Ben "Bugs" Hardaway

 

Many people have claimed to be or have been claimed to be the creator of Bugs Bunny. Out of all of them, Ben Hardaway is perhaps one of the more likely claims to that title. Ben Hardaway had an accomplished life, working closely with a future President, and creating both Woody Woodpecker and a major precursor to Bugs Bunny.

Joseph Benson Hardaway was born on May 21th, 1895 in Belton, Missouri, a town 4 miles east of the Missouri-Kansas border. He first started not in cartooning, but as a draftsman for Pehl Metal Products Co. in Kansas City in 1913. From 1915 to 1918 he would for the most part work as a cartoonist for the Kansas City Post. In 1917, he would enlist into World War I, eventually rising up to the rank of Sergeant Major of the 129th Field Artillery, 35th Division. While serving in Europe, Hardaway served under none other than Captain Harry S. Truman. Hardaway, and the other members of the unit would get along well with Truman and remained loyal to him. He also was exposed to the chemical weapons used during the war.

After the war, he returned to working for the Kansas City Post, before leaving for the United Film Ad Service from 1923 to at least 1926. He then left for Milwaukee, working at apparently another United
Film Ad Service, before leaving once again to go to Los Angeles to work at Disney and later Iwerks as a writer starting in 1932. In 1933, Hardaway would leave to work at Leon Schlesinger Productions. Hardway would rise to become a director alongside Jack King and fellow Kansas Citian Friz Freleng very quickly, directing Buddy cartoons from 1934 to 1935. Eventually, new directors would take over, and Hardaway would return to writing for cartoons at the studio, but once again rose to become a director in 1938 after Freleng left for MGM the previous year. His first cartoon as director again was Porky's Hare Hunt. This cartoon, while almost identical to Porky's Duck Hunt, featured a new character, who would retroactively be named Happy Rabbit. This unnamed rabbit would appear in merchandising and early model sheets as "Bugs" Bunny, referring to Hardaways nickname of Bugs. This rabbit would appear in a few other cartoons before being reinvented by Tex Avery in 1940's A Wild Hare. Freleng would eventually return to Warner in 1940, but instead of returning to being a director, Hardaway would leave Warner Bros. for Walter Lantz's studio.

His first cartoon at Walter Lantz would be 1940's Recruiting Daze. His next cartoon however would be much bigger, Knock Knock. This cartoon was an Andy Panda cartoon, the studio's previous star, but a new character created by Hardaway would end up stealing the show: the character, very similar to the rabbit character he already made at Warner Bros.,  was named Woody Woodpecker. Woody would eventually eclipse Andy Panda in terms of popularity, and Hardaway would write many of Woody's cartoons. Hardway would even voice Woody for a few years starting in 1944. Lantz would close his studio in December 1948, and Hardaway would quickly go back to Warner Bros., writing one cartoon for Friz Freleng, A Bone For A Bone before seemingly leaving.

Hardaway did not rejoin Lantz when the studio reopened in the 50s. In fact, it's not well known what he did in the 50s. He appears to have been involved in some way with "Pow-Wow the Indian Boy", an early TV cartoon, albeit not for very long, as he died only a month after it was announced the series would be syndicated. Ben Hardaway would die on February 5th, 1957, likely due to chemical weapon exposure from World War I. On a lighter note, Truman and Hardaway remained friends. Even as he rose up the ranks himself, Truman still took time to meet with his former soldiers when he was in Los Angles, including Hardaway.

Sources

Yowp, Don. “The Non-Animated Bugs.” Tralfaz, 2 Feb. 2019, https://tralfaz.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-non-animated-bugs.html. 

“Ben ‘Bugs’ Hardaway.” Rarebit Early Animation Wiki, http://rarebit.org/?people=ben-bugs-hardaway.

Klein, Tom. “Bugs Hardaway of Battery D.” Cartoon Research, 19 Mar. 2016, https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/bugs-hardaway-of-battery-d/.

Yowp, Don. “Guess Who?” Tralfaz, 25 Nov. 2020, https://tralfaz.blogspot.com/2020/11/guess-who.html.