Speaking of the Weather (An Old Buddy [Cartoon] of Mine)

Director: Frank Tashlin

Summary: A “midnight in the store” cartoon (the first of three that Tashlin did and his first color cartoon), featuring celebrity caricatures and spoofs of popular reading material of the day all set to the title track of the short. This one takes place at a drugstore after midnight, and the reading material shown are magazines of all types. Like all “midnight at the store” shorts, this one has a rather thin story to break up the monotony of the gags and music. This one has a yegg from The Gang Magazine trying to break into a safe shown on the cover of The Magazine of Wall Street and Business, only to have everyone from Boy Scouts from Boy’s Life magazine to Greta Garbo on the cover of Photoplay stopping him when the crook inevitably escapes from the prison cell on the cover of LIFE.

The Channel(s): Cartoon Network and Boomerang

Part(s) Edited: A light edit on this one. When the prisoner makes his escape and all the magazine characters go after him, all that was cut were two shots of the African natives running towards the camera, which, if you can believe it, is recycled footage from “Buddy of the Apes” (which definitely didn’t air on Cartoon Network due to the stereotypical depictions of African natives/non-white indigenous peoples) and “Buddy’s Theatre” (which also didn’t air on Cartoon Network for the same reason, though, now that I think of it, I don’t think Cartoon Network aired any Buddy cartoons because…they just weren’t that good. Not even Late Night Black and White showed them, to my knowledge, and they showed the few shorts that had Goopy Geer as a character).

What Grinds My Gears About the Edit: Not much, unless you count the second edit where you can clearly hear the angry natives over the shot of the thug bouncing on the spears thrown at him. Even then, I give that a pass, because audio cue mistakes happen a lot in editing and that mistake can easily be dismissed as the walla of off-screen magazine characters that somehow got spears from other magazine covers (possibly one about primitive weapons or touring African jungles).

Video Comparison:

Availability Uncut: “Speaking of the Weather” hit the home media release trifecta of the 1990s going into the early-to-mid 2000s: it was on the laser disc and VHS versions of the Golden Age of Looney Tunes series (volume 1, “1930s Musicals”) in 1991. Fourteen years later, it appeared on the third volume of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection (the volume where the concentric circles are black, Bugs is holding one of the singing girls from that short, and it comes with a warning about politically-incorrect content courtesy of Whoopi Goldberg) on the second disc, featuring Hollywood spoofs of the 1930s, ‘40s, and 50s. Three years after that, it appeared as a special feature on the DVD version of the movie, Gold Diggers of 1937, starring Dick Powell, Joan Blondell, Victor Moore, and Glenda Farrell, and that’s where it’s been ever since. As of this writing, it hasn’t been re-remastered for Blu-ray or put on streaming, which is a shame, because this feels like it could have been on HBO Max when that service first launched in 2020, only to be pulled because it had outdated racial and ethnic stereotypes in it.

‘Til next time…

 

Milk and Money (Out of My Stable Hands)

 

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

Summary: Porky and his farm nag (worn-out horse) work in milk delivery to help his father save the farm from foreclosure. Thanks to a horsefly, Porky and the nag find themselves in a horse race with a cash prize for the jockey and his ride.

The Channel(s): Cartoon Network and Boomerang (the compare/contrast video does say “Cartoon Network,” but it also applies to Boomerang, since Boomerang airs/aired the same classic cartoons as Cartoon Network).

Part(s) Edited: A brief scene of the black stablehands leading the horses to the starting line.

How It Plays Edited/Video Comparison: With the way I edited it, I tried to make it so that way the horse immediately saw the horse race and went to the starting line (I also cropped the shot of Porky and the horse at the starting line to get rid of the black stablehand running off before the start of the race). I’m not 100% sure if Cartoon Network and Boomerang edited it this way, but let’s say, for the sake of argument, they did. If this is what Cartoon Network and Boomerang did, then the cut is seamlessly done and makes it look like the horse knew that the horse race was a last-ditch effort to earn money needed to save Porky’s farm (as opposed to the horse just wanting some oats and finding himself in the race completely by accident, which is funnier, as the whole thing is a comic misunderstanding).

As always, here’s a video comparison:

What Grinds My Gears About the Edit: Not much, except the fact that Nickelodeon and (possibly) MeTV, MeTV+, and MeTV Toons aren’t listed as possible channels that have censored this short. “Porky’s Prize Pony” also had a scene featuring a black stablehand walking by during the preliminaries to a horse race (it’s not similar or recycled from “Milk and Money,” as the Looney Tunes fandom wiki or the old Censored Cartoons Page has stated. I will do an addendum post about it) and those channels cut that scene. I’m going to chalk it up as, “It was edited on those channels, but there’s nothing to prove or disprove it.”

Availability Uncut: You can find this uncut, uncensored, and remastered on disc four of the fifth volume of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD set, on disc 1 of the Porky 101 DVD set (which has every black and white Porky Pig cartoon ever made, including some that have never aired on American TV [or have, but were edited] due to outdated racial and ethnic stereotypes), and the Blu-ray version of The Devil Doll, starring Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O’Sullivan, and Frank Lawton, and directed by Tod Browning (the same Tod Browning who did Freaks).

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.

