PETER COTTONTAIL is the temporary name that Peter Rabbit gave himself in the first book written by Thornton Burgess, “Old Mother West Wind..” In the story, Peter Rabbit thought the name Peter Cottontail made him sound more important. The author, Thornton Burgess, was an American conservationist and author of children’s stories. He loved the beauty of nature and its living creatures so much that he wrote about them in his books and newspaper column, “Bedtime Stories.” By the time he retired (in 1960), he had written more than 170 books and 15,000 stories for his daily newspaper column. In his first book (as indicated above), the reader meets many of the characters found in later books and stories. They include: Peter Cottontail, Jimmy Skunk, Sammy Jay, Bobby Raccoon, Little Joe Otter, Grandfather Frog, Billy Mink, Jerry Muskrat, Spotty the Turtle, Old Mother West Wind and her Merry Little Breezes.
ILLUSTRATOR AND COMIC STRIP CREATOR (Harrison Cady 1920 – 1948):
Harrison Cady, who illustrated Burgess’ books, wrote and drew the syndicated “Peter Rabbit” comic strip from 1920 to 1948.
PETER COTTONTAIL LYRICS:
Oh! here comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin’ down the bunny trail
Hippity hoppity, happy Easter day
Here comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin’ down the bunny trail
Hippity hoppin’, Easter’s on its way
Try to do the things you should
Maybe if you’re extra good
He’ll roll lots of Easter eggs your way
You’ll wake up on Easter mornin’
And you’ll know that he was there
When you find those chocolate bunnies
That he’s hiding everywhere
Oh! here comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin’ down the bunny trail
Hippity hoppity, happy Easter Day
Hippity hoppity, happy Easter Day
SONGWRITERS (Rollins and Nelson – 1949):
The “Here Comes Peter Cottontail” song is often regarded as one of the most popular Easter songs. Walter ‘Jack’ Rollins and Steve Nelson, American musicians, co-wrote the song that was used in the Easter special of the same name in 1949. They also co-wrote the song, “Frosty the Snowman” in 1950. Rollins wrote songs for the public-service mascot, Smokey the Bear as well as other country songs for Gene Autry, George Jones and Eddy Arnold.
SONG RECORDED (Gene Autry - 1950):
In 1950, Gene Autry recorded the holiday song “Here Comes Peter Cottontail” which became popular on the Country and Pop charts and informally gave the Easter Bunny a name.
AUTHORS (PRISCILLA AND OTTO FRIEDRICH - 1957)
Priscilla and Otto Friedrich wrote a novel “The Easter Bunny that Overslept” in 1957.
TELEVISION SPECIAL (1971):
The 1971 Easter television special “Here Comes Peter Cottontail” was based on the 1957 novel written by the Friedriches (above)
Information for this article was obtained from the following websites: metrolyrics.com/peter-cottontail-lyrics-gene-autry.html; Thornton Burgess.org; Peter Cottontail – Wikipedia; Gene Autry.com; Walter ‘Jack’ Rollins.com; harper Collins.com/priscilla and otto friedrich; ottofriedrich.com and goodreads.com/harrisoncady.
