Does Bugs Bunny have a yiddisher kop?

Published: August 9, 2007, 4:04 pm

Tags: arts media, does god have sense of humor, judaism

An entertaining essay in The Forward by David Kaufmann wonders whether Bugs is Jewish. He doesn't advance the theory I've always had but that I've never seen any proof for: That the character was based at least in part on Milton Berle (real name: Milton Berlinger). Buck teeth, New York accent, sometimes cross-dresser for a cheap laugh. Students of early TV know that's Uncle Miltie to a T. Anyway, here's a nugget: Rabbits ain't kosher, but what does it matter? The Looney Tunes shorts in which Bugs appears are always structured around extinction and endurance, the two great poles of Jewish thought and dream. They are purimshpiels in which Haman is played by an amiable stooge with a rifle that chronically misfires. What more do we need? Seventy years is surely long enough. It is time to embrace the Bunny. And here's the link.

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