Roger Rabbit
“P-P-P-P-P-P-Please!”
Roscoe Conkling "Roger" Rabbit (born June 22, 1927) is an American cartoon actor and comedian and one of the most famous rabbits in the world. Starting at the DeGreasy Brothers Company, he eventually moved to Maroon Cartoon Studios, where he worked with R.K. Maroon and Baby Herman. He mentored Mickey Mouse and discovered Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Bugs Bunny. He was one of the most popular stars of the 1920s and '30s, and soon became one of the highest paid, signing a contract to make $1 million a year in 1938.
In 1947, Roger was accused of killing Marvin Acme, whose affair with his wife Jessica Rabbit had become common gossip in Hollywood, and endured a widely-publicized manslaughter trial. His films were banned, his career was ruined, and he was publicly ostracized. Though he was acquitted by a jury and received a written apology, the trial's scandal has mostly overshadowed his legacy as a pioneering comedian. Though the ban on his films was eventually lifted, Roger only worked sparingly for the rest of his career and was largely forgotten in time. In 1988 he began a successful comeback, starring as himself in the Disney biopic Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, but went into retirement following creative differences with Disney executives.
Early life[edit]
Roger was born in 1927 and was claimed to be one of Walt Disney's first creations. But almost immediately after creating Roger, Disney dumped him for Mickey Mouse, because he thought mice are cute and rabbits aren't that cute. In 1930, Roger managed to salvage work with Walter Lantz and worked for him until 1940, when Woody Woodpecker took over as Lantz's most treasured star.
The Maroon Years[edit]
In 1941, Roger transferred to Maroon Cartoon Studios after starring as Harvey the Rabbit in the Jimmy Stewart film Harvey. His biggest fame came when he made a WWII cartoon where he threw Hitler into a vat of dip. Roger starred in over 100 cartoon shorts between 1941 and 1947; his height of fame came was in 1946, when he married marry Jessica Titson in Toontown. The state of Conneticut arranged the wedding due to Jessica bearing Herman Rabbit, who would star in many Roger Rabbit cartoons.
In 1947, business tycoon Marvin Acme was found murdered at the Acme Gag Factory, having been killed in humourous fashion by having a piano dropped on his head. Soon Roger was framed of murdering Acme, whose affair with his wife Jessica Rabbit had become common gossip in Hollywood, and endured a widely-publicized manslaughter trial. His films were banned, his career was ruined, and he was publicly ostracized. Though he was acquitted by a jury and received a written apology, the trial's scandal has mostly overshadowed his legacy as a pioneering comedian. Though the ban on his films was eventually lifted, Roger only worked sparingly for the rest of his career and was largely forgotten in time. In 1988 he began a successful comeback, starring as himself in the biopic Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, but went into retirement following creative differences with Disney CEO Michael Eisner, Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg.
The Asylum Years[edit]
In 1948, after saving Toontown and Toontown being owned by the Toons, Roger went insane after hearing that Maroon Cartoons was closed and got bought by Disney. It wouldn't be until 1950 where Roger would go even more insane, when he found out that Jessica was going out with Bugs Bunny.
Confused and troubled, Roger went to an asylum in Great Britain because he felt that "Everyone's crazy there!" Fifteen years later, in 1965, Jessica would return to Roger's side and comfort him by rubbing her breasts in his face. Roger then came back home and was surprised to find that he was now unknown; everyone even knew The Beatles more than Roger.
The Who Framed Years[edit]
In 1988, Roger returned to fame when Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis gave him a scholarship to Acme Looniversity which lead to the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit, starring him, Jessica Rabbit, Herman Rabbit, Edward Valiant (played by Bob Hoskins), Judge Doom (played by Christopher Lloyd), and Delores (played by Kathleen Turner). The film is set at the time when Roger Rabbit found out that Marvin Acme died and so did R.K.O. Maroon (which was in 1947) and the case was solved when Judge Doom actually killed them. The movie was a smash hit and made Roger a star once more; in the next few years, he guest-starred on an episode of Tiny Toon Adventures titled "Buster and Babs Go Hawaiian".
Roger, Spielberg, and Zemeckis intended to produce a sequel titled Jews Framed Roger Rabbit which would be set in 1967 Hollywood, but they scrapped the project due to creative conflicts with greedy corner-cutting Disney CEO Michael Eisner. Roger then went into retirement.