however, for some reason, Daffy Duck and Cecil Turtle are among those who are never fooled.Sony VAIO VPCS119GC Battery

Bugs Bunny may also have some mystical potential. In Knight-mare Hare he was able to return to his bunny form (after being transformed into a donkey) by removing his donkey form as if it were a suit. Merlin of Monroe (the wizard) was unable to do the same thing. Later Bugs Bunny defeated the Count Blood Count in a magical spell duel. Sony VAIO VPCS11AFJ Battery

However, the story was a dream and Bugs Bunny's victory over Count Blood Count was a result of his intellect, not innate magical power.

Rabbit or hare?

The animators throughout Bugs' history have treated the terms rabbit and hare as synonymous. Taxonomically, they are not synonymous, being somewhat similar but observably different types of lagomorphs.Sony VAIO VPCS11AGJ Battery

Hares have much longer ears than rabbits, so Bugs might seem to be of the hare family, yet rabbits live in burrows, as Bugs is seen to do. Many more of the cartoon titles include the word "hare" rather than "rabbit," as "hare" lends itself easily to puns ("hair," "air," etc.) although Elmer Fudd has always referred to Bugs as a "wabbit".Sony VAIO VPCS11AHJ Battery

Within the cartoons, although the term "hare" comes up sometimes, again typically as a pun—for example, Bugs drinking "hare tonic" to "stop falling hare" or being doused with "hare restorer" to bring him back from invisibility—Bugs as well as his antagonists most often refer to the character as a "rabbit." The word "bunny" is of no help in answering this question, as it is a synonym for both young hares and young rabbits.Sony VAIO VPCS11AVJ Battery

In Nike commercials with Michael Jordan, Bugs had been referred to as "Hare Jordan."

Openings and closings of shorts

In the opening of many of the Bugs Bunny cartoons, the Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes irises contain Bugs Bunny's head after the Warner Bros. shield (generally from 1944 and 1949 onward). Sony VAIO VPCS11J7E/B Battery

Others have Bugs Bunny relaxing on top of the Warner Bros. shield: He chews on his carrot, looks angrily at the camera and pulls down the next logo (Merrie Melodies or Looney Tunes) like a window shade (generally on cartoons between 1945 until early 1949). Then he lifts it back up, to now be seen lying on his own name, which then fades into the title of the specific short.Sony VAIO VPCS11M1E/W Battery

In some other cases, the title card sometimes fades to him, already on his name and chewing his carrot then fade to the name of the short. At the finish of Hare Tonic and Baseball Bugs, Bugs breaks out of a drum (like Porky Pig) and says, "And that's the end". Sony VAIO VPCS11V9E Battery

Also, at the end of Box Office Bunny, right after Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd run out through the Looney Tunes "That's All Folks!" sequence, Bugs later comes in through the rings and says, "And that's all, folks!". He did the ending for the last time at the end of Space Jam but this time saying "Well, that's all, folks!".Sony VAIO VPCS11V9E/B Battery,Sony VAIO VPCS11X9E/B Battery,Sony VAIO VPCS123FGB Battery