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History of Banned, Racist and Censored Cartoons

Between 1930 and 1950, animators at Warner Brothers, Walt Disney, MGM, Merrie Melodies, Looney Tunes, R.K.O., and many other independent studios, produced thousands of cartoons containing racial stereotypes and references to alcohol, adultery, female anatomy, cross-dressing, gambling, marijuana, pornography, sexual situations, smoking, and suicides (i.e. a frustrated Bugs Bunny blows himself up).

This period is now known as the golden age of animation, and until the mid 1960s, cartoons were screened before all feature films. Later, these same cartoons would cycle endlessly for decades on broadcast TV or cable syndication. To modern audiences, many of these cartoons are quite shocking and graphically illustrate how pervasive and institutionalized racism was in our culture just a short time ago.

Ownership of Warner Bros. cartoons passed to United Artists in 1968 and they created a "Censored 11" list of cartoons they refused to air or make available for purchase on any media. Since then, because of objections by parents, sensitive sponsors, timid corporate policy, and changing cultural mores, many more classic cartoons were heavily edited or pulled from syndication. Many have already been lost forever.

Studios are so protective of their classic characters like Bugs Bunny that in 2000, when Spike Lee made Bamboozled (a film dealing extensively with black stereotypes in Hollywood), Warner Bros/United Artists denied his request to include images of Bugs in blackface from the classic wartime cartoon Any Bonds Today. In 2001, the people at Cartoon Network announced a "June Bugs" marathon, where they promoted their intention to show every single Bugs Bunny short. Warner Bros/United Artists quickly stepped in and dictated to Cartoon Network which shorts could not be shown.

These cartoons, like the clichï¿½ goes, were a product of their times and represent a period of American history where views were very different than they are now. While they are certainly not suitable for viewing by children without adult supervision and guidance, they are important historical documents that should be available to all. They are necessary for the development of anyone's cultural and historical literacy.

It is also important to remember that they were intended to be funny, not hurtful. One does not have to look far to find many other examples of racial stereotyping in popular media in the first half of the 20th century. Radio shows, movies, and comic strips were filled with caricatures of Blacks, Native Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Jews, and many other ethnic groups. It is to our great credit that we have evolved as far as we have since then, but we should preserve our history and not try to rewrite it in some Orwellian attempt to excise those parts of it that we now find abhorrent.