Buddy's Theatre (Banned From Re-Release)

Director: Ben Hardaway

Summary: In essence, this is a toned-down version of "Bosko's Picture Show." We have Buddy as the projectionist at a movie theater (Bosko, in the former cartoon, was the organist back when movie theaters actually had sing-along segments as part of the coming attractions and B-level entertainment [the cartoons, the live-action shorts, the second-run movies, etc] before the feature presentation), a lot of newsreel gags (also from "Bosko's Picture Show"), the hero's girlfriend starring in a movie, and the hero trying to save her by messing with the film (and pissing off anyone who paid top nickel to see it). There are no jokes about Hitler trying to kill Jimmy Durante because Durante had that long nose stereotypically associated with Jewish people, Buddy doesn't call the villain (who is an escaped gorilla rather than the mustache-twirling, Snidely Whiplash type associated with the romantic melodramas of the time) a "dirty fawk," and there's no running gag involving the original four Marx Brothers chasing after dogs and singing "Daisy" while riding a four-man tandem bike.

The Channel: Nickelodeon (Nick@Nite version of Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon)

Part(s) Edited: According to the Looney Tunes Fandom wiki, there's supposed to be a scene featuring African natives running towards the audience (I'm assuming as part of the "Coming Attractions" string of gags), which was recycled from "Buddy of the Apes", which was on Nickelodeon's list of Warner Bros. cartoons they weren't allowed to show on Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon. It makes sense why Nickelodeon would cut that part.

How It Plays Edited: To be honest, the edit is seamlessly done. If there's something obviously missing, then I haven't picked up on it, because I currently can't find the uncut version. If anyone out there has it or knows where I can find it, then I will be forever grateful. To get the search started, I'm going to upload the edited version of this short (actual edited version. I didn't alter this in any way) on the blog so anyone out there has a good starting point in their search:

Availability Uncut: As of this writing (in 2024), there's no release of an uncut, uncensored, remastered, and restored version (and, if Buddy truly is one of the least-loved Warner Bros. characters due to being bland and boring and not because of outdated racial/ethnic stereotypes or, in the case of Pepe Le Pew, making fun of sexual harassment, why would there be demand for it, outside of the need for completion?), but I do have faith that an uncut version will resurface. My guess? It'll probably happen when this short enters the public domain.

EDIT: Thanks to Anthony's Animation Talk review for this cartoon, I found out where exactly the African native scene was supposed to be in the fabled uncut version (which isn't a fable, but adding "fabled" to it does give it a bit of mystery). After the joke about Mausoleum (Mussolini) drafting literal toddlers as soldiers for his fascist army (with one asking him in gibberish to either leave the army or go to the bathroom, I don't know), there's a newsreel story about Liverpill (Liverpool), England seeing economic recovery as shoppers are flocking to early dollar day sales in the city's stores, then we cut to the recycled scene from "Buddy of the Apes" (and later, a colorized version shown on Frank Tashlin's "Speaking of the Weather") of the angry natives running towards the camera. Like I said: Nickelodeon did a fine job of seamlessly cutting it, but since the scene was part of a string of gags that had no bearing in the plot, there wasn't much the audience was missing, especially since the joke does feel kind of dated to start with. 

Click here to see the version shown (in clips) on Anthony's Animation Talk.

Those Beautiful Dames (A Shamn Dame)

 

Director: Friz Freleng (credited as “Isadore Freleng”)
Summary: This is more-or-less "The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives," only it's about an orphan girl who wishes to have toys, but is too poor to buy one. Instead of Santa coming to give her toys, the toys come to her run-down shack to cheer her up by giving her a home makeover (a modest one for the 1930s) and throwing her a party with cake and ice cream. Cute kids' fantasy stuff.
The Channel: unnamed syndication, Cartoon Network, and streaming (HBO Max [a.k.a Max])
Part(s) Edited/Video Evidence: Today, we have a two-fer (or three-fer, rather, but I only have evidence of two channels editing this short). Rather than explain it by writing it down (and because I recently installed DaVinci Resolve and gotten the hang of editing on non-linear video software, which is easier than what I used to do back when I was in film school), you can click here to see the video (if anything happens to the video, I will re-edit this blog).

How It Plays Edited: The Cartoon Network version where the Jazz Bow band scene was replaced with the scene of the toys gathered around the girl and the girl looking amazed that the toys she had seen in the store window are here and made over her broken-down shack has the most obvious "replace problematic scene with more benign footage" edit I've seen...so far (I'm not at the later cartoons yet). The edit done to the scene of the pickaninny girls next to the chocolate cake is similar (and looks and sounds obvious that something's missing) on both the Cartoon Network and (HBO) Max/streaming version, with the only notable differences being that the streaming version has more vibrant colors, the sound is clearer (the better to pick up on audio jumps, my dear), and there's no station identification bug at the bottom right of the screen.

Availability Uncut: Until a restored, remastered version that's uncut and uncensored resurfaces, your best bets to seeing this uncut are on the Golden Age of Looney Tunes laserdisc (volume 5, side 6) or as a special feature on the 2006 DVD release of the film Dames, starring Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell.

