WB Cartoon Credit Beauty

A couple of days ago I featured some of the weird results of WB's "Blue Ribbon" treatment on some fo the classic cartoons included in their re-release packages. Today I'm going to present a couple of neat aspects about the original cartoon titles.

Most of us are familiar with the boring old "Merrie Melody" theme tacked onto the cartoon opening with the generic "Blue Ribbon" title card which chops off any production information, contributor credits, and releae dates. In addition, even cartoons which should have been designated as "Looney Tunes" were stripped of their original series identification. In addition, the beautiful musical renditions of Carl Stalling were also genericized and removed from the titles.

Let's relive some of the neat and interesting opening title sequences! (PS: I don't have time to make DVDs or distribution tapes of any of these cartoons..... so please spare us both the trouble by not even asking for trades... thank you).

My first entry displays the original opening titles from the Merrie Melodie cartoon, "Mighty Hunters". Make note of how much nicer this opening is, compared to the yucky, boring old Blue Ribbon version:

"Mighty Hunters (1940)"

Next up- although this cartoon was not a victim of the "Blue Ribbon" treatment, an interesting title quirk was still dropped upon print syndication. The cartoon "Hop And Go" from 1943 was re-released under the Sunset/ Guild Films banner- although they weren't as bad as the "BR" releases, all the opening WB shields of the B&W Looney Tunes were taken off so that references to WB pictures were gone. In the case of this cartoon, it looked as if the cameraman used the same background layout for the opening zoom, making the effect that the WB shield is sitting on top of the target:

"Hop And Go (1943)"

Moving along, the beautiful opening sequences for two mid-1940s cartoons which were hacked off for the blase static title card. Pay particular attention to the wonderful music scores accompanying the full credit rosters, which were removed:

"Doggone Cats (1947)" (print courtesy of the holdings of Thad Komorowski)

"Hop, Look, And Listen (1948)"

Don't you agree that the original versions look much nicer?

After 1948 the Blue Ribbon treatment was adjusted a bit- at least the cartoons retained their animation and contributor credits- but the original cartoon designation as "Looney Tune" or "Merrie Melody" was still dropped, along with original production numbers, in favour of a generic opening title.

Here are some examples of original title sequences that were dropped with the "Blue Ribbon" openings:

"For Scent-mental Reasons (1949)"

"Daffy Duck Hunt (1949)"

"The Scarlet Pumpernickel (1950)"

"Cat-Tails For Two (1953)"

"Bell Hoppy (1954)"

And there you have it. WB cartoon credit beauty.

I do have an alterior motive for making this post- if any private film collectors who happen to pass by my humble little blog are aware of a rare and untampered print of theirs, make a small, unselfish gesture- contact WHV or the parties in question and see about offering your prints to be restored and archived so that the whole world can enjoy the cartoons as they were meant to be- because it's people like yourselves who care to preserve such uniquities that these elements may even exist. It won't lessen the value of your holdings at all, rather, it will increase the worth of the original even that much more (if you intended to sell, at any measure anyway).

Thank you- we now return you to your regular blog activity...