Baton Bunny is a 1959 Looney Tunes short directed by Chuck Jones and Abe Levitow.
Plot[]
Bugs Bunny is the guest conductor for The Warner Bros. Symphony Orchestra, who will be performing Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna". Bugs silently prepares with his performance by requesting security to kick out a coughing audience member, sharpening his best conducting rod, and reading the music sheet wearing upside-down glasses. After he finishes his elaborate preparation, Bugs conducts.
Several problems plague Bugs' conduction, such as the loud music knocking Bugs out of position, a bothersome fly, and his cuffs that keep falling off. Once he manages to deal with the aforementioned issues, he conducts an Indian and cowboy act, but the fly returns after he finishes. Irritated, Bugs attempts to kill the fly, crashing into the orchestra and the instruments as he does so. He succeeds by smashing the fly with cymbals. As the music comes to a stop, Bugs bows for the crowd, and instead of applause, he hears only silence. Bugs looks around to see that the seats are empty, though he does hear some faint clapping coming from the fly. Bugs shrugs in defeat and bows to the fly.
Caricatures[]
- Leopold Stokowski - silhouette at the beginning
Availability[]
The Looney Tunes Video Show Volume 16
Bugs Bunny's Hare-Brained Hits
Looney Tunes Curtain Calls: Classic Music and Show Business Cartoons
Special Bumper Collection (Vol. 3)
Looney Tunes Presents Bugs Bunny: Big Top Bunny (1998 dubbed version)
Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition Volume 5: Musical Masterpieces (1998 dubbed print, without dubbed notice)
I Love Tweety: Volume 2 (1998 dubbed print, without dubbed notice)
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1, Disc Three (1998 dubbed print, without dubbed notice)
Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 1, Disc 1 (1998 dubbed print, without dubbed notice)
Looney Tunes Collection All Stars Volume 1
Looney Tunes Collection All Stars Volumes 1 & 2, Disc 1
Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1960s Volume 2, Disc 1 (part of The Porky Pig Show, without the opening and closing titles)
3 Spooky DVD Treats
Looney Tunes Super Stars' Bugs Bunny: Wascally Wabbit (1998 dubbed print, without dubbed notice) (Region 4 only)
Looney Tunes Center Stage Volume 1
Looney Tunes Center Stage
Looney Tunes Triple Feature
Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection Volumes 1-3 Repack
Streaming[]
Notes[]
- This is the first short to be directed by Abe Levitow, as well as the first Looney Tunes short to be directed by Abe Levitow, although it was also directed by Chuck Jones.
- Eventually Levitow would begin directing a few Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts either by himself or with Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble, around 1959 to 1962.
- Bugs conducts and, in part, plays the overture to "Ein Morgen, ein Mittag und ein Abend in Wien" (A Morning, Noon, and Night in Vienna)", a composition by Franz von Suppé.[1]
- This short was used in the TV special, Bugs Bunny's Overtures to Disaster.
- George Daugherty made use of the cartoon for his special concerts, Bugs Bunny on Broadway and Bugs Bunny at the Symphony.
- Although Mel Blanc is credited with the voices, there is no dialogue in the short. The only vocal effects made are when an audience member is heard coughing and Bugs makes a 'shooshing' noise. This is the only Bugs Bunny short (other than "A Corny Concerto") where Bugs is silent (apart from the 'shoosh').
- Although not a direct remake, the short is similar in concept to "Rhapsody Rabbit", where it features Bugs as a concert musician, in this case an orchestra conductor, upstaged by a pesky little creature, in this case a fly. The fly from this short, as well as Cecil Turtle, the Gremlin from "Falling Hare", and the unnamed mouse from "Rhapsody Rabbit", are the very few characters who managed to outsmart Bugs.
- A music fragment for the final scene was left unused on the theatrical release. It appears on Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1, Disc Three as a special feature as part of this cartoon's music-only audio track.
Gallery[]
References[]