BS: Uncle Wiggley, Two Peters, Bugs

Subject: BS: Uncle Wiggley, Two Peters, Bugs
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 19 Jul 05 - 11:31 AM

Just thinking.

I started a thread on my favoreet rabbit, Brer' and then realized that rabbits are everywhere.

As a kid, I had three rabbits that were a part of my growing up. Uncle Wiggly was probably number one. Every time I got sick, my Mother would buy me an Uncle Wiggly book. Made "sick" a thing to look forward to. Almost. If it wasn't Uncle Wiggly, it was Peter Rabbit and the Mother West Wind stories, by Thornthon W. Burgess.
And then, when Song of the South came out, Brer' Rabbit won a place in my heart.

But, they weren't the only rabbits I knew, growing up. There was Peter Cottontail, Flopsy, Mopsy and the rest in the Beatrix Potter books, and I couldn't talk about rabbits without mentioning Bugs Bunny.

As I grew older, there was Bun' Rabbit in Pogo, and then Watership Down.

That's not even mentioning John Updike's Rabbit Run, or Rabbit Maranville. Or Rabbit Brown.

The name of my record company? Jack Rabbit..

And my logo? He looks suspiciously like Uncle Wiggley, except he's playing a banjo.

Talk about multiplying. Everywhere I look, I see Rabbits.

And for shear terror, how About Night Of The Lupus? where man-eating rabbits attack a town?

The point to this thread? Not really sure..

Has your life been as full of rabbits as mine?

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Uncle Wiggley, Two Peters, Bugs
From: Rapparee
Date: 19 Jul 05 - 11:33 AM

Don't forget Bunnicula.

Subject: RE: BS: Uncle Wiggley, Two Peters, Bugs
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Jul 05 - 11:33 AM

I had rabbit stew for lunch. Does that count?

Subject: RE: BS: Uncle Wiggley, Two Peters, Bugs
From: katlaughing
Date: 19 Jul 05 - 06:06 PM

I've got several Uncle Wiggley books, Jerry. A couple from childhood and others from used book sales. I loved those stories!

More prominent, in my background, than rabbits, though, were horses, cats (are you surprised?:-), wolves, and the critters Kipling wrote about in the Jungle Books. Oh, to be raised in the wild, running free with Bagheera, Baloo and the others!!:-)

I did have all of the other "rabbies" you mentioned, though, plus one little tiny book called "Bunny Blue" which my cousin gave to me. I still have it and my son had a stuffed "Bunny Blue" when he was a baby.

I also have a jewelry client who is NUTS about rabbits. Her house is full of all kinds, no live ones, though. She has about 25 necklace and earring sets I designed and made for her, all with rabbits as the theme, PLUS over 100 pairs of other rabbit earrings and matching necklaces. You think YOU'VE got rabbits?!! **BG**

kat

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Uncle Wiggley, Two Peters, Bugs
From: Metchosin
Date: 19 Jul 05 - 06:28 PM

Not really. Pre self reading age, I remember Peter Rabbit with Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail, but I got hooked very early on Jack London and Charles GD Roberts and subsequently had an aversion to any animal story in which the animals wore clothes.

Could be the reason why, much later, I did enjoy Watership Down, but I'm still at a loss why people read it or show the movie Watership Down to very young children, its frightening for them. Then again, in most of the animal stories I read when small, the animals usually met a somewhat natural, violent death and I usually spent my reading time bawling my eyes out.....over and over and over again. LOL

Subject: RE: BS: Uncle Wiggley, Two Peters, Bugs
From: Rapparee
Date: 19 Jul 05 - 11:14 PM

And don't forget Crusader Rabbit.

Subject: RE: BS: Uncle Wiggley, Two Peters, Bugs
From: bobad
Date: 19 Jul 05 - 11:20 PM

Do Playboy bunnies count ?

Subject: RE: BS: Uncle Wiggley, Two Peters, Bugs
From: Kaleea
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 12:38 AM

I have a little gray rabbit who lives out in the yard, & the owner of the house says it's been there for at least 3-4 years. (No, I do not eat the little things. I may call it Bun-Bun, but not Din-Din.) Sometimes in the spring there's a baby. There are cats all around this neighborhood, and somehow that little critter manages to evade them. When I'm stuck in the house, I don't have to read about 'em, I can watch 'em--& without a TV.

