US presidents in MM/LT

[larriva9/11]

Maybe it was a matter of avoiding "dating" the toons, but I'm intrigued by how there's little or no reference to "current" presidents in Termite Terrace fare--no FDR, no Truman, no Ike, etc. In fact, the most "recent" president I know of referenced is Teddy Roosevelt (eg. in Ballot Box Bunny).

Anyone know why, or care to speculate?

[Fibber Fox]

Maybe it was a matter of avoiding "dating" the toons, but I'm intrigued by how there's little or no reference to "current" presidents in Termite Terrace fare--no FDR, no Truman, no Ike, etc. In fact, the most "recent" president I know of referenced is Teddy Roosevelt (eg. in Ballot Box Bunny).

Anyone know why, or care to speculate?

It's probably a case that the Warners cartoons were not meant to be political satire.. because that's about all you can do with an incumbant.

I doubt it was a case of dating; contemporary celebrities were used in a number of cartoons.

F. Fox

[nickramer]

Actually, Harry S. Truman was caricatured as an ant in "Ant Pasted". :befuddled

Also, Franklin Roosevelt's dog, Fella was going to star in a cartoon called "A Jolly Good Fella", but it was scrapped when FDR died.

[Madison Carter]

Is there a chance the Hays office and later censorship boards frowned upon it?

[Madison Carter]

Not MM/LT, but FDR was in the Lantz Oswald short Confidence.

[Daffysleftfoot]

Vendal Vilkie was mentioned in Falling Hare (by Bob Clampett c. 1943). Not a US president but he did run against FDR in 1940. Come to think of it, both FDR and Vilkie were added to Mount Rushmore in Detouring America (by Tex Avery c. 1939).

[Mr. Semaj]

They probably had "standards" for portraying highly-esteemed figures in films. I don't think anyone has dared to physically personify God back then.

Also, not related to Termite Terrace, but the Droopy cartoon, Droopy's Good Deed, indirectly alluded to President Truman. They even tease about it at the end.

[Bugsmer]

Wasn't FDR in "Catty Cornered"?

[Marty26]

They probably had "standards" for portraying highly-esteemed figures in films. I don't think anyone has dared to physically personify God back then.


At the expense of may be stirring up a little debate here, it's arguable that the booming voice guiding Elmer at the beginning of The Old Gray Hare was God. But that's just speculation, and perhaps looking at the cartoon from too modern a viewpoint.

[Matt the Y]

Wasn't FDR in "Catty Cornered"?

I don't recall any mention/reference to a U.S. president in "Catty Cornered", the 1953 Sylvester/Tweety Freleng cartoon..... but you're probably thinking of "Kitty Kornered", the 1946 Porky/Sylvester Clampett cartoon which does contain a reference to a different Pres. Roosevelt..... namely Teddy Roosevelt during the scene in which Sylvester and his cat friends charge Porky dressed up like Roosevelt and his "Rough Rider" brigade.

[larriva9/11]

And of course, there's "Hell-Bent for Election"...

[Bugsmer]

I don't recall any mention/reference to a U.S. president in "Catty Cornered", the 1953 Sylvester/Tweety Freleng cartoon..... but you're probably thinking of "Kitty Kornered", the 1946 Porky/Sylvester Clampett cartoon which does contain a reference to a different Pres. Roosevelt..... namely Teddy Roosevelt during the scene in which Sylvester and his cat friends charge Porky dressed up like Roosevelt and his "Rough Rider" brigade.

I wasn't thinking about the "Arsenic and Old Grapes" reference. I was thinking about the man who awarded Sylvester a prize for rescuing Tweety. Do you think that man was based on FDR?

[Cartman]

FDR appeared on a drum in BOSKO IN PERSON

Bugs dresses up as Lincoln in SOUTHERN FRIED RABBIT

[Matt the Y]

Bugs dresses up as Lincoln in SOUTHERN FRIED RABBIT

... which, of course, is actually a re-dux of a gag Freleng had already used with Daffy (with the duck dressed as Lincoln to scold Fudd for "whippin' slaves") in "Wise Quackers" [1949].

Tom also appears as "Abe" for a brief moment in the MGM Tom & Jerry short,"Tee for Two", (not a WB cartoon, I know, but too good a scene and ref to pass up mentioning) when a horde of bees completely surrounds his head and face, forming the shape of the famous president's stove-pipe hat and beard!!!!!

A statue of Pres. Lincoln is also shown (by Uncle Sam to Porky) in "Old Glory". Pres. George Washington also appears in "Old Glory" as well.

.....And speaking of "Old George", Foghorn Leghorn makes a mention to the President in passing when verbally berating the cat in "A Fractured Leghorn" when he seizes the axe the cat was trying to grab and then bellows, "Who do ya think y'are? George Washington???!!" After striking the cat on the noggin with the blunt end of said axe, Foggy mutters to himself, "Hmph! No cherry trees around here!", and tosses said axe into the side of a nearby woodshed.

"Nutty News" also makes light of another Washington alleged "story" involving the President; the oft-told tale of how Washington once tossed a silver dollar across the Potomac River. Baseball pitcher Carl Bubble attempts to do the same in the contemporary time period and fails! Why? Because, as the Scotty Dog who witnesses the event explains, "A dollar-r-r-r-r-r just doesn't go as far-r-r-r-r-r these days!"

[Matt the Y]

I suppose I should also mention that Daffy Duck also does a brief facial imitation of Teddy Roosevelt (complete with beard, spectacle glasses, hat, and brandishing sword) at the beginning of his patriotic pro-American spiel in "Draftee Daffy".

Also, one of Daffy's patriotic "ancestors" who give him a morale-boosting pep talk to fight back the scrap-eating goat and the rest of the Nazis at the climax of "Scrap Happy Daffy" is a duck version of Abe Lincoln (Isn't another a duck version of George Washington? I'm pretty sure it is).

And, of course, "Saps in Chaps" also has the gag involving the Presidents (as seen on Mt. Rushmore) only being baby versions of themselves since the cartoon takes place in the Old West such a very long time ago!!!!!

[Fibber Fox]

Actually, Harry S. Truman was caricatured as an ant in "Ant Pasted". .

In thinking about this a bit more, isn't there a cartoon that uses a Truman-piano joke?

F. Fox

[dendawg]

Bugs also does a Teddy Roosevelt impression in Ballot Box Bunny.