The Daffy Doc (Crude Reproduction, Imperfect Frame/Signs of the Times)

 

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

Summary: After causing chaos during an operation at the Stitch in Time Hospital (where their motto is, “As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Rip”), Daffy Duck decides he needs to prove himself a competent doctor…by knocking out, abducting, and performing unnecessary surgery on an unsuspecting Porky Pig.

Fun Facts:

- Going by the logline, this is one of Bob Clampett’s most twisted cartoons so far, but even he (and his colleague/frienemy Chuck Jones) thought the two inflation (nothing to do with skyrocketing prices and everything to do with an innocent animation gag becoming a sick fetish thanks to freaks and weirdos online airing out their dirty laundry…which they probably sniffed and shuddered orgasmically before they did it) scenes involving Porky and Daffy crashing into an iron lung was tasteless and shameful. Why? Because this was made when there was a polio epidemic and the vaccine wouldn’t be considered safe, potent, and for public use until 1955 (seventeen years after the cartoon was released in theaters) after being developed in 1952 (so…14 years later) by Jonas Salk at the University of Pittsburgh. It’d be like doing jokes about face masks, medical staff/facility shortages, and hospital respirators for COVID…or any AIDS/HIV joke involving gay men, heroin addicts, blood donors, or blood-donating gay male heroin addicts (which would have been a smash in the 1980s, but unbelievably offensive today).

- The lip sync for Daffy in this short is pretty much nonexistent (there are only two scenes where his mouth moves in sync with his lines), but I think that adds to the wacky and surreal humor.

- Daffy’s hopping walk as he’s following Porky is a reference to Dopey’s hopping walk during the “Heigh Ho” sequence on 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarves from Disney. Don’t believe me:

Clampett vs. Disney -- Round One:

I guess Bob Clampett really did admire Walt Disney’s work, but also loved referencing/spoofing it, such as Mr. Meek blushing after Daffy kisses him (cf. Bashful doing the same when Snow White kisses him) on “The Wise Quacking Duck” (in fairness, that was probably a common trope back then, but the realization that the two scenes may be related due to Clampett’s love of spoofing Disney popped in my head when I wrote that and it’s easy to draw that conclusion, especially since [a] “meek” and “bashful” are synonyms (thank you, excessive thesaurus reading as a child), and that was the thought thread that led me to think, “Hey, Clampett might have ‘borrowed’ from that.” Yeah, my mind goes to strange places sometimes, but, as long as I find a justified reason why I would think that, or someone or something to challenge that belief, it’s not a problem, and [b] I made a video comparison of it):

Other examples of Clampett spoofing/referencing Disney include: the scene of the flying elephant holding up a sign that reads, “I Am Not Dumbo” on “The Bashful Buzzard,” the fact that Clampett did an African-American jazz spoof of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves called “Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarves” (originally titled, “So White…” but was changed due to audiences potentially mistaking it for Disney’s first animated feature film and possible legal repercussions from Walt himself), and “A Corny Concerto” basically being Fantasia if Termite Terrace did it. There are more examples; those are just off the top of my head.

- You can tell that Clampett was focusing more on Daffy than Porky in this one. In fact, a lot of the shorts made after “Porky in Wackyland” seem to have Porky in a limited role, despite him being the star. In this one (which can, at least, be forgiven because the title is called “The Daffy Doc”), Porky doesn’t appear until the four minute and 50 second mark…in a cartoon that’s six minutes and 59 seconds long (when shown uncut. The redrawn edited version has Porky’s appearance clock in at four minutes and 47 seconds in a cartoon that lasts six minutes and 34 seconds).

-”Patient Porky” is considered a remake of this, so I will be covering that the same way I covered “Milk and Money” vs. “Porky’s Prize Pony,” because both of them have been edited for African-American stereotypes, though “The Daffy Doc”’s version is more subtle.

The Channel(s): Nickelodeon, unnamed syndication (for those channels besides Nickelodeon that aired the redrawn-colorized version), and MeTV.

