August 21, 2006

But what about all those exploding cigar gags? Turner Broadcasting has agreed to edit scenes from classic cartoons shown on its Boomerang Classic Cartoons Network to remove sequences that glamorize smoking.

One such scene is the classic sequence from the Tom & Jerry cartoon "Texas Tom," in which Tom rolls a cigarette to impress his love interest, uses Jerry for a wrapper-moistener, and blows a big "Howdy" out of smoke. I'm of two minds. Of course I don't want my son to think smoking is cool. But on the other hand, that shit is HILARIOUS. And we're not going back and airbrusing the cigars out of Winston Churchill's hands yet...or are we? After we decry/applaud the wisdom/stupidity of this decision, please share with the group your favorite smoking glamorization in cartoons or children's books. Mine's Curious George smokin' a bowl before going to bed in his debut book. Awesome.

posted by TenaciousPettle 18 years ago
  • One question -- when Tom lit up to impress this lady cat, did it work? Did Tom catch some tail? (OMG -- "Tomcat". I just got that.) If they want to take out all references to smoking, they'll have a lot of work to do on that stoner Shaggy...
  • No particular smoking cartoon memories, but I do remember my jaw dropping a little when I saw Betty Boop topless. (She was in Africa, so it was OK.)
  • Captain: if I remember correctly, in the end it was Jerry who pulled the bird.
  • This is bullshit just like how if you buy an Abbey Road poster, you'll notice the ciggarette has been airbushed out of Paul's hand. If I'm reading the article correctly, this change is only going to apply to the UK version of Boomerang and not the US version.
  • Mine's Curious George smokin' a bowl before going to bed in his debut book. Awesome. WHAT (She was in Africa, so it was OK.) THE it was Jerry who pulled the bird. FUCK?
  • smallish bear: George Smokin'. Also, searching for that image, I found this resource: Disturbing Children's Books. Relive your childhood!
  • This is double-plus-good. We have never smoked.
  • We have always been at war with Oceania.
  • These aren't the smokes you're looking for.
  • They already heavilly edit the classic cartoons anyway. All the scenes where someone gets shot in the face are gone in loony toons rendering some of them incomprehensible. On the other hand there's also the mammy characatures that were in many of the cartoons that are pretty horrible and probably should be cut out. It would be nice, however, if Boomerang or whatever would show the original cartoons uncut late at night or something.
  • Lucky my son has a DVD box set of Tom and Jerry cartoons that are all unedited. I like the idea of preserving them as cultural artifacts, but I do agree that the firearm play stuff might be more troublesome now than it was back in the day. A kid's not very likely to drop a piano on the neighbor dog, but unfortunately in the US he or she might be likely to get out daddy's shotgun for a game of Looney Tunes. Of course I remember lots and lots of Porky Pig and Speedy Gonzalez cartoons when I was a kid, which apparently they don't show so much anymore. I remember a great one where Speedy's cousin, Slowpoke Rodriquez, visits. "My cousin Slowpoke--he pack a gun." BLAM!
  • Wait a sec...shot in the face? That means the hilarious bits where Daffy loses his bill are gone! I weep for lost hilarity.
  • This reminds me of when they put food in the hands of the women in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean ride because they didn't want kids thinking that the men chasing the women were doing so for sexual reasons.
  • If 'toons can't get shot in the face, what are they gonna do with all those old Duck Cheney reels?
  • When I was young we'd watch a silly duck get blasted in the face with a shotgun. His bill askew, he'd smirk and curse his luck and then get shot again. We laughed, what fun! A Mexican mouse speedster taunted cats while Mammies danced on chairs, afraid of mice. No one back then thought to inform us that It was racist, anachronus--not nice. Maybe it wasn't good for us. Maybe these images shaped us in ways unknown. But I never joined the Minutemen, not me; The Klan and NRA I left alone. I remember when we kids could watch the Grinch steal every Christmas, and not even flinch.
  • )))!!!
  • it wasn't some TUM hallucination The little men in my fridge are relieved to hear that!
  • I didn't pick up the 'habit' because of cartoon smokers BUT I definitely thought Tom and his hand-rolled smoke was cool as shit and still do. That was one smooth hombre. If they still sold little drawstring pouches of rolling tobaccy I'd probably smoke it. Drum, Bugler, Top: you listening?
  • Once, as a very, very tiny monkey I was inspired by some cartoon or another to stick my mother in the rear end with a straight pin. She was retrieving dog toys from underneath the TV at the time. She did not literally go flying up to the ceiling... The dog and I hid under the couch for a long time. I learned a valuable lesson about cartoon physics vs. real-world physics, and some new words too.
  • As a very little kid, I used to believe that when people were dreaming, floating bubble balloons with the dreams playing inside them did actually appear and hover over the sleeper's head... but that day when I saw my father wake up and he told me he was just dreaming of horses, I knew the sad truth.
  • the horses that men dream I've seen upon the walls of caves, horses running across eons, the mares gravid and I often wonder who and when thought first to sit astride and wrap his legs around the power, swiftness locked within a living horse's hide
  • The original Science Ninja Squad Gatchaman was super-violent, with boomerangs cutting people in half, and one of the heroes dying of a brain haemorrage slowly, over the course of a few episodes, after a fall. When Sandy Frank got his hands on it, all that juicy stuff was replaced with ... 7-Zark-7...
  • Nonsmoker. And this fucking pisses me off.
  • I'm pretty sure that was Ayla, beeswacky.
  • Aaaaaah, the flashbacks! My eyes are burning!