Bugs' Bonnets

Bugs' Bonnets is a 1956 Merrie Melodies short directed by Chuck Jones. 
== Title ==
The title is a play on both Bugs Bunny's name and the word "bonnets", which the latter refers to a woman's or child's hat tied under the chin and with a brim framing the face.
== Plot ==
Clothes strongly affect people's behavior. For an example, a typical Businessman's suit is replaced with a pirate outfit, making him act like one. "Batten down the keelhaul! Kill the women and children first! BLOOD!! GORE!!" Sometimes one piece of clothing, like a hat, can change somebody's behavior. Elmer Fudd, in "boring regular old fashioned every day clothes," has 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!!" He chases Bugs, wanting to see the color of Bugs' "spurting blood."
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 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, 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, chastises Elmer for shooting sergeants out of season.Notice that, when Elmer starts to explain ("Well, you see, sir, I..."), he enunciates the R in "sir". Arthur Q. Bryan's proper pronunciation of rs and ws was an unusual and recurring phenomenon in this film. 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."Elmer enunciates the r in "first" and "turkey" properly. Meanwhile, 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 state, takes his rifle 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 park ranger hat lands on Bugs. He 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 crevice where Bugs is hiding. When Bugs comes behind Elmer from the other side of the rock, the rabbit is wearing "gangster" fedora, and starts to threaten Elmer. Right then a cop's hat lands on Elmer, who then starts to kidnap Bugs; the "gangster" slips him ten thousand dollars 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" forty-five 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 veil. A top hat falls on Bugs, and he accepts the proposal. "Wedding March" by Felix Mendelssohn plays in the underscore as Bugs is carrying Elmer toward a cottage. Bugs says, "Ya know, I think it always helps a picture to have a romantic ending."
== Caricatures ==
* Douglas MacArthur
* George Raft
== Availability ==
Golden Jubilee 24 Karat Collection Elmer.JPG|(1986) VHS Elmer Fudd's Comedy Capers
Lt collection elmer fudd.jpg|(1996) VHS Elmer Fudd
Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 5.jpg|(2007) DVD Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5, Disc One
Lt spotlight 5.jpg|(2007) DVD Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 5, Disc 1
lt spotlight df2.jpg|(2014) DVD Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection Volumes 4-5 Repack
Looney Tunes Bugs Bunny Golden Carrot Collection.png|(2020) DVD Looney Tunes Bugs Bunny Golden Carrot Collection, Disc 5
=== Streaming ===
lt hbo max.jpg|HBO Max Latin America / Brazil (2021 - 2024)
== Censorship ==
* The ABC version of this cartoon cuts two scenes:http://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/censored-b.aspx
** The whole scene where Bugs becomes a game warden, Elmer becomes a Pilgrim, then Bugs becomes an Indian chasing Elmer with his gun was cut.
** Scenes of Bugs as a mobster blowing cigar smoke in Elmer's face before the police officer hat falls on Elmer's head was cut (however, the scene of Elmer as General MacArthur puffing his pipe after saying, "I have returned" wasn't cut).
* 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 following scenes were edited:
** 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. 
** 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' 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! Blood! Gore!" 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' 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' head, he becomes a judge and accuses policeman Elmer for taking a bribe was removed.
* While MeTV aired all of the aforementioned scenes uncut when the short aired on the network back in May 2021, later in November 2021, the scene of Bugs Bunny impersonating a Native American and shooting Elmer Fudd with his own rifle was cut; however, unlike how the other channels edited the short, MeTV's edit of the short was rather strange, yet obvious. The camera zoomed in on Elmer's face and the audio was muted for a few seconds, before it resumed back to normal in the next scene.https://youtu.be/H4K1YM6JhwA However, this scene was later left uncut again on 24 March 2022.
== Notes ==
* When shown on the final season of The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show, the title was changed to Bugs Bonnets.
* The ending where Bugs as the groom and Elmer as the bride get married in the end is a nod to the ending of "Rabbit of Seville" which also had a similar ending.
* When Bugs recites the Boy Scout's Oath, he does the exact oath other than replacing "reverent" at the end with "...and help old ladies across the street at all times without expectation of recompense, neither".
== Gallery ==
BugsBonnetsCredits1.png
BugsBonnetsCredits2.png
Bugs-bonnets-600.jpg|Lobby card
=== TV Title Cards ===
Screenshot 2021-02-25 at 9.50.10 AM.png|The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show
lt bugs bonnets tbbats.jpg|The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show (Final Season)
Screenshot 2020-10-11 at 3.06.41 PM.png|The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show
== References ==
Category:Cartoons directed by Chuck Jones
Category:Bugs Bunny Cartoons
Category:Elmer Fudd Cartoons
Category:Hollywood in Cartoons
Category:Shorts
Category:1956
Category:Looney Tunes Shorts
Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts
Category:Bugs Bunny Chuck Jones
Category:Cartoons written by Tedd Pierce
Category:Cartoons animated by Abe Levitow
Category:Cartoons animated by Richard Thompson
Category:Cartoons with music by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons produced by Eddie Selzer
Category:Cartoons with layouts by Robert Gribbroek
Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Richard H. Thomas