Part(s) Edited: Okay, time to break this down again. There aren’t that many scenes that were cut (at least, upon first glance), but Nickelodeon aired two colorized versions of the same short. No points on which version is the more severely cut:

- Nickelodeon initially aired the infamous redrawn-colorized version from somewhere in the 1960s, which shortened the part where Daffy holds up signs telling people to be quiet to remove the “Hush Yo’ Mouf” sign (which one blog identified as African-American vernacular English [AAVE], which, in my day, was called “ebonics” and does refer to Daffy reading it off as, “regrettable,” though it sounded more like Daffy said, “Shut yo’ mouth,” not “Hush yo’ mouf.” Still, I get where this person is coming from, but ten bucks says that this is yet another white person flagellating themselves over sins of the past. I have seen worse African-American stereotypes on better animated shorts) and the sign with Hebrew writing (in one of the rare times Nickelodeon edited something for having outdated Jewish stereotypes. The only other time was the scene in “Bosko’s Picture Show” where Hitler chases after Jimmy Durante with an axe because, in his twisted, genocidal mind, “long nose” equals “being Jewish”) which translates to Bill Holman’s “Silence is Foo!” from the Smokey Stover comic strip when shaken (for the curious monolingual with dreams of being a ployglot, “Zol zein shah!” actually does mean “Shut up” or “Be quiet!”, but not in Hebrew. It’s Yiddish, which is medieval German mixed with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic and other Romance languages. It does use the Hebrew alphabet, but mostly, I’ve seen Yiddish words and phrases spelled out in English).

This is the only censorship-based edit made in the redrawn-colorized version, because the next two cuts are simply because of shoddy workmanship:

- The next cut in the redrawn version comes when, after Daffy takes Porky’s temperature with a lollipop, Daffy decides to call in a consultation by hitting himself with a mallet, summoning two ghostly versions of himself (done with double-exposure effects) who discuss with the corporeal Daffy what to do about Porky and his “condition.” That scene was cut because it was too difficult to replicate in redrawn-colorized version. The redrawn version keeps Daffy hitting himself with a mallet, then cuts to him with a saw, trying to operate on Porky. The edit makes it look like Daffy anesthetized himself before operating on Porky (like on that scene from The Simpsons “Treehouse of Horror” from season ten where Dr. Nick injects himself with a sedative before giving Homer his hair transplant…or the season six Simpsons episode where Dr. Nick accidentally anesthetizes himself before removing Bart’s appendix), which…actually does fit in with how much of a danger Daffy is when he lives up to his name and has a job in the hospital that involves medically treating patients, up to and including performing surgery. Wow. One of the few times an edit improves a scene instead of dumbing it down or making it worse. The only bad part is the continuity error of how Daffy got the saw, though that can be written off as, “He got it off-screen” or “Sometimes, it’s best if a director doesn’t show you everything that happened.”

- The final cut comes during the infamous ending of Daffy chasing Porky with a saw and the two of them crashing into the iron lung, being spat out by the machine, and going through a comic body inflation cycle before the cartoon irises out. All that was cut on the redrawn-colorized version because (say it with me now): “It was too difficult to replicate.”

Fortunately, Nickelodeon aired a computer-colorized version in the 1990s where the only edit done was the “Hush Yo’ Mouf!”/Hebrew writing translating to “Silence is Foo!” scene to remove “Hush Yo’ Mouf!”

Decades later, when MeTV aired it, they aired it the same way Cartoon Network aired some of its shorts: first uncut, then edited, then back to uncut again (surprisingly, “The Daffy Doc” was not on that list of Warner Bros cartoons that went through that ordeal on Cartoon Network. It should have been, but I guess Cartoon Network didn’t know that “Hush Yo’ Mouf!” can be construed as a stereotypical way African-Americans say, “Hush your mouth!” [sarcastically]: And they’re usually so good with identifying objectionable content in otherwise family-friendly viewing…). Initially, “The Daffy Doc” was shown uncut on MeTV until January 2023, when an episode of their classic cartoon installment show, Toon in With Me, cut Daffy holding up both the “Hush Yo’ Mouf!” sign and Hebrew sign that translates to “Silence is Foo” when shaken. Two years later (2025), the scene was reinstated.

What Grinds My Gears About the Edit(s): The only thing that grinds my gears about the “Hush Yo’ Mouf!”/“Silence is Foo” part is how the MeTV version killed the joke. I wish they would have done it like Nickelodeon and just cut the first sign, or, better yet, just cut it so that way it goes from “Shhh!” to “Silence is Foo!” The rest of the edits don’t grind my gears as much because I know redrawn-colorized versions ruin great cartoons, especially those that are considered the best at being wacky and packed with wild takes.

Video Comparison: 

Availability Uncut: This one has a good run on physical home media.

