The Censored Eleven is a group of ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...

'' and ''

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animated comedy short film series distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was part of the ''Looney Tunes'' franchise and featured many of the same characters. Originally running from August 2, 1931, to Septem ...

'' cartoons originally produced and released by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

between 1931 and 1944. All of them have been withheld from syndication in the United States by

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

(UA) since 1968. UA owned the distribution rights to the

Associated Artists Productions Associated Artists Productions, Inc. (a.a.p.) later known as United Artists Associated was an American distributor of theatrical feature films and short subjects for television. Associated Artists Productions was the copyright owner of the ' ...

library at that time, and decided to pull these 11 cartoons from broadcast because the use of

ethnic stereotypes An ethnic stereotype or racial stereotype involves part of a system of beliefs about typical characteristics of members of a given ethnic group, their status, societal and cultural norms. A national stereotype does the same for a given natio ...

in the cartoons, specifically African and African-American stereotypes, was deemed too offensive for contemporary audiences. The ban has been continued by UA and the successive owners of the pre-August 1948 ''Looney Tunes''/''Merrie Melodies''. , these shorts have not been officially broadcast on television and have only been exhibited theatrically by Warner Bros. once (in 2010, see

below Below may refer to: *Earth *Ground (disambiguation) *Soil *Floor * Bottom (disambiguation) *Less than *Temperatures below freezing *Hell or underworld People with the surname * Ernst von Below (1863–1955), German World War I general * Fred Belo ...

for more details) since their withdrawal. They have turned up, however, on low-cost VHS and DVD collections.

Background

The cartoon output of

during its most active period sometimes had censorship problems more complex in some respects than those of features. Unlike feature films, which were routinely censored in the script, the animated shorts were passed upon only when completed, which made the producers exceptionally cautious as to restrictions.''Look'' staff 17. In 1983, director

Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, painter, voice actor and filmmaker, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He ...

commented on the television censorship of the Warner Bros. cartoons: "I don't like to see the films cut at all. ..They make some cuts that are so arbitrary and stupid, you can't believe it."Fanton 31–32. Independent stations that once ran the syndicated Warner Bros. cartoons never had the same type of censorship as first-run networks such as

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

and

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

did for the cartoons. Some stations owned syndication rights to "a few they consider dracially stereotypical", but never ran them.Fanton 32. When

Ted Turner Robert Edward Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and Philanthropy, philanthropist. He founded the CNN, Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour United States cable news, ...

obtained the rights to the pre-1950 Warner Bros. library from

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

/ UA Entertainment Co. in 1986, he vowed that he would not distribute or air any cartoons from the Censored Eleven. They were the only cartoons in this package not to be featured in the

LaserDisc LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. It was developed by Philips, Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer, and the movie studio MCA Inc., MCA. The format was initially marketed in the United State ...

series ''

The Golden Age of Looney Tunes ''The Golden Age of Looney Tunes'' is a collection of LaserDiscs released by MGM/UA Home Video in the 1990s. There were five sets made, featuring a number of discs, and each disc side represented a different theme, being made up of seven cartoon ...

''.

Warner Bros. Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film studio and distribution arm of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group division of Warner Bros., both of which are owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex ...

currently owns the films thru Turner Entertainment Co., except those in the public domain.

Censored Eleven list

Friz Freleng Isadore "Friz" Freleng (; August 21, 1905May 26, 1995), credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, Film director, director, Film producer, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons ...

directed the largest number of cartoons on the list with four, followed by

Tex Avery Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery (; February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, animation director, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of America ...

with three, and

Bob Clampett Robert Emerson Clampett Sr. (May 8, 1913 – May 2, 1984) was an American animator, film director, director, film producer, producer and puppeteer best known for his work on the ''Looney Tunes'' animated series from Warner Bros. as well as the te ...

with only two.

Rudolf Ising Rudolf Carl "Rudy" Ising ( ; August 7, 1903 – July 18, 1992) was an American animator best known for collaborating with Hugh Harman to establish the Warner Bros. and MGM Cartoon studios during the early years of the golden age of American a ...

, like

Jones Jones or Joneses may refer to: People and fictional characters *Jones (surname), a common Welsh and English surname * List of people with surname Jones, including fictional characters ** Justice Jones (disambiguation) ** Judge Jones (disambiguati ...

