Jeepers Creepers (An Exhaust-ing Night/Lord of the Smoke Rings)

Director(s): Bob Clampett (credited as “Robert Clampett”)

Summary: Porky is a police officer (in what I assume is the first time. Other times include “Riff Raffy Daffy” when he’s trying to bust Daffy on vagrancy and trespassing; “Rocket Squad,” where he’s paired with Daffy Duck as a space police detective, and “Corn on the Cop,” where he and Daffy are trying to arrest a robber dressed as an old lady while the real old lady the robber is dressed as thinks Porky and Daffy are Halloween pranksters dressed as cops) for the Podunk City Jail (“We Select Your Cell — But You Can Pick Your Own Lock”) called to investigate the noises coming from an old house at Belli Acres — and encounters a bedsheet ghost who likes to eat cigar smoke doughnuts, listen to scary radio shows, and troll visitors.

Fun Facts: 

• The ghost is actually voiced by Mel Blanc doing Pinto Colvig’s voice for Goofy. You see, this cartoon came out around the time that Colvig himself went to Florida to do voicework for Fleischer Studios, and they couldn’t get the real Colvig for the role of the ghost, so they got Blanc, whose impression is pretty spot-on, though Goofy’s voice isn’t that high. Yeah, I know I don’t watch Disney cartoons that much (outside of some of the animated movies, like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), but I do catch clips of it sometimes, I remember seeing Goof Troop and A Goofy Movie as a kid and Bill Farmer’s take on Goofy is almost on-point with Colvig’s; and the Disney characters are everywhere, whether I like it or not.

• The animation of Porky running up and down the stairs is reused from “The Case of the Stuttering Pig,” which 
• (a) is a Frank Tashlin cartoon (Frank Tashlin’s cartoons are a lot like Bob Clampett’s, but have better animation, racier sex jokes [including a focus on female legs in high heels and pantyhose. If you think Quentin Tarantino’s female foot fetish in his movies was obvious, then you haven’t seen Tashlin’s fetish for pantyhosed female legs in heels],
• (b) don’t really have a celebrity animator gush about how great he is...unless you count John Kricfalusi’s partner from The Ren and Stimpy Show, Eddie Fitzgerald, but Fitzgerald isn’t a fanboy of Tashlin like John K. is with Clampett. Anthony’s Animation Talk [a YouTube channel that goes over WB shorts, as well as Disney and Fleischer] has a resident amateur historian that focuses on Frank Tashlin, but still, not a fanboy), and
• (c) is definitely an inspiration for this in terms of atmosphere and the premise of Porky Pig involved in something supernatural and actually being afraid of it instead of brushing it off like what happened with those three Chuck Jones cartoons where it's him and Sylvester the cat. While the Bob Clampett take does lack the cinematic flair you get from Tashlin, it still has the creepiness you get from a haunted house story animated as a black and white cartoon. It’s just that it’s done for comedy because this is Bob Clampett we’re talking about. If he can turn Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs into a hot jazz musical that does come off as offensive to black people in modern times due to how they’re caricatured (even though Clampett at the time was showing his appreciation for black culture. It wouldn’t be until later when he apologized for how insensitive it came off. Time heals all wounds and wounds all heels), then he can turn a police investigation haunted house story into a comedy (also with racially insensitive caricatures of black people as you’ll see).

Letterboxd Says The Darndest Things: Eh, I’m not liking the selection this go-around. Like the last one, a lot of people hate this because of racial caricatures and being too slow for their shot-to-Hell attention spans. I, on the other hand, like this for its spooky atmosphere and the ghost being a funnier character than Porky. Plus, the childhood nostalgia, since I do remember seeing this (as a computer-colorized version) on Nickelodeon. Cartoon Network aired a redrawn-colorized version (as well as an uncut black and white version on The Bob Clampett Show and Late Night Black and White) that was edited, which I also remember. Yes, “The Case of the Stuttering Pig” is better in terms of spooky atmosphere, but this is good, too. I’m not going to put any reviews from them here, but here is the link so you can see for yourself.

The Channel(s): Unnamed syndication, Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny and Friends (FOX version), Nickelodeon (Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon), and Cartoon Network and Boomerang (American version and Turkish version; barring The Bob Clampett Show and Late Night Black and White).

Part(s) Edited: Let’s look at how this was cut with the return of “Green Light, Red Light: Stuck in Traffic Edition (Now With Flashing Yellow)”:

Original Version: During the end, when Porky is driving away from Belli Acres and the ghost is catching up with him, the ghost stops by the side of the road and tries to thumb a ride. Porky’s patrol car passes by the ghost, then reverses. Porky holds up a sign that reads, “NO RIDERS,” then rides off again, blowing car exhaust on the ghost. The ghost, now in blackface, looks down, picks up his sheet bottom and says, “My, oh my! Tattletale gray!”

