1941

"Tortoise Beats Hare" begins a trilogy where Bugs Bunny races Cecil Turtle.

"The Heckling Hare" is the last Tex Avery-directed short to be produced.

"Wabbit Twouble" is the first of a series of shorts featuring a redesigned, "fatter" Elmer Fudd.

1941 would bring about the controversial end of Tex Avery's run as a Warner Bros. director due to a disagreement with Leon Schlesinger as Bob Clampett emerged to start leading the studio to newer directions.

History

• Tex Avery and Chuck Jones start directing black-and-white Looney Tunes, and Bob Clampett directs his first color Merrie Melodies due to management changes.
• Tex Avery directs the first one-shot Looney Tunes, "The Haunted Mouse".
• A fat redesign of Elmer Fudd modeled after his voice actor, Arthur Q. Bryan, is used starting in "Wabbit Twouble".
• Tex Avery is suspended for four weeks without pay by Leon Schlesinger and leaves the studio. He then meets Jerry Fairbanks at Paramount and directs the first three Speaking of Animals shorts. He later joins MGM in September and works there for fourteen years.
• Bob Clampett replaces Avery as the director of his unit and leaves behind his old unit with Norman McCabe becoming the director.
• Mel Blanc is signed to an exclusive contract with Leon Schlesinger and prohibits him from doing voice work for cartoon studios outside of Warner Bros.
• This year debuts the Bugs Bunny on the WB shield with WARNER BROS. and Present already on the screen at the open-fade starting with "The Heckling Hare". However, this cartoon was the only one to have Bugs pull the MERRIE MELODIES card down in the Schlesinger era. The rest would fade to the MERRIE MELODIES card.
• Cartoons start using purple-blue colored rings starting from "Snowtime for Comedy".
• Chuck Jones stops being credited as "Charles Jones"; he is now credited as "Charles M. Jones".

Theatrical Shorts

1.  "Elmer's Pet Rabbit" (Jones/January 4)
2.  "Porky's Snooze Reel" (Clampett, McCabe/January 11)
3.  "The Fighting 69½th" (Freleng/January 18) 
4.  "Sniffles Bells the Cat" (Jones/February 1) 
5.  "The Haunted Mouse" (Avery/February 15) 
6.  "The Crackpot Quail" (Avery/February 15)
7.  "The Cat's Tale" (Freleng/March 1) 
8.  "Joe Glow, the Firefly" (Jones/March 8) 
9.  "Tortoise Beats Hare" (Avery/March 15)
10.  "Porky's Bear Facts" (Freleng/March 29) 
11.  "Goofy Groceries" (Clampett/March 29) 
12.  "Toy Trouble" (Jones/April 12) 
13.  "Porky's Preview" (Avery/April 19) 
14.  "The Trial of Mr. Wolf" (Freleng/April 26) 
15.  "Porky's Ant" (Jones/May 10) 
16.  "Farm Frolics" (Clampett/May 10)  
17.  "Hollywood Steps Out" (Avery/May 24) 
18.  "A Coy Decoy" (Clampett/June 7) 
19.  "Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt" (Freleng/June 7)  
20.  "Porky's Prize Pony" (Jones/June 21) 
21.  "The Wacky Worm" (Freleng/June 21) 
22.  "Meet John Doughboy" (Clampett/July 5) 
23.  "The Heckling Hare" (Avery/July 5)
24.  "Inki and the Lion" (Jones/July 19) 
25.  "Aviation Vacation" (Avery/August 2)
26.  "We, the Animals - Squeak!" (Clampett/August 9) 
27.  "Sport Chumpions" (Freleng/August 16) 
28.  "The Henpecked Duck" (Clampett/August 30) 
29.  "Snowtime for Comedy" (Jones/August 30) 
30.  "All This and Rabbit Stew" (Avery/September 13) 
31.  "Notes to You" (Freleng/September 20) 
32.  "The Brave Little Bat" (Jones/September 27) 
33.  "The Bug Parade" (Avery/October 11) 
34.  "Robinson Crusoe Jr." (McCabe/October 25) 
35.  "Rookie Revue" (Freleng/October 25) 
36.  "Saddle Silly" (Jones/November 8)
37.  "The Cagey Canary" (Avery, Clampett/November 22) 
38.  "Porky's Midnight Matinee" (Jones/November 22) 
39.  "Rhapsody in Rivets" (Freleng/December 6)  
40.  "Wabbit Twouble" (Avery, Clampett/December 20)
41.  "Porky's Pooch" (Clampett/December 27) 

Character Debuts

• Cecil Turtle

People

Births

• 24 January - Neil Diamond
• 8 August - Earl Boen

References

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Timeline

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