# 5500 - 2020 First-Class Forever Stamps - Bugs Bunny: Playing the Piano
US #5500
2020 Piano Player – Bugs Bunny
- One of 10 stamp designs celebrating Bugs Bunny’s 80th birthday
Stamp Category: Commemorative
Set: Bugs Bunny
Value: 55¢ First Class Mail Rate (Forever)
First Day of Issue: July 27, 2020
First Day City: Burbank, California
Quantity Issued: 50,000,000
Printed by: Banknote Corporation of America
Printing Method: Offset
Format: Panes of 20
Tagging: Phosphor, overall
Why the stamp was issued: To commemorate the 80th anniversary of Bugs Bunny’s official screen debut.
About the stamp designs: Pictures a one of Bugs Bunny’s iconic personas – a piano player. The artwork came directly from Warner Bros. animation artists who also created the sketches on the reverse side of the complete pane of 20 stamps.
First Day City: The First Day of Issue Ceremony was held virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic with a First Day of Issue postmark from Burbank, California, home of Warner Bros.
About the Bugs Bunny set: Includes 10 different stamp designs issued in honor of Bugs Bunny’s debut on screen in 1940. Each design pictures a different on of Bugs’ famous personas: a barber, basketball player, Hollywood celebrity, court jester, Brünhilde, mermaid, piano player, super-rabbit, baseball player, and soldier. The set also honors Bugs’ place in popular culture and animation history.
History the stamp represents: Bugs Bunny may act silly a lot, but there are some things he can be serious about. One of those is revenge. If another character causes him harm or makes him made, he almost always declares, “Of course you realize THIS means war!” However, sometimes it seems like Bugs has a bit of a temper and goes after another character for even the slightest offense. This usually escalates into both characters going into all-out war with each other.
In the cartoon Rhapsody Rabbit, Bugs stars as a pianist giving a formal concert. At the beginning, an audience member coughs each time Bugs is about to play. Fed up, Bugs pulls out a gun and shoots. As his punishment for “silencing” the audience member, the rest of Bugs’ performance is plagued with interruptions. At first, it is by a ringing phone. Then a mouse appears and begins to compete with Bugs on the piano.
Bugs does his best to dispose of the mouse, to no avail. Considering Bugs is usually the one who is impossible to get rid of, the comedy of the scene is even greater. In the end, the mouse is the one to perform the concert’s grand finale on his own toy piano (which sounds like a regular grand piano).
Bugs is visibly frustrated at the end of Rhapsody Rabbit. It just goes to show that even the greatest prankster can be the butt of a joke once in a while.
US #5500
2020 Piano Player – Bugs Bunny
- One of 10 stamp designs celebrating Bugs Bunny’s 80th birthday
Stamp Category: Commemorative
Set: Bugs Bunny
Value: 55¢ First Class Mail Rate (Forever)
First Day of Issue: July 27, 2020
First Day City: Burbank, California
Quantity Issued: 50,000,000
Printed by: Banknote Corporation of America
Printing Method: Offset
Format: Panes of 20
Tagging: Phosphor, overall
Why the stamp was issued: To commemorate the 80th anniversary of Bugs Bunny’s official screen debut.
About the stamp designs: Pictures a one of Bugs Bunny’s iconic personas – a piano player. The artwork came directly from Warner Bros. animation artists who also created the sketches on the reverse side of the complete pane of 20 stamps.
First Day City: The First Day of Issue Ceremony was held virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic with a First Day of Issue postmark from Burbank, California, home of Warner Bros.
About the Bugs Bunny set: Includes 10 different stamp designs issued in honor of Bugs Bunny’s debut on screen in 1940. Each design pictures a different on of Bugs’ famous personas: a barber, basketball player, Hollywood celebrity, court jester, Brünhilde, mermaid, piano player, super-rabbit, baseball player, and soldier. The set also honors Bugs’ place in popular culture and animation history.
History the stamp represents: Bugs Bunny may act silly a lot, but there are some things he can be serious about. One of those is revenge. If another character causes him harm or makes him made, he almost always declares, “Of course you realize THIS means war!” However, sometimes it seems like Bugs has a bit of a temper and goes after another character for even the slightest offense. This usually escalates into both characters going into all-out war with each other.
In the cartoon Rhapsody Rabbit, Bugs stars as a pianist giving a formal concert. At the beginning, an audience member coughs each time Bugs is about to play. Fed up, Bugs pulls out a gun and shoots. As his punishment for “silencing” the audience member, the rest of Bugs’ performance is plagued with interruptions. At first, it is by a ringing phone. Then a mouse appears and begins to compete with Bugs on the piano.
Bugs does his best to dispose of the mouse, to no avail. Considering Bugs is usually the one who is impossible to get rid of, the comedy of the scene is even greater. In the end, the mouse is the one to perform the concert’s grand finale on his own toy piano (which sounds like a regular grand piano).
Bugs is visibly frustrated at the end of Rhapsody Rabbit. It just goes to show that even the greatest prankster can be the butt of a joke once in a while.