By April 1943, Leon Schlesinger realized he could no longer keep up the pace. The producer who’d delivered 39 cartoons annually for the previous four seasons was looking at a staff sharply reduced by war service coupled with an obligation to provide “Private SNAFU” cartoons for the Signal Corps, plus his own declining health, and decided to cut his theatrical output by a third. However, his distributor, Warner Bros., wanted to keep 39 reels in the annual pipeline. Thus was born the BLUE RIBBON HIT PARADE.
The Blue Ribbon releases are the bane of animation
historians and purists. At least 279
cartoons were reissued under this banner, and of these, 160 were completely
shorn of their original title and credit cards. In fact, no credits whatsoever appear on these eight score,
and the cuts were evidently made on their original negatives - a fact that sent
the earliest Warner animation scholars into conniptions that still resonate in
their nervous systems. Yet the series
has its own story, one that speaks to the strength of Schlesinger’s output.
For one thing, thirteen annual Blue Ribbons carried a lower
price tag than the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies series. This enabled independent houses that
otherwise couldn’t afford a Warner package to score some of the funniest shorts
on the market. The first series,
introduced in September 1943, was particularly golden: nine of the thirteen
titles had been directed by Fred “Tex” Avery, currently tearing up Loew’s
theater screens with his MGM output; and the group even included two Bugs
Bunnys: HIAWATHA’S RABBIT HUNT (1941) and A WILD HARE (1940), each an Academy
Award nominee.
In order to make up the lost revenue, new Bugs Bunny titles
were removed from the standard Merrie Melodies program beginning in February
1944, and given a series of their own: the Bugs Bunny Specials. These, naturally, sold for a higher price.
Furthermore, Bugs’s output was exempted from the reissue series; if you
wanted one of his older titles, you could just book it separately at full
price. After the first season of
releases, the wascally wabbit wouldn’t return to the Hit Parade until 1957.
Blue Ribbons were the first cartoons to be reissued in a
program of their own, and their success led others to draw from the same
well. Paramount tried reviving the Max
Fleischer Color Classics in January 1945, but this didn’t last beyond four
titles. Next, Columbia’s Color
Favorites debuted in October 1947, as did reissues of Disney cartoons by R.K.O.,
which were not part of a separate series.
MGM followed suit in November with their Gold Medal Reprints
series. Starting in 1948,
Universal-International reissued Walter Lantz “Cartunes” during the period
Lantz was contracted to United Artists, and continued doing so after he
returned. That same year, 20th
Century-Fox began mixing reissues into their program of Terrytoons
releases. In October 1949, Paramount
tried again, inaugurating the Champions series, consisting mainly of Noveltoons
from earlier in the decade. After a
year, color Popeye cartoons were substituted, and the series was eventually
renamed Popeye Champions.
At the conclusion of production for the 1943-44 season,
Schlesinger sold his studio directly to Warner Bros. The company initially announced that the “Looney Tunes” and
“Merrie Melodies” monikers would be dropped in favor of a “Warner Bros.
Cartoon” logo for all. That idea was
scrapped, but from this point on the two series would be interchangeable. Although the Tunes had graduated to full
color the year before, Schlesinger had kept Porky Pig and Daffy Duck as their
stars, while Bugs headlined in the Melodies.
The Blue Ribbons would eventually reissue color Looney Tunes titles, but
the series itself would always be heralded under the Melodies banner.
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During the course of the 1955-56 release season, Warner
Bros. sold off their pre-’48 library, including color cartoons, to a television
distributor, Associated Artists Productions (a.a.p.). Some of the titles included in the deal were then in distribution
as Blue Ribbons. With the 1956-57
season, the reissues would be limited to those copyrighted during or after
September 1948, and it was at this point the decision was made to keep the
original title and credit cards on view; only the opening rings and Merrie
Melodies cards would be replaced.
Original end titles could remain, even if they closed under the Looney
Tunes banner, because there was no longer a need to replace cards that had credited
Schlesinger.
Beginning in September 1957, the season Bugs returned, the
annual Blue Ribbon output would grow to 16 titles. The series kept to this schedule until (apparently) the 1961-62
season, when it shrank back to thirteen.
The Hit Parade, along with all classic Warner cartoons, finally came to
an end after the 1963-64 release season.
After this, the cartoon studio closed its doors for a while, reopening
briefly in the mid-1960s for some mostly abysmal productions that mercifully
ceased at the end of the decade.