131 Episodes on 4 DVDs:
Episode 1 A Corny Concerto (1943)
Episode 2 A Coy Decoy (1941, Daffy & Porky)
Episode 3 A Feather In His Hare (1948)
Episode 4 A Great Big Bunch of You (1932)
Episode 5 A Jolly Good Furlough (1943, Popeye)
Episode 6 A Lecture on Camouflage (1944, Snafu)
Episode 7 Ain't Nature Grand (1931, Bosko)
Episode 8 Ali Baba Bound (1940, Porky Pig)
Episode 9 All This And Rabbit Stew (1941)
Episode 10 An Itch In Time (1943)
Episode 11 Angel Puss (1944)
Episode 12 Any Bonds Today (1942, Bugs Bunny)
Episode 13 Aviation Vacation (1941)
Episode 14 Bacall to Arms (1946)
Episode 15 Bad Luck Blackie (1949)
Episode 16 Bars and Stripes Forever (1939)
Episode 17 Battling Bosko (1932)
Episode 18 Big Hearted Bosko (1932)
Episode 19 Big Man From the North (1931, Bosko)
Episode 20 Blackboard Jumble (1957)
Episode 21 Blitz Wolf (1942, Hitler)
Episode 22 Blooper Bunny (1991, Bugs Bunny)
Episode 23 Booby Traps (1944, Snafu)
Episode 24 Boom Boom (1936, Porky Pig)
Episode 25 Bosko and Bruno (1932)
Episode 26 Bosko and Honey (1932)
Episode 27 Bosko at the Beach (1932)
Episode 28 Bosko at the Zoo (1932)
Episode 29 Bosko Shipwrecked! (1931)
Episode 30 Bosko the Doughboy (1931)
Episode 31 Bosko the Lumberjack (1932)
Episode 32 Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid (1929)
Episode 33 Bosko's Dizzy Date (1932)
Episode 34 Bosko's Dog Race (1932)
Episode 35 Bosko's Fox Hunt (1931)
Episode 36 Bosko's Holiday (1931)
Episode 37 Bosko's Party (1932)
Episode 38 Bosko's Picture Show (1933)
Episode 39 Bosko's Soda Fountain (1931)
Episode 40 Bosko's Store (1932)
Episode 41 Bugs Bunny 51st Special
Episode 42 Bugs Bunny Bonds
Episode 43 Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips (1944)
Episode 44 Bushy Hare (1950, Bugs Bunny)
Episode 45 Caballero Droopy (1952)
Episode 46 Car of Tomorrow (1951)
Episode 47 Cartoon Network Toon Heads
Episode 48 Cat's Meow (1957)
Episode 49 Caveman Inki (1950)
Episode 50 Caveman Stuff
Episode 51 Clean Pastures (1937)
Episode 52 Coal Black and Sebben Dwarfs (1943)
Episode 53 Confederate Honey (1940)
Episode 54 Confusions of A Nutzy Spy (1943)
Episode 55 Daffy-The Commando (1943)
Episode 56 Daredevil Droopy (1951)
Episode 57 Disney - Education For Death (1943)
Episode 58 Disney - Lambert Sheepish Lion (1952)
Episode 59 Disney - The Thrifty Pig (1941)
Episode 60 Dixieland Droopy (1954)
Episode 61 Donald Duck - Der Fuehrer's Face
Episode 62 Donald Duck - The Spirit Of '43
Episode 63 Donald Duck - Leprechaun (1958)
Episode 64 Droopy Leprechaun (1958)
Episode 65 Droopy's Good Deed (1951)
Episode 66 Eliza On Ice (1944)
Episode 67 Flintstone Winston Cigarettes Ad (1961)
Episode 68 Fresh Hare (1942)
Episode 69 From Hand To Mouse (1944)
Episode 70 Garden Gopher (1950, Spike the Dog)
Episode 71 Gold Diggers Of '49 (1935, Porky Pig)
Episode 72 Goldilocks and The Jivin' Bears (1944)
Episode 73 Goofy Groceries (1941)
Episode 74 Grin And Share It (1957, Droopy Dog)
Episode 75 Ha! Ha! Ha! (1934, Betty Boop)
Episode 76 Happy-Go-Nutty (1944)
Episode 77 Have You Got Any Castles (1938)
Episode 78 Henpecked Hoboes (1946)
Episode 79 Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt (1941)
Episode 80 Hittin' Trail For Hallelujah Land (1931)
Episode 81 Hop And Go (1943)
Episode 82 Horse Hare (1960, Bugs Bunny)
Episode 83 Inki And The Lion (1941)
Episode 84 Inki And The Minah Bird (1943)
Episode 85 Inki At The Circus (1947)
Episode 86 Island Fling (1947, Popeye)
Episode 87 It Happened To Crusoe (1941)
Episode 88 Jerky Turkey (1945)
Episode 89 Jungle Jitters (1938)
Episode 90 Little Black Sambo (1932)
Episode 91 Little 'Tinker (1948)
Episode 92 Lucky Ducky (1948)
Episode 93 Magical Maestro (1952)
Episode 94 Millionaire Droopy (1956)
Episode 95 Mississippi Hare (1949, Bugs Bunny)
Episode 96 Mutts About Racing (1958)
Episode 97 One Droopy Knight (1957)
Episode 98 Plane Daffy
Episode 99 Pop-Pie A La Mode (1945, Popeye)
Episode 100 Red Hot Riding Hood (1943)
Episode 101 Russian Rhapsody (1944, Hitler)
Episode 102 Scrap Happy Daffy (1943)
Episode 103 Scrap The Japs (1942, Popeye)
Episode 104 Scrub Me With A Boogie Beat (1941)
Episode 105 September In The Rain (1937)
Episode 106 Sheep Wrecked (1958, Droopy Dog)
Episode 107 Sh-h-h-h-h-h (1955)
Episode 108 Sioux Me (1939)
Episode 109 Sunday Go To Meetin' Time (1936)
Episode 110 Swing Social (1940)
Episode 111 Swing Wedding (1937)
Episode 112 T.V. of Tomorrow (1953)
Episode 113 The Cuckoo Clock (1950)
Episode 114 The Ducktators (1942, Hitler)
Episode 115 The Early Bird Dood It (1942)
Episode 116 The Hick Chick (1946)
Episode 117 The Isle Of Pingo Pongo (1938)
Episode 118 The Little Lion Hunter (1939, Inki)
Episode 119 The Oily American (1954)
Episode 120 The Wartime Cartoons
Episode 121 Tin Pan Alley Cats (1943)
Episode 122 Tokio Jokio (1943)
Episode 123 Toon Heads 2
Episode 124 Toon Heads 3
Episode 125 Toon Heads Trivia
Episode 126 Uncle Tom's Bungalow (1937)
Episode 127 Uncle Tom's Cabana (1947)
Episode 128 Voodoo In Harlem (1938)
Episode 129 What's Cookin' Doc (1944)
Episode 130 Which Is Witch (1949)
Episode 131 Wise Quackers (1949)

Search results for "1938"

Rare Banned Politically Incorrect Cartoons