The Censored 11 on DVD? (SPOILER WARNING)

[LooneyLover81]

Warning: This post may contain spoilers.

Hi Gang,

If WB Home Video were ever to decide on marketing a compilation of the "Censored 11" cartoons (those that were never shown on TV post-1968 due to politically incorrect humor and offensive racism), I think they would put a "Parental Advisory" warning on the package denoting all this offensive stuff is not appropriate for anybody under 13 (or 17) years of age. Correct?

And if ever they did, I would snatch one up right away (I am 25 years old).

Cartoons under their banner that had such humor: Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips (1944, f. :bugs2: ), Russian Rhapsody (1944), Angel Puss (1943), Jungle Jitters (1938), Sunday Go to Meetin' Time (1936), Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs (1943), The Isle of Pingo Pongo (1938), The Major Lied 'til Dawn (1938), Confederate Honey (1940, f. :befuddled ), All This and Rabbit Stew (1941, f. :bugs2: ), Clean Pastures (1937) and Uncle Tom's Bungalow (1937). Am I forgetting any?

Ben (bene71281)

[Madison Carter]

Mark my words, WB will never release the so-called "censored 11" as a set. What they will do is release one or two at a time on future Golden Collections, IF they release them at all.

[frizfrelengfan]

Warning: This post may contain spoilers.

Hi Gang,

If WB Home Video were ever to decide on marketing a compilation of the "Censored 11" cartoons (those that were never shown on TV post-1968 due to politically incorrect humor and offensive racism), I think they would put a "Parental Advisory" warning on the package denoting all this offensive stuff is not appropriate for anybody under 13 (or 17) years of age. Correct?

And if ever they did, I would snatch one up right away (I am 25 years old).

Cartoons under their banner that had such humor: Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips (1944, f. :bugs2: ), Russian Rhapsody (1944), Angel Puss (1943), Jungle Jitters (1938), Sunday Go to Meetin' Time (1936), Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs (1943), The Isle of Pingo Pongo (1938), The Major Lied 'til Dawn (1938), Confederate Honey (1940, f. :befuddled ), All This and Rabbit Stew (1941, f. :bugs2: ), Clean Pastures (1937) and Uncle Tom's Bungalow (1937). Am I forgetting any?

Ben (bene71281)

The "official" censored 11 are:

Hittin' the Trail to Hallelujah Land
Sunday Go To Meetin Time
The Clean Pastures
Uncle Tom's Bungalow
Jungle Jitters
The isle of Pingo Pongo
All This and Rabbit Stew
Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs
Tin Pan Alley Cats
Angel Puss
Goldilocks And The Jivin' Bears
Some of the others have not been shown for the same reasons as the official 11, but this is the list that Turner said he would never show.

[Sean Gaffney]

Most of the others that would qualify, such as Buddy's African cartoons or Goin' to Heaven on a Mule, were not listed by Turner as he didn't have the rights to them at the time. Not that you'd see them on TV anyway...

[Marty26]

For the record, a lot of those cartoons (IMHO) aren't very good. Uncle Tom's Bungalow, Jungle Jitters, Sunday Go To Meetin' Time. All borefests. Egghead's running gag in The Isle Of Pingo-Pongo is reasonably amusing. But otherwise, fah! The only ones that I feel are really worth seeing are Tin Pan Alley Cats, Coal Black, Goldilocks and the Jiving Bears, All This And Rabbit Stew, and Bugs Bunny Nips The Nips.

[Marty26]

Most of the others that would qualify, such as Buddy's African cartoons or Goin' to Heaven on a Mule, were not listed by Turner as he didn't have the rights to them at the time. Not that you'd see them on TV anyway...

When exactly WAS the last time we saw a pre-1935 Merrie Melodies (not to be confused with Looney Tunes) short on TV anyway?

[rodney]

TCM showed one the other day.


I'm surprised to see Coal Black missing from your list of shorts worth seeing!

[Marty26]

TCM showed one the other day.


I'm surprised to see Coal Black missing from your list of shorts worth seeing!

Fixed. I can't believe I left that one out.

[Cartman]

TCM showed one the other day.

Which one did they show?