How Do I Know It's Sunday? (Why Should You Care It's Edited)

 

Director: Friz Freleng

Summary: It’s a “products/label mascots come to life to sing the title song and perform in a closed store” cartoon, but, instead of taking place at night, it takes place on a Sunday during daylight hours, when most, if not all, stores would be closed so people can go to church and rest.

The Channel: Nickelodeon (Nick@Nite version of Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon, because where else would this air? I think I would have remembered it on the daytime version where it was nothing but the post-1964 Daffy Duck/Speedy Gonzales cartoons, the post-1964 Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote cartoons made without Chuck Jones’ involvement, the redrawn- and computer-colorized Porky Pig cartoons from the 1930s, the Pepe Le Pew shorts made after 1949’s “For Scent-imental Reasons”, and the semi-forgotten, “underrated gems” shorts -- both one-shot and with established characters --  that aired between 1949 and 1963).

Part(s) Edited: Just two scenes of outdated black/African-American stereotyping:

• The black chef on the Scream Wheat (Cream of Wheat) box singing along with the mammy caricature on the box of Aunt Eliza (Aunt Jemima, now known as Pearl Milling) during the title song. I don’t know if the shot of them in the background was cut too, but, for the purposes of the approximation, I’m going to leave it in because I feel that that’s what Nickelodeon did.

• The kid mascots using the ceiling fan as a merry-go-round -- not because it’s dangerous behavior that can easily be imitated by young, impressionable viewers, but because there are two black caricatures riding on the ceiling fan blades.

How It Plays Edited/Video Comparison: As I've mentioned before: cartoons like this don't lose much in terms of story or plot when it comes to being edited for either time or content (mostly content). With this one, however, I'm amazed there weren't more cuts to outdated racial and ethnic stereotypes. I'm guessing it would have led to a very choppy and incoherent cartoon if Nickelodeon went in that direction. If I wanted a musical cartoon that's severely edited to get rid of outdated racial and ethnic stereotypes, I can watch the Cartoon Network cut of "September in the Rain" (and I have. Thanks a lot, Acme Hour). Here's the approximation compare and contrast video:

Availability Uncut: If you can believe it, this actually has a home media release -- two of them, in fact. It was first released on the Looney Tunes Collector’s Edition VHS (volume 5’s “Musical Masterpieces”) in 2000. Eight years later, it was released on DVD as part of the sixth and final Looney Tunes Golden Collection set (it’s on disc three, which is dedicated to the Bosko, Buddy, and one-shot musical black and white cartoons).

I Like Mountain Music (Lip Service, or Three Sides to Every Story)

 

Director: Rudolf Ising

Summary: In a follow-up to “Three’s a Crowd,” characters from books and magazines of the early 1930s come to life in a drugstore at midnight. It’s not the first to have this (since “Three’s a Crowd” also had book characters coming to life and other shorts, like “Red-Headed Baby” and “It’s Got Me Again” were also cartoons where animals, inanimate objects, and fictional characters also partied once the clock struck midnight), but it is the first to establish this formula, which would last until the directors decided to make cartoons with actual plots and characters, culminating to Bob Clampett creating the ultimate “book characters partying after midnight” short, “Book Revue.” (I know an episode of the 1990s Animaniacs did something like this in a video store, but, like “Book Revue,” that was a spoof of a bygone subgenre).

The Channel: Cartoon Network (on an episode of Late Night Black and White and on the “Midnight at the Bookstore” episode of ToonHeads); Radio & Television Managers redrawn version.

Part(s) Edited:

• A short scene of African natives (standing in front of a magazine called Asia magazine, which makes me wonder if they’re actually African natives or are supposed to be South Asian [as in “from India”]) flapping their oversized lips to the music as Sonja Henie (a well-known figure skater back in the 1930s) skates on a mirror with baby powder to simulate snow was cut when Cartoon Network aired the short on Late Night Black and White. It was also cut when it was shown as a redrawn-colorized version on the ToonHeads episode, “Midnight in the Bookstore,” which, coincidentally, wasn’t part of the original episode. The original “Midnight in the Bookstore” episode (first aired on December 18, 1998) had the cartoons “Speaking of the Weather,” “You’re An Education,” and “Book Revue.” Apparently, “You’re An Education” was so filled with outdated racial and ethnic stereotypes that it was pulled and replaced with “I Like Mountain Music” (which also had outdated racial and ethnic stereotypes, but was easier to have those scenes removed) in reruns.
• The Radio & Television Managers redrawn version (retitled “Magazine Rack”) left in the African/South Indian natives and their oversized lips, but altered the magazine publishing dates to 1970 rather than some time in the early 1930s and cut the performance of “Sweet Adeline” because it had racially insensitive caricatures of Pacific Islanders (which are really just the hula girl and the native guitar players from “Pagan Moon”)

How It Plays Edited/Video Comparison: Since I recently stumbled upon a video that shows a three-way comparison between the original uncut black and white version versus the Radio & Television Managers redrawn version versus the Turner Entertainment version, I’m just going to show that instead of tell you (the reader) for the billionth time that the edits didn’t affect the story because this is one of those musical cartoons that doesn’t have much in the way of plot. Yeah, there’s a sequence where the other book characters try to stop criminals from a crime thriller pulp magazine, but those are a dime a dozen in shorts like this. If, for any reason, this gets pulled from YouTube for copyright reasons, I’ll edit the post to reflect the change:

Availability Uncut: Despite both the uncut and edited redrawn versions being available on YouTube, it is under copyright (though something tells me it’ll be in the public domain in a few short years). It has been officially released on the fifth volume of the Looney Tunes Golden Age laserdisc set (it’s on side one, which is dedicated to black and white cartoons), the final volume of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD set (on the third disc dedicated to the early black and white cartoons. It’s on the bonus cartoon list, alongside “I Love a Parade,” “Sittin’ on a Backyard Fence,” and “How Do I Know It’s Sunday?” It’s not remastered, if you care about that sort of thing, but it is uncut and uncensored), and is a bonus feature on the Public Enemies: The Golden Age of Gangster Films DVD (released in 2010), on the Blu-ray version of the film Ladies They Talk About starring Barbara Stanwyck, and on the Blu-ray version of the 1933 adaptation of Little Women starring Katharine Hepburn. Both Blu-ray movies have the cartoon uncut, uncensored, restored, and remastered for high-definition. It was available on HBO Max (now called “Max”) when the streaming service was first released in 2020, but it was removed as quickly as it premiered due to (say it with me now): scenes of outdated racial and ethnic stereotypes.

Three's a Crowd (Booked on Friday)

Director: Rudolf Ising

Summary: When an old man finishes reading Alice and Wonderland for the night and goes to bed, the title character comes out of the book and holds a literary dance party set to the title song…until Mr. Hyde kidnaps her.

The Channel: Cartoon Network (from Late Night Black and White)

Part(s) Edited: Every scene with Robinson Crusoe and his black native guide, Friday, was cut, as well as the entire scene of Uncle Tom from Uncle Tom’s Cabin singing “I Got the South in My Soul.”

How It Plays Edited: Even though this is one of those musical shorts that has a thin plot and is mostly a chain of scenes, this does suffer a bit from being edited. Mr. Hyde coming out of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde had to be edited because you can hear Uncle Tom singing, which will make viewers wonder where Mr. Hyde came from. There’s also Mr. Hyde getting sprayed with ink by Robinson Crusoe and Friday, which had to be cut and leads to Hyde getting sprayed by unseen forces. The video comparison below tells it all.

Video Comparison:

Uncut version: Link here

Edited version: Link here

Availability Uncut: As of 2024, the only physical media release it has is on the Golden Age of Looney Tunes laserdisc set (second volume, side one, “Musical Madness”). It hasn’t (yet) been released on DVD, Blu-ray, streaming, or digital download (and, despite the black stereotypes, it does feel safe to show. It’s not heavy with it, like “Goin’ to Heaven on a Mule” or any of the Censored Eleven shorts), but it is readily available on online video sites, as it’s been in the public domain since 1961.

Bosko the Lumberjack (Moose-Fire)

Director: Hugh Harman

Summary: In a refreshing break from the one-shot musical cartoons, we’re back with Bosko. As the title indicates, Bosko is a lumberjack who cuts down trees and tries to save his girlfriend, Honey, from a villain named Pierre. It should also be noted that this is (so far) the last Bosko cartoon to be public domain (as the years go by, this will change and I will try to edit in the changes to reflect that).

The Channel: Nickelodeon (on the Nick@Nite version of Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon)

Part(s) Edited: According to the old Censored Cartoons page, there was said to be a scene cut where Bosko fires a rifle into a moose head. Turns out that’s a lie. The actual scene cut was Pierre entering the cabin with Honey to escape Bosko trying to get Honey back, and the moose head on the wall randomly coming to life and shooting Pierre in the butt repeatedly. The Mandela effect at its finest.

How It Plays Edited: Doesn’t affect the overall story, but does create the plot hole of Pierre rubbing his butt just as Bosko enters the cabin to fight him. Nothing major.

Video Comparison:

Uncut version:

Edited clip:

Availability Uncut: As mentioned before, this is the last Bosko cartoon that has fallen into the public domain in America (and, with time, there will be more to come). Since there are no official releases of this short (either on streaming or physical media), your best bet is to watch it on online video sites that allow public domain videos.

I Love a Parade (Wild Man Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure)

Director: Rudolf Ising

Summary: Despite the song being about a parade, the whole short is a collection of gags involving a day at the circus, from an animal parade and an unlucky DSC cleaner following them to mice who use an ostrich and a slingshot to get into the circus for free to a tattooed freak (back when they were circus sideshow acts instead of part of the general population) showing off the swishy male face on top of his bald head, to conjoined twin (called “Siamese twin,” since this was before political correctness was invented) pigs smoking a cigar to a hula-dancing hippo accusing said tattooed freak of sexual harassment thanks to a mouse with a party favor horn to Mahatma Ghandi as a goat charmer, and ending on a lion with fleas.

The Channel: Cartoon Network (on an episode of Late Night Black and White).

