Before I begin, I want to apologize, because this was supposed to be before “Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur (Clan of the Cave Duck),” not after. It was an oversight on my part. Also, I'm not including "Porky's Movie Mystery," as that's part of a future post about cartoons with missing scenes that may or may not be because of censorship, and whose missing scenes are either lost to time or still out there, but not rediscovered yet.
Director(s): Tex Avery
Summary: A series of blackout gags centered around a day at the Kalama Zoo (Kalamazoo is actually a city in Michigan), where literal wolves are at a door, the elks are human men who are part of the social club of the same name, Polly the Parrot wants a short beer instead of a cracker, and Egghead (the Joe Penner-esque rough draft version of Elmer Fudd that was seen in “Daffy Duck and Egghead”) won’t stop teasing the lions.
Fun Facts:
- The 2023 movie adaptation of Five Nights at Freddy’s had a clip of this cartoon.
- Tex Avery once owned a nitrate cel of the original titles, which were auctioned on eBay in 2004. Sadly, they weren’t used when restored to Blu-ray.
- The original titles are said to be similar to the ones for “Hamateur Night.”
- The 35-cent blue plate special advertised on the “Feeding Time” sign would be $8.11 in today’s money. The five cents extra for pie would now be $1.16. Together, that would be $9.27 instead of forty cents.
The Channel(s): TNT, Cartoon Network, and Boomerang
Part(s) Edited: A light, mellow, and satisfying one this go-around (if you’re into that. I don’t smoke, but I saw a lot of vintage cigarette ads as part of one of my college classes about post-World War II history, culture, and ephemera, so I do know how Madison Avenue liked to tout cigarettes in the days when they were considered glamorous). During the beginning showing the visual puns of different animals at the zoo, the shot of the “pack of camels” smoking cigarettes (shown between the “wolf at the door” and the “Greyhound bus”) was cut.
What Grinds My Gears About the Edit: Nothing. Since this is one of those spot gag cartoons, it doesn’t make or break the plot. Yes, there’s a jump in the audio, but the many times I’ve seen the edited version, I hardly notice it. You can argue that this would tick off those who believe that the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons weren’t meant for children and getting rid of tobacco smoking (as well as alcohol drinking) in what are ostensibly adult cartoons is yet another example of major studios catering to younger audiences while screwing over the adults or trying to erase their past, and, yeah, you’d be right, but, as long as the edit isn’t painfully obvious or dumbs down the scene, makes it more problematic than it already is, or kills the joke, then it’s not that big of a deal.
Video Comparison:
Availability Uncut: Good news: this has been in the public domain in the United States since 1967, so you can watch it wherever fine public domain cartoons are released (either offline or online). Bad news: there aren’t many official releases of this short on home media. You have the 1992 release of the Golden Age of Looney Tunes laser disc (volume 3, side 8: “The Evolution of Egghead”) followed by a 33-year gap between that and the 2025 release of the Looney Tunes Collectors’ Vault Blu-ray (volume one, disc one), and that’s it for the physical home media releases.
Is/Was It on Streaming or Digital Download: As of 2026, “A Day at the Zoo” is available on Tubi as part of the 700 to 800 Warner Bros. shorts uploaded to the platform. Prior to that, it wasn’t available on any official streaming or digital download platform, which is strange to me. Outside of the Camel cigarette joke, there’s nothing problematic about it in terms of racist caricatures or anything else that would be considered “politically incorrect.” Wonder why this got skipped? Anyway, that’s a question for another day.
‘Til next time, stay Looney and be Merrie.
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