The Familiar Strangers

Rabbit is one of the animals mostly found as a cartoon character. In Part 1, we cover some famously know rabbit like Peter Rabbit, Miffy, Bugs Bunny, Fifi Lapin Bunny……. Thanks for the readers’ comments, now we continue the series in Part 2..

Cover image Source: Tod Kapke

PLAYBOY BUNNY

Date of Birth: 1956

Hometownn: US

Creator: Hugh Hefner

First Appearence: 1960

A Playboy Bunny is a waitress at the Playboy Club. The Playboy Clubs were originally open from 1960–1988. They wore a costume called a bunny suit inspired by the tuxedo-wearing Playboy rabbit mascot, consisting of a corset, bunny ears, a collar, cuffs, and a fluffy cottontail.

The Playboy Bunnies were waitresses who served drinks at Playboy Clubs. To become a Bunny, women were first carefully chosen and selected from auditions. Then, they undergo a thorough and strict training before officially becoming a Bunny. Bunnies were required to be able to identify 143 brands of liquor and know how to garnish 20 cocktail variations.

Although the Playboy Club was shut down in 1999. In 2006, it was reopened. Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli was chosen to reimagine the original Bunny Suit.

USAVICH

Date of Birth: 2006

Hometown: Japan

Creator: Kanaban Graphics

First Appearence: ウサビッチ Season 1

Usavich is about an odd couple of rabbits imprisoned in a Russian prison. While the first season shows the absurd everyday occurrences of the two rabbits’ prison life, the second season tells the adventures of their escape and life on the run.

You can check it out there episodes, it is quite funny!

THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE

Date of Birth: 1915

Hometown: London

Creator: Lord Dunsany

First Appearence: Fifty-One Tales

“Slow and steady wins the race.” I think many of you have heard it when young. The bunny in the story is widely known worldwide and it was illustrated in many children story book.

Video shows the first animation of the story. It is appear in Aesop’s fables: The Hare and the Tortoise (1947)

DONNIE DARKO

Date of Birth: 2001

Hometown: US

Creator: Richard Kelly

First Appearence: Donnie Darko (The Film)

Donnie Darko is a 2001 film written and directed by Richard Kelly, and starring The film depicts the reality-bending venture of the eponymous character as he seeks the meaning and significance of his troubling end-of-the-world visions.

The character Frank, becoming the inspiration of many designers, and we can also see the toy of it is selling well. The film is going to 2nd episode in 2009.

HARVEY RABBIT

Date of Birth: 1950

Hometown: US

Creator: Mary Chase

First Appearence: Harvey

Harvey is a 1950 film based on Mary Chase’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name, directed by Henry Koster.  The story is about a man whose best friend is a “pooka” named Harvey—in the form of a six-foot, three-and-one-half-inch tall rabbit, a shape-shifting elemental spirit of very ancient origin.

Harvey is thought to be the inspiration of Field of Dream, A Beautiful Mind and also the one we also have here, Donnie Darko.

OSWARD THE LUCKY RABBIT

Date of Birth: 1927

Hometown: US

Creator: Ub Iwerks

First Appearence: Poor Papa

The first Oswald cartoon, Poor Papa, was rejected by the Universal studio heads due to poor production quality and the sloppiness and age of Oswald. After this, Disney, together with Ub Iwerks, created a second cartoon called Trolley Troubles featuring a much younger, neater Oswald. The short officially launched the series and proved to be Disney’s greatest success yet.

Animation of Osward in 1927. Though, I think he look like Mickey Mouse……

MAPLE TOWN

Date of Birth: 1986

Hometown: Japan

Creator: Hiroshi Shidara

First Appearence: メイプルタウン物語

Although Maple Town is only shown on TV in Japan in a rather short period, from 1986 - 1987, but it’s influrence is not small. The show, dubbed in English for U.S. audiences, prominently displayed traditional (Western) values in a live-action segment. Each episode was prefaced with an introduction by “Mrs. Maple”, who delivered the moral of the episode. The entire series has been released on DVD in Spain. Its episode is also well known in Europe.

Maple Town’s opening theme for TV

HARO

Date of Birth: 1993

Hometown: Japan

Creator: Yoshiyuki Tomino

First Appearence: V Gundam TV series

The original Haro is a little robot companion built by the main character Amuro Ray. It is a cute testament to Amuro’s exceptional talent for machines. Although the series didn’t say it is a rabbit, but I personally think that Haro is inspired by rabbit, at least the outlook.

In real life, Bandai released a series of Haro Capsule toys (called Haro Cap, different from the Gundam Haro Capsule selling by Broccoli USA) with different colours and painting, which mostly painted as a reference to different icons of the Gundam universes. Also, the Haro are found in different toy in Japan and it is still a hit even now.

WATERSHIP DOWN

Date of Birth: 1972

Hometown: England

Creator: Richard Adams

First Appearence: Watership Down

Watership Down is the first and most successful novel by British author Richard Adams. The novel takes its name from the rabbits’ destination, Watership Down, a hill in the north of Hampshire, England, near the area where Adams grew up. Though it was initially rejected by thirteen publishers, Watership Down has never been out of print and was the recipient of several prestigious awards.

I found out that Pixie has rather detailed information in here.

UNTALKATIVE BUNNY

Date of Birth: 2001

Hometown: Canada

Creator: Dawn Wilton

First Appearence: Untalkative Bunny

Untalkative Bunny is a Canadian/British co-produced animated series about a yellow rabbit and its life in the big city.The episodes usually deal with Bunny and the problems of a modern life in the big city, and often present surreal elements.

The name of the show comes from the fact that Bunny, the main character, never says any word at all, expressing itself completely by facial expressions and other forms of body language.

TRIX RABBIT

Date of Birth: early 1960

Hometown: US

Creator: Joe Harris

First Appearence: Package box of the Trix Cereal

Joe Harris created the Trix Rabbit in Trix animated television commercials, this rabbit would keep trying to trick kids into giving him a bowl of Trix cereal, but he would be discovered every time, and the kids would say, “Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids!” After the success of the first commercial, the Trix brand soon became one of General Mills’ best sellers.

Ad Campaign of Trix in the 60s

LABBIT

Date of Birth: 2000s

Hometown: US

Creator: Frank Kozik

First Appearence: Toy Series of Smoking Labbit

The Labbit is a designer toys created by Frank Kozik, the most famous series of the Labbit is the smoking labbit with a cute rabbit taking a cigarette.

Frank has also release other Labbits which are the younger, more innocent brothers of the Smorkin’ variety.

BUNNY SUICIDE

Date of Birth: 2003

Hometown: England

Creator: Andy Riley

First Appearence: The Book of Bunny Suicides

The Book of Bunny Suicides is a bestselling collection of mostly one-image black comedy cartoons drawn by author Andy Riley.

Each cartoon shows one or more white rabbits in their creative attempts to end their lives using a variety of items. Revolving doors, a toaster, a cricket ball, a boomerang, a hand-grenade and any combination of these are all featured as suicidal tools. It’s a little bit similar to the Happy Trees Friends.

A special edition, The Bumper Book of Bunny Suicides, was released in the UK in 2007. It contains every bunny suicide ever. This book has been withdrawn from bookshelves in Shanghai, China for fear of children imitating the scenes.

Related article: Rabbitization Part 1