2. Bugs Bunny.
No list of the best classic cartoons would be complete without mentioning the wascally wabbit. On his own or as half of a comedy team, Bugs Bunny was pure gold.
He was a casual observer, a simple guy who seldom got too riled even though he always seemed to make that wrong turn at Albuquerque.
Take your pick when it comes to choosing the definitive Bugs Bunny comedy team. You couldn’t beat Bugs and Elmer. Or maybe you could. Interplay between Bugs and the hot-tempered Yosemite Sam was unparalleled. Bugs and Marvin the Martian? Bugs and Daffy? Bugs and the Tasmanian Devil? They were all classic comedy partnerships.
Oops. I’m forgetting again that I’m not writing about real comedians. But that’s how good these animation classics were—and still are.
Bugs Bunny evolved over the years, first appearing in 1938 and, like Popeye and other leading cartoon characters of the era, taking time to fight the enemy during World War Two. The Bugs character of the 1950’s and early 60’s is the Bugs character most Americans remember. For two years in the early 60’s The Bugs Bunny Show was televised during prime time before moving to the more familiar Saturday morning slot it held for many years afterwards. Even though there’s not a Bugs Bunny episode from the 50’s and 60’s that I don’t know inside out, I still watch America’s favorite rabbit on occasion and crack up nearly every time.
1. Beep beep. That’s right. The Roadrunner.
Like Tom and Jerry, Roadrunner cartoons seldom had any talking in them. They didn’t use words, yet the Roadrunner and his nemesis, Wile E Coyote, spoke eloquently to millions of Americans.
What set Roadrunner cartoons apart from the other animal-in-pursuit-of-other-animal cartoons were the great lengths to which old Wile E would go to get the better of his speedy prey. Wile E definitely was wily, and his failure to capture a feathery meal was seldom through any fault of his own. More often than not, his failures could be attributed to the faulty products he’d presumably purchased from the Acme company.
I’m not kidding here. Some months ago I was driving in south Texas and saw a truck belonging to a company that called itself Acme.