High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Cecil Turtle is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of films. Though he made only three theatrical appearances, Cecil is remarkable in that he is one of the very few characters who was actually able to consistently best Bugs Bunny. Surprisingly, the rabbit is never referred to as "Bugs" anywhere in the cartoon. However, the rabbit is called Speedy, several times, in the short. The title card to the short also makes no mention of a name for the rabbit as can be seen here. Comedian and ventriloquist, Ron Lucas patterned one of his characters, George the Turtle, after Cecil. Animator Tex Avery introduced Cecil in the short Tortoise Beats Hare, released on March 15, 1941. Even from the cartoon's opening titles, Avery lets on that Bugs Bunny is about to meet his match. Bugs wanders onto the screen munching his obligatory carrot and absent-mindedly begins reading the title card, grossly mispronouncing most of the credits, such as rather than the correct.