[AndrewGilmore]

Let me ask a question which has been bugging me for several years now-
What the HELL is the point of having viewer disclaimers if things are going to be censored anyway?! There's no reason why a Censored 11 collection couldn't be released IF it had the appropriate disclaimer on it..disclaimers and ratings were invented for a reason. Movies can present whatever the hell they want as long as the director is willing to be given such-and-such a rating, but on TV or video, instead of things being presented uncensored and just given the appropriate rating and/or disclaimer, the rating has no bearing :bbear: on anything. If the public were given fair warning that a Censored 11 collection contained material which may offend, that should be enough of an excuse for it to be released. They could just put out a Censored 11 collection, slap a warning on it, and voila- why can't they see that, logically speaking, it should be that simple? Why do these idiots create ratings and disclaimers and parental warnings if they're not going to be used effectively? Why why why? :mad:

[The G Man]

Hardly anything in this thread classifies as "spoilers" because there is no official information.

[Madison Carter]

Let me ask a question which has been bugging me for several years now-
What the HELL is the point of having viewer disclaimers if things are going to be censored anyway?! There's no reason why a Censored 11 collection couldn't be released IF it had the appropriate disclaimer on it..disclaimers and ratings were invented for a reason. Movies can present whatever the hell they want as long as the director is willing to be given such-and-such a rating, but on TV or video, instead of things being presented uncensored and just given the appropriate rating and/or disclaimer, the rating has no bearing :bbear: on anything. If the public were given fair warning that a Censored 11 collection contained material which may offend, that should be enough of an excuse for it to be released. They could just put out a Censored 11 collection, slap a warning on it, and voila- why can't they see that, logically speaking, it should be that simple? Why do these idiots create ratings and disclaimers and parental warnings if they're not going to be used effectively? Why why why? :mad:

All of the disclaimers in the world wouldn't help them if they did something like that. They would be labeled insensitive for even thinking about releasing a set of nothing but the offensive shorts. And quite frankly, even with the disclaimer on the last set and the Goldberg intro, WB knew that a good part of their customer base is still going to be families. The media backlash they would get from putting out something containing nothing but the un-PC shorts would not be anything they'd want to deal with. And honestly? I see their point. They'll do much better to sneak one or two in at a time on future GC collections, as that will go under the radar much easier, so to speak.

[Mark J]

This thread should not be titled with "spoiler warning" since there is no information here and no spoilers (the person who started the thread doesn't even know which 11 were on the list, including cartoons which were never banned or were only edited for TV). It makes no sense to have a special set with only 11 cartoons which have nothing in common except the fact that in 1968 the distributors of the pre-1948s decided that these were the 'most' offensive toons in the catalogue that shouldn't be syndicated to TV anymore. This is meaningless now, since later many more were removed from syndication, and now all LTs are off TV. Most of these 11 aren't particularly good, some are awful, these rightfully belong on regular LTGC sets, Coal Black and a few others most deserving, Jungle Jitters and most others least deserving. There are a lot of classic toons which still haven't appeared on the LTGCs yet (including almost all the funny Boskos), and I'd like to have them before misses like Hittin the Trail, Uncle Tom's Bungalow, and Sunday Go to Meetin Time which is not funny, only offensive.

[spike the dog]

Well, first of all, hello to everybody. I like animation a lot, and browsing the net I ended in this forum. Thanks a lot for let me post in it. I live in Argentina, and las weekend, while watching TV, I was explaining my nephew about the C11. In South America racist behaviour still exist, and my nephew understood the censorship, although we both agreed on the relevance of these cartoons as an historical document. 30's and 40's american society was racist and these cartoons simply reflected it. We do not adhere to racist concepts, but I insisted on the cartoons to be directed on an adult audience just for historical purposes. Anyway, we were watching Canal Siete (the only State-owned TV station here), when suddenly a cartoon named "Nerviosos en la Jungla" (more or less "Nervous in the Jungle") was announced. Translation in Argentina was always very poor and subjective, This TV programme broadcast almost LT and MM exclusively.
Nervous?
Jungle?
COULD IT BE...?
YES, MAN!!
JUNGLE JITTERS BROADCASTED ON PUBLIC TELEVISION!!!!!!
Yes. You read it. My DVD recorder registered the rest of the cartoon as soon I put a DVD and press the "Rec" button. And altough it was dubbed in poor neutral spanish, and despite the controversial plot, seems very strange watching what has been forbidden since (I believe) 1968 liberally on Public TV.
Why pay for cable, anyway??;)

[Daff Doc]

It makes sense since Jungle Jitters is public domain.

