Bugs' Bonnets

Bugs' Bonnets is a 1956 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon, directed by Chuck Jones and written by Tedd Pierce.^[1] The short was released on January 14, 1956, and stars Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd.^[2] The film has both Bugs and Elmer constantly change social roles and personas, accompanying each change of hat on their heads.

The narrative begins with an exploration of the impact of clothing on human behavior. Illustrated through a businessman's metamorphosis into a pirate persona and Elmer Fudd's transition from mundane attire to hunting garb, the narrative underscores how attire can evoke distinct behavioral responses.

To further illustrate this phenomenon, an event occurs when a truck from the Acme Theatrical Hat Co. accidentally scatters hats across the landscape. This event leads to a series of exchanges as Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd don various hats, each triggering a corresponding shift in behavior. Amidst a chase replete with hat exchanges, Bugs adopts roles ranging from a military sergeant to a game warden, while Elmer transforms into General Douglas MacArthur and a pilgrim, among others. Each hat exchange catalyzes a temporary alteration in behavior, leading to confrontations and exchanges between the characters.

Ultimately, the narrative culminates in a whimsical mock wedding ceremony. The scene is set to Felix Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" as Bugs (in a top hat) carries Elmer (in a bride's veil) to a cottage.

• Mel Blanc as Bugs Bunny
• Arthur Q. Bryan as Elmer Fudd

Reaction to the film has been mixed. Reviews on Letterboxd were more positive than negative, in Rate Your Music they received a 3 star average rating.^{[3] [deprecated source ]} Film Music Central also rated it very positively.^[4]

Animation historian Michael Barrier said of the film in a Funnyworld magazine essay about Chuck Jones:

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.^[5]

Bugs' Bonnets is available on the four-disc DVD box set Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5 ,^[6] as well as the similar, two-disc DVD Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 5.

• Bugs' Bonnets at the Internet Movie Database.
• Funnyworld No. 13 (1971).

• Bugs' Bonnets at the Internet Movie Database

• 1956 films
• 1950s LGBTQ-related films
• Merrie Melodies short films
• Warner Bros. Cartoons animated short films
• Short films directed by Chuck Jones
• 1950s English-language films
• Films scored by Milt Franklyn
• Cultural depictions of Douglas MacArthur
• Bugs Bunny films
• Elmer Fudd films
• 1950s Warner Bros. animated short films
• Films produced by Edward Selzer
• Films about hunters
• Scouting in popular culture
• Films about same-sex marriage
• English-language short films
• 1956 animated short films

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Template film date with 1 release date
• All articles with deprecated sources
• Articles with deprecated sources from November 2024