Crusader Rabbit Returns Via Hi Tops TV.Com on TV4U.Com

Pop Quiz...name the first cartoon made especially for TV? Most people would say Rocky and Bullwinkle. Others would say The Flintstones. But the answer is Crusader Rabbit, who came to 'life' in the 1940's during the infancy of TV. It was thought that animation would just be too expensive for the small TV budgets, but TV production pioneer Jerry Fairbanks enlisted Jay Ward (yes, THAT Jay Ward of Rocky and Bullwinkle fame) to create the diminutive rabbit and Rags his sidekick. Not that money was aved all the way around. They eschewed color, even though there were rumblings at the time that the CBS color system would be adopted by the FCC (it wasn't). They used the public domain song 'Ten Little Indians' to avoid music rights for the title song (as had The Lone Ranger show when they started that in the early days of the cash strapped Mutual Radio Network). It was the first use of 'limited animation', although kids across the country never noticed. They all grew up with Crusader Rabbit. Now you can watch him again!