- In 1985, it was released on the VHS and Beta versions of the “Warner Bros Cartoons Golden Jubilee 24 Karat” collection (on the video/Beta tape called “Daffy Duck: The Nuttiness Continues…” Of those videos, I had the Foghorn Leghorn one, the Sylvester and Tweety one, the Wile E. Coyote/Road Runner one, the Bugs Bunny one, the Speedy Gonzales one, the one showcasing the best cartoons directed by Chuck Jones, the one showcasing the best cartoons directed by Friz Freleng, and the one showcasing the best voice acting done by Mel Blanc. The Daffy one, the Porky one, and the Elmer Fudd one I never had. The Pepe Le Pew one is a gray area, because, while I never got the actual tape, I did ask someone to record some select cartoons off it in a tape trade back when I had a VCR and the “Pepe Le Pew: Zee Best of Zee Best” DVD wasn’t made yet).

- Eleven years later (1996), “The Daffy Doc” was released on a UK VHS called “Daffy Duck” as part of their “Looney Tunes Collection.”

- Ten years after the UK release (2006), it appeared as a special feature on the DVD version of The Marx Brothers film, Room Service (which featured a pre-I Love Lucy Lucille Ball. In fact, Lucille Ball did a lot of movie comedies before becoming more well-known as a TV star).

- A year after that (2007), “The Daffy Doc” was picked for the fifth volume of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD set (on disc three, which celebrates Bob Clampett’s best works. This version also has audio commentary by Mark Kausler, who does point out that, later in their respective lives, Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones didn’t like the iron lung gags because they felt it was insensitive to polio sufferers).

- Four years after that (2011), it was on disc one of The Essential Daffy Duck DVD set.

- Six years after that (2017), “The Daffy Doc” was released as part of the Porky Pig 101 DVD set (since it’s technically a Daffy/Porky cartoon).

- Finally, eight years after that (2025), “The Daffy Doc” appeared as a special feature on the Blu-ray release of the movie, The Citadel, starring Robert Donat and Rosalind Russell.

Is/Was It on Streaming or Digital Download: Yes. It was one of many Warner Bros shorts that used to be on HBO Max (then Max) between 2020 and 2025, and is now on Tubi as of 2025.

‘Til next time, Stay Looney, and Be Merrie.

 

I’d like to thank NotebookLM for helping me research and outline this and other Warner Bros shorts. It started off as just needed background material on the Porky/Sylvester horror vacation trilogy shorts, but I did find some interesting stuff on this short. Maybe I’ll do a regular, “analyzing Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies” shorts blog later, because you can learn a lot on how Daffy’s wacky persona in this short is different than it is on “The Wise Quacking Duck.”

Wholly Smoke (Three Car[toon] Pile-Up on Tobacco Road)

READER WARNING: This is probably my filthiest episode yet due to the frequent mentions of things that will trigger and upset modern-day audiences, including references to sexual and non-sexual abuse, use of homophobic language (that’s not directed at anyone), references to discrimination, and, of course, outdated racial and ethnic stereotypes. If you know my blog by now and what I cover, then you shouldn’t worry about it. If not, then I suggest you either stop reading here or continue on, but know that I do not condone or encourage any bad behavior or upsetting situations presented here. All of these are fleeting references shown in an educational/historical context mixed with humor to make it less of an emotionally-draining slog. The only reason I put this warning here is because there are crybabies out there who don’t want to listen to reason. Then again, no one really comments on my blog anyway, so why am I worried? Still though, it’s a safety precaution in case it does happen.

Director(s): Frank Tashlin

Summary: In this Very Special Episode™ (not really, but the subject matter does put it there by the high, personal standards of the generation who grew up on sitcoms and funny cartoons that suddenly had episodes that tackled serious issues, like drug abuse [including alcohol and tobacco], sexual abuse [including sexual harassment, rape, sexual assault, child molestation, and sexual intimidation/blackmail], non-sexual abuse [including domestic violence, child abuse, elder abuse, bullying, self-harm, and suicide], family strife, body image issues, mental health problems, gun violence, terminal illness, dealing with death, and everyone’s favorite modern-day problem: showing that discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual preference, social class, disability, and religion is alive and well after all these years), a God-fearing Porky Pig (depicted as a child here) is sent to church by his mother (who gives him a nickel for the collection plate) and gets sidetracked when a young tough guy bets that Porky can outsmoke him on his cigar, leading Porky to stumble into a closed tobacco shop and meet Nick O’Teen, a smoke cloud that ruins Porky’s respiratory system to teach him the lesson that little boys shouldn’t smoke.

