Jessica Rabbit is a fictional character created by author Gary Wolf for his humorous novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?. The character was later used by The Walt Disney Company and Amblin Entertainment for the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit, loosely based on Wolf's book. In the book version she was a calendar pin-up and porn comic character who was obsessed over her estranged husband, comic strip star Roger Rabbit. She is re-imagined in the film as a sultry humanoid (Rabbit being merely her husband's surname) cartoon singer at a fictional Los Angeles supper club called 'The Ink and Paint Club'. Here, she is one of several suspects in the framing of her husband, who is a famous cartoon star. She is voiced by actress, Kathleen Turner, who went uncredited in the film but not in the animated shorts that followed in the movie's success. Executive producer Steven Spielberg's then-wife Amy Irving was cast to sing "Why Don't You Do Right?" for Jessica's first scene in the movie.
She claims to Valliant: "I'm not bad...I'm just drawn that way..."
Many film buffs label Jessica Rabbit a "Frankenstein of Film Goddesses": with a Lauren Bacall-ish speaking voice, Betty Grable's legs, Marilyn Monroe's torso and buttocks, Jayne Mansfield's breasts, Veronica Lake's hairstyle, Rita Hayworth's hair color, Marlene Dietrich's eyes, and a Judy Garland-like singing voice.
Controversy
When the Laserdisc version of Who Framed Roger Rabbit was released, there was a lot of media controversy about a scene where supposedly Jessica Rabbit's private parts are flashed on camera. During a scene, Jessica and Eddie are both thrown from a taxi. Jessica spins out of the car, causing her red dress to hike up her body and her legs to spread apart briefly. For a few frames of Jessica's second spin her underwear supposedly disappears, revealing her pubic area. The frames in question are frames 2170-2172 on side 4 of the laserdisc version. During these three frames Jessica's pubic region is darker than the surrounding flesh-colored areas of her legs and certainly not a dark red like the color of her underwear. Animator and Disney historian Mark Kausler studied those frames very carefully and concluded that it is just a paint error.
Other appearances
- She also made cameo appearances in the cartoon shorts Tummy Trouble, Roller Coaster Rabbit and Trail Mix-Up.
- She also appeared frequently in the Roger Rabbit comic book series and she has her own feature in most issues of Roger Rabbit's Toontown.
- She is mentioned in the chorus of the song Rescue by Eve 6.
Categories: Fictional singers | Roger Rabbit characters | Femmes fatales