Part(s) Edited: Despite the questionable gags involving a DSC clerk cleaning animal poop (which was cut from “Drip Along Daffy” on Cartoon Network, but the ulterior motive isn’t what you think), homosexuality, tobacco use, outdated terms for conjoined twins, and sexual harassment mentioned above, Cartoon Network found the scenes with Jo Jo the Wild Man (a stereotypical African native locked in a cage for the audience’s amusement) objectionable and had them cut. This wouldn’t be a problem, except for the fact that they left in the scenes with the Indian Rubber Man, who would also be considered an outdated racial caricature (though he looks more like Bosko) and Mahatma Ghandi as the Thin Indian Man who uses his pungi to charm a goat instead of a snake. Maybe I’m wrong and those were edited (since I got this information from the Looney Tunes wiki and haven’t seen the edited Cartoon Network version, because, by the time the cable company in my area released Cartoon Network as a basic cable channel, the channel’s library of classic cartoons probably changed considerably to get rid of shorts that were shown edited to get rid of outdated racial and ethnic stereotypes), but this is what I discovered. Anyone reading this can and should comment or email me with additions and corrections, so I can go back and change any entry that has incomplete or false information.

How It Plays Edited: Not bad, but, as you’ll see, selective censorship (where one scene gets cut for problematic content while others are left intact, often in the same short) will be a common occurrence throughout this blog journey, not just on Cartoon Network, but on most other American TV channels.

Video Comparison:

Uncut version: 

Edited clip:

Availability Uncut: We have another Golden Age of Looney Tunes laserdisc member (volume four, side ten), another public domain short that’s been there since 1961, and a cartoon available on the last volume of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection (it’s an unrestored bonus cartoon, joining “I Like Mountain Music,” “Sitting on a Backyard Fence,” and “How Do I Know It’s Sunday?”). No word on whether or not a restored version exists as of this writing, but I’m sure, one day, it will surface.

The Queen Was in Her Parlor (Yas Ka-Veen, or Knight In Kosher Armor)

 

Director: Rudolf Ising

Summary: A pig king returning to his castle discovers that the queen (a hippopotamus) is in her parlor (title drop!) and isn’t interested in seeing anyone, least of all her husband. Goopy Geer the court jester tries to cheer up the king, and ends up saving the queen from the advances of a black knight (“black,” as in “evil,” not “having dark skin.”).

The Channel: Cartoon Network (on an episode of Late Night Black and White).

Part(s) Edited: Like “Goopy Geer,” Cartoon Network cut a small part near the beginning to remove a character now seen as an outdated racial stereotype. LIke “Freddy the Freshman,” the outdated racial stereotype is Jewish. The scene in particular is the pig king asks a line of knights where the queen is cuts off before the sixth knight asks the seventh knight (the Jewish caricature one) about the queen (or “ka-veen,” as the seventh knight pronounces it).

How It Plays Edited: Does nothing to the story continuity, but does look obvious. If there’s a seamless way to do it, then I haven’t heard of it. My video version isn’t representative of how Cartoon Network cut it. For all I know, Cartoon Network probably left in a brief shot of the Jewish knight, but cut off before he could say anything (that’s how comically inept Cartoon Network’s editing can be at times, though they have nothing on how MeTV edited “Bugs’ Bonnets,” “Hop and Go,” or any of the “Now I’ve seen everything!” suicide scenes from “Tortoise Wins By a Hare,” “Horton Hatches the Egg,” and “Cross Country Detours”).

Video Comparison:

Uncut version:

Edited clip (approximation as re-created by me):

Availability Uncut: Like “You Don’t Know What You’re Doin’!” and “Goopy Geer”, this short is available on the Golden Age of Looney Tunes laserdisc (this one is on side ten of the fourth volume) and is freely available on online video sites because it’s a public domain cartoon (has been there since 1961). Surprisingly, “The Queen Was in Her Parlor” is also available for streaming on (HBO) Max (has been uploaded since 2020) and is a special feature on the Blu-Ray version of the pre-code film, The Mask of Fu Manchu (released in 2024).

Update: “The Queen Was in Her Parlor” has, as of 2025 been taken down from HBO Max (a.k.a Max) and is now on Tubi.

Goopy Geer (To Yessir with Love, or Yes, We Have No Gorillas)

Director: Rudolf Ising

Summary: The usual bouncy, pseudo-Disney antics. It’s “Lady, Play Your Mandolin!” with a new character, Goopy Geer. Goopy was supposed to be Warner Bros’ answer to Goofy. Sadly, Goopy Geer was only in two cartoons: this one and “Moonlight for Two.” (three, if you count "The Queen Was in Her Parlor," though that was a supporting role, not a starring role). Outside of being temporarily revived on an episode of the 1990s version of Tiny Toon Adventures, Goopy Geer has faded into WB cartoon obscurity.

The Channel: Cartoon Network (on an episode of their après-minuit anthology show, Late Night Black and White).

Part(s) Edited: A small scene in the beginning where, after the nightclub patrons call for the gorilla waiter, he can be seen skipping through the club, saying, “Yassah! Yassah!” While the Looney Tunes wiki says the scene was cut because the gorilla waiter had a platter of beer (just like he did on “Lady, Play Your Mandolin!”), I personally believe it was cut because the “Yassah! Yassah!” sounded stereotypically black. Add the fact that the waiter is a gorilla and the fact that black/African-American people being compared to all manner of primates (specifically monkeys and gorillas) is/was a (racist) thing and you have a reason for why Cartoon Network would want that scene gone.