Redrawn Version/Unnamed Syndication: Some redrawn-colorized copies exists where the ghost is yellow and opaque, so when he does get blasted with exhaust and becomes blackface, it’s more like “purple-face” (which isn’t an improvement, as characters with purple skin in some sci-fi or fantasy media are often coded as African-American. The It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia episode “Risk E. Rat’s Pizza and Amusement Center” had a scene where Dennis and Charlie discover a room that houses all the old animatronic performers in the titular fun center and discover that some of them were rightfully retired for being racially insensitive or just generally problematic [like Justine the Teen Dream being retired for sexualizing teenage girls and, most likely, encouraging perverts who are into underaged girls], one of which was a purple monster who was voiced by a white man who played the character as an African-American). The ending is uncut and the voice hasn’t been changed, but the visuals have, similar to the blackfaced matches becoming red-faced on Cartoon Network’s/Boomerang’s airing of “Wholly Smoke.”

Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny and Friends (FOX): The cartoon ends after Porky’s patrol car speeds by the hitchhiking ghost.

Nickelodeon (Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon): Like the FOX version, this also cut off prematurely. However, Nickelodeon’s version showed Porky holding up the “NO RIDERS” sign and blasting car exhaust on the ghost before there was a fake iris-out to make it look like the short actually ended on that note.

Cartoon Network/Boomerang (American feed): As mentioned on the “redrawn version/unnamed syndication” entry, this aired on Cartoon Network as a redrawn-colorized version (except for on The Bob Clampett Show and Late Night Black and White, where it was shown uncut, uncensored, and in black and white), yet still edited the end because even Cartoon Network’s censors (who are the reason why I call bullshit on most instances of media being edited for content. Well, not just Cartoon Network. ABC, too, since I did grow up watching The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show on the rare times it wasn’t interrupted for sports or breaking news) know that a purple ghost speaking like Eddie “Rochester” Anderson might be seen as racist, even if it’s toned down from the original. Cartoon Network’s (and, by proxy Boomerang’s) version just abruptly faded to black after Porky blows car exhaust on the ghost.

Cartoon Network (Turkish/international feed): Good news: the ending where the ghost is in blackface after being blasted with exhaust wasn’t cut. Bad news: The international version cut the introductory scene of the ghost after he turns off his radio because it had him smoking a cigar and using the smoke rings as doughnuts for his coffee.

What Grinds My Gears About the Edit(s): Not much, surprisingly. For my money, the FOX Merrie Melodies version seems like the version with the less obvious edit and should have been used as the template for the Nickelodeon and American Cartoon Network/Boomerang version. Speaking of which, Cartoon Network America/Boomerang really could have edited the cigar part as well, since they have a history of editing characters smoking (plus, there was a similar edit on the Chuck Jones one-shot short, “Ghost Wanted,” though that involved offering cigarettes to minors). However, as the approximation video shows, that would make it obvious that something’s missing.

Video Comparison: 

Availability Uncut: Just like “Porky’s Picnic” and “Scalp Trouble,” this is only available on the Porky Pig 101 DVD set. It’s uncut, uncensored, and in its original black and white format, but it hasn’t been remastered or restored, and Lord knows when Warner Bros. are going to get around to doing it, if they even do it at all.

Is/Was It on Streaming or Digital Download: Still no, just like “Scalp Trouble” (though not “Porky’s Picnic.” At least that one was on an automobile-only streaming service).

‘Til next time, Stay Looney and Be Merrie

Detouring America (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the United States/Big Chief Baby)

 

Director(s): Tex Avery (credited as “Fred Avery”)

Summary: A travelogue spoof showing viewers a tour of the United States, from literal cow-punchers in the rolling plains to mosquitos in the Florida Everglades and a human fly attempting to climb the Empire State Building.

Fun Facts:

• This is Termite Terrace’s second Oscar-nominated short (the first one being “It’s Got Me Again” from all the way back in 1932), and, like “It’s Got Me Again,” “Detouring America” got beat out by a Disney short. In this case, it was their adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Ugly Duckling.”

• This isn’t to be confused with “Cross-Country Detours,” which is also a travelogue spoof that has been edited on American TV, but that one is funnier and has a scene that a lot of people remember for lascivious reasons. If you know it, you know it. Otherwise, you’re going to have to look it up for yourself or wait until I get to it.

Letterboxd Says The Darndest Things: Oof! You’re not going to find many fans for this one, mostly because the reviewers know nothing about past celebrities and get easily offended over the outdated racial and ethnic caricatures. There was one review worth posting here that does make a good point, but I feel like every “anti-establishment” stand-up comic has made this joke at least once or twice in their careers, so it’s not exactly anything new (and, if they haven’t, shame on them. I thought their job was to smash the system with humor):

Greed, animal abuse, military propaganda and racism. I guess they really showed America as it is.

