Taz redirects here. For other uses, see Taz (disambiguation).

Taz in the short Bedevilled Rabbit.

The Tasmanian Devil, often referred to as "Taz", is an cartoon character featured in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes series of cartoons. The character featured in only five shorts before the Warner Bros. animation studio closed its doors, but marketing and television appearances catapulted the character to new popularity in the 1990s. The Devil is today one of the most recognizable faces in the Looney Tunes animated roster. Taz has several meanings: Taz is a nickname for The Tasmanian Devil, a cartoon character. ... Image File history File links Taz, The Tasmanian Devil in the Looney Tunes short Bedevilled Rabbit. ... Image File history File links Taz, The Tasmanian Devil in the Looney Tunes short Bedevilled Rabbit. ... Animation is the technique in which each frame of a film or movie is produced individually, whether generated as a computer graphic, or by photographing a drawn image, or by repeatedly making small changes to a model unit (see claymation and stop motion), and then photographing the result with a... Warner Bros. ... Looney Tunes logo, featuring Bugs Bunny. ... Short film - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... // Events and trends The 1990s are generally classified as having moved slightly away from the more conservative 1980s, but otherwise retaining the same mindset. ...

Creation and first appearance

Robert McKimson designed the character after the real-life Tasmanian devil of Australia. The only real resemblance between the Australian mammal and McKimson's beast, however, is their ravenous appetites. In fact, it is this appetite that serves as the Tasmanian Devil's main characteristic. The Devil devours everything in sight, including boulders, trees, shrubs, and hills, all the while whirling about like a tornado that sounds like a dozen motors all whirring in unison. The Tasmanian Devil also harbors a special craving for rabbit. Robert Bob McKimson, Sr. ... Binomial name Sarcophilus laniarius (Owen, 1838) Synonyms The Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus laniarius), also referred to simply as the devil, is a carnivorous marsupial found exclusively on the Australian island of Tasmania. ... Tornado - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Genera Pentalagus Bunolagus Nesolagus Romerolagus Brachylagus Sylvilagus Oryctolagus Poelagus The bane of Australian farmers - the wild rabbit An old rabbit trap Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae, found in many parts of the world. ...

It is this hunger that serves as the impetus for McKimson's "Devil May Hare" (first released on June 19, 1954). In the short, the Devil stalks Bugs Bunny, but due to his dim wits and inability to frame complete sentences, he serves as little more than a nuisance. Bugs eventually gets rid of him in the most logical way possible: matching him up with an equally insatiable female Devil. The character's speech, peppered with growls, screeches, and raspberries, is provided by Mel Blanc. June 19 is the 170th day of the year (171st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 195 days remaining. ... Bugs Bunny on a United States stamp Bugs Bunny is a fictional street-smart gray rabbit appearing in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, and is one of the most recognizable characters, real or imaginary, in the world. ... Melvin Jerome Blanc, better known as Mel Blanc (born May 30, 1908 in San Francisco, California; died July 10, 1989 in Los Angeles, California), was a famous American voice actor for many animation studios, primarily the Warner Brothers and Hanna-Barbera studios. ...

Producer Edward Selzer, head of the Warner Bros. animation studio, ordered McKimson to shelve the character since it was "too obnoxious". After a time with no new Devil shorts, however, Jack Warner asked what had happened. He then saved the Devil's career when he told Setzer that he had received "boxes and boxes" of letters from people who liked the character. In the entertainment industry, a producer is generally in charge of, or helps to coordinate, the financial, legal, administrative, technological, and artistic aspects of a production. ... Edward Eddie Selzer ( January 12, 1893 - February 22, 1970) was producer of the Warner Bros. ... Warner Bros. ... Jack Warner Jack Warner (August 2, 1892 – September 9, 1978), born John Leonard Eichelbaum in London, Ontario, Canada, was the president and driving force behind the highly successful development of Warner Brothers Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. ...

