DVD toon releases---with censoring?

[Much2animated]

Hey, all...

I just joined this site in the hopes that someone out there can point me to a reliable resource..

I've come to accept that when you watch old toons on TV, there is some editing that has happened. The openings of a LOT of Betty Boop cartoons were altered..as were the closing frames. I have some on DVD I haven't had a chance to watch yet so I can compare.

BUT... I just purchased a 2 DVD set at wal mart. Classic Cartoons Volumes 1&2. It has Mighty Mouse, Little Lulu, Superman and others. I noticed something on one that I have seen elsewhere. I can link to a screenshot if someone needs a reference.

Specifically, a cartoon called Cheese Burglar which is a Famous Studios Noveltoon. The opening frame says "presents a Noveltoon"(The real opening is obviously missing) and then there is a big black bar just underneath where something else would be printed. It holds into the Famous Studios screen and then goes away.

Does anyone have any idea WHY they do this or where I can find out what was blocked out? Curiosity is getting the better of me. It is probably meaningless, but maybe not since they bothered to cover something up.

Thanks in advance! I'll check out some of these threads and see if I have anything to contribute. I'm kind of a cartoon trivia buff so I've seen some odd things over the years...

[ltnut]

Usually this was on Paramount cartoons that were disrtibuted by UM&M TV / NTA. The parts that were blocked were usually "Paramount Presents" and "In Technicolor" (Or Polacolor). At times the copyright information as in "Copyright 19XX by Paramount Pictures" was blacked out as well. This was supposedly because Paramount didn't want their names on the cartoons when they were distributed on TV. The black bars were extremely sloppy looking at times and even cut parts of the character names or titles off.
There was a website I saw that showed several examples of this, but I haven't been able to find it again. This link has some information about it though:
http://www.geocities.com/argussventon/cartoondistributors/cartoondistributors.html

If I find the other link, I'll post it.

[ltnut]

I found the other link at Jerry Beck's website:

http://www.cartoonresearch.com/paramount.html

[Much2animated]

Wow! Perfect! That has just the information I was looking for. It is a perfect match since these were originally Paramount releases.

Now I'll have to track down the history of UM&M. I know they butchered the openings of a lot of old toons...

Thanks!

And I see that there will be a few on this set that have the original openings and/or closings! Popeye for President is in rough shape, but it has the original Paramount logo and opening sequence!

Color me happy!

[ltnut]

I'm glad that answered your question. Here's the actual first link that I was trying to post that has the information about UM&M and NTA and more about the black bars:

http://www.geocities.com/argussventon/cartoondistributors/nta/ummnta.html