, only has one cartoon on the list. ''Angel Puss'' is the only cartoon directed by Jones on the list, as well as the only ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon on the list. ''Hittin' the Trail to Hallelujah Land'' is the only black-and-white short on the list, and the only cartoon to star Piggy. ''Goldilocks and the Jivin' Bears'' is the only cartoon on this list not to be produced by

Leon Schlesinger Leonardo Schlesinger ( ; May 20, 1884 – December 25, 1949) was an American film producer who founded Leon Schlesinger Productions, which later became the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio, during the Golden Age of American animation The gold ...

. It is also the first to be produced by an uncredited

Eddie Selzer Edward Selzer (January 12, 1893 – February 22, 1970) was an American film producer who served as head of Warner Bros. Cartoons from 1944 to 1958. Personal life The son of German Jewish immigrants, Selzer was raised in New York City with hi ...

. '' All This and Rabbit Stew'' is the only

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is a cartoon character created in the late 1930s at Warner Bros. Cartoons (originally Leon Schlesinger, Leon Schlesinger Productions) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the ' ...

cartoon on the list. ''

The Isle of Pingo Pongo ''The Isle of Pingo Pongo'' is a 1938 ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon supervised by Tex Avery. The short was released on May 28, 1938, and features an early version of Elmer Fudd. This is the first of a series of travelogue spoofs, and the first War ...

'' is also the only

Elmer Fudd Elmer J. Fudd is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes''/''Merrie Melodies'' series and the archenemy of Bugs Bunny. Elmer Fudd's aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring himself and other antag ...

cartoon on the list. The other eight are one-shot cartoons.

Public awareness in the 21st century

As the 20th century came to a close, the Censored Eleven cartoons became better known. In February 2010, as part of a press release for the first annual TCM Classic Film Festival, it was announced that the Censored Eleven were to receive a special screening sourced from restored

35mm 35 mm may refer to: Film * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film, a type of motion picture film stock * 35MM, a "musical exhibition" by Ryan Scott Oliver that features music ...

film prints. This special presentation was put together by George Feltenstein, vice president of Warner Bros.' classic film catalog. Film historian

Donald Bogle Donald Bogle is an American film historian and author of six books concerning black history in film and on television. He is an instructor at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and at the University of Pennsylvania. Early years Bogle g ...

, who has six books published to his credit on the subject of African American stereotypes in film, agreed to host the event for the festival. On April 24, 2010, a total of eight of the Censored Eleven were screened at the

Egyptian Theater Egyptian-style theatres are based on the traditional and historic design elements of Ancient Egypt. The first Egyptian Theatre to be constructed in the US – which inspired many of the identically-named theatres that followed it – was Graum ...

in Hollywood; the three that were not shown at the event were ''Jungle Jitters'', ''All This and Rabbit Stew'' and ''Angel Puss''.

Canceled official release

At the

New York Comic Con The New York Comic Con is an annual New York City fan convention dedicated to comics, Western comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, cosplay, toys, Film, movies, and television. It was first held in 2006. With an attendance of 200,00 ...

in October 2010, Warner Bros. confirmed that it would be releasing the Censored Eleven completely uncut on DVD through the

Warner Archive Collection The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the inte ...

sometime in 2011. On December 1, 2010, animation expert

Jerry Beck Jerry Beck (born February 9, 1955) is an American animation historian, author, blogger (person), blogger, and video producer. Beck wrote or edited several books on classic American animation and classic characters, including ''Looney Tunes and ...

announced on the Shokus Internet Radio call-in talk program ''Stu's Show'' that there were plans for a general traditional retail release and not via the Warner Archive Collection. It would be a high-class release featuring all of the Censored Eleven and other rare cartoons restored, with some bonus materials. In 2016, Jerry Beck stated that the transfers had been done, but the DVD release had been delayed indefinitely due to declining sales of the ''Looney Tunes Platinum Collection'' releases.

Notes

References

* ''Look'' staff (January 17, 1939).
Hollywood Censors Its Animated Cartoons
, '' Look''. Retrieved May 27, 2011. * Fanton, Ben (December 24, 1983).
Bugs Bunny: A Peaceful Rabbit?
, ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

''. Retrieved May 27, 2011.

External links

The Censored Eleven at Golden Age Cartoons

Did Bugs Bunny appear in a racist cartoon during World War II? – The Straight Dope
{{DEFAULTSORT:Censored Eleven Looney Tunes Merrie Melodies Animated film controversies Film censorship in the United States Articles containing video clips Self-censorship Race-related controversies in animation Race-related controversies in film