Fun Facts:

• This is the final Looney Tunes cartoon Frank Tashlin directed during his first stint at the studio, where he left to work at Disney and, later, Screen Gems. Tashlin’s departure (as well as his expressive animation work) is what landed Chuck Jones his new position as animation director (though he wouldn’t become the animation icon he is now until later). Don’t worry, Tashlin fans. Frank would come back just as World War II started (which coincided with Norm McCabe getting drafted and ending his brief stint as director with the shockingly offensive, “definitely-a-product-of-more-racist-times” short “Tokio Jokio”) and he’d make more shorts until he left again to do live-action comedies that feel like cartoons due to how wacky they are.
• Tedd Pierce (one of Termite Terrace’s most prolific animation writers, joining Michael Maltese and Warren Foster) voiced Porky Pig’s mom and Nick O’Teen

The Channel(s): Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny and Friends (FOX version; I found a syndicated version that was computer-colorized and uncut), Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Boomerang.

Part(s) Edited: There’s a lot to cover on which channel cut and altered what, so I’m going to break it down the only way I know how: through lists (trust me. When you watch the compare/contrast video, you are going to need the lists to keep track):

Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny and Friends (FOX edition) Version:

• Cut the matchsticks striking themselves and becoming blackfaced as they harmonize the beginning of the “Little Boys Shouldn’t Smoke” song. Didn’t cut the second shot of the blackfaced matches after the London pipe says, “Children should not smoke, rather!”

• Aired a version where the pipe cleaner walking around, heading for a dirty pipe, sticking his head in it, coming out looking like Cab Calloway, and singing “Little BOYS shouldn’t smoke!” was cut. The shot of the blackfaced pipe cleaner during the end montage of the song was not cut.

Nickelodeon/Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon Version

• Also cut the matchsticks striking themselves and becoming blackfaced as they harmonize the beginning of the “Little Boys Shouldn’t Smoke” song. Didn’t cut the second shot of the blackfaced matches after the London pipe says, “Children should not smoke, rather!”

• Aired a computer-colorized version where the pipe cleaner walking around, heading for a dirty pipe, sticking his head in it, coming out looking like Cab Calloway, and singing “Little BOYS shouldn’t smoke!” was cut, even though I distinctly remember that scene being uncut on Nickelodeon in the early 1990s (there was also video evidence that Nickelodeon aired an uncut, computer-colorized version, but I can’t seem to find it. The closest I can find is the syndicated Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny and Friends version). Neither version cut the shot of the blackfaced pipe cleaner during the end montage of the song.

Cartoon Network and Boomerang Version

• Aired a redrawn-colorized version that kept in the matchsticks striking themselves, but changed the blackface to redface (which sounds what happens when a white person plays a Native/Indigenous American, a Communist Russian, or someone who’s constantly embarrassed or has high blood pressure. Hey, if yellowface is used for white people playing Asian and brownface for white people playing people from India, African-Americans, Latinos, or really anyone with brown skin, then redface can be for that).

• Cut the Cab Calloway pipe cleaner part rather obviously. They left in the white pipe cleaner walking out and looking around, then, because they also cut the Indian peace pipes dancing around Porky as he’s tied to a flaming pipe, immediately cut to the scene of a Cuban cigar climbing out of the box and shaking two matchboxes like maracas.

• Had an alternate version of the end of the musical number after the Busby Berkeley-esque cigarette march spelling out, “NO SMOKING,” that replaces the scenes cut for being racially insensitive with more benign footage, which, for some reason, includes the Indian peace pipe part that was edited. The video explains it better than I could.

What Wasn’t Cut But Should Have Been: The “Light a fag/and take a drag” line, of course, since U.S. slang uses “fag” more as a homophobic slur rather than a slang term for a cigarette. The UK (and possibly Australia/New Zealand) uses “fag” to mean both, though some people think the UK only uses the “cigarette” variant. Also: neither channel cut the Cuban cigars part (even though the sombreros and dancing suggest that they’re Mexican. Cuba and Mexico don’t have the same culture, and their Spanish does have differences and nuances to it too, especially when it comes to accents, pronunciation, and the slang/colloquialisms).

It really doesn’t matter. The use of that word (whether to describe a cigarette or fan the flames of homophobia), the underage smoking theme, and the outdated racial/ethnic stereotypes are why this short isn’t as frequently-shown as it used to be, which is a shame, because the underage smoking theme isn’t glamorized or encouraged. The cartoon’s main message is that smoking is bad for kids (or anthropomorphic animals coded as children for the sake of the story).

