Buddy's Circus (Ubangi The Drum Slowly)

 

Director: Jack King

Summary: Buddy owns a circus filled with funny animals, non-white natives who can do strange things with their bodies, and a white baby who wandered in on the acts.

The Channel: Nickelodeon (Nick@Nite version of Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon)

Part(s) Edited: Every scene involving the Ubangi circus performers (including a scene where one of the aerial acrobats falls and catapults a baby off a seesaw), Elastiko the Indian Rubber Man, and Asbesto the Human Stove (the last one is not only an edit to get rid of outdated African/otherwise non-white native caricatures, but also an edit for dangerous behavior involving swallowing fire. This is going by my observations, since this was not mentioned on the old Censored Cartoons Page or the Looney Tunes wiki) was cut.

How It Plays Edited/Video Comparison: The first part with the Ubangi Brothers (though the one with oranges for breasts and a skirt is very much a woman. Not a particularly flattering depiction of an African native woman, but what do you expect from 1934?), Elastiko the Indian Rubber Man, and Asbesto the Human stove being cut is no big loss, since it's just a compilation of gags with no real bearing on the story. The second part with the baby getting catapulted...the only criticism I can give is that there's a minor continuity error that not even a diagonal wipe effect that looks like it was part of the cartoon can save:

Availability Uncut: Surprisingly, this is available on home media, uncut, uncensored, and remastered. Your choices are either the Looney Tunes Golden Collection (volume six) DVD set or the Blu-ray version of the Wheeler and Woosley film, Kentucky Kernels. It's probably not going to be on streaming or digital download any time soon, so get it while it's hot on disc.

Rhythm in the Bow (The Quartet Offensive)

Director: Ben Hardaway

Summary: Lots of musical gags involving Great Depression-era hobos and the trains on which they hitch rides...at least until the lead hobo who can play the fiddle gets kicked off the train and wanders the countryside, where an angry dog goes after him.

The Channel: unnamed syndication and Nickelodeon (Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon, Nick@Nite edition) [Allegedly]

Part(s) Edited: Now, we come to the part of the job I love when it comes to blogging about censored cartoons: discovering and debunking claims. Yeah, I may have done it before with past cartoons, but this one is special, because Nickelodeon actually aired this one uncut.

According to the Looney Tunes wiki, Nickelodeon once ran this (either after it aired uncut or before. It's currently unknown) with a cut to the part where the four hobos singing the title song go through a tunnel and come out in blackface. It also aired edited on syndicated TV versions that most likely aired as filler on unnamed and long-gone local stations, but it's the Nickelodeon version that gets me, because, while looking for an uncut version to do my compare/contrast videos, I found a version from an airing of Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon that was uncut and uncensored, well, except for this opening card seen here:

How It Plays Edited/Video Comparison: Because I love you (and want to show you evidence that this did air uncut on Nickelodeon), I'm going to show you the full cartoon (click here) and the compare/contrast video (seen below):

What Wasn't Cut That Should Have Been Cut: Some of the dangerous behavior involving trains, particularly the hobo skating behind the moving train. Oh, wait. It was the 1990s and concerns over people getting killed by trains (either because of suicide or just being careless) wasn't a thing yet. Yeah, that can stay.

Availability Uncut: As of 2024, this doesn't have an official home media or streaming release, which is odd, because, outside of the blackface part, there's nothing really offensive about it. Archive.org has the Nickelodeon uncut version...for now, anyway.

Buddy The Woodsman (A Lesson in Chinese Cookery)

 

Director: Jack King

Summary: Just the typical post-Bosko musical fluff, with Buddy as a lumberjack, dealing with chopping trees, Chinese camp cooks, and a bear that wandered in from the forest.