How It Plays Edited: That being said, the cut (like so many in this early era of Warner Bros cartoons) doesn’t make or break the short. Also, “Lady, Play Your Mandolin!” wasn’t edited to remove the gorilla waiter when that short aired on ToonHeads: The Lost Cartoons (and that special had a lot of scenes cut for content and time), so what was the point? Surprisingly, there were no cuts to the horse getting drunk and seeing Mahatma Ghandi in the mirror before spitting on Goopy and exploding into nothing. It should also be noted that this cut was done when Late Night Black and White aired in the mid-1990s (Late Night Black and White was one of those classic cartoon compilation shows that Cartoon Network had since the channel launched in October of 1992...at least according to most Internet historians and wikis). As I have never seen the short on that compilation when Cartoon Network was brought to Comcast in 1999, I'm going to assume the short itself fell out of rotation (whether because of ethnic stereotypes or just retiring the short for better cartoons isn't known. For all I know, it could be both).

As always, here’s a video comparison (updated to a single video file due to YouTube terminating the account that once had the edited clip): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IQJZ28jzPzEnMqsnBSrrrfItr-Y1DPha/view?usp=sharing

Availability Uncut: The only physical media that has released this short is the Golden Age of Looney Tunes laserdisc (volume two, side one, same place where “You Don’t Know What You’re Doin!” is). If you’re not too stuck in your past and want to venture into the scary and twisted world of the 21^st century (not the 24^th-1/2), then you can find it available for streaming on Max (formerly known as HBO Max) in its classic Looney Tunes library. If you don’t have a laserdisc player nor want to shell out money for a streaming service subscription, then you can watch it online for free, as “Goopy Geer” has been in the public domain since 1961.

UPDATE: “Goopy Geer” is now available (as of 2025) as a special feature on the Blu-ray version of the film The Beast of the City, starring Wallace Ford, Walter Munston, Jean Harlow, and Jean Hersholt, was taken off HBO Max (a.k.a Max), and is now on Tubi as part of the 700 to 800 WB shorts that the channel uploaded onto their service for free.

Freddy the Freshman (Cheer Factor)

Director: Rudolf Ising

Summary: A one-shot musical cartoon centered on “Freddy the Freshman,” a college upstart who crashes a pep rally and wins the unnamed college’s big game.

The Channel: Cartoon Network (Late Night Black and White)

Part(s) Edited: A brief scene featuring three Jewish parrots (with pennants in Hebrew) and a stereotypically homosexual chicken (the sissy stereotype that was popular in pre-Code films, if you can believe it) as cheerleaders during the big game was cut. Despite this, the unaired ToonHeads special, The Twelve Missing Hares (a special that would have shown clips of the 12 Bugs Bunny cartoons that were supposed to be a part of the 2001 June Bugs weekend marathon, but were pulled for being too racially insensitive, even though most have aired on Cartoon Network and other channels before) had the offending clip (despite that it is not a Bugs Bunny cartoon, nor was it made when Bugs Bunny was created) as an example of how older Warner Bros cartoons had racial, ethnic, and, in the case of the homosexual chicken, sexual stereotypes that would be considered offensive by modern standards.

How It Plays Edited: Since the short is thinly-plotted with only the title song and some visual gags keeping it from falling apart, the edit doesn’t really make or break the short. What gets me, however, is the whole “Cartoon Network still used that scene on a special that never aired to illustrate the reason why the special -- and the cartoons within that special -- will never air” deal. And if it weren’t for amateur home media sleuths who ended up finding said lost special about banned cartoons, you would have thought that I was having a stroke or suffering from burnout while typing this.

Uncut version: 

Edited version (created by me as an approximation, as I can't find any actual footage):

Uncut clip as shown on The Twelve Missing Hares (all credit and blame go to Jerico Dvorak, whose YouTube channel is filled with lost and rare media. The controversial scene starts at 4:26):

Availability Uncut: Has been in the public domain since 1961, so you can watch it online without breaking any copyright laws. If that’s not your thing, then there’s always The Golden Age of Looney Tunes laserdisc from 1992 (volume three, side 7) or the Blu-ray version of The Mask of Fu Manchu, which was released this year (2024), where it’s a special feature.

 

Red-Headed Baby (The Black Dolly-a)

 

Director: Rudolf Ising

Summary: In this prototypical version of Toy Story, a baby doll (the titular “Red Headed Baby,” though, since it’s in black and white, how could anyone tell, besides using their imagination?) falls for a toy soldier, but a villainous spider has his many eyes on her first.

The Channel(s): TBS (in the days before Cartoon Network was created to air all the cartoons in the Turner Network library, so, before 1992)

Part(s) Edited: The ending celebration musical number (of which most of these musical cartoons have) was cut to remove all scenes with the Red Headed Baby doll singing the title song with two stereotypically black girl dolls (called “golliwogs” or “pickaninnies” in their day, though due to who’s directing this, they can easily be doll versions of Bosko’s love interest, Honey). This only applies to the redrawn, colorized version. I’m so sure the black and white version has never aired on television. If it has, then probably only once, either with or without the same cuts described here.

