Bugs' Bonnets

"It is a well-known psychological fact that people's behavior is strongly affected by the way they dress," claims the narrator. That sets up the premise of the cartoon which shows Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd both changing personalities as different hats fly on them. (A truck carrying lots of hats spills its merchandise in the forest where are two stars are, hence the different hats/helmets keep falling on their heads.)

Bugs goes from army sergeant to game warden to native American to gangster to judge to groom. Elmer goes from hunter to, General MacArthur, to pilgrim, to a little lady with a bonnet to policeman to bride. Why bride-and-groom? "Because it always helps a picture to have a romantic ending," Bugs tells us at the end.

I hate to spoil the party here but I did not find this cartoon funny, just stupid. I like Bugs Bunny cartoons but this one was just plain dumb despite an interesting premise.

"Bugs' Bonnets" is a funny Bugs cartoon which gets a lot of mileage out of the high concept premise (that is, the hat defines a personality). My favorite gag is when Bugs puts on a gangster hat and repeats "See?" and "Out." many times in short order.

However, the real highlights here are the abstract backgrounds. One of the things I love about this era of Looney Tunes is how experimental the crew got in making unique-looking backdrops, a far cry from the realistic styles from the late '30s to early '50s. The setting is an early fall forest, but it's not drawn lushly as to imitate real life; its influence is more UPA and magazines of the time, where objects such as trees and rocks are more loosely defined but still recognizable to the human eye as to what they are. The color combinations are similarly fantastic, with the predominant color being green, but mixed with browns and blacks, plus splashes of reds and yellows to signify fall. Still frames from this cartoon could be used as actual paintings in a museum, they're that striking. At the same time, the backgrounds don't overtake the comedy- it's more something extra you appreciate after you've seen the cartoon a couple times.

This wasn't the only LT cartoon to experiment with background styles, but it was one of the most impressive results.

This is one of the funniest Bugs shorts they ever did. Oddly enough, for an intensely visual cartoon, the funniest bits are mostly verbal in nature. This has some incredibly funny dialogue, particularly Bugs echoing a portion of Elmer's opening harangue calling on Bugs to show himself. Bugs's take on the line and his whole reaction is priceless! Wonderful cartoon! Well worth watching. Most highly recommended!

"Bugs' Bonnets" begins as a psychological study on the different clothes that people wear and it gives examples of how the same person can change if he or she wears different outfits (which is not the case in real life). When Elmer Fudd is chasing Bugs Bunny in the woods, a van containing various hats, driving on a bridge above the pair, has its doors broken open and the hats and outfits fall out. Throughout the episode Bugs and Elmer wear different hats and change their personalities and roles dramatically throughout the episode.

I do not know if anyone else noticed (if you watched the episode) but this episode reminded me of the sort of activities one does in drama, changing your personality completely just to sort an outfit. A bit like the reviewer Lee Eisenberg with his random theories, it may have only occurred to me and not to anyone else...

Anyway, here is a list of the good things about this Bugs Bunny + Elmer Fudd episode: 1. The idea is a clever and amusing one and is used well in the cartoon. 2. The "base" characters are good in this episode and the "added" characters are also very well done and amusing. 3. The cartoon opens and ends well, parts of episodes I feel can very often be patchy in a Looney Tunes cartoon. 4. The back-ground animation is very good, the character animation could be better, but it is not an issue in this episode. 5. The music was well done and often changed dramatically in this cartoon, which I liked.

If there was anything I did not like so much about the episode, it was the quickness of some of the character changes, the unnecessary pauses between some of the character changes and the slightly racist point where Bugs Bunny starts shooting Elmer Fudd as soon as Bugs is wearing Native American costume (I thought Americans had gone a bit better about that by the mid 1950's, but maybe I was mistaken).

I recommend this episode to any fan of Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd cartoons, to people who enjoy Looney Tunes in general and to people who love quick-changing personalities in a cartoon.

Chuck Jones's "Bugs' Bonnets" mostly looks like a place holder, but they have some really neat tricks up their sleeve! Even beyond Bugs's and Elmer's changing personalities as they wear new hats, one has to wonder whether or not one's attire - or just head-wear - could alter the person in question, as happens to the stars here.

But let's not dwell on philosophical analysis. The point is that this is another funny one, with a real surprise ending. Definitely one that you'll want to watch. It only just became available on DVD a few weeks ago, on Disc 1 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 5.

Yeah, corrupt cops do some real damage to our society. After all, they let the mafia get strong.