Detouring America (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the United States/Big Chief Baby)

 

Director(s): Tex Avery (credited as “Fred Avery”)

Summary: A travelogue spoof showing viewers a tour of the United States, from literal cow-punchers in the rolling plains to mosquitos in the Florida Everglades and a human fly attempting to climb the Empire State Building.

Fun Facts:

• This is Termite Terrace’s second Oscar-nominated short (the first one being “It’s Got Me Again” from all the way back in 1932), and, like “It’s Got Me Again,” “Detouring America” got beat out by a Disney short. In this case, it was their adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Ugly Duckling.”

• This isn’t to be confused with “Cross-Country Detours,” which is also a travelogue spoof that has been edited on American TV, but that one is funnier and has a scene that a lot of people remember for lascivious reasons. If you know it, you know it. Otherwise, you’re going to have to look it up for yourself or wait until I get to it.

Letterboxd Says The Darndest Things: Oof! You’re not going to find many fans for this one, mostly because the reviewers know nothing about past celebrities and get easily offended over the outdated racial and ethnic caricatures. There was one review worth posting here that does make a good point, but I feel like every “anti-establishment” stand-up comic has made this joke at least once or twice in their careers, so it’s not exactly anything new (and, if they haven’t, shame on them. I thought their job was to smash the system with humor):

Greed, animal abuse, military propaganda and racism. I guess they really showed America as it is.

Yeah, the greed was a gag involving a California prospector finding gold and trying not to draw attention to it, only to fail when everyone else moves in on his territory, the animal abuse is either a mosquito screaming “OUCH!” after being swatted by an explorer in the Florida Everglades or a cow literally getting punched by a cow-puncher who sounds like then-popular comedian Jerry Colonna (who has been caricatured a lot in these old cartoons and even did the voice of the Mad Hatter’s buddy, the March Hare, on the Disney version of Alice in Wonderland); the military propaganda is just a look at a military academy where the soldiers from the waist up look ready for battle, but their legs and feet aren’t (it’s making fun of the military, not advocating it); and the racism isn’t as terrible as they make it out to be. It’s still potentially offensive, but it’s just a product of its time, as mentioned in those Looney Tunes DVD warnings they’ve had ever since Looney Tunes Golden Collection, volume three.

It’s like no one knows what nuance, history, or humor is anymore. Anyway, enough whining. Let’s get to why you’re here: to see what was cut and why.

The Channel(s): Cartoon Network and Boomerang (Associated Artists Productions transfer). Even though the labels say that this was also cut on TBS, TNT, and MeTV, the Looney Tunes Fandom Wiki doesn't say that those channels edited this short, I'm assuming they did, if they didn't outright ban it.

Part(s) Edited: Two scenes featuring outdated racial and ethnic stereotypes were cut:

• After the second check-up on The Human Fly’s climb up the Empire State Building, the uncut version had a scene where we go to Alaska, where a poor, black man is thumbing a ride while singing “Carry Me Back to Ol’ Virginny.” An Inuit (or “Eskimo,” as they were known back then) walks up, looks at the camera, shrugs his shoulders, and literally carries the black man to the Virginia state line. In my opinion, that’s actually sweet of him to oblige, despite their racial and geographical differences, but, considering how pro-slavery “Carry Me Back to Ol’ Virginny” is lyrically, yeah, it does kind of ruin it. Still, just the fact that the scene comes off as sweet at face value in something from 1939 shows that humanity and its history isn’t as awful as others claim.

• The second edit comes after the third check-up on The Human Fly, where we go to a Native American village in the American Southwest. Despite claims to the contrary (which have been debunked on the Looney Tunes Fandom Wiki, though not the old Censored Cartoons Page), the entire sequence with the Native American village wasn’t cut. What was cut was one scene where a Native American woman has her overgrown son on her papoose and tells him that it’s time to cut the umbilical cord and walk on his own, with the overgrown son whining that he doesn’t want to (still relevant these days regardless of race or ethnicity). The other scenes, like the Native Americans walking vertically down a cave village, the elder slithering out of a teepee after going inside for some “Wa-Hoo Snake Oil,” and an Indian snake dance involving actual snakes.

What Grinds My Gears About the Edit(s): Nothing. It’s one of those spot-gag cartoons where it’s just a collection of jokes tied to a central idea. Even I didn’t notice that those scenes were gone until much later (though that’s because the censored version aired more on American TV than the uncut version and doing that does condition you into thinking it’s uncut...until you learn years later that it’s not). The completist who likes their past media uncut and uncensored (or close to it, as a lot of scenes do get lost to time or were only thought of, but never made real) might hate the edited version for “erasing history,” but, if the cartoon is as bad as Letterboxd says it is, then what’s the point of fighting over a censored scene if you don’t care much for the cartoon it’s attached to?

