Becky Hare Joins the Gang (1973)

Cover of the July 1973 issue.

Written by Adam

For the longest time, I knew that two main characters of the Deep Green Wood gang (Boomer Badger and Scarlett Fox) were not original members of the gang and were written is as regulars to the adventures much later in the magazine's history. I never really considered that other members of the gang might not be original members. I did notice when I received my 1960s issues years ago that Becky Hare was not in the original issue. You can even see on that page I had written that Oscar Rabbit was eventually replaced by Becky Hare. Never quite knew when or how, except that it had happened. It wasn't until I purchased a lot of 1970s back issues from the National Wildlife Federation itself, that I discovered I was quite wrong about the whole matter.

Oscar was never a major character in Deep Green Wood, but another lapin was in the early 1970s--Jack Rabbit. You'll see a picture of him at a later date on this site as more pages are added. But no Becky Hare....where did she pop in? And why? When I cracked the cover and read the story found in the July 1973 issue, I found out when Becky was introduced into the gang, and why she stayed. See the pictures and captions below to get a sense of the story.

Drawings by Lorin Thompson.

While Sammy and Rick are raking leaves in a part of the forest near Deep Green Wood, a frantic hare races up and shouts that part of the forest are on fire and a lot of animals can be in danger if they are not careful. The hare introduces herself as Becky, and Rick suggests they quickly tell Ranger Tom about the situation so that the fire does not go out of control.

At the ranger station, Ranger Tom tells Ranger Rick and the gang that the fires have been purposely set to help the forest regenerate. He explained by burning some of the damp, dead foliage of the ground, new nutrients would be fed back into the soil, allowing new plants to grow, where they would otherwise not be able to if the land was not cleared. Becky screams that her kits are in the area of where the fires have been set, and Rick, Cubby, and Sammy go to help Becky rescue her babies.

Safe at last, Becky realizes that now, her and her kits have nowhere to live. Ranger Rick invites them to come stay with the gang in Deep Green Wood, which Becky gratefully accepts. Becky has been a regular character of the adventure stories ever since then (though her kittens never make another appearance). As the years have gone on, Becky's personality has remained largely run-of-the-mill, whereas you can usually see character traits in many of Deep Green Wood's residents (e.g. Ollie Otter is usually playful and can't resist water in any story). She's always helpful when on an adventure with Rick, but she largely lacks a defining trait, which makes her interchangeable with other characters who lack defining personalities as well (e.g. Zelda Possum, Odora Skunk to name a couple).

Despite the lack of a standout personality, Becky Hare appeared very regularly once she was introduced. The former lapins were firmly out of the storylines now and it would be another ten years before a new character would be introduced that became a major member of Ranger Rick's gang. Becky continued to be added in stories up through the 1990s, though as of late with the comic book adventures, Becky is no longer a regular character with frequent appearances.

According to retired writer and author of many of Ranger Rick's early adventures, Robert Brownridge, Becky Hare was intended to be Rick's equal. She was created based on a letter received from a young female fan who couldn't get into the stories because there were no strong female character leads. The female characters up till that time were kept in traditional side roles (e.g. Nurse Zelda Possum, teacher Frances Flicker). Becky was supposed to break that mold, however, given what I've read, Becky has never been Rick's equal, and she was never given a strong personality. Yes, she helped out on many adventures, but she lacked her own character. In my opinion, we did not see a "strong female character" in the magazines until 1984 when Scarlett Fox became a regular character in the adventures.

See more pictures of Becky Hare in the character images and group images sections of this website. Search the left sidebar for the links.