Following is hopefully a complete list of Blue Ribbon
releases, mostly in order of reissue date.
Eight titles received two separate Blue Ribbon issues, which are
noted. Most of this information,
including production numbers, derives from the “Shorts Chart” published in the pages
of BOX OFFICE magazine, with the following exceptions:
Beginning with the 1955-56 season, the Shorts Chart only
published release month for the cartoons.
For this and the following season, the exact release dates were taken
from David Mackey’s excellent WARNER BROS. CARTOONS FILMOGRAPHY AND TITLE CARD GALLERY website. Mackey’s listings also
identified the final three titles of the 1956-57 season and the first three
titles of the 1957-58 season, which never appeared in the Chart. Lastly, my thanks to Dave Mackey for providing the last five titles of the 1959-60 season in a recent comment.
BOX OFFICE did not publish the first five titles of the 1962-63 season. The list concludes with 7 titles that
Mackey has identified as Blue Ribbons from the 1959-64 period, five of which
presumably slot into the open spaces.
The two “leftover” titles are, at present, a mystery.
Leftover Blue Ribbons from the 1959-64 era, per Dave Mackey (shown in original release order):
Knights Must Fall
1943-44 ("Blue Ribbon Cartoon Reissues"):
9301: A Feud There Was (11-Sept-1943)
9301: A Feud There Was (11-Sept-1943)
9302: The Early Worm Gets the Bird (02-Oct-1943)
9303: My Little Buckaroo (06-Nov 1943) mis-titled “My Little
Buckeroo”
9304: The Fighting 69-1/2th (04-Dec-1943)
9305: Cross-Country Detours (15-Jan-1944)
9306: Hiawatha’s Rabbit Hunt (12-Feb-1944)
9307: The Bear’s Tale (11-Mar-1944)
9308: Sweet Sioux (08-Apr-1944)
9309: Of Fox and Hounds (13-May-1944)
9310: Thugs with Dirty Mugs (03-Jun-1944)
9311: A Wild Hare (17-Jun-1944) mis-titled “The Wild Hare”
9312: The Cat Came Back (15-Jul-1944)
9313: Isle of Pingo Pongo (19-Aug-1944)
1944-45:
1944-45:
1301: Let It Be Me (16-Sep-1944)
1302: September in the Rain (30-Sep-1944)
1303: Sunday Go to Meetin’ Time (28-Oct-1944)
1304: I Love to Singa (18-Nov-1944)
1305: Plenty of Money and You (09-Dec-1944)
1306: The Fella With a Fiddle (20-Jan-1945)
1307: When I Yoo Hoo (24-Feb-1945)
1308: I Only Have Eyes for You (17-Mar-1945)
1309: Ain’t We Got Fun (21-Apr-1945)
1310: I’m a Big Shot Now (04-Jun-1945)
1311: Speaking of the Weather (21-Jul-1945)
1312: Old Glory (25-Aug-1945)
1313: Busy Bakers (20-Oct-1945)
1945-46 (Now called the “Blue Ribbon Hit Parade”):
1945-46 (Now called the “Blue Ribbon Hit Parade”):
2301: A Sunbonnet Blue (17-Nov-1945)
2302: The Lyin’ Mouse (22-Dec-1945)
2303: The Good Egg (05-Jan-1946)
2304: The Trial of Mr. Wolf (09-Feb-1946)
2305: Little Lion Hunter (23-Mar-1946)
2306: Fresh Fish (06-Apr-1946)
2307: Daffy Duck and Egghead (20-Apr-1946)
2308: Katnip Kollege (04-May-1946)
2309: The Night Watchman (18-May-1946)
2310: Little Brother Rat (08-Jun-1946)
2310: Little Brother Rat (08-Jun-1946)
2311: Johnny Smith & Poker Huntas (22-Jun-1946)
2312: Robin Hood Makes Good (06-Jul-1946)
2313: Little Red Walking Hood (17-Aug-1946)
1946-47:
1946-47:
3301: Fox Pop (28-Sep-1946)
3302: The Wacky Worm (12-Oct-1946)