There's also a strange edit in the scene of Napoleon the toy soldier sword fighting the spider and getting conked on the head with a wooden building block. The scene goes from Napoleon getting hit with the block to him passed out on the ground with a pile of what I assume is wood next to him as the Red Headed Baby sobs for him to wake up. Was there supposed to be more to that scene? Was it cut because of the Hays Code (which was in force back then, but we're in pre-Code territory, so a lot of films, both popular and obscure, treated the Code as a light suggestion and got away with a lot before mid-1934, when things really started to crack down and would stay that way until the late 1960s, though the mid-to-late 1950s was when the Code's power started to weaken)? Was it cut because of time or pacing or a need to rush the short out as quickly as possible without consideration for quality? We may never know.

How It Plays With the Edit: Since I can’t find an actual edited copy of the short, nor can I find a colorized version to recreate, I’m just going to go by how I think it would go. It would be very choppy, getting rid of all shots of the Red Headed Baby and the black doll back-up singers. I can’t imagine any of the audio being saved and alternate footage being used to bandage up the cuts done, so you’re left with jump cuts and missing music snippets. As for the possible edit, I think I just described how it plays.

Availability Uncut: It’s another public domain short (been there since 1959), so the original uncut and black and white version shouldn’t be hard to find. There is also a redrawn version available, but it’s not the colorized edited version. That version is available on the 2006 DVD release of the movie Cimarron. The 2023 Blu-ray release is remastered, uncut, and in its original black and white format. If you’re looking for a copy of it on a Warner Bros compilation home media set, the most recent release of that is on the 1992 Golden Age of Looney Tunes laserdisc (volume three, side one, dedicated to Harman and Ising shorts).

Here's the full (probably?) version for all to see:

Bosko the Doughboy (Censorship is Hell)

 

(Please note: this is not to be confused with “Battling Bosko,” which is about Bosko being a boxer and hasn’t been edited for anything on a notable American TV channel or in unnamed syndication. Also, the video versions of this short may contain quick cuts and flashing lights that could cause issues with photosensitivity or trigger those who violence/war-based PTSD. Viewer discretion is strongly advised)

Director: Hugh Harman

Summary: In a shining example of how not every Bosko cartoon was inoffensive fluff, this outing sees out hero in WWI-style trench warfare. The juxtaposition of the horrors of war with the rubber hose humor and physical comedy that was common in animated shorts like this is what sells it.

The Channel(s): Nickelodeon

Part(s) Edited: Just because this short is a vast departure from your typical Bosko cartoon doesn’t mean it isn’t still a Bosko cartoon. Much like “Sinkin’ in the Bathtub,” “Box Car Blues,” and “Ups ‘n Downs,” the version shown on Nickelodeon’s Nick@Nite version of Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon cut the ending where, after Bosko rescues the nameless hippo from swallowing a cannonball, the cannonball explodes on Bosko and he does the Al Jolson in blackface “Mammy” schtick.

I’m amazed the rest of the comedic war violence wasn’t edited, nor was the scene of the longjohns dumping the bomb on the cannon by opening up its back flap (I’m guessing this was an early example of scatological [“bathroom”] humor in the same vein as the duckling who had to go on “The Booze Hangs High”).

How It Plays With the Edit: Another sign that this is a Bosko cartoon at heart: the ending, while abrupt, doesn’t affect the rest of the short.

(original version)

(approximation of how the Nickelodeon edited version played out. Nickelodeon's edits were a lot nicer than what I came up with, so don't take this as actual footage)

Availability Uncut: And just like that, we have a trait that separates it from most other Bosko shorts. This one does have an official release. It’s on the sixth and final volume of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD set (on the second disc, which features wartime cartoons. A lot are the World War II-era shorts that would otherwise be edited or banned from airing, but there are some that just take place in a wartime setting). It’s still a public domain short (and has been since 1960), so, if you don’t want to buy the Golden Collection DVD, you can easily watch it on YouTube or other video websites. I recommend the CCCartoons version, which actually has it uncut and in high quality.

Update: As of 2026, "Bosko the Doughboy" is also available (restored and in high-def) as a special feature on the Blu-ray version of the movie Possessed, starring Clark Gable and Joan Crawford.

Bosko Shipwrecked (Cannibal Run)

 

Director: Hugh Harman (though the title card lists both Harman and Ising as directors, this was the first short where Harman does solo direction and the first time one person is credited for a Warner Bros cartoon)

Summary: After a terrible storm at sea, Bosko ends up shipwrecked on an island, where he must contend with the wildlife that stole his hat and the angry jungle natives who would love to have him for dinner…as the main course.

The Channel(s): Nickelodeon

Part(s) Edited: The angry jungle native part. All of it.

How It Plays With the Edit: I think it’s just better to show you the uncut version vs. the edited version (the latter of which I had to make myself, since I couldn’t find an actual clip), though this might be the first time a scene cut in a Bosko cartoon actually affects the story and not the flow of gags set to music:

(original uncut version)

Link to Edited Version

Availability Uncut: Another day, another public domain Bosko short that hasn’t been officially released on DVD, Blu-ray, or streaming as of this writing in 2024. However, it is on a lot of unofficial public domain DVDs (I remember having the Cartoon Craze DVD specifically titled, “Bosko Shipwrecked”) and, of course, YouTube and other video websites are an option.

Ups 'n Downs (Hot Dog Day Afternoon, or *This* Is The End?!)

