Bugs' Bonnets is a 1956 Merrie Melodies

Merrie Melodies

Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...

cartoon

Cartoon

A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...

, directed by Chuck Jones

Chuck Jones

Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...

, written by Tedd Pierce

Tedd Pierce

Tedd Pierce , was an American animated cartoon writer, animator and artist. Pierce spent the majority of his career as a writer for the Warner Bros. "Termite Terrace" animation studio, working alongside fellow luminaries such as Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese. Pierce also worked as a writer at...

, and released by Warner Bros. Pictures. It features the voice talents of Mel Blanc

Mel Blanc

Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...

, providing the voice of Bugs Bunny

Bugs Bunny

Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...

, as well as the uncredited performances of Arthur Q. Bryan

Arthur Q. Bryan

Arthur Quirk Bryan was a United States comedian and voice actor, remembered best for his longtime recurring role as well-spoken, wisecracking Dr...

 (Elmer Fudd

Elmer Fudd

Elmer J. Fudd/Egghead is a fictional cartoon character and one of the most famous Looney Tunes characters, and the de facto archenemy of Bugs Bunny. He has one of the more disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon pantheon . His aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring...

) and Robert C. Bruce

Robert C. Bruce

Robert C. Bruce, Jr. was a voice actor, and the son of Robert C. Bruce who was also an actor. He was the narrator for a number of Warner Bros. cartoons in the 1930s and 1940s...

 (narrator

Narrator

A narrator is, within any story , the fictional or non-fictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The narrator is one of three entities responsible for...

).

Plot

At the beginning, the narrator explains how clothes strongly affect people's behavior. For an example, a typical businessman's suit is replaced with a pirate outfit, causing him to act like one ("Batten down the keelhaul! Kill the women and children first! Blood!! Gore!!"). The narrator then adds how sometimes one piece of clothing, like a hat, can change somebody's behavior. We next see Elmer Fudd in "boring regular old fashioned every day clothes," and have his bowler hat replaced with a hunter's cap, which makes him act like a hunter ("Bang! Bang! Bang! Come out of your holes, you cowardwy wabbits...and I'll bwow you to smitherweenies!!"). The scene then focuses on him chasing Bugs, wanting to see the color of Bugs' "spurting blood."

To allow the audience to explore this phenomenon some more, a truck for the "Acme Theatrical Hat Co.", going uphill, allows its loose doors to fly open, which in turn, allows all the hats inside to fly out all over the valley. An army helmet lands on Bugs' head, bearing Technical Sergeant

Technical Sergeant

Technical Sergeant is the name of one current and two former enlisted ranks in the United States military.-United States Air Force:Technical Sergeant, or Tech Sergeant, is the sixth enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force, just above Staff Sergeant and below Master Sergeant. A technical sergeant is...

 stripes. Bugs suddenly adopts the authoritative behavior of such, berate Elmer for hunting rabbits instead of the enemy, and orders Elmer "forward march!" off the river bank, where many of the hats are.

Upon emerging from the river, Elmer comes up wearing the hat, glasses and corncob pipe of General Douglas MacArthur

Douglas MacArthur

General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the...

, paraphrasing his famous line by saying, "I have wetuwned!" When Elmer starts menacingly approaching him, Bugs quickly digs a hole into the ground and loses his sergeant helmet, which now straddles the rabbit hole. Elmer slips under water for a second, coming up wearing his hunter's hat again.

Bugs emerges from burrowing under a game warden hat. Elmer shoots at the sergeant helmet, thinking Bugs is wearing it. Bugs, now a warden, chastizes Elmer for shooting sergeants out of season. A gust of wind blows both hats away. A pilgrim hat lands on Elmer, who finishes his explanation: "I was just shooting turkeys for the first Thanksgiving dinner." Meantime, an Indian headdress lands on Bugs, who adopts a stereotyped Indian war whoop, takes the gun away from Elmer, and a short-lived chase ensues.

During this, the hats fall off; Elmer, returning to his original form, snatches his gun back from Bugs, and gives chase; the chase continues to a busy highway. Bugs scampers across, with Elmer stuck on other side. Suddenly, a little old lady's bonnet lands on Elmer, making him act like one. Meantime, a Boy Scout hat lands on Bugs. Bugs helps Elmer cross the street. A passing car spins them both around, the hats fly off, and the chase resumes.

Elmer blasts away at a crevace where Bugs is hiding. When Bugs comes behind Elmer from the other side of the rock, the rabbit is wearing "gangster" fedora in the vein of Edward G. Robinson

Edward G. Robinson

Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...

, and starts to threaten Elmer. Right then a cop's hat lands on Elmer, who then starts to collar Bugs; the "gangster" slips him $10,000 as a bribe. Elmer initially refuses the bribe, but before he can hand it back, Bugs' hat is replaced by a British judge's wig. In response to Elmer's "bribe", Bugs sentences Elmer to "only" 45 years at hard labor, out of consideration to his family.