Yeah, the greed was a gag involving a California prospector finding gold and trying not to draw attention to it, only to fail when everyone else moves in on his territory, the animal abuse is either a mosquito screaming “OUCH!” after being swatted by an explorer in the Florida Everglades or a cow literally getting punched by a cow-puncher who sounds like then-popular comedian Jerry Colonna (who has been caricatured a lot in these old cartoons and even did the voice of the Mad Hatter’s buddy, the March Hare, on the Disney version of Alice in Wonderland); the military propaganda is just a look at a military academy where the soldiers from the waist up look ready for battle, but their legs and feet aren’t (it’s making fun of the military, not advocating it); and the racism isn’t as terrible as they make it out to be. It’s still potentially offensive, but it’s just a product of its time, as mentioned in those Looney Tunes DVD warnings they’ve had ever since Looney Tunes Golden Collection, volume three.

It’s like no one knows what nuance, history, or humor is anymore. Anyway, enough whining. Let’s get to why you’re here: to see what was cut and why.

The Channel(s): Cartoon Network and Boomerang (Associated Artists Productions transfer). Even though the labels say that this was also cut on TBS, TNT, and MeTV, the Looney Tunes Fandom Wiki doesn't say that those channels edited this short, I'm assuming they did, if they didn't outright ban it.

Part(s) Edited: Two scenes featuring outdated racial and ethnic stereotypes were cut:

• After the second check-up on The Human Fly’s climb up the Empire State Building, the uncut version had a scene where we go to Alaska, where a poor, black man is thumbing a ride while singing “Carry Me Back to Ol’ Virginny.” An Inuit (or “Eskimo,” as they were known back then) walks up, looks at the camera, shrugs his shoulders, and literally carries the black man to the Virginia state line. In my opinion, that’s actually sweet of him to oblige, despite their racial and geographical differences, but, considering how pro-slavery “Carry Me Back to Ol’ Virginny” is lyrically, yeah, it does kind of ruin it. Still, just the fact that the scene comes off as sweet at face value in something from 1939 shows that humanity and its history isn’t as awful as others claim.

• The second edit comes after the third check-up on The Human Fly, where we go to a Native American village in the American Sotuhwest. Despite claims to the contrary (which have been debunked on the Looney Tunes Fandom Wiki, though not the old Censored Cartoons Page), the entire sequence with the Native American village wasn’t cut. What was cut was one scene where a Native American woman has her overgrown son on her papoose and tells him that it’s time to cut the umbilical cord and walk on his own, with the overgrown son whining that he doesn’t want to (still relevant these days regardless of race or ethnicity). The other scenes, like the Native Americans walking vertically down a cave village, the elder slithering out of a teepee after going inside for some “Wa-Hoo Snake Oil,” and an Indian snake dance involving actual snakes.

What Grinds My Gears About the Edit(s): Nothing. It’s one of those spot-gag cartoons where it’s just a collection of jokes tied to a central idea. Even I didn’t notice that those scenes were gone until much later (though that’s because the censored version aired more on American TV than the uncut version and doing that does condition you into thinking it’s uncut...until you learn years later that it’s not). The completist who likes their past media uncut and uncensored (or close to it, as a lot of scenes do get lost to time or were only thought of, but never made real) might hate the edited version for “erasing history,” but, if the cartoon is as bad as Letterboxd says it is, then what’s the point of fighting over a censored scene if you don’t care much for the cartoon it’s attached to?

I should also note that the vintage cinema channel, Turner Classic Movies (which does air some of what Cartoon Network and Boomerang airs, often with cuts, though some are uncut for historical reasons, like Herr Meets Hare) did air this uncut back in 1999. It’s not really a ground gear, but it should raise some ire over the hyprocisy of American censorship (or really, censorship in general, georgraphy nonwithstanding).

Video Comparison: 

Availability Uncut: Yeah, this one is strictly a mainstay on home media. For those who want it on a Warner Bros. cartoon compilation set, it’s on the fifth volume and second side of the Golden Age of Looney Tunes laser disc (which was still going on in 1997, which surprises me because I thought laser disc was phased out earlier than that). For those who want it as a bonus feature on a feature film release, then you can find on on the DVD and Blu-ray version of the film Each Dawn I Die (WB cartoon spoof is the 1949 short, “Each Dawn I Crow”), starring Gregory Raft and James Cagney. The DVD version came out in 2006 while the Blu-ray is a more recent release (2021). It’s also available as part of a 2008 collection of Warner Bros gangster movies called Warner Bros Pictures Gangster Collection, volume 2 (not very imaginative, but it does says what it is). “Detouring America” and Each Dawn I Die are both on the second volume, joining such other films as Bullets or Ballots, City for Conquest, “G” Men, San Quentin, and A Slight Case of Murder.

Is/Was It on Streaming or Digital Download: Not as of this writing. Like I said before, this mostly was released on home media and seen on television.

‘Til next time: Stay Looney and Be Merrie!