What Grinds My Gears About the Edit(s): The only thing that grinds my gears is Cartoon Network’s/Boomerang’s version. Not only is it a redrawn-colorized (which means terrible art, bad coloring, and worse animation), but the way they cut the Cab Calloway pipe cleaner scene was appalling in how painfully obvious it is. Most versions would just cut away after the white pipe cleaner puts his head in the dirty pipe (I’m assuming that’s what Nickelodeon’s edited version did after it aired uncut) or go from Porky getting force-fed chewing tobacco to the Cuban/Mexican cigar dance number. Either version would have been fine with me. Cartoon Network’s and Boomerang’s version just had the pipe cleaner walk around, then cut to the Cuban/Mexican cigar dance number, which isn’t fine with me, because the uncut version has stuck with me for so long that if there was a change, I’d instantly know it.

Video Comparison: Here it is, in all its infuriating (at least to me) glory. I’m still using Filmora Wondershare with the watermark. It’s going to take me a few weeks to get the un-watermarked version. I tried making it on Da Vinci Resolve, but it kept crashing on me:

 

Availability Uncut: It didn’t have any VHS, laser disc, or even Super8 releases. It was only released on DVD and Blu-ray. Here are the DVD sets you can find them on (all uncut, uncensored, in black and white, and remastered and restored):

• Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD (volume 5, disc four, with optional commentary by Daniel Goldmark, who talks about the musical cues of the short)
• Looney Tunes Platinum Collection Blu-ray (volume 3, disc two, same version from the Golden Collection DVD)
• Porky Pig 101 DVD (disc 3)

Is/Was It on Streaming or Digital Download?: Not as of this writing, and probably never because of the un-PC content, mostly the racial caricatures, but some might not like the underage smoking theme or the fact that Porky goes to a Christian church (where else is he going to go? Jews and Muslims don’t allow pigs, pork, or anything made from pork and pork by-products. Then, there are the religions that feel that eating animals is wrong and would rather be vegetarian or vegan for moral reasons rather than for health reasons…). So, enjoy the DVD releases while you can.

Before I close out, I want to share this video that also covers how “Wholly Smoke” was censored on American TV, but my version actually covers what channels cut it and the differences between cuts:

'Til next time...

Porky the Fireman (Moments of Doubt)

Director(s): Frank Tashlin

Summary: Porky is a fireman who, along with his fellow firefighters, has to save a theatrical boarding house from burning down. Most of the cartoon is just visual gags centered on a harrowing situation like this, but they’re good gags and do showcase Tashlin’s skills as an animation director, which would serve him well when he did live-action years later.

The Channel(s): Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network (and possibly unnamed syndication) 

Part(s) Edited: The Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network versions both cut the scene of the falling white guy screaming, “Help! Help! Catch me! Get the net ready! Hurry! Hurry!”, going through a black cloud, and coming out as a caricature of Stepin Fetchit lazily calling for help as he now floats down. There is also word that the scene after that where Porky collects the flames and dumps them into a fishbowl, leaving the fish in blackface was also cut on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, but that’s the half-truth. The computer-colorized versions never edited that part, but a redrawn-colorized version exists where the “falling white guy turns into Stepin Fetchit” part is completely cut and the fishbowl part is altered so that way the fish are red instead of black (similar to how the matches were recolored red instead of black on “Wholly Smoke” -- stay tuned for that one. It’s coming), though I don’t know if that’s a censorship cut or yet another example of redrawns being so bad that miscoloring objects is common.

What Grinds My Gears About the Edit: There’s nothing that grinds my gears about the edit (though you could still tell what the punchline was going to be…unless this is your first Looney Tunes cartoon and you have no idea of the racially insensitive jokes that the shorts used to have). However, there was a time where a lot of online commentators thought that the scene that was cut never existed in the first place. What’s worse is that I believed them and didn’t have that critical voice in the back of my head that said, “No! They’re wrong! Do research to make sure that the scene actually existed.” I’ve had faint whisperings of it, but I was firmly in the camp of “The scene might not have existed, and if it did, it’s lost to time.” Turns out when it was released on home media, the scene was real and any doubts I had vanished (plus, it’s fun to see online commentators be proven wrong with cold, hard, substantial evidence. Admit it).

Video Comparison:

Availability Uncut: As of this writing, it’s on two DVD releases: The Looney Tunes Golden Collection, volume 4 (disc 2) and the Porky Pig 101 DVD set (disc 3).