The Channel: Nickelodeon (Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon, Nick@Nite version)

Part(s) Edited: Though Nickelodeon does edit to get rid of outdated East Asian (read: Chinese and Japanese, mostly) stereotypes (with some exceptions), they kind of split the difference here. We do get to see scenes of Chinese camp cooks saying nothing, but the part where one of them rings the triangle, announcing dinner in what I assume is broken English (sounds like straight-up, garden variety gibberish, but it could be interpreted as broken English with a Chinese [Mandarin, mostly. Cantonese and other dialects don't get the representation in Western film that they should] inflection) was cut. The Censored Cartoons Page and the Looney Tunes wiki do say that the edit was done with an obvious computer wipe effect, but the edited version I saw on Archive.org (which may or may not still be uploaded) had it as a simple cut that anyone can do, including me when I created the compare and contrast video.

How It Plays Edited/Video Comparison: It...actually plays pretty well without the scene. As mentioned before, there was an edited version on Archive.org, but it might have been taken down and since I didn't download it as proof that it was edited on Nickelodeon, I decided to recreate the cut to the best of my ability. As always, here's the video:

What Wasn't Cut That Should Have Been Cut: Definitely the totem pole creature dance. Not just because it could be offensive to indigenous peoples who have totem poles as part of their culture, but the scene just ran too long. I know Buddy cartoons have a reputation for being boring, but this is ridiculous.

Availability Uncut: As of 2024, there's no official release of this (and, because of the outdated ethnic stereotypes, there probably won't be, unless someone has the guts to use the content warning from the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVDs from volumes three to six for future home media releases and streaming). I found the uncut version on Archive.org (as well as the edited version that used to be there), so that's pretty much where it will be until DCMA requests take it down.

How Do I Know It's Sunday? (Why Should You Care It's Edited)

 

Director: Friz Freleng

Summary: It’s a “products/label mascots come to life to sing the title song and perform in a closed store” cartoon, but, instead of taking place at night, it takes place on a Sunday during daylight hours, when most, if not all, stores would be closed so people can go to church and rest.

The Channel: Nickelodeon (Nick@Nite version of Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon, because where else would this air? I think I would have remembered it on the daytime version where it was nothing but the post-1964 Daffy Duck/Speedy Gonzales cartoons, the post-1964 Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote cartoons made without Chuck Jones’ involvement, the redrawn- and computer-colorized Porky Pig cartoons from the 1930s, the Pepe Le Pew shorts made after 1949’s “For Scent-imental Reasons”, and the semi-forgotten, “underrated gems” shorts -- both one-shot and with established characters --  that aired between 1949 and 1963).

Part(s) Edited: Just two scenes of outdated black/African-American stereotyping:

• The black chef on the Scream Wheat (Cream of Wheat) box singing along with the mammy caricature on the box of Aunt Eliza (Aunt Jemima, now known as Pearl Milling) during the title song. I don’t know if the shot of them in the background was cut too, but, for the purposes of the approximation, I’m going to leave it in because I feel that that’s what Nickelodeon did.

• The kid mascots using the ceiling fan as a merry-go-round -- not because it’s dangerous behavior that can easily be imitated by young, impressionable viewers, but because there are two black caricatures riding on the ceiling fan blades.

How It Plays Edited/Video Comparison: As I've mentioned before: cartoons like this don't lose much in terms of story or plot when it comes to being edited for either time or content (mostly content). With this one, however, I'm amazed there weren't more cuts to outdated racial and ethnic stereotypes. I'm guessing it would have led to a very choppy and incoherent cartoon if Nickelodeon went in that direction. If I wanted a musical cartoon that's severely edited to get rid of outdated racial and ethnic stereotypes, I can watch the Cartoon Network cut of "September in the Rain" (and I have. Thanks a lot, Acme Hour). Here's the approximation compare and contrast video:

Availability Uncut: If you can believe it, this actually has a home media release -- two of them, in fact. It was first released on the Looney Tunes Collector’s Edition VHS (volume 5’s “Musical Masterpieces”) in 2000. Eight years later, it was released on DVD as part of the sixth and final Looney Tunes Golden Collection set (it’s on disc three, which is dedicated to the Bosko, Buddy, and one-shot musical black and white cartoons).

