Three's a Crowd (Booked on Friday)

Director: Rudolf Ising

Summary: When an old man finishes reading Alice and Wonderland for the night and goes to bed, the title character comes out of the book and holds a literary dance party set to the title song…until Mr. Hyde kidnaps her.

The Channel: Cartoon Network (from Late Night Black and White)

Part(s) Edited: Every scene with Robinson Crusoe and his black native guide, Friday, was cut, as well as the entire scene of Uncle Tom from Uncle Tom’s Cabin singing “I Got the South in My Soul.”

How It Plays Edited: Even though this is one of those musical shorts that has a thin plot and is mostly a chain of scenes, this does suffer a bit from being edited. Mr. Hyde coming out of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde had to be edited because you can hear Uncle Tom singing, which will make viewers wonder where Mr. Hyde came from. There’s also Mr. Hyde getting sprayed with ink by Robinson Crusoe and Friday, which had to be cut and leads to Hyde getting sprayed by unseen forces. The video comparison below tells it all.

Video Comparison:

Uncut version:

Edited version: Link here

Availability Uncut: As of 2024, the only physical media release it has is on the Golden Age of Looney Tunes laserdisc set (second volume, side one, “Musical Madness”). It hasn’t (yet) been released on DVD, Blu-ray, streaming, or digital download (and, despite the black stereotypes, it does feel safe to show. It’s not heavy with it, like “Goin’ to Heaven on a Mule” or any of the Censored Eleven shorts), but it is readily available on online video sites, as it’s been in the public domain since 1961.