I should also note that the vintage cinema channel, Turner Classic Movies (which does air some of what Cartoon Network and Boomerang airs, often with cuts, though some are uncut for historical reasons, like Herr Meets Hare) did air this uncut back in 1999. It’s not really a ground gear, but it should raise some ire over the hyprocisy of American censorship (or really, censorship in general, geography nonwithstanding).

Video Comparison: 

Availability Uncut: Yeah, this one is strictly a mainstay on home media. For those who want it on a Warner Bros. cartoon compilation set, it’s on the fifth volume and second side of the Golden Age of Looney Tunes laser disc (which was still going on in 1997, which surprises me because I thought laser disc was phased out earlier than that). For those who want it as a bonus feature on a feature film release, then you can find on on the DVD and Blu-ray version of the film Each Dawn I Die (WB cartoon spoof is the 1949 short, “Each Dawn I Crow”), starring Gregory Raft and James Cagney. The DVD version came out in 2006 while the Blu-ray is a more recent release (2021). It’s also available as part of a 2008 collection of Warner Bros gangster movies called Warner Bros Pictures Gangster Collection, volume 2 (not very imaginative, but it does says what it is). “Detouring America” and Each Dawn I Die are both on the second volume, joining such other films as Bullets or Ballots, City for Conquest, “G” Men, San Quentin, and A Slight Case of Murder.

Is/Was It on Streaming or Digital Download: Not as of this writing. Like I said before, this mostly was released on home media and seen on television.

‘Til next time: Stay Looney and Be Merrie!

Drawn and Quartered Does Valentine's Day -- Bonus Episode -- The Stupid Cupid (Lost Lives and Missing Episodes)

 

Director(s): Frank Tashlin

Summary: Love is in the air at a barnyard when Cupid (Elmer Fudd wearing his Egghead derby and a diaper and only chuckling his trademark chuckle. I think Eddie Fitzgerald on the DVD commentary said it best when he said that Arthur Q. Bryan had an easy job this go-around, even though Frank Graham did the Elmer chuckles here) goes around making birds fall in love, horses fall in love, and a dog confess his deep desires to the cat he’s beating up. Now, Cupid Elmer faces his latest challenge: Daffy Duck, whom he already targeted years before, which led to a shotgun wedding and an unhappy marriage with multiple ducklings. Can Cupid Elmer try again with better results?

Fun Facts: 

• Cupid Elmer actually has had some appearances in later Looney Tunes media. He was on the 1979 CBS TV special Bugs Bunny’s Valentine (or Bugs Bunny’s Cupid Capers, according to that video I once bought at a flea market while spending the day with my father back in the late 1990s), the New Looney Tunes episode “Valentine’s Dayffy” has Cupid Elmer vs. Daffy, but Daffy ends up becoming the new Cupid after putting Cupid Elmer out of commission, and Looney Tunes World of Mayhem has Cupid Elmer as a playable character.

• The 1995 comic book movie (yes, those existed before the era of Marvel movies) Batman Forever (that was the one that had Jim Carrey as The Riddler and Tommy Lee Jones as Harvey Dent/Two-Face. The one from 1989 had Jack Nicholson as The Joker, Batman Returns had Danny DeVito as The Penguin as Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman, and Batman and Robin [the one everyone rags on for being bad — with good cause] had Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze and Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy) had a reanimated version of this as seen on the Bugs Bunny’s Valentine TV special and a clip from 1954’s “Satan’s Waitin’”.

• The current version airing (both edited and uncut) has an abrupt ending where after Daffy gets hit with Cupid’s arrow again, he flies in between the rooster and the hen as they kiss. The cartoon ends with the hen alerting her husband that Daffy is back and kissing her. Greg Ford (whom P.W. Fontaine mentioned earlier in her Pepe Le Pew post) has gone on record to say that the original ending had Daffy say, “If you haven't tried it, don’t knock it,” but there’s no word on what happened after that or if it ends on that note.

P.W. Fontaine: Yes, and I’d like to add that, in this short, you can clearly see where Chuck Jones borrowed gags for his Pepé Le Pew cartoons (though “I Got Plenty of Mutton” is still a major inspiration. Can’t believe I didn’t mention that in my post, but, what can ya do? I was on a deadline). The hen hiding in a barrel where Daffy is cooling a bottle of champagne in a bucket of ice was used in “Little Beau Pepe” while the cut ending line is a variation of the line that ended “Wild Over You.” 