And welcome.:)

[dandu]

I wonder if Black Family Channel would air Jungle Jitters or All This and Rabbit Stew since it is in public domain, and they don't have much quality control as I have heard, it would be crazy if they did! :eek:

[MarkTheShark]

I wonder if Black Family Channel would air Jungle Jitters or All This and Rabbit Stew since it is in public domain, and they don't have much quality control as I have heard, it would be crazy if they did! :eek:

They have aired "Fresh Hare," but cut out the ending.

I have better copies of those cartoons than they do.

[Billy]

I don't think Fresh Hare has ever aired on UK television without the ending.

I've never seen Jungle Jitters, though. I did some April Fool 'screencaps' in 2003 of an airing on Cartoon Network, but it kinda got overshadowed with the whole Baby Looney Tunes Trading Post thing.

[Saranczuk]

I have always seen Fresh Hare with the ending, but that is because I owned (and still do) a public domain tape. It was bad quality, but at least I had the entire cartoon. As a kid I never understood the ending, and I think most kids don't understand what blackface is in the first place. So why censor it out? Paranoia maybe? :confused:

[The Silver Fox]

how many cartoons are UNPC from all the studios?

even a few cartoons not on the the offical list
are pulled.

Example,
Simpson's epsode were homer's car is left
at the WTC, Many stations have pulled this
epsode out of the rotation after 9/11, I know
the local stations here did pull it for a few years started
to reair the epsode ant then pulled it fully in 04.

[Studio Toledo]

I have always seen Fresh Hare with the ending, but that is because I owned (and still do) a public domain tape. It was bad quality, but at least I had the entire cartoon. As a kid I never understood the ending, and I think most kids don't understand what blackface is in the first place. So why censor it out? Paranoia maybe? :confused:
Being reminded of seeing "Fresh Hare" over 20 years ago, and not knowing whether Bugs lived, or died and gets this heavenly reincarnation? :D

[J Lee]

OK, the problem is -- and has been for the better part of 45 years -- that while there are certain places in the country where airing the Censored 11 would cause minimal or no problems, and in fact some of those cartoons aired well into the 1980s in the syndication package, there are certain areas where you cannot air those without drawing heavy protests both from people who truly are offended and from those who make their living off of being offended and receiving compensation for being offended.

Censorship of the WB cartoons has gone on since the early 1960s in places like New York, while Turner's channels were still airing cartoons like "Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips" until the channel took on a true national identity in the mid-1980s. Once they had to worry about those same people in places like New York that WNEW had to worry about in 1960, those cartoons were locked in a closet.

The same thing applies to DVDs. There are people out there just waiting to be offended, and waiting to gain both TV and print face time and a nice financial consideration from Time-Warner to make up for their being offended. And they are very, very savy on how to best use the media to voice their feelings of hurt. So if you're an executive for Warner Home Video or the parent company, you do not want to come off as the insensative "bad guy" in all this. That's why we had Whoopi Goldberg's introduction on all four DVDs of the last Golden Collection, in order to provide some sort of innoculation for the (relatively innocuous) images that showed up on Vol. 3. And I'm sure there will be a similar diisclaimer on Vol. 4 to handle a few of the cartoons scheduled to be included on the latest DVD.

Any release of the "Censored 11" on DVD is going to have to have at the very least something like that, but more likely, would have to include a long additional feature going through the reasons why images and gags like that showed up in cartoons, within the historical context of the 1930s and early 1940s. And even then the execs would be holding their breath when it first came out, awaiting the reaction.

Will they do it in the future? It's certainly possible. But you are asking people at the company to take a chance at putting their jobs on the line by doing it, so anyone who does show the guts to propose and market that DVD should be applauded for their courage.

[MarkTheShark]

There are people out there just waiting to be offended, and waiting to gain both TV and print face time and a nice financial consideration from Time-Warner to make up for their being offended. And they are very, very savy on how to best use the media to voice their feelings of hurt. So if you're an executive for Warner Home Video or the parent company, you do not want to come off as the insensative "bad guy" in all this. That's why we had Whoopi Goldberg's introduction on all four DVDs of the last Golden Collection, in order to provide some sort of innoculation for the (relatively innocuous) images that showed up on Vol. 3. And I'm sure there will be a similar diisclaimer on Vol. 4 to handle a few of the cartoons scheduled to be included on the latest DVD.

