Bugs Bunny & His Friends LP
The image at left is the cover of the BUGS BUNNY AND HIS FRIENDS LP, which came out in 1961 (this is actually a later WONDERLAND RECORDS release, but the art's the same). I've never owned it, but I saw it cross-advertised on the back of many records I did have as a kid, and I always LOVED it. It's obviously in the Chuck Jones style, and though I wouldn't have known that at 5 or 6, I was drawn to the beautiful posing, expressions, and just...LIFE. It's left a lasting impression, for almost sixty years. You may note if you come around my FB page, that I collect Hi-Res images of anything and everything that interests me, and I recently Googled around and found the one on the left,which I was delighted to have. Studying it, I decided just to make a "cleaned-up" version of just the art for myself, brightening & fixing the "sun-burned" quality it has... In the process of doing that, I decided to eliminate "Hippity Hopper", a character I've always hated (based on the premise that anyone could mistake a kangaroo for a large mouse). While doing THAT, I theorized that he was maybe an add-on, perhaps a revision to the original design. He's certainly a "one of these things is not like the other" in terms of who's depicted here, but also his scale... (and why include a voiceless character in an image depicting a sing-along? It's like the DOPEY ventriloquist dummy they from the '50s)... Anyway, I like it a lot better without him. So if YOU'VE always loved this image as I have, here you go. Two versions for your enjoyment.