Release Date:

January 14, 1956

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd

Summary:

Elmer Fudd’s latest hunt for Bugs Bunny involves the two of them constantly changing their personalities based on what hat ends up on their head, after a truckload of hats flies out of an “ACME Theatrical Hat Co.” truck.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1387 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

Tedd Pierce wrote this one.

Robert Gribbroek and Richard H. Thomas did the layouts and backgrounds respectively rather than Maurice Noble and Philip DeGuard.

With this cartoon onward (with the exception of “Gee Whiz-z-z-z”, released four months later), Jones is now credited as “Chuck Jones”.

This is one of the few post-1940’s cartoons to have Robert Bruce as the narrator.

The ending is a bit of a callback to “Rabbit of Seville” with Bugs and Elmer as groom and bride, respectively.

Elmer’s line, “Come on out now and wet me see the cowor of your spurting bwood!” is another example that proves these cartoons were never aimed towards children.

During the scene where he has the judge’s wig on his head, Bugs refers to Elmer as “Monahan”, which is presumably a reference to former writer Dave Monahan (who actually worked with Jones in his early period).

This is Jones’ penultimate usage of Elmer. The last time he would use him would be in the masterpiece, “What’s Opera Doc” (1957).

Favorite Scene:

Bugs with a game warden hat scolds Elmer for “shooting sergeants out of season” when Elmer shoots at the Sergeant helmet Bugs was wearing. When a Pilgrim hat lands on Elmer’s head, the latter explains that he was shooting turkeys for the first Thanksgiving dinner.

What Happens in This One:

A still picture of a man against the same background as the title card and credits is shown as the narrator explains, “It is a well-known psychological fact that peoples’ behavior is strongly affected by the way they dress. For instance, if we alter this gentleman’s attire to something more, uh, romantic, certain changes in attitude may perhaps be detected”. The “romantic” outfit is actually that of a pirate causing the man to act like a very violent one with Yosemite Sam’s voice and swinging his gun and sword around, “Batten down the keelhaul! YOW! Kill the women and children first! Blood! Gore! Spin ‘em on the tattersalls!” The man’s outfit is then changed back into his regular clothes as the narrator continues, “Even a change of hats will usually bring certain changes”. The man is replaced with Elmer in a gentleman’s outfit. “Look at this mild-mannered little man. A rather quaint figure, we might say, in his old-fashioned clothes. Yet put a hunter’s cap on his head and see what happens” (animated by Richard Thompson).

Elmer begins acting like a hunter, “Bang! Bang! Bang! Come out of your holes, you cowardwy wabbit! Bang! Bang!” before the background changes to a forest scenery and with Elmer fully dressed as a hunter and now armed with his rifle, “And I’ll bwow ya to smitheweenies! Come on out now and wet me see the cowor of your spurting bwood!” The latter two words, along with the gunshots, awake Bugs, who exclaims, “My spurting blood!? Yipe!” as he runs off. Elmer begins chasing Bugs around the forest. Meanwhile, a truck for the “ACME Theatrical Hat Co.” with its back doors loose is seen driving along as the narrator announces, “To pursue this interesting phenomena a bit further, let’s have THIS happen!” The back doors open up and several hats come flying down into the forest (animated by Thompson).

Getting tired out from the chase, Bugs begins panting for breath before a Sergeant helmet lands on him. Elmer believes Bugs has gone into a hollow log and begins to point his rifle in there, “Okay, you cwuddy wabbit! I know you’re in there! Come on out!”, as he begins shooting. Bugs, still wearing the Sergeant helmet, comes up to Elmer and calls, “Ten-shun!” Elmer comes out as Bugs demands, “Okay, soldier! Explain your actions!” Elmer explains, “Well, you see, sir, I was just out shooting wabbits with my gun”. Bugs then gets in his face and demands to know, “Alright, Dog-Face! How come every other Private in this man’s army’s got a RIFLE, and YOU’VE got a GUN!?” Elmer attempts to explain, “Well, I-”, before Bugs takes the rifle and orders, “About face!” He then has Elmer do a forward march towards the river and then orders, “Company halt!” before Elmer is about to fall in. Bugs then instructs, “Forward!” and then “March” in a simple, calm voice. Elmer falls into the river offscreen, but emerges from under a Douglas MacArthur hat as he announces, “I have weturned!” (animated by Abe Levitow)

