Baton Bunny
1959 animated short film directed by Chuck Jones

Baton Bunny is a 1959 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon, directed by Chuck Jones and Abe Levitow. The short was released on 10 January 1959, and stars Bugs Bunny.
It shows Bugs conducting an unseen 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. Although 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) where Bugs is mostly silent; at one point, he 'shushes' the brass. This is also one of the last cartoons to get a Merrie Melodies Blue Ribbon reissue in 1968.
Plot
Bugs is about to conduct "The Warner Bros. Symphony Orchestra" (supposedly in concert at the Hollywood Bowl).
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Baton Bunny” as 1959 animated short film directed by Chuck Jones. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 1959 animated short film directed by Chuck Jones. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4869461. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1959 and 1968.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Baton Bunny”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Baton Bunny primary sources, Baton Bunny archive and Baton research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Baton Bunny”?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Baton Bunny” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.