Is/Was It Available on Streaming?: Sadly, no. It’s not even available on digital download. I understand if HBO Max (“Max”) or Tubi won’t touch it, but this feels like it could have been available on iTunes or Amazon Prime Video before being taken off for racially-insensitive content, like with what happened to episodes of 30 Rock and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia following the George Floyd riots in 2020 when Hollywood finally realized that the blackface scenes they let slip by in their modern shows aren’t appropriate (though it did lead to an episode of Community getting cut because a dark elf costume was mistaken for blackface. I’m so sure the episode is back now thanks to viewer complaints). It’s just one part that’s the problem. But, hey, that’s what physical media and the Internet are for: to find evidence to lost media, whether it’s the actual media or witness testimonial.

‘Til next time…

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 Railroad (Re-Drawn Together)

Director: Frank Tashlin

Summary: Porky’s clunky, yet reliable train engine, Toots the 15th Century Unlimited (a 2-2-2 engine --two leading wheels, two driving wheels, and two trailing wheels -- popularly called a “Jenny Lind”)  squares off against Dirty Digg’s streamlined train, Silver Fish (no word on what kind of wheel alignment it’s supposed to have) in this battle between old tech vs. new tech.

The Channel(s): Unnamed syndication, Nickelodeon, and MeTV

Part(s) Edited: A very quick sight gag. During the race between Toots and the Silver Fish, a brief scene showing the Silver Fish racing by a woodpile that flies up revealing a black man (one that kind of looks humanoid, the way Bosko did) in tattered clothes was cut. Surprisingly, neither Cartoon Network nor Boomerang cut that part, and I actually found proof of it (see the “Video Comparison” section below).

The redrawn-colorized version also cut a short scene where Dirty Digg’s Silver Fish turns a tunnel inside out, and the end where Porky is crowned the new engineer of the Silver Fish, but those cuts were because redrawn-colorized versions had a hard time replicating the frenetic and fast-paced animation of these black-and-white shorts (mostly Bob Clampett’s work, but Frank Tashlin did a lot of what Clampett would be known for) and would often drop scenes because they weren’t usable (if you think that’s bad, wait ‘til we get to “The Daffy Doc” and “Wholly Smoke”).

What Grinds My Gears About the Edit: This probably doesn’t grind my gears as much as it should. The “black man in the woodpile” edit goes by so fast that you don’t even notice. However, the Looney Tunes Fandom wiki says that it was cut because it’s a visual pun on a racially offensive saying. We have enough racist sentiment in this world; we don’t need any more unless it’s backed by historical context or someone challenging and condemning it, so I don’t know or want to know what that saying is.

As for the two other cuts…those were cut due to shoddy workmanship, not censorship. I’m not running a “Shoddy Workmanship” blog, though I do like pointing out how redrawn-colorized cartoons look like complete and utter crap, since I remember seeing those a lot on Nickelodeon (and occasionally, Cartoon Network).

Video Comparison: In a return to the style of the pilot blog post about Bosko, The Talk-Ink Kid, I’m going to show the full, uncut black and white version versus the redrawn-colorized edited version:

Uncut (black and white version):

Uncut (computer-colorized version as seen on Cartoon Network):

Edited (redrawn-colorized, as seen on Nickelodeon, MeTV, and unnamed syndication):

Availability Uncut: It is available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 4 DVD (on the second disc centered on Frank Tashlin cartoons), the Porky Pig 101 DVD set, and the Porky Pig volume of a UK-based DVD set called “The Looney Tunes Big Faces Box Set” (a.k.a “The Kids WB Bumper Box of Toons”). It’s not on streaming as of yet, but it doesn’t matter, as this cartoon has been in the public domain since 1965, so you can watch it wherever fine public domain films (live-action and animated) are uploaded.

For more information on trains and how they’re depicted in the media, visit https://obscuretrainmovies.wordpress.com

‘Til next time…

Porky's Romance (Dog-Gone Love)

 

Director: Frank Tashlin (credited as “Frank Tash”)

Summary: In this, the debut of Porky Pig’s shallow love interest, Petunia Pig (who isn’t as nice and bland as later incarnations), and the final cartoon with Joe Dougherty as the voice of Porky (who was let go because Dougherty’s actual stutter was slowing down voice recording. It’s the opposite of what we have now, where producers will cast an actual stutterer because one who can fake a stutter is considered “ableist.” What a world!), Porky comes over to try and win Petunia’s hand in marriage, but it becomes clear that she only wants him because he bought chocolates and flowers. When Porky attempts suicide over being rejected and used, the hanging goes pear-shape and Porky sees what life would be like if he did marry Petunia.