Shortly after Bugs walks away, lamenting how he can't abide a dishonest police officer, Elmer calls out, "Oh, Judge, wiww you mawwy me?" Elmer is now wearing a bridal hat. A top hat falls on Bugs, and he accepts the proposal. As with Rabbit of Seville

Rabbit of Seville

Rabbit of Seville is a 1949 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon short released in 1950. It was directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese....

, the "Wedding March

Wedding March (Mendelssohn)

Felix Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" in C major, written in 1842, is one of the best known of the pieces from his suite of incidental music to Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream...

" by Mendelssohn

Felix Mendelssohn

Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...

 plays in the underscore, as Bugs is carrying Elmer toward a cottage. Bugs says to the audience

Fourth wall

The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...

, "Ya know, I think it always helps a picture to have a romantic ending." Iris out.

Censorship

• On the ABC version of this cartoon, the part where Elmer becomes a Pilgrim after a Pilgrim hat falls on his head and Bugs becomes an Indian after an Indian wig falls on his head was cut. Also: the part where Bugs acts like a mobster (after a mobster's fedora falls on his head) was shortened to remove the part where Bugs blows cigar smoke in Elmer's face.
• On the CBS version of this cartoon, the part where Bugs (as a mobster) blows cigar smoke in Elmer's face was cut.
• On the Cartoon Network version of this cartoon (until 2001; the cartoon has aired uncut since), the scenes where Elmer assumes General Douglas MacArthur's personality after he dons a general's hat with a pipe attached to it at the brim and the scene where Bugs acts like a mobster (after a mobster's fedora falls on his head) were edited to remove the short scenes of Elmer and Bugs respectively smoking from the pipe and cigar. Also cut was the entire part where Bugs becomes a game warden who accuses Elmer of shooting out of season and before Elmer can answer, has a Pilgrim's hat fall on his head and reply that he's shooting turkeys for the first Thanksgiving dinner, after which an Indian's wig (consisting of long black hair done in braids and two feathers on top) lands on Bugs's head and Bugs begins acting like a stereotypical Native American. These two parts were later reinstated in January 2001 during the Cartoon Network Super Bowl parody special, "The Big Game: Bugs vs. Daffy".
• The now-defunct WB network aired all the parts cut from ABC, CBS, and Cartoon Network intact. However, the WB had its own set of edits for this cartoon:
  • The line "Kill the women and children first!" during the beginning where the narrator shows how a normal man's personality can be changed if he wore something different (in this case, pirate regalia) was muted.
  • Elmer's line, "Come out and wet me see the cowor of your spurting blood!" and Bugs's line, "My spurting blood?! Yipe!" were also muted.
  • The entire scene where Bugs (as a mobster) bribes Elmer (as a police officer about to arrest mobster Bugs) with money, then when a judicial wig falls on Bugs's head, he becomes a judge and accuses policeman Elmer for taking a bribe was removed.

Cast

Mel Blanc

Mel Blanc

Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...

as Bugs Bunny

Bugs Bunny

Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...

(voice)

Arthur Q. Bryan

Arthur Q. Bryan

Arthur Quirk Bryan was a United States comedian and voice actor, remembered best for his longtime recurring role as well-spoken, wisecracking Dr...

as Elmer Fudd

Elmer Fudd

Elmer J. Fudd/Egghead is a fictional cartoon character and one of the most famous Looney Tunes characters, and the de facto archenemy of Bugs Bunny. He has one of the more disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon pantheon . His aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring...

(voice)

Robert C. Bruce

Robert C. Bruce

Robert C. Bruce, Jr. was a voice actor, and the son of Robert C. Bruce who was also an actor. He was the narrator for a number of Warner Bros. cartoons in the 1930s and 1940s...

as The Narrator

Narrator

A narrator is, within any story , the fictional or non-fictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The narrator is one of three entities responsible for...

(voice)

Reaction

Reaction to the film has been mixed. Animation

Animation

Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...

 historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

 Michael Barrier

Michael Barrier (historian)

Michael Barrier is an American animation historian. Barrier was the founder and editor of Funnyworld, the first magazine exclusively devoted to comics and animation. It began as a contribution to the CAPA-Alpha amateur press association...

 said of the film in a Funnyworld magazine

Magazine

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

 essay over Chuck Jones

Chuck Jones

Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...

:

The preciosity that destroyed some of Jones' earliest cartoons . . . giving them a mincing, self-conscious quality . . . shows up [in] Bugs' Bonnets, a dreary exposition on the notion that the hat one wears shapes one's personality.

Availability

As of 2007, Bugs' Bonnets is available on the four-disc DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 box set Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5

Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5

Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 5 is a Looney Tunes collection on DVD. Following the pattern of one release each year of the previous volumes, it was released on October 30, 2007....

, as well as the similar, two-disc DVD Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 5.

Sources

• Bugs' Bonnets at the Internet Movie Database
  Internet Movie Database
  Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
  
  .
• Funnyworld No. 13 (1971).

External links

• Bugs' Bonnets at the Internet Movie Database
  Internet Movie Database
  Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...