Any release of the "Censored 11" on DVD is going to have to have at the very least something like that, but more likely, would have to include a long additional feature going through the reasons why images and gags like that showed up in cartoons, within the historical context of the 1930s and early 1940s. And even then the execs would be holding their breath when it first came out, awaiting the reaction.

Will they do it in the future? It's certainly possible. But you are asking people at the company to take a chance at putting their jobs on the line by doing it, so anyone who does show the guts to propose and market that DVD should be applauded for their courage.

Bravo for having the guts to speak the truth.

It is wonderful to live in a country where people are free to speak their minds and express their feelings and opinions. Look around you, or even listen to the news, and you'll see that this is a privilege not everyone enjoys and it's too easy to take it for granted. With freedom, however, comes responsibility.

It is wonderful that the US Constitution guarantees the right to free speech. However, it does not guarantee the right to be sheltered from things to which one might take offense. I certainly believe in protecting and defending the rights of everyone, and I believe in treating people with due respect, and equally. But eventually, everything is going to be found to be completely unpalatable to someone, somewhere. This is where personal responsibility comes in. Special interest groups have been holding a gun to this country's head for far too long, so opportunists can get a free ride and work the system. And it's even gotten to the point where you can be censured for even observing that.

(Steps down from soapbox, looks both ways and ducks back into car and locks the door)

[Chow Hound]

Very well put, Mark.

[Saranczuk]

The only person I know on television who truly speaks his mind is Jon Stewart of the Daily Show, and he does a great job ridiculing the current state of the media.

Putting a warning on the DVDs though makes it seem like we are not like that today, when in fact we are still stereotyping. It is something that will never end, and will always be used for jokes. It all depends on how you use the stereotype for the joke.

[Fastphilly]

This society is trying to be too politicly correct. Aunt Jemima does'nt have her scarf anymore , Song of the South (still not released) , and the constant editing of WB cartoons that might be offensive to someone......If your offended then don't watch them!!!


I think "Wise Quackers" and "I Taw A Putty Tat" have been added to the Censored list. Wise Quackers has Daffy being Elmer's Slave in fear of being shot and Sylvester doing a Rochester with a blackface saying "I smell something Burning in the Kitchen" is a cartoon I have'nt seen since the 80's on my local affiliate. I can't remember network TV ever showing those shorts.

This is how society was back in that era and I see no reason to completely shun it out. Something of that nature being produced today is a different story however and should be dealt with.

[Matthew Hunter]

What I find interesting about some of these cartoons that are deemed so offensive is that they weren't TRYING to be "racist" or create hateful stereotypes. Some are pretty blatant, and we can't sugar-coat or say that they aren't. But there are a good number of them that get a really bad rap. I don't think, for example, that "Clean Pastures" or "Tin Pan Alley Cats" deserve to be as maligned as they are. They merely caricature celebrities of their time, just like "Hollywood Steps Out", "Coo Coo Nut Grove", and dozens of others did. I see the cat, a Fats Waller caricature, in "Tin Pan Alley Cats" no more offensive than the Bing Crosby fly in "Bingo Crosbyana". And "Clean Pastures" is still more of a lampooning of the black actors and musicians of its day than it is a racial hatefest. Cartoons and gags involving "Uncle Tom's Cabin" were poking fun at a literary work, much like many other WB cartoons did.

"Coal Black"? Okay, yes, it makes fun of black people. But it's made up of a voice cast of black people, and judging by the terrific performances they gave, it seems they were having as much fun with it as Clampett and co. were.

Unfortunately, the offense comes when people see these cartoons and aren't as well schooled in the history of these films as we are. They're not cartoons you can just throw in with Bugs and Daffy and call kid's entertainment. (In fact, I'd say the same for Hollywood Steps out or Malibu Beach party) because the average person in this day and age would not understand them.

I say they belong as an extra or series of extras on the Golden Collections, at least a few of them. It's not like people have no idea they exist, and I think a proper documentary could be done about them to put them in proper context and, actually, be very interesting.