Porky's Five and Ten (Buy and Seltzer)

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

Summary: While setting sail to the Boola-Boola islands to open a five-and-ten store (a general store where you can get anything you want for five to ten cents. In today’s dollars, would be a $1.15-and-$2.30 store, which isn’t too bad, but it doesn’t roll off the tongue so easily), Porky’s inventory gets stolen by a swordfish and the sea life below use the stock to recreate the glamorous Hollywood life at the time of this short’s release.

This is one of those Bob Clampett Porky cartoons where Porky doesn’t have much of a role in the short and is only there out of contractual obligation, since it would be a few years before Warner Bros would create funnier, more dynamic characters, and they were still underusing Daffy Duck.

The Channel(s): Nickelodeon

Part(s) Edited: In probably one of the network’s more inexplicable edits (though, given that they aired this as a redrawn-colorized version, there are theories that this may not have been a content cut from the network. More on that later), Nickelodeon cut the scene at the end where the black fish that’s been squirting Porky in the face throughout the short gets his comeuppance when Porky sprays him with a bottle of seltzer before setting sail with his boat restocked.

What Grinds My Gears About the Edit: The fact that there’s no concrete reason why a slapstick trope like spraying someone with seltzer water would be cut on a channel where slapstick tropes don’t normally get censored (they only do if it’s too violent or if it shows dangerous behavior with little to no real-world repercussions). Yes, you can probably draw the conclusion that, since the fish was crying after getting sprayed with seltzer, the censors thought Porky was being mean to the fish and cut the scene so as to not encourage that kind of meanness to impressionable viewers. However, the censors back in the 1990s (especially on such a loud and brash channel as Nickelodeon) didn’t really go for cutting stuff like that, so what else could it be?

How ‘bout the obvious “the Korean redrawn-colorized versions of black-and-white Looney Tunes shorts were bad at recreating the frenetic animation, especially on the Bob Clampett shorts, and a lot of scenes were cut for being unusable”? That is the more likely reason, as there is precedent for it, but this isn’t as frenetic as what you get in, say, “The Daffy Doc” (which, as you’ll read later, is practically ruined because of this), so take this reason with a grain of salt.

A third theory (according to most online fans) is that the print used to redraw the short was shown without its ending and the people behind the redrawn assumed that the abrupt ending was the actual ending of the short. This theory is a bit more believable than the second one (and feels like it could be true), but, because there’s no evidence proving or denying it, I can’t outright say nor should anyone believe that that’s the reason why the ending was cut.

Video Comparison: I think how the edited version plays vs. the uncut version speaks for itself, since I actually managed to find an edited copy and not just recreate it based on what the Looney Tunes Fandom Wiki or the old Censored Cartoons Page says:

Availability Uncut: It’s a special feature on the DVD version of the movie Hollywood Hotel, starring, among others, Rosemary Lane, Dick Powell, Hugh Herbert, Louella Parsons, and Ted Healy (who used to have an act called “Ted Healy and His Three Stooges,” which would later become The Three Stooges), which came out in 2008. It’s also a special feature on the 2024 Blu-ray release of The Shining Hour, starring Joan Crawford, Margaret Sullivan, and Robert Young (no relation to me…I don’t think). For those who don’t want to buy a movie just to see a cartoon, first off: shame on you, and second off, this cartoon is available uncut on the Porky Pig 101 DVD (released 2017).

Is/Was It Available on Streaming?: It was available on Boomerang streaming from 2017-2024, as well as HBO Max when it premiered and when it changed its name to Max (spanning 2020 to 2025). It’s now sitting pretty on Tubi as part of the 700-800 WB shorts that crossed over.

Since I already covered an ending this time around, I won’t conclude with a “’Til next time.” What I will conclude with this go-around is a Friday throwback, showing the difference between the redrawn version of “Porky’s Railroad” and the 1992 Nickelodeon computer-colorized version, taken from a YouTube video that has the comparisons side-by-side for viewer convenience.

Porky at the Crocadero (Broken Chinatown)

 

Director(s): Frank Tashlin

Summary: Porky has big dreams of being a nightclub bandleader and starts small by getting a job as a dishwasher at the Crocadero. But when Porky gets fired for breaking the dishes and the planned entertainment gets canceled, will Porky and his diploma from the Sucker Correspondence School of Music save the night?