The Channel(s): The WB

Part(s) Edited: Surprisingly, Porky’s botched suicide wasn’t cut, nor was Porky and Petunia going straight to the Honeymoon Hotel, kissing, and turning off the lights (the shorthand way of showing sex on a wedding night in Hays Code-censored movies. They probably still do it today, but only as a joke or if something is meant to be PG instead of PG-13 [which sadly seems to be as far as most creatives are willing to go. I want my R, NC-17, and unrated entertainment that’s not confined to HBO and premium cable. And maybe G-rated stuff, since that's not as common as it used to be]), Petunia feeding chocolates to her dog (which is extremely dangerous to do), or Petunia beating Porky with a rolling pin (classic female-on-male domestic abuse schtick. It’s a total double standard that “You Beat Your Wife” gets censored on The WB, but not that part).

Nah, fam. What got cut was the very end, where, after Petunia wakes Porky up from his suicide attempt and agrees to marry him after turning him down, Porky (thinking back to the nightmare where his blushing bride becomes a slovenly, unashamed housewife who feeds chocolate to her dog and nags Porky about the housework and childcare) decides, “Screw that!” and bolts, but not before coming back to retrieve the box of chocolate and give Petunia’s dog a well-deserved kick in the ass. The WB didn’t appreciate Porky kicking the dog, so it was cut.

What Grinds My Gears About the Edit: Nothing, except for the whole double standard about how “Wideo Wabbit”’s “You Beat Your Wife” part was censored, yet Petunia whaling on Porky with a rolling pin was uncut. That’s more a Tumblr argument and I was only into Tumblr to find like-minded people who want to be better fiction writers and thought Cartoon Network’s Time Squad (from 2001) was rife with homosexual innuendo and jokes more suited for Adult Swim rather than daytime Cartoon Network (which it is. Rob Paulsen’s podcast episodes with Mark Hamill and Pamela Segall-Adlon say so and co-creator Carlos Ramos [who has his own Tumblr filled with weird art and answers to fan questions] agrees).

How It Plays Edited/Video Comparison: 

The ending is abrupt, but not annoyingly so. Ending it with Porky running away after retrieving his chocolates (or even with Porky running off and leaving Petunia and the chocolates behind) is more believable story-wise, as it shows that Petunia only liked Porky because he had chocolates for her and the dream showed what would happen if Porky did marry Petunia and she continued her chocolate eating. Either taking the chocolates away from her or leaving her with them is a final “Screw you!” to her and everything she stands for when it comes to shy men (or anthropomorphic pigs) trying to pour their hearts out to high-maintenance women (or high-maintenance, anthropomorphic sows in this case, since a sow is a female pig, but that word can be used like “bitch” or “cow” to be a derogatory term for a woman, whether deserved or not) who just aren’t feeling it.

Availability Uncut: Your choice: The Looney Tunes Golden Collection, volume 3 DVD set (on the third disc with optional commentary by Mark Kausler) or the Porky Pig 101 DVD (disc 2). It, sadly, isn’t available for streaming or digital download (so, no HBO Max, no Warner MediaRIDE, no Amazon Prime Video, no iTunes, No Boomerang streaming, and definitely no Tubi) as of this writing.

‘Til next time…

Porky's Road Race (Putting the "Race" in "Racial Stereotyping")

NOTE: Because most of the celebrities identified here will be unfamiliar to most readers, I have provided links to their Wikipedia pages as a diving board for the inevitable fall down the rabbit hole of old-school Hollywood trivia and history.

Director: Frank Tashlin (credited as “Frank Tash”)

Summary: Porky competes in a celebrity-studded car race, where the favorite to win is Borax Karoff (Boris Karloff). Can Porky beat him and win the $2 million dollar prize (which comes to $1.63 after something called a “less tax”. And don’t get me started on what those figures would be when adjusted for current inflation…)?

