By now you've heard that the reboot of Looney Tunes will have an Elmer Fudd without guns. We can certainly debate this, but that is not my purpose in this article.

Just who is Elmer? How was he created? What is he supposed to represent?

In the video below, you will see that Elmer is not a bad guy. He is a representation of the "every man" in America. Just an average Joe that wants to go out and hunt because it's hunting season. Unfortunately he's come across a rather unusual rabbit.

The original Elmer did not look anything like the one we now all know and love. You will not recognize him in his first movie, Dangerous Dan McFoo. In fact, in that movie he looks more like a dog.

Dan McFoo gave the artists the idea of using McFoo and a character named Egg Head, combined, to make Fudd. But even there the original drawing style of Fudd was a bit different that the style that became famous. But then again, even Bugs Bunny looked different once upon a time. Bugs was not as tall and lanky as he later became.

The Elmer we all know and love made his appearance in the 1940 Tex Avery cartoon, "A Wild Hair."  Elmer was nominated for an Oscar for that cartoon.

Elmer might have had some personal problems after that - as you will see in the video below, Elmer Fudd became REALLY FAT for a while. I mean HUGE. That caused his popularity to sink because, perhaps, he was not as cute and so they sized him down again.

But, before you watch the video below, let's pause and remember the 195 masterpiece "What's Opera Doc." Best cartoon EVER - no really - E V E R. Elmer was perfect in this role. I am nowhere near a kid any more and I still watch it.

 

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