The Channel(s): Nickelodeon

Part(s) Edited: Nickelodeon did two edited versions of the same scene, each were more in the “use alternate footage to cover up problematic scenes” school of editing (which isn’t a correspondence school, but can be taught as a class in most film schools and on YouTube videos on video editing) rather than the “snip-snip” school of editing.

The scene: Porky Pig as Cab Calloway sings “Chinatown, My Chinatown.” During one of the scatting riffs, Porky goes from looking like Cab Calloway (blackface, white suit, and all) to running across the stage dressed as a Chinese emperor (I don’t know from which dynasty) with stereotypical Chinese facial features.

Edited Version #1: The black and white version from when Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon was a Nick at Nite show replaced the appearance of Chinese emperor Porky with a repeat shot of the patrons on the dance floor during the Guy Lumbago scene.

Edited Version #2: When Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon moved to the daytime and phased out their black and white cartoons in favor of redrawn and computer-colorized versions, the brief scene of Chinese emperor Porky was replaced with a frozen shot of the empty stage as Porky runs off it. Nothing was done to the audio on either version.

What Grinds My Gears About the Edit: Very rarely do Nickelodeon edits to Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons grind my gears, because, with some of them, the edits are either seamless, have a sense of humor about them, or at least show that they tried to salvage the cartoon and that the cuts were done because they had to conform to what Standards and Practices wanted, and, if they could, they wouldn’t even bother with the cut in the first place. This is one of those examples where, yeah, it’s obvious that something’s gone, but you don’t care, because it could very well be a broadcasting mistake on their end (especially with the latter cut).

While Cartoon Network and Boomerang didn’t censor this cartoon, they also didn’t air it much because of the Porky as Cab Calloway part (which includes the brief scene of Chinese emperor Porky). My only memory of this cartoon on Cartoon Network was when it was shown uncut on Late Night Black and White (their late Sunday night/early Monday morning installment show that features black and white shorts, mostly pre-Hays Code Betty Boop and Popeye shorts, but they have shown the black and white Warner Bros cartoons that were either early Porky Pig shorts or those one-shot musicals that were a flimsy excuse to sell whatever songs Warner Bros studios had available in their library at the time). It was never shown as a color cartoon, and I can’t imagine what Cartoon Network or Boomerang would have done to edit it. They could go the Nickelodeon route, or they could have wholesale deleted the Cab Calloway performance, which, story-wise, is the point where Porky proves that he can be a great bandleader, since Cab Calloway was known for being that energetic bandleader that could rope you into one of his call-and-response songs.

EDIT: I stand VERY corrected, as I found a computer-colorized version (which I did use for the video comparison section to show how Nickelodeon cut it) from Cartoon Network that was uncut and uncensored.

Video Comparison: As the video shows, Nickelodeon’s versions (I’m assuming) were seamlessly done and didn’t detract from the cartoon as a whole. 

As a bonus, I’m going to include the computer-colorized version from Cartoon Network as evidence that this was uncut on that network.

Availability Uncut: As of this writing, it’s available on two DVD sets: The Looney Tunes Golden Collection, volume 5 (2007) and the Porky Pig 101 DVD (2017). It’s not on any video or laser disc set, nor has it been re-released on Blu-ray.

Is/Was It Available on Streaming?: As of this writing, no. It’s not even on the Tubi Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies collection, as it’s one of the shorts that wasn’t released because of outdated racial stereotypes.

‘Til next time…

Porky's Poppa (Chocolate Milk Baby)

 

Director(s): Robert (“Bob”) Clampett and Charles (“Chuck”) Jones, even though Clampett is credited for direction while Jones is credited for animation.

Summary: It’s beast vs. machine when Porky’s poppa’s cow stops producing milk and forces him to order an ACME Creamlined Cow in order to save the farm from being mortgaged (as mentioned in the “Old McDonald” intro).

Fun Fact(s): This is Chuck Jones’ final short as Bob Clampett’s assistant director (though, as I said before, Bob Clampett is credited as director while Chuck Jones is credited for animation). Jones would become a director later in 1938 (starting with “The Night Watchman”) after Frank Tashlin took a break from animating Warner Bros cartoons (Tashlin would come back in the 1940s to make more WB shorts until he gave that up to do live-action comedies that starred people like Bob Hope, Jayne Mansfield, and Jerry Lewis).

The Channel(s): Nickelodeon

Part(s) Edited: Bessie is “birthing” bottles of milk in order to compete with the ACME Creamlined Cow. One of them turns out to be a bottle of chocolate milk. “I Wish I Was in Dixie” plays in the background as Bessie and Porky bashfully look away and pretend that that didn’t happen. For those who don’t “get it,” the joke here is that Bessie “birthed” a black child and, back when this cartoon was made, a white woman birthing a black child was considered extremely socially taboo (and it might still be in some places, but, mostly, where I live, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone these days who’s not even a little mixed-race, whether or not being black/African-American is part of their heritage).

Anyway, that’s what Nickelodeon cut, which surprises me, as I didn’t think the censors would be smart enough to pick up on the unfortunate implications of that joke. Cartoon Network and Boomerang, on the other hand…well...

What Grinds My Gears About the Edit: Yeah, Cartoon Network and Boomerang didn’t cut squat from that part. They have a pretty good track record of editing racially insensitive content involving African-Americans, from white characters in blackface to actual caricatures of black celebrities of the day, like Cab Calloway and Stepin Fetchit (especially the latter), but this is one of those times where they slipped up so bad. I can understand if they left it uncut for The Bob Clampett Show, as that show had a lot of the shorts uncut and uncensored for historical reasons…but I remember seeing this uncut on shows like The Acme Hour and The Looney Tunes Show (2003-2004 edition), and those weren’t the “historical context” animation shows. And don’t think this is the first or last time they’ve done something like this…because it isn’t.

Video Comparison: The edited version is seamless enough. It’s one of those cuts that says, “You can only kind of tell that something’s missing, but you’ll chalk it up to a film splice or scene that was edited before being released to theaters.”

Availability Uncut: Not much in the VHS or laser disc department, but it is on two DVDs: the fifth volume of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD set (released in 2007) and the Porky Pig 101 DVD set (released ten years later in 2017)

Is/Was It Available on Streaming?: It was available on the Boomerang streaming app, as well as on HBO Max (when it was first called that and when it was changed to “Max,” but not when it changed its name back). Currently, it’s part of Tubi’s Looney Tunes collection.

‘Til next time…

Daffy Duck and Egghead (Audience Elimination)

Blogger’s note: Unless otherwise noted, all the cartoons mentioned from here on out are available on the streaming service Tubi, thanks to Tubi acquiring almost all of the 1000 classic Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts (768 packed in 262 half-hour installments, to be exact, though this article from No Film School says 800) after HBO Max dropped them. The post “The Boob Tubi” already discussed this and has a full list of all the shorts Tubi has uploaded.

Director: Tex Avery

Summary: Picking up where “Porky’s Duck Hunt” left off, another hunter -- this time, Egghead (the Joe Penner-esque Elmer Fudd prototype that was in a lot of the earlier Warner Bros cartoons) tries his hand at hunting Daffy Duck…and, like Porky, fails, because this is the wacky Daffy he’s dealing with, not the later comic loser/greedy jerk Daffy.

Fun Fact(s): This is Daffy Duck’s first appearance in a color cartoon, as well as his first appearance in a Merrie Melodie short, and the first time he’s identified on-screen as “Daffy Duck.”

The Channel(s): The WB, Cartoon Network (USA feed only), Boomerang (USA feed only)

Part(s) Edited: When Egghead is in the marsh on the lookout for ducks, he sees the silhouette of a man getting up from his theater seat (remember: animated shorts used to be pre-feature film filler, just like newsreels, the live-action comedy shorts like The Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, Taxi Boys, and Our Gang/The Little Rascals; the older “sing-along with the organist” pieces, live-action B-movies that may not have been as popular as the A-films, but had their fans, and, of course, the trailers, which they used to call “Coming Attractions” and actually left something to viewers’ imaginations when it came to showing what to expect) and tells him to sit down. The man then gets up two more times. By the third time, Egghead blasts the man with his hunting rifle. The man goes down like a lead balloon and the cartoon resumes without incident. The WB and the American versions of Cartoon Network and Boomerang cut off after the second time Egghead tells the man to sit down, cutting Egghead shooting the man and the man dropping dead.

