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Easter Bunny hopping mad!

Broadcast Date: March 24, 1961

It's the rivalry of the ages — the scorned Easter Bunny versus the much-loved Santa Claus. In this episode of Rawhide, Marvin Mellobell (a.k.a. Max Ferguson) interviews the curmudgeonly and outspoken Easter Bunny (a.k.a the Easter Bunny). Bunny describes his colourful past and his current attempt to boost the profile of Easter over Christmas. Plans for publicity include popularizing the lesser-known song I saw Mommy kissing the Easter Bunny. It'll be a highly orchestrated and aggressive campaign. "You gotta get up pretty early in the morning to beat the old Easter Bunny!" he warns.

Easter Bunny hopping mad!

• In 2002, North Americans spent roughly $120 million on Easter cards and $875 million on Easter candy. In terms of consumer spending on candy, Easter falls just behind Halloween.

• Eggs and rabbits, two historic symbols of fertility, are two of the symbols of Easter. It is believed that the tradition of making chocolate rabbits and chocolate eggs began in Germany.

• The Easter Bunny's wish to edge Santa out of the holiday hall of fame seemed to come true in 2002 when children lined up in malls across the United States to have their pictures taken with the Easter Bunny.

• Easter is a traditional Christian holiday that celebrates the resurrection of Christ.

• Max Ferguson worked at the CBC until 1998, when he retired after 52 years in radio. Ferguson's pranks, skits and satires were much-loved by Canadian audiences. His characters included announcer Marvin Mellobell and old Ma Perkins.

Easter Bunny hopping mad!

Medium: Radio

Program: Rawhide

Broadcast Date: March 24, 1961

Host: Max Ferguson

Duration: 14:37

Photo: by Sam Pullara, used under Flickr Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Last updated:
March 16, 2009