Ups 'n Downs (Hot Dog Day Afternoon, or *This* Is The End?!)

 

Director: Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising

Summary: Bosko, working as a hot vendor at an amusement park, ditches his post to compete in a horse race at a nearby track.

The Channel(s): Nickelodeon, syndication (Astra TV)

Part(s) Edited:

l Nickelodeon’s version cut a very bizarre scene (in a cartoon that’s already filled with the kind of rubberhose surrealism you’d see in 1930s animation that wasn’t Disney) where a dog buys a hot dog from Bosko and, just as the dog is about to eat it, the hot dog comes to life in and does the Al Jolson “Mammy” schtick from The Jazz Singer (which was a recurring pop culture reference in the older WB shorts) to beg the dog not to eat him and the dog immediately falls in love with the hot dog and the two skip away happily.

l Astra TV (a television station in Greece) aired a version of this short that, not only was redrawn and colorized, but also went under the title, “Off to the Races” and had an alternate ending to cover up the fact that Radio & Television Packagers, Inc. used an incomplete copy of the original as their source.

How It Plays With the Edit:

l Nickelodeon version: We’ve been through this before: we’re still in the era of the WB shorts having little-to-no plot, so whatever gags get cut for whatever reason probably won’t be missed, unless they’re the highlight of the short. Outside of an abrupt change in audio, there’s no effect.

l The Astra TV redrawn version: I’ll let the video comparison do the talking, but, if you want my opinion, the Astra TV version’s ending feels like the kind of corny comedy that plagued children’s cartoons before the rise of Nickelodeon and Western animation in general at least trying to elevate itself by making its children’s cartoons more creator-controlled and expanding animation to appeal to older viewers (whether it’s intense, dramatic HBO fare, like Spawn and Spicy City or the crude, irreverent comedies like The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, and Adult Swim’s early works):

(original version)

(redrawn Astra TV version)

Availability Uncut: No official release as of 2024 on streaming or home media. However, you can easily see the original black and white version and the Astra TV redrawn version on YouTube and other online video websites without worrying over copyright issues, as “Ups ‘n Downs” has been in the public domain since 1959.