Subject: RE: BS: Uncle Wiggley, Two Peters, Bugs
From: LilyFestre
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 08:54 AM

I have a few of the first editions of the Peter Rabbit books that had belonged to my grandmother. I love the texture of those books and the artwork is such a treasure!

Our driveway is very long and it is not uncommon to come home and have to wait while numerous (but separate) bunnies take their time looking for the right path into the field before moving themselves out of the driveway. Right now it seems that the baby bunnies have just left their nests...they are everywhere...and so darned cute!!!!!!

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Uncle Wiggley, Two Peters, Bugs
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 09:03 AM

When I was teaching nature classes to small children, I found the Thornton W. Burgess books invaluable. Peter Rabbit is this rather chubby bunny who has an unquenchable desire for knowledge. Burgess used Peter to ask all the questions we might ask of animals. As an example, he has a long adventure watching a spider build a web, and the spider patiently explains the whole process, step by step. I found many bits of information in the books I'd never found in the usual field guides and nature books, and every one I was eventually able to track down to substantiate turned out to be accurate.

Burgess's home is in Sandwich, Mass. and I've always meant to visit there, as it is a historic site now.

Rabbits IZ tasty, I must admit. My Father was a determined hunter and much of the meat on our table came from wild game.

And then, there's Hossenfeffer, which I used to order at a German restaurant in the Yorkville section of New York.

Saturday Night Live did a sick little fake commercial about a restaurant, patterned after a sea food restaurant where you pick which live lobster you want, and then they boil it for you to eat. The difference was that this was a national chain where you could go in and pick which bunny you wanted to eat. It was hilariously disgusting, with little kids chosing the bunnies they wanted to have killed and cooked for them.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Uncle Wiggley, Two Peters, Bugs
From: Rapparee
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 09:05 AM

And don't forget burgoo.

Subject: RE: BS: Uncle Wiggley, Two Peters, Bugs
From: Rapparee
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 09:07 AM

When I was growing up (like I ever stopped!), we thought Uncle Wiggley should marry Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy.

Of course, we also thought that the Lone Ranger and Tonto were married.

Subject: RE: BS: Uncle Wiggley, Two Peters, Bugs
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 09:27 AM

Well, the image of rabbits is to be sexy, but TWO peters? No wonder!

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Uncle Wiggley, Two Peters, Bugs
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 09:43 AM

LOL, Dave...

And then, of course, there was Oswald Rabbit. How sexy is Oswald as a name?

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Uncle Wiggley, Two Peters, Bugs
From: Rapparee
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 11:27 AM

Oswald = Ozzy = Ozzy Nelson OR Ozzy Osbourne, two the biggest sex symbols of our time.

Subject: RE: BS: Uncle Wiggley, Two Peters, Bugs
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 11:49 AM

Ozzy Nelson a sex symbol? He wasn't half as sexy as Mister Rogers...
Ozzy Ozzbourne... not if you're a bat..

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Uncle Wiggley, Two Peters, Bugs
From: GUEST,Wesley S
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 04:15 PM

Well - How come y'all left out Jessica Rabbit ???? And Roger too.

Subject: RE: BS: Uncle Wiggley, Two Peters, Bugs
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 04:47 PM

Verrrry good, Wesley:

And then of course, there is the Velveteen Rabbit..

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Uncle Wiggley, Two Peters, Bugs
From: ragdall
Date: 21 Jul 05 - 07:04 AM

Don't forget Harvey the invisible rabbit.

My brothers had a colouring book about Harvey which I found fascinating, when I was a tiny tot.

Subject: RE: BS: Uncle Wiggley, Two Peters, Bugs
From: ragdall
Date: 21 Jul 05 - 07:10 AM

- and Bambi's buddy, Thumper. ("If you can't say something nice... don't say nothing at all.")

It's been a very long time since I read that book. Does anyone remember if Salten created Thumper, or was he a Disney addition?