TVSquad

Many consider Jay Ward's Crusader Rabbit to be the first cartoon produced for television. It was originally presented to Paul Terry of Terrytoons (Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, Deputy Dawg). Terry rejected, and the cartoon was then produced by Jay Ward, who would later make a name for himself in animation history as the man behind such great cartoons as Rocky and Bullwinkle and George of the Jungle.

Like all of Ward's cartoons, the popularity of Crusader Rabbit came not from stellar animation, but through great writing. His work was, in a roundabout kind of way, the precursor to The Simpsons. Ward's studio created 195 black and white Crusader Rabbit shorts from 1948 to 1951. In 1957, TV Spots, another production company, produced 200 more cartoons featuring the hero rabbit, his pal Rags the Tiger and their enemy, Dudley Nightshade.

Each segment of Crusader Rabbit, much like Rocky and Bullwinkle, ended with a cliffhanger. Some of the episodes were written by the late Chris Hayward, who would later create The Munsters and write for such series as Get Smart, Barney Miller and Alice.

Below is the first Crusader Rabbit episode.

Big thanks to Toonopedia, Toon Zone and Mark Evanier for information on this cartoon.