C.L. Young: Thanks, Penny. 

P.W. Fontaine: Any time. Let me know when the 1000 Looney Tunes blog is out...and when Sarthurva U and Andrea Hicks are going to release the “Jumpin’ Jupiter” podcast.

Letterboxd Says The Darndest Things: Mostly positive in this installment, and, once again, we have weird turns of phrase, grammatical mistakes galore, and head-scratching implications. Let’s start off with Hal, who gave this four and a half stars and practically gushed over it:

I can’t believe I witnessed a better “now I’ve seen everything proceeds to shoot oneself” joke than the Peter Lorre fish committing it in Horton hatches the egg. What’s even more amazing is Frank Tashlin did this cartoon and not Bob Clampett. Tash you mad lad, you rule!

Daffy has some standout moments in this one too (one of his kids has two heads, weirdly in character for him). And lastly I gotta shout out Elmer being Cupid but never actually speaking, just slightly evilly laughing. Incredible.

I always thought the best “Seen It All Suicide” gag (its proper name, according to TVTropes) was the cat at the end of “An Itch in Time,” but that was pretty average. Maybe Hal is on to something. And more appreciation does need to be given to Frank Tashlin, especially when he started doing color cartoons like “Brother Brat,” “Swooner Crooner,” and “I’ve Got Plenty of Mutton,” which Ms. Fontaine above as a proto-Pepe Le Pew cartoon...almost like this one.

Speaking of which, J_J_King, as part of the 589th installment of “Reviewing Every Looney Tune,” started off his review with this:

If this is the short that got Chuck Jones to go all in on the concept for Pepe Le Pew, then maybe this was a mistake...

P.W. Fontaine: What exactly does he mean by that? Does he mean “The Stupid Cupid” was a mistake or Chuck Jones’ decision for the concept of Pepe Le Pew?

C.L. Young: I’m pretty sure he means the latter. Also, I thought you left.

P.W. Fontaine: My ride won't be here for another ten minutes. As I was saying about this, I keep telling people: “I’ve Got Plenty of Mutton” is the clear inspiration, even if “The Stupid Cupid” has the amorous chase and that barrel/champagne bottle cooling gag that would later be used in “Little Beau Pepe.”

C.L. Young: You’re preaching to the choir and the converted, P.W. If Letterboxd has a reply section, I say you set him straight there. Otherwise, just forget it and use the blog as your counterpoint platform.

P.W. Fontaine: Oh, all right. I don’t know how you do it. You’re into the Pepe cartoons like I am, and you don’t want to tear people’s throats out for their views on it?

C.L. Young: It’s called “maturity” and “trying to see things from others’ perspective.”

P.W. Fontaine: Still, it’s all kinda sketch to me.

C.L. Young: At least he praised the rest of it, as seen here:

Otherwise, it's a really solid cartoon. It has a really lively energy to it, which can be seen in its slapstick and overall character animation. The opening where Cupid is gracefully floating along the background accompanying the score is really fluid, the part where Daffy gets shot with the comically large arrow is exaggerated to perfection, and the way daffy tries to get out of getting the snot kicked out of him was a great bit as well. Daffy would be the type to simultaneously deny love and be completely overtaken by it when forces dictate he should, so I feel he was the perfect lead for this. Personally though, I feel there should've been a bit more back and forth between him and Cupid here, and the actual sequence where Daffy peruses the hen could be seen as a little insensitive by modern sensibilities. They acknowledge that Daffy is in the wrong, and that Cupid is kind of a jerk for making him do this, but there's no repercussions for either of them. The way it's edited to makes it feel unfinished, and from what I've read, there was a portion of the ending that was cut, which makes sense. If it ended with some catharsis, I think I would've liked this one quite a bit more. Still good though, with a strong lead performance and a nice little bit of screwball, magical antics from Cupid.

Happy Valentines Day, everyone.

P.W. Fontaine: Oh, look at that. “The actual sequence where Daffy peruses the hen could be seen as a little insensitive by modern sensibilities...” I think he meant to say “pursues,” and “a little insensitive to modern sensibilities?” After he mentioned this being the inspiration for the Pepe cartoons? Do these reviewers hear themselves when they talk...or talk-type? And who cares about “repercussions”? I’m here to laugh at cartoon antics, not a morality play? What’s wrong with people these days?

C.L. Young: Obviously, this is getting to be too much for you, P.W. Take the rest of the review off and I’ll call you when I need you.

P.W. Fontaine: Thanks. It’s getting late, anyway, and my ride is coming soon. [leaves]

As you can see, over at “Drawn and Quartered,” people can get a little intense over differing opinions. P.W. is just learning the ropes. While I do appreciate her knowledge of the Pepe Le Pew cartoons and how strongly she feels about them, I hope I can teach her to be so much more than that, like knowing a lot about artistic intention and how to deal with conflicting views from others.

Finally, we have Carlos Valladares’ four-and-a-half star review:

Frank Tashlin's Looney Tunes shorts were always the most schizophrenic, and this frenetically-paced wacko entry (one of Tashlin's last before he left the Termite Terrace for Hollywood) may be the most unstable of all. Daffy literally makes a cuckold out of a cock. Elmer Fudd is Cupid. Tashlin's oddly geometric play-doh playthings transcend their vulgarity and become Art Deco beauty. It moves so fast you'd swear this cartoon would need some Adderall before it could calm down and you could properly enjoy it. As such, it's a bonkers masterpiece in its own right.

I wouldn’t know anything about using Adderall just to keep up with a six-minute, 41-second cartoon (maybe a little longer than that if a version with the original titles and ending, as well as some parts during the “Daffy chasing the hen” sequence that feel like they’ve been edited due to the frenetic editing). Maybe I have a better attention span than I thought.

The Channel(s): Cartoon Network, TBS, TNT, Boomerang, and Tooncast (both the a.a.p version made before 1995 and the Turner dubbed version made after 1995).

Part(s) Edited: Two different censored versions of this cartoon exist, both of which cut the scene of the cat shooting himself in the head after the dog gets hit by Cupid's arrow and declares his love for the hapless feline:

• If you watched the a.a.p (Associated Artists Productions) version that aired on TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network before 1995, and Tooncast, then the entire scene of the dog getting hit with Cupid Elmer’s arrow, professing his love for the cat, and the cat shooting himself in the head (followed by his numbered ghosts in the ongoing joke of cats having nine lives) was cut, going from the horse being one of Cupid Elmer’s targets to the scene of Daffy bathing in the trough and Cupid Elmer making him his next target.

• If you watched the Turner dubbed version that aired on post-1995 TBS, TNT, and Cartoon Network (and is now the current version that airs on Boomerang), then you’ve seen the version where the scene is reinstated up until the part where the cat shrugs his shoulders as the dog makes Charles Boyer-esque declarations of love to him. From there, there’s a quick dissolve to the next scene that starts with Daffy bathing in the trough.

What Grinds My Gears About the Edit(s): You’d think I would prefer the post-1995 edit to the pre-1995 edit out of being used to seeing it often in my childhood, right? Eh, not this time. Outright deleting the scene may look obvious to those who are used to uncut versions, but to the young and naïve, they’ll just think it’s part of the cartoon (until they get older and see otherwise). While I applaud the post-1995 version for only cutting what’s considered problematic while leaving in the safe content, the quick dissolve to the next scene makes it obvious that something’s missing. So, I guess my ground gear for this is, “If you have to edit something for TV, it’s better to cut the entire scene rather than part of it.” Yeah, it’s not the most ideal solution all the time, but, in this case, it is, because the scene in question is part of a sequence showing how Cupid Elmer’s arrows of love is affecting the barnyard animals. Showing the songbirds and the horse falling in love, then going to Daffy (who was targeted before with terrible results) helps more with the rule of three than showing the songbirds, the horses, the dog loving the cat, and then Daffy.

Video Comparison:

Availability Uncut: Since there’s currently no version that has the lost ending restored and reinstated (as well as some of the gags during the “Daffy goes after a barnyard hen” sequence), you’re going to have to settle for the versions where, at least, the cat shooting himself in the head sequence is left in. Here are their physical home media releases:

Viddy-Oh! For Kids Cartoon Festivals: Daffy Duck Cartoon Festival Featuring “Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur” (1986, VHS)

The Golden Age of Looney Tunes: vol. 2: The Art of Daffy (1992, laser disc, side 8)

Looney Tunes Golden Collection: volume 4 (2006, DVD, disc 2)

Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: volume 3 (2012, DVD and Blu-ray, disc 2 for both releases)

Is/Was It on Streaming or Digital Download: HBO Max had it for two years (2020-2022) while Tubi has had it since 2025. It’s currently not on digital download or on any other streaming platform.

‘Til next time: Stay Looney and Be Merrie!