The Channel(s): Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Boomerang

Part(s) Edited: Just one, and it’s a very fleeting cut, whether you’ve seen this edited or not. The redrawn- and computer-colorized versions shown on all three channels (though Cartoon Network once had an uncut computer-colorized version, as seen in this picture: 

The station identification bug doesn’t lie, and it doesn’t look like it was PhotoShopped or was created with A.I., since PhotoShop would be too obvious and A.I. as we know it now wasn’t around when this aired on Cartoon Network between 1992 and the early 2000s) edited the scene at the beginning of the race where all the drivers speed off was cut to remove the part where a vehicle driven by Stepin Fetchit trails behind them on a racecar called, “The Knee Action Special,” which is a bike meets an Olympic-style luge (not bad for those who want to take it easy and help the environment, but really not appropriate for a race that favors fast cars).

What Grinds My Gears About the Edit: Nothing. The edit is seamless and a throwaway joke like that doesn’t add much to the story…unless, of course, you’re a purist who hates it when television censors anything it airs, from classic cartoon shorts to contemporary movies and TV show reruns. The scene is only there because the cartoon is about celebrity caricatures of the era in a road race, from the comedy stars like Edna May Oliver, W.C. Fields, and Charlie Chaplin to the more serious stars, like Boris Karloff, Greta Garbo, and John Barrymore (yes, he is related to Drew Barrymore). Stepin Fetchit would definitely be in the comedy section, as that kind of racial humor was popular in its day. If I have one complaint about the edit, it’s that Cartoon Network and Boomerang should have cut W.C. Fields using booze to jump-start Edna May Oliver’s car, since Cartoon Network does have a history of editing out alcohol references, though, compared to editing out outdated racial and ethnic stereotypes, editing for alcohol references is a tad more inconsistent.

How It Plays Edited/Video Comparison: Right here, now without watermarks!

Availability Uncut: Your choice: the Looney Tunes Golden Collection volume three DVD set (which is the start of the classic cartoon DVDs having warnings about some of the shorts containing content now considered “politically incorrect” or “problematic” due to outdated racial and ethnic caricatures) or the Porky Pig 101 DVD set (using the same copy from the former DVD set). Will it ever see a remastered for Blu-ray, streaming, or digital download version? Maybe, but not likely.

‘Til next time…

Golddiggers of '49 (Of Mice and Laundrymen/Shot-Tub Party)

Director: Fred Avery (you probably know him better under the name "Tex Avery")

Summary: Yay! We're finally into the fast-paced, gag-packed, irreverent side of Looney Tunes cartoons (a.k.a, the kind everyone remembers and can quote better than most classic episodes of The Simpsons). It's not a perfect start, but it's still a start. We still have a ways to go, but it's not an anodyne musical or a Buddy cartoon. Anyway, this cartoon is a Beans the Cat cartoon (but really features Porky Pig more) where it's the Gold Rush and Beans finds the mother lode, which means everyone in town (including some Chinese laundrymen) want a piece of the action.

The Channel: Nickelodeon (both the Nick@Nite black and white version and the computer-colorized daytime/weekend version of Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon).

Part(s) Edited: Today, we have two titles for two cuts that were done. Let's start with "Of Mice and Laundrymen": Both the Nick@Nite and the daytime versions of Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon cut all scenes featuring the Chinese laundrymen digging for gold just like everyone else, including one scene where the laundrymen riding on a rickshaw -- because, why not? -- are trailing behind Porky's junker of a car and get covered in a cloud of exhaust where they turn into (who else?) Amos 'n Andy from the radio show of the same name, complete with blackface and ethnically iffy voices.

On to "Shot-Tub Party": Nickelodeon's daytime version (which was computer-colorized in the 1990s, as opposed to the horrid 1960s redrawns that managed to suck all the fun out of the animation, especially in the black and white Bob Clampett shorts) not only edited the scenes with the Chinese laundrymen looking for gold, but also cut the part where Beans shoots at the villain with his rifle, the bullets hit the villain's backside into a drop-seat onesie-type opening, which reveals that the villain didn't get hurt because his butt was protected by a metal tub. I'm...guessing this was cut because it looked too inviting to impressionable viewers to imitate? Yeah, I know Nickelodeon cut gun violence and dangerous behavior just like any other American TV channel at the time, but this only makes partial sense to me. Did they really think most kids back then had metal tubs just randomly lying around, looking to make for an ineffective shield for bullets?

How It Plays Edited: Considering the fast pace of the cartoon, the edits do come off as seamless and they were more joke scenes than plot scenes. However, the jump in audio should tip you off that there's something missing (on all three edits). As always, here's a video comparison.

Availability Uncut: You have three choices: you can enjoy it as a special feature on the DVD release of the film Gold Diggers of 1935, or on the fourth disc of the fifth volume of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD, or as part of the first disc of the Porky Pig 101 DVD.