U.S. #5498
2020 55¢ Bugs Bunny: Brünnhilde
Value: 55¢ 1-ounce First-class rate (Forever)
Issue Date: July 27, 2020
First Day City: Burbank, CA
Type of Stamp: Commemorative
Printed by: Banknote Corporation of America
Printing Method: Offset
Format: Pane of 20
Self-Adhesive
Quantity Printed: 50,000,000
In 1994, a group of 1,000 animation experts got together and created a list of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of All Time. Bugs Bunny episodes made the list several times, including the very top spot. The cartoon was titled What's Opera, Doc? And was released in 1957. It was directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese. This was the very last Elmer Fudd cartoon Jones directed.
What's Opera Doc? was a parody of Richard Wagner's 19th-century German operas. The cartoon features Elmer Fudd as the powerful Siegfried, hunting a "Wabbit" through the woods with his spear and "magic helmet." When he discovers Bugs in his hole, he attacks, and Bugs flees.
As always, Bugs comes up with a plan to make a fool out of Elmer. He dresses up as the beautiful Valkyrie Brünnhilde and appears in a golden dress and helmet with braids. Bugs rides in on the back of a comically fat white horse and he and Elmer perform a lover's ballet. Eventually, Bugs' helmet falls off and the jig is up. Elmer is enraged and uses his magic helmet to bring down every natural disaster he can think of on Bugs, who is hiding in the mountains.
Unlike most cartoons, Elmer actually succeeds in "killing" Bugs, though he is immediately regretful. It just proves that even when Bugs "loses," he wins.