Buddy of the Apes (A Closer Look-Out)

Director: Ben Hardaway

Summary: In this spoof of Tarzan (the movie version with Johnny Weissmuller as the title character), Buddy (who is living in the jungle) is targeted by African cannibals and the only ones who can stop them are his animal buddies.

The Channel: Sunset Production/Guild Films syndication

Part(s) Edited: I was going to omit this one, since this is one of those cartoons that rarely, if ever, airs on American TV due to outdated racial and ethnic caricatures and the fact that Buddy cartoons aren’t very popular, but, it turns out that this did air on television edited. Between 1955 and 1968, “Buddy of the Apes” aired without the scene of the "look-out" cannibal native alerting the cannibal chief about Buddy and the animals (I’m going to assume by how it’s worded on the Looney Tunes wiki that the rest of the scenes with the African cannibals wasn’t edited). This also was on Nickelodeon’s list of Warner Bros cartoons they could legally air at the time they were running the Nick@Nite version of Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon, but, due to Standards and Practices (read: the network censors), couldn’t air it because it would take too much time, money, and effort to edit all the racially insensitive scenes.

How It Plays Edited/Video Comparison: Turns out the version I have is the edited Guild Films/Sunset Productions version. I still did a compare/contrast approximation video, but with a twist. This is one of those “so obvious, it hurts” cuts that even first-time viewers like me can pick up on because of how quickly it goes from the “look-out” cannibal sliding down the tree to the chief ringing the triangle nose ring on the cannibal sitting next to him. There’s something obviously gone.

Availability Uncut: As of 2024, there’s no uncut version on official release (or even unofficial release, as it’s not a public domain cartoon that’s always featured in home media releases that have public domain cartoons) and most WB cartoon fans (barring the hardened completionists) aren’t clamoring for remastered, uncut, and uncensored Buddy cartoons (heck, some were surprised when “Buddy’s Beer Garden” made it to the Looney Tunes Golden Collection). The version I found on Archive.org is the edited Guild Films version, so that will have to do until someone pipes up and says an uncut version exists. It happened to “Buddy the Woodsman,” so anything’s possible.

Beauty and the Beast (No Time to Duck)

 

Director: Friz Freleng

Summary: In a cartoon that's nothing like the 1991 Disney feature film, the 2017 live-action Disney film, or even the 1946 French film (which wasn't made by Disney, but is worth seeing if you hate or are sick of Disney), a little girl dreams she's in Toyland (or some kind of nursery rhyme fantasy kingdom that was popular and appealed to kids at the time) and teams up with a toy soldier to take down a beast that's threatening to destroy the dream world.

The Channel: Unnamed syndicated prints.

Part(s) Edited: The scene of Humpty Dumpty laughing at the toy soldier blushing over being kissed by the little girl shortened the part where, after Humpty Dumpty falls off the wall and breaks, five wooden ducks pop out and do a dance/skate on their wheel feet as a gnome feeds soda crackers through a fan to simulate snow. As the old Censored Cartoons Page and the Looney Tunes wiki section has stated, this scene isn't problematic (unless you find a man blushing over being shown any kind of open affection, Humpty Dumpty falling off the wall as per that nursery rhyme that didn't even mention he was an egg, or the sight of wooden ducks somehow offensive) and was only edited because the sequence ate a lot of clock and would probably cause a lot of people (particularly younger audiences, since this does feel like something that would appeal more to children) to get bored with it and tune out.

How It Plays Edited/Video Comparison: Like the older black and white musical cartoons, this doesn't affect the plot much. There's a slight jump in the audio, but the scene has nothing to do with the rest of the short, so you're not missing much. And the approximation video below shows that, despite some amateur video editing on my part:

Availability Uncut: On physical media, it’s available on the Golden Age of Looney Tunes laserdisc set (volume 2, side 7). On streaming media, it’s available restored on HBO Max (now known as “Max”). It might come out on physical media again someday, especially since the new restored version really captures the whimsical, fairy tale aesthetic that Cinecolor tried to capture in the 1930s (though I’m so sure, through 1930s eyes, it probably did look amazing).

