Charles "Charlie" Gustav Thorson (29 August 1890 – 7 August 1966) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

political cartoonist, character designer, children's book author and illustrator. Thorson is best known as the man who designed an early version of the then yet unnamed

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring roles in the '' Looney Tunes'' and '' ...

. Leonard Maltin, ''Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons'' (NAL and McGraw Hill, 1980; revised edition, November 1987), p. 242

Early life and family

Thorson was born in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

, Canada and given the name Karl Gústaf Stefánsson. He was of

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic descent, as his parents were part of the Icelandic immigration to Canada in the 19th century. His parents were part of the 1,700 Icelanders who registered with the Winnipeg Immigration Office in 1887. Politician Joseph Thorson was his older brother.

Career

Thorson's self-portrait drawing in 1931 portrayed him as a Viking based on his Icelandic descent. From 1935 to 1945, Thorson worked in American animation studios, including

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

and

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

He contributed sketches of hundreds of cartoon characters, including

Snow White "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as Ta ...

Elmer Fudd Elmer J.''Hare Brush'' (1956) Fudd is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. '' Looney Tunes''/'' Merrie Melodies'' series and the archenemy of Bugs Bunny. He has one of the more disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon pantheo ...

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, Sniffles the Mouse,

and

Inki Inki is the lead character in an animated cartoon series of Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' short films by animator Chuck Jones. Five Inki cartoons were made between 1939 and 1950. History and description Inki, created for ...

. Thorson wrote two children's books, ''Keeko'' in 1947 and ''Chee-chee and Keeko'' in 1952, about the adventures of a little Native American boy. He also created the character Punkinhead, which appeared in several children's books and in

Eaton's The T. Eaton Company Limited, later known as Eaton's, was a Canadian department store chain that was once the largest in the country. It was founded in 1869 in Toronto by Timothy Eaton, an immigrant from what is now Northern Ireland. Eaton's grew ...

catalogues for many years. Thorson lived his life without public credit for his creations. His name was never mentioned in associated movie credits, and "rarely mentioned in studio records or in other animation books." These creations can be found in Thorson's personal albums that includes sketches and model drawings shared with his family. Thorson died in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

in 1966.

References

Notes

Bibliography

*''Cartoon Charlie: The Life and Art of Animation Pioneer Charles Thorson'', by Prof.

Gene Walz In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...

(with the assistance of Stephen Thorson. Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada:

Great Plains Publications Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

, 1998. 222 pages. .
Charlie Thorson fonds
University of Manitoba

External links

"Charles Gustav Thorson"
– ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Thorson, Charles 1890 births 1966 deaths Canadian people of Icelandic descent Artists from Winnipeg Canadian cartoonists Walt Disney Animation Studios people