Baton Bunny

Baton Bunny
Lobby card
Directed by	Chuck Jones Abe Levitow
Produced by	John Burton, Sr.
Edited by	Treg Brown
Animation by	Ken Harris Richard Thompson Ben Washam
Layouts by	Maurice Noble
Backgrounds by	Tom O'Loughlin
Color process	Technicolor
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Running time	6:22

Baton Bunny is a Bugs Bunny cartoon of the Looney Tunes series, produced in 1958 and released in January 1959. It shows Bugs conducting an orchestra - with a fly bothering him. Bugs conducts, and in part, plays the overture to "Ein Morgen, ein Mittag und Abend in Wien" (A Morning, Noon, and Night in Vienna)", a composition by Franz von Suppé. Though Mel Blanc was credited for vocal characterizations, there is no dialogue in the short; the only vocal effect made was when an audience member is heard coughing. This is the third and last Bugs Bunny cartoon (the first two being A Corny Concerto and Rhapsody Rabbit, although he says three lines in the latter) where Bugs is silent. Or, nearly silent; at one point, he 'shushes' the brass.

Plot

Bugs is about to conduct "The Warner Bros. Symphony Orchestra" (supposedly in concert at the Hollywood Bowl) fancily. When he finishes his elaborate preparation, he starts to conduct, but is interrupted by someone in the audience coughing loudly. Bugs then holds out a sign saying "Throw the bum out!", which the audience does. Other problems plague Bugs' conducting, notably a bothersome fly and some awkward cuffs that keep falling off. In the middle of the performance, Bugs acts an indigenous person being chased by American troops (to the music that is happening at the present time). The fly then returns at the end of the act, landing in Bugs' nose. Bugs then loses his sanity and attempts to kill the fly, crashing into the orchestra and the instruments as he does so. As the music comes to a stop, Bugs bows for the crowd and instead of applause,he hears only silence and crickets chirping. Bugs looks around and then sees that the seats are empty and the crowd has gone, though he does hear some faint clapping - coming from the fly. He bows to the fly, and the cartoon ends.

See also

• Bugs Bunny
• List of Bugs Bunny cartoons