Buddy's Show Boat (Cup and Saucer Lip)

We’re now in the Buddy era of Warner Bros animation, considered a real valley in the studio’s peak-and-valley history. Following the departures of Harman and Ising, the studio was desperately scrambling for a new director and a new star character. Tom Palmer was a failure (as seen with “Buddy’s Day Out” [which wasn’t edited for anything when aired on American television -- as far as anyone knows, though considering how anodyne that short is, it probably wasn’t cut for anything] and “I’ve Got to Sing a Torch Song” [which was cut for a lot on Nickelodeon]), and Buddy himself would be derided for being a mediocre clone of Bosko. Of the 24 Buddy cartoons that were released between 1933 and 1935, only five were shown edited on American TV (mostly Nickelodeon, but at least one was cut when syndicated to television in the 1950s and ‘60s). 

Because of this (and my healing from seasonal allergies to my eyes), posting will be a bit less frequent.

NOTE: The compare/contrast video I did isn't actually ten minutes long. I made a mistake in pacing and editing when I was creating it. I will make a new video (and replace the YouTube videos on other posts that were taken down due to copyright), but it's going to be a while.

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Director: Earl Duvall (misspelled as “Duval”)

Summary: Buddy has a traveling showboat, featuring dancing girls, African natives who can impersonate white French performers, and walruses that save Buddy’s girlfriend, Cookie, from a nameless thug (the same one from “Buddy’s Beer Garden” who hit on Buddy when he was cross-dressed as Mae West. I got it linked if you want to see the insanity for yourself).

The Channel: Nickelodeon (Nick@Nite version of Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon)

Part(s) Edited: Two scenes featuring stereotypically black performers were cut/altered:

• Both scenes at the beginning with Buddy piloting his showboat were cut to remove all scenes featuring the black coal workers singing "Swanee River" and stoking coal into the furnace (which magically has a mouth and eyes for no reason other than "1930s cartoons were weird"). While the audio was kept, the first visual was replaced with Buddy at the wheel of his showboat and the beginning of the scene with two sleeping guys holding fishing rods before the scene pans to two daschunds walking on the riverboat paddle and sniffing at two hot dogs hanging on the edge of the fishing rods. The second time, it just cut to a fish spitting at the bad guy after he spat at the fish first. The Video Comparison section provides a better look at how it was cut.
• Buddy introducing the African native as "Chief Saucer Lip" was completely cut, going from the audience cheering and applauding over Buddy and Cookie dancing with the chorus girls to Chief Saucer Lip's Maurice Chevalier impression.

What Wasn't Cut that Should Have Been Cut: 

• The chorus girls wearing nothing but bras and panties (hey, if "I've Got to Sing a Torch Song" can be shown on Nickelodeon without the scene with the college coeds listening to Cros Bingsby in their pajamas/underwear, then Nickelodeon could have done away with that part. However, I think it cropping the scene or replacing it with alternate footage would have been too distracting. It didn't stop them from editing the black coal worker scenes, though). 

•  The bells on the old-timey telephone jiggling like breasts (again, Nickelodeon really shouldn't have picked and chose what was suggestive humor and what wasn't, especially if they're dealing with a pre-Code cartoon from 1933). 

•  The minstrel quartet welcoming people in to see Buddy's traveling show. When I get to "Go Into Your Dance," you'll see why Nickelodeon should have edited this.

How It Played Edited/Video Comparison: The first edit (with the coal workers) makes it obvious that something's cut, which doesn't mean much to something that has little to no story, but it means everything if you're trying to make the music match the visuals. Cutting to recycled footage can be a bit distracting. As for the second edit? Kind of abrupt, but it doesn't affect anything. As always, here's a compare/contrast video I made (click here).

Availability Uncut: As of this writing (2024), there's no home media or streaming release of this short. It was on TV under Sunset Productions from 1955 to 1968 and Nickelodeon did air the edited version between 1988 and 1993 (the installment that aired this short, according to the Looney Tunes wiki premiered on September 16, 1990), but, outside of rare appearances on online video sites (mostly archive.org), there's nothing.