Week of July 30: Happy 70th, Bugs Bunny!

By Sylvia Gurinsky

"What's up, Doc?"

Fans of Bugs Bunny know the answer: It's the 70th birthday for the carrot- and mischief-loving wascally wabbit (to quote Elmer Fudd).

Bugs Bunny became an almost instant movie star during the 1940s, with cartoons that spoofed everything from opera to politics. It was inevitable that the character would head to television.

In 1960, "The Bugs Bunny Show" began on ABC, featuring old "Looney Tunes" skits from film and new ones created for the show. Some variation of a Bugs Bunny or Looney Tunes program featuring Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck and the rest of the gang would continue to run on television into the 21st century. Bugs and the other characters were also featured prominently through the early years of the WB network during the 1990s.

For most of the first 50 years of his existence, Bugs Bunny and many of his Looney Tunes cohorts were voiced by Mel Blanc, who also found fame in front of the cameras on "The Jack Benny Show." Blanc died in 1989.

Bugs has since been played by assorted voice actors, the latest being Sam Vincent. In 2002, Bugs Bunny was TV Guide's choice as the best cartoon character of all time.

Happy Birthday, Bugs! Thank goodness you didn't take that turn at Albuquerque.

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Larry Keith died this week.

Keith worked in theater and television almost up to his death. His most famous role was as Nick Davis on ABC's "All My Children." Here he is in a scene from the earliest episodes, in 1970, with Frances Heflin as Mona Kane and a kid named Susan Lucci as her troublesome daughter, Erica. Got to watch out for that one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9_QFqGv3W8

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See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!