Contributed by Tracy D.
I’m agreeing with the general flow of the conversation about Bugs and his penchant for frilly little things from Victoria’s Secret. But I think a lot of posters try to equate him to modern standards of sexuality. Remember, Bugs was one of the biggest box-office draws of the late 30’s, 40’s, & 50’s who was grounded in the great vaudevillian tradition. An obviously male star donning female garb and then confounding the boobs and society was a guaranteed laugh-getter. Bugs’ genius (and star vanity) is that he must take on the complete persona of what ever he’s trying to be. (the first Method actor?) So, he can’t just slap on a skirt to distract Elmer for a second or two, he’s gotta be Carmen Miranda with a bowl of fruit on his head, or one of the Andrews sisters, or Brynhildr of the flowing braids. I think his closest contemporary was the actor Danny Kaye (who also spawned many rumours about his sexuality). To both of them there is a bit of New-Yorker-sons-of-immigrants brassiness combined with a whole-hearted willingness to take a character to its most absurd extreme.
May 10, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Excellent, Tracy!
People nowadays tend to overlook or have no knowledge of the vaudeville scene in the “good old days”. Dressing in women’s clothing was in no way associated with homosexuality - I guess people had purer minds back then and homophobia hadn’t struck quite so hard.
It was just…funny. Plain and simple.