Bugs realizes, “Yipes! I’ve been outweighed!” as he digs into the ground and begins burrowing away from the Sergeant helmet. Elmer, walking towards the surface, falls down into the river, and comes back up wearing his hunter’s cap again (animated by Levitow). Realizing that the Sergeant was Bugs, Elmer begins shooting at the helmet, thinking Bugs is still wearing it. Bugs’ burrowing is then stopped when he goes under the hat of a game warden. Bugs, as the game warden, appears behind Elmer who asks in a demanding tone, “Okay, buster! What’s the idea of shootin’ Sergeants out of season!?” Elmer sheepishly hides his rifle behind his back as he tries to come up with an excuse, “Well, you see, sir, I, uh-” A gust of wind blows the game warden hat off of Bugs’ head and a Pilgrim hat onto Elmer, who finishes his explanation, “I, uh, I was just shooting turkeys for the first Thanksgiving dinner”. An Indian wig lands on Bugs’ head as he folds his arms and exclaims like an Indian, “Ugh!” He then steals Elmer’s rifle and begins chasing him while doing an Indian-like whoop, oblivious to the wig coming off (animated by Thompson).

After a shot of the reversed roles with Elmer fleeing gunshots from Bugs, Elmer gets wise and skids to a stop. Upon coming up to him, Bugs stops as Elmer takes the rifle back from him before the chase resumes. Bugs makes it across the busy highway but while Elmer stops before it’s safe for him to proceed (animated by Thompson), an old lady’s bonnet flies down onto him. In the midst of running, Bugs gets a boy scout hat landing on his head, so he runs back towards Elmer. “Hey, lady! Lady, wait! Wait! Don’t move! I’ll be right there!” Upon stopping in front of him, Bugs salutes and recites very fast while helping Elmer to the other side, “A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and helps old ladies across the street at all times without expectation of recompense, neither”. Elmer thanks him, “Thank you vewy much, young man”, before a passing car causes them to both spin around and these hats to go flying off of them (animated by Ben Washam).

The chase continues up a hill (animated by Washam), before Bugs takes refuge in a cave. Elmer shoots into it, “I got ya now, you wabbit! I’m going to bwow you into a miwwion wabbit cutwets!” Bugs comes in behind him, wearing a gangster hat, smoking a cigar, and flipping a coin. Speaking in a gangster-like voice similar to Edward G. Robinson’s, Bugs tells him, “Okay, Maralley. Come out of there”. Elmer does so and turns around to find gangster Bugs. “I told ya, Maralley, this was my territory. Told ya to keep out, so-”. He then begins puffing smoke into Elmer’s face, “I’m gonna rub ya out, Maralley. See? Yeah. Rub ya. Out. See? Yeah? See? Out. See? Out. See?”. An officer hat lands on Elmer’s hat, so he grabs Bugs by the chest and threatens, “Alwight, Wocky! You’re coming with me, ya mawafactor!” Bugs attempts to reason with him, “Hey, look, copper. We can settle this out at court. Yeah. Moolah. Yeah. Ten G’s. Yeah. Buy something for the kids, yeah”. Angry at Bugs bribing him 10,000 dollars, Elmer exclaims, “How dare you twy to bwibe me, you miscweant!” (animated by Ken Harris)

A judge’s wig is the next thing that falls on Bugs’ head, causing Elmer still as a cop to sheepishly hide the money behind his back. “Well?”, Bugs asks suspiciously. Elmer nervously sweats, “Uh, heh, heh. Well, ya see, your honor, I-”. Bugs informs him, “You’re a family man, Monahan, so I’m going to sentence you to 45 years. At hard labor”. Walking away while taking the judge’s wig off of his head, Bugs says to himself, “One thing I cannot abide is a dishonest police officer”. Suddenly, Elmer is heard asking, “Oh, judge?” before the camera pans to him now wearing a bridal gown as he continues, “Will you mawwy me?” A top hat lands on Bugs’ head so he accepts, “Certainly, my darling, sweetie. I would be delighted to marry up with you” (animated by Harris up to here). Carrying bride Elmer in his arms to their honeymoon cottage, groom Bugs confides, “Y’know, I think it always helps a picture to have a romantic ending” (animated by Thompson).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½