April 30, 1938: Porky's Hare Hunt, a Warner Brothers Looney Tunes cartoon, premieres. It's 8 minutes long, black & white, and a virtual remake of Porky's Duck Hunt, in which Porky Pig, the stuttering character who would become more famous with his signoff of Looney Tunes cartoons, "Th-th-th-that's all, folks!" pursued a duck. That film is considered the debut of Daffy Duck. Porky's Hare Hunt is considered the debut of what became Warners' most famous cartoon character, Bugs Bunny.
According to Chase Craig, who wrote and drew the first Bugs Bunny comic Sunday pages and the first Bugs comic book, "Bugs was not the creation of any one man; however, he rather represented the creative talents of perhaps five or six directors and many cartoon writers including Charlie Thorson. In those days, the stories were often the work of a group who suggested various gags, bounced them around and finalized them in a joint story conference."
Porky's Hare Hunt was co-directed by Ben "Bugs" Hardaway and an uncredited director, Cal Dalton, who was responsible for the initial design of the rabbit. Mel Blanc gave the character a voice and laugh much like those he later used for Woody Woodpecker: He was loud, zany with a goofy, guttural laugh.
The rabbit character was popular enough with audiences that the "Termite Terrace" staff decided to use it again. He came back in Prest-O Change-O and Hare-um Scare-um, both in 1939. In the latter, Dalton and Hardaway directed again, and he was gray instead of white for the first time.
It was also where he first got a name. Thorson had written, in reference to Hardaway, "Bug's Bunny" on a model sheet. Someone didn't see the apostrophe, and it was presumed that the character's name was meant to be "Bugs Bunny."
At the time, "bugs" had nothing to do with insects. Rather, it was a nickname for a crazy person. A psychiatric hospital in Chicago had famously been nicknamed "Bughouse Square." A baseball pitcher early in the 20th Century, named Arthur Raymond, had been nicknamed "Bugs."
Bugs had been drawn munching on a carrot in reference to Clark Gable having done so in the 1934 film It Happened One Night. But in creating the voice for Bugs, Mel Blanc did not imitate Gable, instead giving him a Bronx accent, including the iconic catchphrase, "Eh, what's up, Doc?" It's because of Bugs that people associate carrots with rabbits. In fact, for rabbits, carrots are more like a dessert, just as bananas are for apes.
Bugs appeared in 160 cartoons from 1940 to 1964, and remains, along with Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse, one of the two most famous American cartoon characters. In the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, they finally came together, though not to the benefit of the film's main character, Eddie Valiant, played by Bob Hoskins.
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April 30, 1938 was a Saturday. These baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Washington Senators, 8-4 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Lou Gehrig went 0-for-5, but Joe DiMaggio went 1-for-3, in support of Spud Chandler.
* The New York Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers, 3-1 at the Polo Grounds. Kiki Cuyler went 3-for-4 for the Dodgers, but Carl Hubbell allowed only 2 other hits, outpitching Van Lingle Mungo. Mel Ott went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.
* The Boston Bees beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 16-11 at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia. The Braves had a horrible season in 1935, so they, as we would say today, "rebranded," also renaming Braves Field "National League Park," or "the Bee Hive." It didn't take, and they switched back in 1941.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-3 at League Park in Cleveland. Hank Greenberg went 1-for-3 with a walk.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-0 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Roy "Peaches" Davis pitched a 5-hit shutout. His fellow Oklahoman, Paul "Big Poison" Waner, got 2 of those hits. Paul's brother, Lloyd "Little Poison" Waner, only appeared as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the St. Louis Browns, 3-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Ted Lyons allowed 9 hits, but kept the shutout.
* The Chicago Cubs beat their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 11-5 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.
* And the Boston Red Sox and the Philadelphia Athletics were rained out at Fenway Park in Boston. The game was rescheduled as part of a doubleheader on August 17. The Red Sox swept, 4-3 and 5-0. Joe Heving pitched a 7-hit shutout in the nightcap. Over the 2 games, Jimmie Foxx went 3-for-7 with a home run, a walk, and 2 RBIs.
Football, basketball and hockey were out of season. In English soccer, Arsenal beat Liverpool, 1-0 at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, in North London. A week later, by beating Bolton Wanderers, they clinched the Football League Division One title.
This was also the day of English soccer's FA Cup Final, won by Preston North End, 1-0 over Huddersfield Town in extra time. Because of broadcaster Thomas Woodrooffe's comment at the end of extra time, "If there's a goal scored now, I'll eat my hat," followed immediately by a penalty that resulted in the winning goal, I felt it worthy of a separate entry.
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