What Grinds My Gears About the Edit: Just the fact that Cartoon Network and Boomerang also edited that scene. I understand The WB cutting it, since they normally did edit gunplay from their shorts. Cartoon Network and Boomerang were a bit more permissive in showing gunplay (at least in most of their WB cartoons. Their original programming and anime imports were different stories that I won’t go over here), but for every time Cartoon Network and Boomerang shows a full, uncut version of one of the Hunter’s Trilogy cartoons (which were butchered on most over-the-air channels in America during the 1980s and 1990s), you had cartoons like this that cut a man getting shot or something like “Peck Up Your Troubles,” “For Scent-imental Reasons” (from 2003 to 2010), or “Screwball Football” where the network cuts someone either intentionally or unintentionally putting a gun to their head and nearly getting shot (or that time “Buccaneer Bunny” actually left in Sam attempting suicide with a gun to his head after Bugs tells him “Dead men tell no tales,” yet the ending of “Ballot Box Bunny” wasn’t shown on either network uncut until 2011). Then there's the fact that “Rhapsody Rabbit” and “The Ducksters” weren't cut on Cartoon Network to remove a character onstage shooting an audience member for being annoying (The WB did cut “Rhapsody Rabbit” for that, so at least one channel stuck to its guns...so to speak). All of this is yet another example of the rampant hypocrisy and contradiction that seem to come part and parcel with censorship.

And I think it goes without saying that the cut is painfully obvious, as seen in the video below.

Video Comparison:

Availability Uncut: “Daffy Duck and Egghead” actually has a good run on home media. It was on three VHS tapes (Cartoon Moviestars: Daffy! from 1988, The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 2: Firsts from 1992, and Further Adventures of Daffy Duck from 1996), two laser discs (Cartoon Moviestars: Daffy! and Porky! from 1988 and The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Volume 1, Side 2, Firsts from 1991), two DVDs (Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3 from 2005 and The Essential Daffy Duck from 2011), and one Blu-ray (Looney Tunes Collector’s Vault: Volume 1 from this year [2025]).

Is/Was It Available on Streaming: It’s currently part of Tubi’s Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies collection that came out in August of this year. And it is uncut and uncensored, with original titles restored.

‘Til next time…

Porky/Sylvester Horror Vacation Trilogy -- Episode One -- A Pig Boy and His Scaredy Cat (featuring Sathurva U and Andrea Hicks)

 

Hello, and welcome to another special post where I tackle the censorship cuts to two or more cartoons that are either remakes or part of a duology or a trilogy...or, at least, that was the original plan.

As you can see, things are different around here. As part of my ongoing quest to make this blog not boring, I decided that I should turn it into a full video. Why? Because I’ve always wanted to do a video series about the censorship of Warner Bros cartoons (and other classic theatrical shorts), but, with YouTube copyright takedowns more stringent than ever, I figure Blogger is my best bet. I can do a trailer for YouTube to bring in more readers (which can be seen here, but I posted an alternate version on the blog), but I go on YouTube to watch videos, not to make them.

But don’t despair: you’ll still get me pointing out hypocrisy in edits. You’ll still get me telling you where to find them uncut and uncensored, if any uncut and uncensored versions currently exist. And, should any entry need a correction or redaction, I can just tack it on to the blogpost with either a new video or a written statement.

EDIT (9/1/25): In said ongoing quest to make my censored cartoons blog more interesting, I decided that, yes, a video is interesting, but what’s more interesting is a podcast.

Thanks to more realistic A.I. audio voices and easier video editing on my end, I created a podcast (combined with my compare/contrast video) for the 1948 Porky/Sylvester Merrie Melodies short, “Scaredy Cat,” part one of the Porky/Sylvester horror vacation trilogy (even though the first one clearly states that Porky and Sylvester are moving into a haunted house as residents and not visiting it as tourists). I came up with Sathurva U. and Andrea Hicks, two classic ‘toonheads (one, from India, the other, a young American girl heavily implied to be white European) who not only see what channels have censored the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, but discuss what makes them special (so…it’s a lot like what I do here now, only I created two A.I. personalities that represent my thoughts on censoring the classic shorts, and turned it into a more popular format).

I’m also breaking up the trilogy post into three parts, so it will be easier to work with (and because I can do it monthly, because that’s when the Elevenlabs credits refresh. I don't want to abandon doing the regular blog posts just yet).

If "Drawn and Quartered" becomes a dedicated podcast (which I feel I should do, since it will put my screenwriting, character development, ability to be informative and entertaining, and dialogue skills to the test), I will create other characters besides Sathurva U and Andrea. Some episodes will have one person; others will have a three or four person roundtable. Consider this episode an experiment and a potential pilot.

So, if you celebrate it in your country, Happy Labor Day, and here’s part one of Sathurva U and Andrea’s look at the Porky/Sylvester horror vacation shorts and how they were edited: