Jeepers Creepers (An Exhaust-ing Night/Lord of the Smoke Rings)

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

Summary: Porky is a police officer (in what I assume is the first time. Other times include “Riff Raffy Daffy” when he’s trying to bust Daffy on vagrancy and trespassing; “Rocket Squad,” where he’s paired with Daffy Duck as a space police detective, and “Corn on the Cop,” where he and Daffy are trying to arrest a robber dressed as an old lady while the real old lady the robber is dressed as thinks Porky and Daffy are Halloween pranksters dressed as cops) for the Podunk City Jail (“We Select Your Cell — But You Can Pick Your Own Lock”) called to investigate the noises coming from an old house at Belli Acres — and encounters a bedsheet ghost who likes to eat cigar smoke doughnuts, listen to scary radio shows, and troll visitors.

Fun Facts: 

• The ghost is actually voiced by Mel Blanc doing Pinto Colvig’s voice for Goofy. You see, this cartoon came out around the time that Colvig himself went to Florida to do voicework for Fleischer Studios, and they couldn’t get the real Colvig for the role of the ghost, so they got Blanc, whose impression is pretty spot-on, though Goofy’s voice isn’t that high. Yeah, I know I don’t watch Disney cartoons that much (outside of some of the animated movies, like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), but I do catch clips of it sometimes, I remember seeing Goof Troop and A Goofy Movie as a kid and Bill Farmer’s take on Goofy is almost on-point with Colvig’s; and the Disney characters are everywhere, whether I like it or not.

• The animation of Porky running up and down the stairs is reused from “The Case of the Stuttering Pig,” which (a) is a Frank Tashlin cartoon (Frank Tashlin’s cartoons are a lot like Bob Clampett’s, but have better animation, racier sex jokes [including a focus on female legs in high heels and pantyhose. If you think Quentin Tarantino’s female foot fetish in his movies was obvious, then you haven’t seen Tashlin’s fetish for pantyhosed female legs] and don’t really have a celebrity animator gush about how great he is...unless you count John Kricfalusi’s partner from The Ren and Stimpy Show, Eddie Fitzgerald, but Fitzgerald isn’t a fanboy of Tashlin like John K. is with Clampett. Anthony’s Animation Talk [a YouTube channel that goes over WB shorts, as well as Disney and Fleischer] has a resident amateur historian that focuses on Frank Tashlin, but still, not a fanboy), and (b) definitely an inspiration for this. It does lack the cinematic flair, but still has the creepiness that you get from a haunted house story animated as a black and white cartoon. It’s just that it’s done for comedy because this is Bob Clampett we’re talking about. If he can turn Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs into a hot jazz musical that does come off as offensive to black people in modern times due to how they’re caricatured (even though Clampett at the time was showing his appreciation for black culture. It wouldn’t be until later when he apologized for how insensitive it came off. Time heals all wounds and wounds all heels), then he can turn a police investigation haunted house story into a comedy (also with racially insensitive caricatures of black people as you’ll see).

Letterboxd Says The Darndest Things: Eh, I’m not liking the selection this go-around. Like the last one, a lot of people hate this because of racial caricatures and being too slow for their shot-to-Hell attention spans. I, on the other hand, like this for its spooky atmosphere and the ghost being a funnier character than Porky. Plus, the childhood nostalgia, since I do remember seeing this (as a computer-colorized version) on Nickelodeon. Cartoon Network aired a redrawn-colorized version (as well as an uncut black and white version on The Bob Clampett Show and Late Night Black and White) that was edited, which I also remember. Yes, “The Case of the Stuttering Pig” is better in terms of spooky atmosphere, but this is good, too. I’m not going to put any reviews from them here, but here is the link so you can see for yourself.

The Channel(s): Unnamed syndication, Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny and Friends (FOX version), Nickelodeon (Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon), and Cartoon Network and Boomerang (American version and Turkish version; barring The Bob Clampett Show and Late Night Black and White).

Part(s) Edited: Let’s look at how this was cut with the return of “Green Light, Red Light: Stuck in Traffic Edition (Now With Flashing Yellow)”:

Original Version: During the end, when Porky is driving away from Belli Acres and the ghost is catching up with him, the ghost stops by the side of the road and tries to thumb a ride. Porky’s patrol car passes by the ghost, then reverses. Porky holds up a sign that reads, “NO RIDERS,” then rides off again, blowing car exhaust on the ghost. The ghost, now in blackface, looks down, picks up his sheet bottom and says, “My, oh my! Tattletale gray!”

Redrawn Version/Unnamed Syndication: Some redrawn-colorized copies exists where the ghost is yellow and opaque, so when he does get blasted with exhaust and becomes blackface, it’s more like “purple-face” (which isn’t an improvement, as characters with purple skin in some sci-fi or fantasy media are often coded as African-American. The It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia episode “Risk E. Rat’s Pizza and Amusement Center” had a scene where Dennis and Charlie discover a room that houses all the old animatronic performers in the titular fun center and discover that some of them were rightfully retired for being racially insensitive or just generally problematic [like Justine the Teen Dream being retired for sexualizing teenage girls and, most likely, encouraging perverts who are into underaged girls], one of which was a purple monster who was voiced by a white man who played the character as an African-American). The ending is uncut and the voice hasn’t been changed, but the visuals have, similar to the blackfaced matches becoming red-faced on Cartoon Network’s/Boomerang’s airing of “Wholly Smoke.”

Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny and Friends (FOX): The cartoon ends after Porky’s patrol car speeds by the hitchhiking ghost.

Nickelodeon (Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon): Like the FOX version, this also cut off prematurely. However, Nickelodeon’s version showed Porky holding up the “NO RIDERS” sign and blasting car exhaust on the ghost before there was a fake iris-out to make it look like the short actually ended on that note.

Cartoon Network/Boomerang (American feed): As mentioned on the “redrawn version/unnamed syndication” entry, this aired on Cartoon Network as a redrawn-colorized version (except for on The Bob Clampett Show and Late Night Black and White, where it was shown uncut, uncensored, and in black and white), yet still edited the end because even Cartoon Network’s censors (who are the reason why I call bullshit on most instances of media being edited for content. Well, not just Cartoon Network. ABC, too, since I did grow up watching The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show on the rare times it wasn’t interrupted for sports or breaking news) know that a purple ghost speaking like Eddie “Rochester” Anderson might be seen as racist, even if it’s toned down from the original. Cartoon Network’s (and, by proxy Boomerang’s) version just abruptly faded to black after Porky blows car exhaust on the ghost.

Cartoon Network (Turkish/international feed): Good news: the ending where the ghost is in blackface after being blasted with exhaust wasn’t cut. Bad news: The international version cut the introductory scene of the ghost after he turns off his radio because it had him smoking a cigar and using the smoke rings as doughnuts for his coffee.

What Grinds My Gears About the Edit(s): Not much, surprisingly. For my money, the FOX Merrie Melodies version seems like the version with the less obvious edit and should have been used as the template for the Nickelodeon and American Cartoon Network/Boomerang version. Speaking of which, Cartoon Network America/Boomerang really could have edited the cigar part as well, since they have a history of editing characters smoking (plus, there was a similar edit on the Chuck Jones one-shot short, “Ghost Wanted,” though that involved offering cigarettes to minors). However, as the approximation video shows, that would make it obvious that something’s missing.

Video Comparison: 

Availability Uncut: Just like “Porky’s Picnic” and “Scalp Trouble,” this is only available on the Porky Pig 101 DVD set. It’s uncut, uncensored, and in its original black and white format, but it hasn’t been remastered or restored, and Lord knows when Warner Bros. are going to get around to doing it, if they even do it at all.

Is/Was It on Streaming or Digital Download: Still no, just like “Scalp Trouble” (though not “Porky’s Picnic.” At least that one was on an automobile-only streaming service).

‘Til next time, Stay Looney and Be Merrie