Naughty Neighbors will not be seen today, as the neighborhood has been rezoned and is under threat of gentrification. In celebration of America’s 250th birthday, we will be showing something a little less violent and divided.
No, this isn’t about the edits done to The Simpsons (if you’re interested, there’s a link here), but it does capture the spirit of the post, because not that many people know that this exists and that it’s considered raunchier than the civilian series (for its time anyway, though the scenes of Nazi soldiers, unflattering depictions of Japanese people, and wall-to-wall female nudity will definitely trigger today’s viewers). What am I talking about? Well, this series:
Produced by Warner Bros. for the Army-Navy Screen Magazine, these cartoons featured Private Snafu (whose name is a military acronym meaning “Situation Normal: All Fucked Up,” but is changed to “...Fouled Up,” as, even back in the 1940s, they couldn’t say that word in an animated series that was targeted to young Army recruits who weren’t highly-educated, had more testosterone than sense, and heard worse things in their lives from their own families), a comically incompetent grunt whose antics are a lesson in what not to do during your time in the Army, specifically during World War II. Lessons include “The enemy is always listening and can piece together anything you say through loose bits of information” (a.k.a “Loose lips sink ships”), “Always clean and maintain your weaponry,” “Malaria can kill you with incredible ease, so defend yourself well against mosquitoes. Even when the malaria incidents are decreasing, it's only because more people are careful, and you're still in danger if you are careless” (we still need this for COVID and other diseases), “Getting drunk while you hold very important war secrets is not a good idea. Worse still if you’re drunk and are making time with a prostitute, who may be an enemy spy,” and “Rumors and misinformation can destroy as surely as any weapon” (again, we still need this for today’s world), among other lessons.
The shorts were mostly directed by Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Frank Tashlin, and Bob Clampett with Theodor Geisel (the real name of children’s book writer, Dr. Seuss) as writer, which, yes, does seem like a shock to those who are used to Green Eggs and Ham, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and The Cat in the Hat, but, it’s no worse than the kids’ TV writers who slip in their adult predelictions into their movies and shows.
It wouldn’t be until Cartoon Network aired a special episode of their animation history anthology show, ToonHeads (season five, episode eight, “A ToonHeads Special: The Lost Cartoons”), that the Private Snafu shorts (which have since been declassified by the U.S. government) were shown to civilians — within a historical context, of course, since a lot of the content would be seen as offensive to modern audiences (even in the year 2000, which is when this special premiered). Another ToonHeads episode, simply called “Private Snafu,” aired three years after the “Lost Cartoons” special and was a typical episode outlining the history of the short-lived series. That — and some animation history websites — do a better job of explaining the shorts than I can. I’m just giving you the broad strokes so I can segue to the censorship.
“But C.L.,” I hear you say, “The Private Snafu shorts look like the kind of cartoons that haven’t been seen since World War II and, as you mentioned before, they weren’t like the regular Warner Bros. shorts where the Hays Code could censor out anything considered too crude or sexual. What could possibly be cut from these shorts?” The answer: not all of them were edited. “Going Home” was banned from release for a lot of reasons, the main one being that the atomic bomb Snafu keeps telling his family, friends, and hook-up while home on leave looks like one of the two that was going to be dropped on Japan at the time of the short’s production. “Secrets of the Caribbean” was planned on being made, but because World War II ended in 1945, there was no need for more Snafu shorts and is now considered lost media. Same thing with the 1946 short “Seaman Tarfu: In the Navy.” But those aren’t the ones we’re going to be talking about today. The ones we’re going to be talking about are three that have been edited for civilian viewing (well, more like two. There is one that was edited, but it’s unknown if it was edited for TV viewing or not) on Cartoon Network and Boomerang:
Spies (1943) [Someone To Watch Over Me]
Director(s): Chuck Jones (uncredited)
Summary: Through Seussian rhyme, Snafu tells the audience that he has a military secret that he’s keeping mum about. Throughout the short, we discover that Snafu is letting more and more of his secret slip as he’s calling his mom and picking up some magazines from a street kiosk. Things really go downhill when Snafu heads to a bar, chugs a bottle of beer, and spends his night with a hooker who’s really a German spy (complete with 1940s-style microphones hidden under her dress, in the exact place where you would expect them to be).
The Channel(s): Cartoon Network and Boomerang (as part of the “ToonHeads: The Lost Cartoons” special. The 2003 episode about Private Snafu’s cartoons aired this uncut); Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD, volume 1 and Looney Tunes Platinum Collection Blu-ray, volume 2 (both of which have “ToonHeads: The Lost Cartoons” as a bonus feature).
Part(s) Edited: Though this aired during primetime in the 2000s with clear explanation that everything shown was within historical context and that some scenes may be considered offensive to modern audiences, that didn’t stop Cartoon Network (and, by proxy, Boomerang) from making minor edits to this:
- The shot of a buck-toothed, bespectacled Japanese spy posing as a baby and saying, “Oh, I bet we find it out,” during Private Snafu's opening rhyme was cut.
- When Snafu is in the phone booth talking to his mom about his upcoming mission, the original version shows another Japanese spy inside the phone listening in. On the ToonHeads edited version, the spy’s appearance is digitally covered up with a black square and the accompanying stereotypically East Asian music is also cut.
- The part where the bottle of alcohol Snafu drinks roils in his stomach and the fumes go to his head and melt the padlock and chain in his brain had the stomach roiling shortened, the fumes melting the padlock and chain sped up, and the snippet of Raymond Scott’s “Powerhouse” (the “A” suite, which I believe is the musical piece that was used as Cartoon Network’s theme music back when they were a classic cartoon channel that aired everything that wasn’t Disney, mostly Warner Bros., Hanna-Barbera, and Fleischer Studios, with a heavy emphasis on Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbera fare) redubbed with a generic, jazzy tune.
And, before you ask, there were no cuts to the other scenes of vaguely Japanese-looking spies (one scene showing a Japanese spy in a fake phone booth next to the real one alongside a German and an Italian spy and a caricature of Hideki Tojo reading a magazine next to a caricature of Herman Goerring and Benito Mussolini), nor were their cuts to the magazine stand man reading a magazine that says “SEX” on the front (kinda blatant, but, hey, it promises what it delivers), the two mooseheads forming the swastika (or Hakenkreuz, as it’s known in Germany) while Snafu is at the bar (or, if we’re being honest here, any scene featuring Nazi imagery and characters, including Adolf Hitler himself) or the implication that Snafu had sex with a prostitute who turns out to be a Nazi spy or even the end where Snafu is literally bombed to Hell, asks, “who in Hell it was that let [his] secret out,” and gets his answer when Devil Hitler shows him a mirror, with Snafu’s reflection turning into a horse’s ass.
There. I hope I did a good job going over what wasn’t cut (and what was, though that was from the Looney Tunes Fandom Wiki entry that I wrote some time ago. It didn’t have a “Censorship” section in the article, so I made one).
What Grinds My Gears About the Edit(s): I think I explained in the “Part(s) Edited” segment that I don’t like that, despite this airing on Cartoon Network (which does have a reputation for airing cartoons with questionable, yet hilarious content [not in the gross, “someone call Child Services” Nickelodeon way. More like the cheeky fun you get from Pee-Wee’s Playhouse and a lot of late 1980s, early 1990s Saturday morning shows]) in the early 2000s (which was Cartoon Network at its peak. Adult Swim wouldn’t be around until the year after) with clear explanation that “Spies” was going to be shown in a historical context and may contain scenes that modern (at the time) audiences would find offensive (mostly the outdated racial stereotypes, though some will also include alcohol consumption, Snafu calling a woman “baby” and “Tootsie,” the implication that Snafu wants to find good-looking women in Africa [which, yeah, can be seen as racial fetishism (in this case, “jungle fever”), but good on Snafu for wanting a black woman, especially around the 1940s when that was taboo], and Snafu going to Hell after the Nazi submarines attack his ship) that this was still edited. What’s even the point? However, this did end up airing uncut during another ToonHeads episode that just focused on Private Snafu shorts, though that episode aired at 3am when hardly anyone would be watching, so...at least Cartoon Network and Boomerang fixed that.
I don’t know what to think about it being edited on DVD and Blu-ray release. On the one hand, it shouldn’t have been edited if it was being released for home media, whose audience expects it to be uncut. On the other hand, it was a special feature, which most people don’t bother with when it comes to DVD and Blu-ray releases, and I feel censored versions should be preserved just as much as uncut versions so people can see how their favorite media (cartoons, in this case) were censored. It’s the whole reason I came up with this blog in the first place.
Video Comparison:
Uncut Version
Edited Version (as seen on "ToonHeads: The Lost Cartoons")
Availability Uncut: Since the Private Snafu shorts are in the public domain (and have been since day one, since these were made as infotainment for the military), it’s not that hard to find uncut copies. Thunderbean actually released all the Private Snafu shorts on DVD in 2010 and Blu-ray in 2015. I recommend that version, as all the shorts are uncut, uncensored, and remastered with the same high quality as the shorts released on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD.
However, “Spies” has had other home media releases besides the Thunderbean DVD and Blu-ray sets, the edited versions as seen on volume one of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD and volume two of the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection Blu-ray. In 1993, “Spies” was included on the Golden Age of Looney Tunes laser disc (volume 4, side 8, “Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton (and Private Snafu)” Yeah, I don’t get why they shoehorned that in with Hardaway and Dalton shorts, which were pre-World War II. Ten years after that (2003), “Spies” was not only on volume one of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection (edited and part of “ToonHeads: The Lost Cartoons”), but was also included on the DVD version of a TV special that aired on TNT in 1994 called In Search of Dr. Seuss, about a news reporter (played by Kathy Najimy, of Hocus Pocus and King of the Hill fame, though I also remember her as the voice of enthusiastic gym teacher Coach Doogan and snooty lingerie store manager Margot LaSandre from the Disney Saturday morning show, Pepper Ann) whose assignment to write about Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel takes her on a journey through his life when she steps inside a magic book. Two years after that (2005), “Spies” was released unrestored (but uncut and uncensored) on the third volume of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD, alongside the Snafu shorts, “Rumors” (which teaches soldiers not to believe misinformation about then-upcoming events in the war) and “Snafuperman” (which teaches soldiers not to go it alone and be a hero in battle, no matter how much you want to).
Is/Was It on Streaming or Digital Download: If you can believe it, the Private Snafu shorts (not just “Spies,” but also the other two Snafu shorts that were censored) are available on streaming. It’s on Tubi (actual upload year unknown, but I do know it was there years before the Looney Tunes shorts were added), uncut, uncensored, and remastered. It’s not available for digital download, but should that matter if all of them are public domain and you can just search YouTube or Internet Archive to watch and download them?
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The Home Front (1943) [Aw, Nuts!]
Director(s): Frank Tashlin (uncredited)
Summary: While stationed in the Arctic, Private Snafu grouses that his family and girlfriend back at home are having fun and blissfully unaware that there is a war on...until Technical Fairy First Class (a semi-recurring character in the Snafu shorts who often grants Snafu’s ill-advised wishes to show him the error of his ways, as seen on “Snafuperman,” “Gripes,” and “Censored,” or tries to help him be a better soldier, as seen on “Pay Day”) shows Snafu that, yes, his family and girlfriend, are aware there’s a war on and are contributing to the effort.
The Channel(s): Unknown syndication (it’s possible that some versions circulated for military audiences may have edited this)
Part(s) Edited: Just a minor edit. The beginning, showing just how snowy and cold it is, cut the part where we pan to a jeep and the narrator says, “Cold? *brr* It’s so cold, it would freeze the nuts off a jeep,” followed by the lugnuts falling off the wheels of said jeep.
What Grinds My Gears About the Edit(s): No gear-grinding, just a couple of questions:
1) Was this cut because the “nuts off a jeep” line is/was considered a dirty joke, even back then?
2) Why would it be cut, considering the other adult content (verbal and visual) that slipped by unscathed? Bob Clampett’s Snafu shorts (such as “Booby Traps” and “Fighting Tools”), by that logic, should have been torn to shreds, because those were packed with all the crude humor (sexual and toilet-related crude humor. He still did racially insensitive/politically incorrect on shorts like “Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs,” “Tin Pan Alley Cats,” and “Russian Rhapsody”) he wanted to do in the civilian Warner Bros. shorts, but had to be restrained by the Hays Office.
Video Comparison:
Uncut Version
Edited Version (unknown edited prints)
Availability Uncut: Similar to “Spies,” this is also available on the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection (volume 2, Blu-ray version only), on a Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD set (only “The Home Front” is on volume 4 [which came out in 2006], not volume 3, alongside “The Goldbrick” [which I don’t recommend seeing, because that version’s audio is low-pitched and slow] and the third and final Snafu cartoon I’ll be discussing here: “Censored”), and on the Thunderbean DVD and Blu-ray.
Is/Was It on Streaming or Digital Download: Yes. It’s on Tubi, just like the others, and readily available on YouTube and other video websites because it’s public domain.
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Censored (1944) [Going Out on Topless]
Director(s): Frank Tashlin (uncredited)
Summary: Similar to “Spies,” this one is also about Private Snafu learning to keep his mouth shut about military secrets. Here, it’s about Snafu trying to sneak letters home to his girlfriend, Sally Lou, past the military censor and getting thwarted each time...until Technical Fairy First Class helps him get the letter to her — which turns into intel for the Japanese on the day America happens to be attacking Bingo-Bango Island.
The Channel(s): Cartoon Network and Boomerang (ToonHeads); unnamed syndication/some edited prints available online
Part(s) Edited: After Snafu tells himself he can sleep in peace, knowing he got his letter by the military censor to Sally Lou, the two scenes where Sally Lou retrieves the letter from her mailbox and leans over the vanity table to decode the message (with a handy key she keeps taped to her mirror) were cut because they showed her topless...
What Grinds My Gears About the Edit(s): ...and yet nothing explicit was shown, and the censors left in the part where Sally Lou (still topless and barely covered, just as she was in the two missing scenes) is on the phone with her mom about Snafu and his Army company heading for Bingo-Bango Island.
Should I also mention that the nude and near-nude pin-ups Snafu has in his tent were also unaltered, despite that Cartoon Network once edited their anime to get rid of the same kind of pin-ups that a WWII-era cartoon has?
Video Comparison:
Uncut Version:
Edited Version (as seen on Cartoon Network and Boomerang ["ToonHeads"] and unnamed syndication/online prints):
Availability Uncut: As mentioned before, this is a public domain short, so you can find the uncut (and, surprisingly, the edited) version of this short on and off YouTube. If you want to find it on official release, it’s on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection (volume 4) DVD and the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection (volume 2) as a special feature and on the Thunderbean DVD and Blu-ray sets.
Is/Was It on Streaming or Digital Download: Also as mentioned before, it’s uploaded on Tubi.
‘Til next time: Stay Looney, Be Merrie, and Happy 250th, America!