 

Director: Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising

Summary: Bosko, working as a hot vendor at an amusement park, ditches his post to compete in a horse race at a nearby track.

The Channel(s): Nickelodeon, syndication (Astra TV)

Part(s) Edited:

l Nickelodeon’s version cut a very bizarre scene (in a cartoon that’s already filled with the kind of rubberhose surrealism you’d see in 1930s animation that wasn’t Disney) where a dog buys a hot dog from Bosko and, just as the dog is about to eat it, the hot dog comes to life in and does the Al Jolson “Mammy” schtick from The Jazz Singer (which was a recurring pop culture reference in the older WB shorts) to beg the dog not to eat him and the dog immediately falls in love with the hot dog and the two skip away happily.

l Astra TV (a television station in Greece) aired a version of this short that, not only was redrawn and colorized, but also went under the title, “Off to the Races” and had an alternate ending to cover up the fact that Radio & Television Packagers, Inc. used an incomplete copy of the original as their source.

How It Plays With the Edit:

l Nickelodeon version: We’ve been through this before: we’re still in the era of the WB shorts having little-to-no plot, so whatever gags get cut for whatever reason probably won’t be missed, unless they’re the highlight of the short. Outside of an abrupt change in audio, there’s no effect.

l The Astra TV redrawn version: I’ll let the video comparison do the talking, but, if you want my opinion, the Astra TV version’s ending feels like the kind of corny comedy that plagued children’s cartoons before the rise of Nickelodeon and Western animation in general at least trying to elevate itself by making its children’s cartoons more creator-controlled and expanding animation to appeal to older viewers (whether it’s intense, dramatic HBO fare, like Spawn and Spicy City or the crude, irreverent comedies like The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, and Adult Swim’s early works):

(original version)

(redrawn Astra TV version)

Availability Uncut: No official release as of 2024 on streaming or home media. However, you can easily see the original black and white version and the Astra TV redrawn version on YouTube and other online video websites without worrying over copyright issues, as “Ups ‘n Downs” has been in the public domain since 1959.

The Booze Hangs High (Gross Hypocrisy)

 

Director: Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising

Summary: Bosko dances and sings with farm animals and deals with a pig family getting drunk on discarded booze. That and a brief scene of a duckling interrupting a dance to use the bathroom are the highlights of this short. It’s not much, but, given how much the Warner Bros cartoons were trying to be like Disney, those scenes show that this won’t last.

Part(s) Edited: Here’s something: a Bosko cartoon that hasn’t been edited on Nickelodeon to remove a character doing the Al Jolson “Mammy!” schtick. Instead, Nickelodeon cut the part where the father pig’s drunken solo is interrupted when he belches up an eaten corncob, dusts it off, flicks off a kernel, and puts it back in a trap door in his stomach. This wouldn’t be a problem, except:

a) The scene isn’t as gross as described.

b) Nickelodeon back in the late 1980s into the 1990s was all about crude and gross humor. If they weren’t, Ren and Stimpy, all variations of Double Dare, and the whole idea of dumping slime on kids and adults (which originated from the Canadian sketch show You Can’t Do That on Television) wouldn’t exist.

c) No cuts were made to the scene of the duckling squirming in desperation and whispering to his mom that he needs to use the bathroom or the piglets getting drunk and their father catching them and joining in on the drunken antics. Hypocrisy in censorship will be a running theme as this series continues.

How It Plays With the Edit: As with the “Big Man from the North” example, I have access to both the uncut and edited on Nickelodeon version for you to see how both versions play:

Edited Version: 

Uncut Version: 

Availability Uncut: This is a public domain cartoon (having been one since 1959) and you can easily find it online or on bargain bin home media. However, this one does have an official release by Warner Bros. You can find it on the sixth and final volume of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD set (it’s on the third disc dedicated to the early black and white shorts) or on the Blu-ray version of the Greta Garbo movie, Anna Christie. That version is an HD restored version, which is better quality than the DVD version.

Box Car Blues (Throw Mammy From the Car...Again!)

Director: Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising

Summary: Bosko and a pig traveling as hobos in a boxcar.

Part(s) Edited: As the blog title implies, this post is more-or-less a sequel to the one for “Sinkin’ in the Bathtub”, as both that cartoon and this one were edited on Nickelodeon to remove Bosko yelling, “MAMMY!” during a perilous moment (in this case, it’s during the three times he goes through a tunnel on top of a boxcar). And, as I said in the first one, for more information about how and why this would be considered offensive, look up “Al Jolson” and the 1927 film, The Jazz Singer. Surprisingly, the train pulling the hill’s “pants” down, revealing polka-dot underwear and the hill coming to life and being embarrassed over it wasn’t cut. You’d think Nickelodeon’s censors at the time would have caught that. Then again, knowing what we know now about how the kid actors were treated on most Nickelodeon shows, maybe they looked the other way.

How It Plays With the Edit: We’re still in “edits that make no difference since the cartoon is thinly-plotted anyway” territory. There might be a slight jump in the music track, but nothing too jarring.

Availability Uncut: No physical media or streaming release as of 2024, but it is a public domain cartoon, so you can easily find it online, in bargain bin DVD releases, or right here: