Toilet gags in classic cartoons

[Martin Juneau]

Rarely, some classic cartoons have also her toilet gags. Here's a few ones:

Mouse in Manhattan - "Powder Room" (MGM, 1945)
Show Biz Bugs (Freleng, 1957)
Blooper Bunny (Greg Ford, 1991)

[magadizer]

Outhouse gags were common in early '30s pre-code cartoons as well. Can't think of any particular titles, but some Mickey Mouse shorts come to mind.

Josh

[Geezil]

Piano Tooners (Van Beuren's Tom & Jerry, 1932): Jerry catches a sour note from an out-of-tune piano, beats the note insensible and flushes it down a heard-but-unseen toilet.

[Cartman]

Outhouse gags were used in the following cartoons:

Tramping Tramps
Haunted House
Plane Crazy
Mickey's Follies

[Banned Bunny]

Q. What do you use a plunger for ?

A. Unplugging a toilet
B. Plugging someone's mouth
C. First B, then A
D. First A, then B

[LooneyFan]

I would have to say A or D. A if you are talking just in real life, or D for in the real world and cartoon world.

Can we also list plunger toons?
"The Flirty Birdy"
"Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"

I would like to mention Homer Simpson's invention....
The recliner/toilet.

[cabe624]

Look closely, and you can briefly see a toilet in the "newsreel" segment of the cartoon "Bacall to Arms" when the mother-in-law alarm goes off and the house flips over to be hidden. So I guess Hitchcock's "Psycho" wasn't the first film where a toilet was shown on-screen. :p

[cbrubaker]

In the Pink Panther cartoon "Come on In! The Water's Pink", you can hear a toilet flush when the Panther is changing.

Same thing with one "Tom & Jerry" (Van Beuren) cartoon. I think it was "Piano Tuner" or something.

[David Gerstein]

Hmm. The opening scene of MICKEY STEPS OUT has Mickey making music on various objects in his bathroom. At least once he leans over and rap-raps the toilet lid. We only see the very edge of the lid, as they were clearly afraid to show the toilet in full.

[Geezil]

[...]Same thing with one "Tom & Jerry" (Van Beuren) cartoon. I think it was "Piano Tuner" or something.

You're right (see post #3 in this thread) :)

[Larry T]

Outhouse gags were used in the following cartoons

Also in

I Haven't Got A Hat - Little Kitty runs to the outhouse after her recital

The House Of Tomorrow - after the house unfolds, an outhouse appears

Saps In Chaps - when towns "Spring up all over", so does an outhouse near the farthest one.

In addition, in Lonesome Lenny, Lenny runs into the bathroom after Screwy. We see him get his head stuck in what we think is the toilet, but the camera moves over to show it was the sink instead.

[mmm...donuts]

Some of the Bosko cartoons have toilet gags:
Sinkin' in the Bathtub: Bosko's car comes out of the outhouse.
The Booze Hangs High: One of the little ducks tells his mother he has to go to the toilet.
Bosko's Picture Show: One of Bosko's organ's sound effects is a toilet flusher.

[magadizer]

And don't forget Chamber Pots that show up as well!

By the way, although this is off topic, has anyone else noticed just how obssessed Disney animators were with spitting? I think it would be far easier to count the number of shorts in which no one spits than those in which a character does.:mickey::minnie:

[absolutpaul]

in The Office Boy, Flip the Frog thinks he's entering the boss's office (marked 'PRIVATE") but instead he walks into the bathroom.

[Bobby Bickert]

You hear the sound of a toilet flushing when the Japanese ship sinks in "You're A Sap, Mr. Jap" and "A Jolly Good Furlough".


In "A Great Big Bunch of You", the "audience" includes a toilet seat that "applauds" by opening and shutting. (Also, the load of junk includes a chamber pot that rolls underneath a bed frame.)

[The Silver Fox]

another that some didnt; memtion, but may still fit,

how many cartoons were there out there that had there characters in diapers

[Duck Dodgers]

And don't forget Chamber Pots that show up as well!

By the way, although this is off topic, has anyone else noticed just how obssessed Disney animators were with spitting? I think it would be far easier to count the number of shorts in which no one spits than those in which a character does.:mickey::minnie:

yeah, Pete did it in virtually every one of his early shorts and how's about the grassophers in "goofy and wilbur" and in "the grassopher and the ants" ?

[Howard Fein]

Not precisely a Toilet Gag, but the opening montage of SWOONER CROONER :ham: features a hen nested on a conveyor belt who fails to lay any eggs when she passes the repository for said eggs. She looks all distressed- i.e. 'constipated'- then the belt zips back to the proper place and she lays a huge batch of eggs. Afterwards, as the other hens applaud, she looks utterly relieved.:D

At the beginning of PUDDY TAT TROUBLE:sylvester :tweety: , you see both cats begging to be let out. In a typical clever Freleng throwaway animation bit, as they're both meowing and jumping around, you see each one cross his legs, grit his teeth and roll his eyes- as if their bladders are bursting.:eek:

If regurgitation is considered a Toilet Gag, there are numerous instances of seasick passengers 'over the rail': DETOURING AMERICA, HOBO BOBO, TWEETY'S S.O.S:sylvester :tweety: ("Did you wose something, Puddy?"). Likewise, it's common to see a character sickened by a noxious substance or "the old seasick gag" turn green and run offstage with hand over mouth: BABY PUSS:tomcat: :jerry: , NASTY QUACKS:daffy:, GO AWAY STOWAWAY:daffy: :speedy: , SCREWBALL SQUIRREL- the latter providing a 'ONE MOMENT PLEASE' sign.;) Thankfully, no vocalizations were provided, leaving the audience to use their own imaginations. (Today, such a gag is graphically provided with picture and sound as in CN's FLINTSTONES: ON THE ROCKS. Numerous Nicktoon characters have 'lost it' in full view right onscreen.:p )

[Duck Dodgers]

gee,this thread went to toilet to spitting to constipation to regurgitation....not exactly the arguments one would happily choice in a formal talk!


by the way,i know it's not theatrical animation but all these kinds of gross gags are frequently used in the spumco cartoons (sometimes they overdo them!)

[Geezil]

[...]by the way,i know it's not theatrical animation but all these kinds of gross gags are frequently used in the spumco cartoons (sometimes they overdo them!)

"Sometimes"? ;)

[Mac]

Hmm. The opening scene of MICKEY STEPS OUT has Mickey making music on various objects in his bathroom. At least once he leans over and rap-raps the toilet lid. We only see the very edge of the lid, as they were clearly afraid to show the toilet in full.

This is the one I was thinking of. The treasures DVD has the story sketches for this cartoon, but the typed descriptive paragraph that would describe this action is the only one that isn't zoomed in on, so I can't read what it says. In the paragraph before it though it says that the "seat" is just out of view, as if they were too afraid to even call it a toilet in the planning stages!

It's kinda funny how it's hard to think of many toilet gags in old cartoons, but it's hard to think of many modern cartoons without them. I don't really like to see this kind of humour in new cartoons featuring classic characters. It's like they took some of their 'class' away! Like in "Blooper Bunny" when you hear Daffy flushing the toliet. I think it would be funnier not to hear that sound effect because without the sound, it's like Daffy is just being awkward not coming on stage. The flush gives him a lame reason for not being on a stage, as if we're supposed to laugh just because Daffy's been on the toilet! Alot of the Mouseworks have this kind of humour too - Goofy teaching a lion how to use a litter tray was not something I wanted to see!

[LooneyFan]

There was Bugs' "Physco" scene in LT:BIA (everything including the chocolate!):bugs2:

[guy incognito]

Look closely, and you can briefly see a toilet in the "newsreel" segment of the cartoon "Bacall to Arms" when the mother-in-law alarm goes off and the house flips over to be hidden. So I guess Hitchcock's "Psycho" wasn't the first film where a toilet was shown on-screen. :p

King Vidor's classic silent drama The Crowd (1928) features a scene with a toilet. That was pre-Code, of course, but I still remember being startled the first time I saw it due to having had the "no onscreen toilets before Psycho" notion drilled into me for so long.

[Banned Bunny]

Ok, I'm going to admit to watching an episode of Baby Looney Tunes where at least 10 minutes was devoted to shoving stuff down a toilet only to have it overflow in a cyclone of water and toilet paper.

[Thad]

Ok, I'm going to admit to watching an episode of Baby Looney Tunes where at least 10 minutes was devoted to shoving stuff down a toilet only to have it overflow in a cyclone of water and toilet paper.

Is that the same one where Granny shows Petunia how to use the toilet but we thankfully don't actually get to see it?

-Thad

[Cartman]

Is that the same one where Granny shows Petunia how to use the toilet but we thankfully don't actually get to see it?

-Thad

I think that's the one. The title was "Flush Hour."

[YPSmitGimmick]

A outhouse is also in "Blitz Wolf".

[Martin Juneau]

I think also for a Duck Dodgers episode with Dodgers/Daffy alter-ego