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, more cinematic style and 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 in heels, 
• (b) 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
• (c) is definitely an inspiration for this in terms of atmosphere and the premise of Porky Pig involved in something supernatural and actually being afraid of it instead of brushing it off like what happened with those three Chuck Jones cartoons where it's him and Sylvester the cat. While the Bob Clampett take does lack the cinematic flair you get from Tashlin, it still has the creepiness 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

Porky's Picnic (Plain as the Black on Your Face/In a Detroit Minute)

 

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

Summary: Porky and his girlfriend, Petunia (the one that’s actually nice to Porky instead of the one from “Porky’s Romance,” who only likes Porky because he had chocolates and flowers for her) go on a picnic near the zoo, and Porky must keep an eye on Pinky, Porky’s mischievious nephew, who keeps trying to cut off a squirrel’s head with a pair of scissors (yeah, that’s beyond mischievous and straight up “sign you’re raising a future serial killer.” At least by today’s standards. Back then, no one really cared).

Fun Facts: 

• This short is the first time since “Porky’s Romance” that Petunia Pig (Porky’s love interest in the same vein as Minnie Mouse or even Honey from the Bosko and Honey cartoons) was shown, though she was seen in “Scalp Trouble” as a picture on Porky’s wall and she would have been in “Porky’s Party,” but Bob Clampett uninvited her.
• Unlike Frank Tashlin’s version, this version of Petunia Pig is actually likeable, but incredibly bland (much like Porky himself in these shorts where he’s not paired up with someone crazy like Daffy).

• The 515 train in this short is the same one from “Porky’s Railroad” and this Tex Avery color cartoon called “Streamlined Greta Green.”

Letterboxd Says The Darndest Things: Feelings about this cartoon range from “It sucks” to “It’s fairly standard, but has its moments.” Tim Brayton combines those two sentiments into one somewhat verbose review with a two-and-a-half-star review tacked on:

Not without its compensations: there are some interesting staging choices, including the needlessly complex and artful use of translucent foreground elements at one point, and the short has exceptionally clear designs on the comic possibilities of Porky's stutter leading him to words that are, by all apparent logic, more complicated than the one he couldn't spit out. But more than any of Bob Clampett's sleepy, disposable "I grow weary of this guileless pig" 1939 Porky cartoons, this feels like we're actually watching the animation, storytelling, and gagwork regress in real time: this feels just so extremely much like a cartoon from the first half of the '30s (it feels like multiple specific cartoons, in fact), from the scenario to the languid pace of the gags to the way that the cruel and selfish Petunia Pig, whose torment of Porky was funny because it was mean, has been rebooted as a nice cartoon girlfriend who is way too close to Cookie, paramour of the dreaded Buddy, for comfort. Anyway, I know where this is all going because it's 84 years later and the Looney Tunes would spend the decade after this transitioning from "the funny animal cartoon series put out by Warner Bros." into "an American institution and one of the greatest bodies of work in the history of comic cinema", but if I were a cartoon fan watching this as they came out in '39 (if indeed such beings existed in '39), I strongly feel that this is the point I'd be bailing out on Porky.

Sc8lo’s review focuses more on Pinky Pig’s unsettling penchant for comic animal abuse, brings up a strange choice in story beat that most wouldn’t notice immediately, and steals my bit on revealing where the cartoon is available uncut (if it’s available on home media at all):

What starts out as a cutesy short winds up being a bit maniacal thanks to the inclusion of Pinky Pig in his second and final appearance. His inclusion does throw up a lot of questions. What is his relationship to Porky here and why is he going around trying to decapitate squirrels like Cropsey from The Burning?

Why does Porky offer to take Petunia on a picnic only to go straight for a nap as soon as they arrive?

This short is available on Porky 101.

Finally, we have Horse Man Jack, who expresses his dislike for the short and brings up a good reason (one of many, actually) why I don’t consider the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons child-friendly:

I’ll always find it funny how much the Looney Tunes shorts hate children considering that they’re, you know, popular with children. Unfortunately this one isn’t funny and the classic Ye Olde Cartoon “throw in a blackface gag for no reason” moment sours the mood.

To be absolutely fair to Horse Man Jack, the Looney Tunes shorts weren’t “meant for children” when they were in theaters. That only started to happen thanks to television reruns and being put on Saturday morning, weekday afternoon syndication, and cable, where they were edited to make them child-friendly. At least the home media releases had them uncut and, later, they were made for both family viewing and for collectors who want the shorts uncut, uncensored, and with a warning about how some of the jokes and scenes haven’t aged well, but will be shown as a reminder of our less-enlightened past so we can make a more enlightened future (I don’t know how that’s going to work, but I admire their optimism).

The Channel(s): Nickelodeon and syndication (WKBD in Detroit, Michigan during the 1980s)

Part(s) Edited: 

• The WKBD version that aired back in the 1980s took a chunk out of the first two and a half minutes of this short — definitely for time reasons/more commercials, but the scene of Pinky detaching the side car from the motorcycle and him and Petunia racing dangerously down the road and nearly getting hit by a train could be seen as a content cut for dangerous, imitable behavior (if that were true, then why weren’t the running gag of Pinky trying to cut a squirrel’s head off with scissors and scenes of Pinky wandering off to harass the animals at the zoo cut?) and scenes of peril and threat (even though the peril and threat has a reassuring outcome). WKBD also shortened Petunia kissing Porky as a reward for rescuing Pinky, not because it may be seen as sexual, but because Porky had mud on his face and when Petunia kissed him, it transferred onto her and put her in blackface because her lips weren’t covered in mud.

• Nickelodeon’s version left in the beginning, but also aired two versions where the blackface kiss was edited: the computer-colorized version where the kiss was shortened (so, same version as WKBD) and a redrawn-colorized version where the scene in question was left in, but the lips were also colored brown so the blackface just turns into a face covered in mud, though, if you look at the scene closely, you’ll see that there’s one frame when Petunia pulls back where the lips are still white. In fact, here's that frame now:

What Grinds My Gears About the Edit(s): Not much for the “blackface kiss” part, since that’s justified. However, I would like to add that, despite Cartoon Network’s and Boomerang’s histories of editing out outdated depictions of African-Americans and black people in general (which includes blackface), that scene wasn’t edited or altered in any way. I understand The Bob Clampett Show version not doing it, since that show had most of their shorts unedited (or close to it), but “Porky’s Picnic” was shown outside of that series on installment shows like The Looney Tunes Show (2003 edition), Bugs and Daffy, and The ACME Hour. What’s that about?

WKBD cutting the first two and a half minutes of it — yeah, there’s no excuse for that, except for wanting more time for commercials. The first two and a half minutes do lay out a lot of exposition for this short (however thin it might be) and cutting it just ruins it.

Video Comparison: 

Availability Uncut: As of this writing, the only place you can find this uncut, uncensored, but not restored/remastered on physical media is on the Porky Pig 101 DVD set, which came out in 2017.

Is/Was It on Streaming or Digital Download: It was on streaming from 2021 to 2023 on Warner MediaRIDE (which was only available as a streaming service in Honda cars). After that, it was gone. It’s not even on Tubi, which I don’t understand. The blackface kiss could have squeaked by unnoticed and there are a lot of cartoons besides this that have kids behaving badly, so what makes this one so special that it’s not allowed to be shown? Maybe it’s because it’s not that well-liked.

‘Til next time, Stay Looney and Be Merrie