Later shorts

McKimson would go on to direct four more Tasmanian Devil cartoons, beginning with Bedevilled Rabbit (relased on April 13, 1957). The she-devil returns in this cartoon, now as Mrs. Tasmanian Devil, but she still proves to be the character's Achilles heel when Bugs uses a sexy female-devil costume to deliver some explosives to the ever-hungry brute. McKimson would also pair the Devil with Daffy Duck in "Ducking the Devil" (August 17, 1957) before pitting him once again against Bugs in Bill of Hare (June 9, 1962) and Doctor Devil and Mister Hare (March 28, 1964). April 13 is the 103rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (104th in leap years). ... 1957 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is concerned solely with chemical explosives. ... Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ... August 17 is the 229th day of the year (230th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1957 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... June 9 is the 160th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (161st in leap years), with 205 days remaining. ... 1962 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... March 28 is the 87th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (88th in Leap years). ... 1964 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Marketing and later years

After Warner Bros. closed its animation studio in 1964, the Tasmanian Devil would remain a nostalgic favorite for many filmgoers. The character also gained new fans when the Looney Tunes shorts entered television syndication. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Warner Bros. marketers seized upon this, and through their efforts, catapulted the character, now dubbed "Taz," to greater popularity than ever before. Today, Taz is one of the most recognizable Looney Tunes stars, and his image appears on more merchandise than many more prolific Warners characters such as Porky Pig and Elmer Fudd. 1964 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... In the television industry (as in radio), syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast programs to multiple stations, without going through a broadcast network. ... // Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 60s and 70s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ... Porky Pig, as seen in a Looney Tunes cartoon Porky Pig is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ... The fictional cartoon character Elmer Fudd, now one of the most famous Looney Tunes / Merrie Melodies characters, also has one of the more convoluted and disputed origins in the Warner Brothers cartoon pantheon (second only to Bugs Bunny himself). ...

This late-blossoming popularity would pay off for Taz in Warner Bros. television animation. For example, his miniature understudy, Dizzy Devil, is as a recurring character in the Fox TV series, Tiny Toon Adventures, which debuted September 14, 1990. On September 7, 1991, Taz got his own show, Taz-mania, which would run for three seasons on Fox. The show recasts the Devil as a dim-witted teenager (voiced by Jim Cummings) who lives in a warped 1950s-era sitcom household. Taz now has an angsty teen sister, a rambunctious little brother, a June Cleaver-esque mother, and a decidedly nonchalant father (patterned after Bing Crosby). On September 7, 2002, an infant version of Taz premiered as one of the regulars of the Baby Looney Tunes series. Most recently, he has had guest spots in Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) and on a 2004 episode of Duck Dodgers. Dizzy Devil is a funny animal fictional character on the animated cartoon television show Tiny Toon Adventures. ... The Fox Broadcasting Company is a television network in the United States. ... A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ... Buster Bunny in the Tiny Toons logo. ... September 14 is the 257th day of the year (258th in leap years). ... 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... September 7 is the 250th day of the year (251st in leap years). ... 1991 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Taz-mania is an early 1990s cartoon show, produced and directed by Art Vitello broadcast in the United States and elsewhere around the world. ... Jim Cummings (born 1953) is a prolific American voice actor. ... // Events and trends The 1950s in Western society was marked with a sharp rise in the economy for the first time in almost 30 years and return to the 1920s-type consumer society built on credit and boom-times, as well as the height of the baby-boom from returning... June Cleaver is a fictional character, the matriarch of the Cleaver clan on the US television series Leave It to Beaver. ... Bing wooed fans with a sensuous voice, wit, and good looks. ... September 7 is the 250th day of the year (251st in leap years). ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Baby Looney Tunes is a television show that shows Looney Tunes characters as toddlers. ... Looney Tunes: Back in Action was a 2003 Warner Bros. ... 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Duck Dodgers is the fictional star of a series of cartoons produced by Warner Bros. ...

References

• Adamson, Joe (1990). 50 Years and Only One Grey Hare. New York: Henry Holt & Co.
• Schneider, Steve (1990). That's All Folks!: The Art of Warner Bros. Animation. New York: Henry Holt & Co.

External links

• WarnerBros.com
• Toonopedia: Tasmanian Devil
• Toonopedia: Taz-Mania