3303: You’re an Education (26-Oct-1946)
3304: Have You Got Any Castles? (01-Feb-1947)
3305: Pigs is Pigs (22-Feb-1947)
3306: The Cat’s Tale (29-Mar-1947)
3307: Goofy Groceries (19-Apr-1947)
3308: Doggone Modern (14-Jun-1947)
3309: The Sneezing Weasel (26-Jul-1947)
3310: Rhapsody in Rivets (16-Aug-1947)
3311: Sniffles Bells the Cat (20-Sep-1947)
3312: Cagey Canary (11-Oct-1947)
3313: Now That Summer is Gone (22-Nov-1947)
1947-48:
1947-48:
4301: Dangerous Dan McFoo (30-Jan-1948)
4302: Hobo Gadget Band (14-Feb-1948)
4303: Little Pancho Vanilla (20-Mar-1948)
4304: Don’t Look Now (10-Apr-1948)
4305: The Curious Puppy (24-Apr-1948)
4306: Circus Today (22-May-1948)
4307: Little Blabber Mouse (12-Jun-1948)
4308: The Squawkin’ Hawk (10-Jul-1948)
4309: A Tale of Two Kitties (31-Jul-1948)
4310: Pigs in a Polka (14-Aug-1948)
4311: Greetings Bait (28-Aug-1948)
4312: Hiss and Make Up (18-Sep-1948)
4313: Hollywood Steps Out (02-Oct-1948)
1948-49:
1948-49:
5301: An Itch in Time (30-Oct-1948)
5302: Fin ‘n’ Catty (11-Dec-1948)
5303: Bedtime For Sniffles (01-Jan-1949)
5304: Prest-o Chang-o (05-Feb-1949)
5305: Swooner Crooner (12-Feb-1949)
5306: Hop, Skip and a Chump (05-Mar-1949)
5307: He Was Her Man (02-Apr-1949)
5308: I Wanna Be a Sailor (20-Apr-1949)
5309: Flop Goes the Weasel (21-May-1949)
5310: Horton Hatches the Egg (18-Jun-1949)
5311: The Egg Collector (16-Jul-1949)
5312: The Mice Will Play (06-Aug-1949)
5313: Inki and the Mynah Bird (20-Aug-1949)
1949-50:
1949-50:
6301: Tom Thumb in Trouble (24-Sep-1949)
6302: Farm Frolics (15-Oct-1949)
6303: The Hep Cat (12-Nov-1949)
6304: Toy Trouble (31-Dec-1949)
6305: My Favorite Duck (28-Jan-1950)
6306: The Sheepish Wolf (04-Mar-1950)
6307: Double Chaser (25-Mar-1950)
6308: Fifth Column Mouse (22-Apr-1950)
6309: Inki and the Lion (20-May-1950)
6310: Tick Tock Tuckered (03-Jun-1950)
6311: Booby Hatched (01-Jul-1950)
6312: Trap Happy Porky (05-Aug-1950)
6313: Lost and Foundling (26-Aug-1950)
1950-51:
1950-51:
7301: Fagin’s Freshmen (16-Sep-1950)
7302: Slightly Daffy (14-Oct-1950)
7303: The Aristo-Cat (11-Nov-1950)
7304: The Unbearable Bear (09-Dec-1950)
7305: Duck Soup to Nuts (06-Jan-1951)
7306: Flowers for Madame (03-Feb-1951)
7307: Life With Feathers (03-Mar-1951)
7308: Peck Up Your Troubles (24-Mar-1951)
7309: Odor-Able Kitty (21-Apr-1951)
7310: Book Revue (19-May-1951) mis-titled “Book Review”
7311: Stage Fright (23-Jun-1951)
7312: Sioux Me (21-Jul-1951)
7313: The Stupid Cupid (01-Sep-1951)
1951-52:
1951-52:
8301: Holiday for Shoestrings (15-Sep-1951)
8302: The Lady in Red (13-Oct-1951)
8303: Sniffles and the Bookworm (10-Nov-1951)
8304: Goldilocks and the Jivin’ Bears (01-Dec-1951)
8305: Of Thee I Sting (12-Jan-1952)
8306: From Hand to Mouse (09-Feb-1952)
8307: Brave Little Bat (15-Mar-1952)
8308: Snow Time for Comedy (12-Apr-1952)
8309: Hush My Mouse (03-May-1952)
8310: Baby Bottleneck (14-Jun-1952)
8311: The Bug Parade (12-Jul-1952)
8312: Merrie Old Soul (02-Aug-1952)
8313: Fresh Airedale (30-Aug-1952)
1952-53:
1952-53:
9301: A Feud There Was (13-Sep-1952) 2nd BR
release
9302: Daffy Doodles (11-Oct-1952)
9303: A Day at the Zoo (08-Nov-1952)
9304: The Early Worm Gets the Bird (29-Nov-1952) 2nd
BR release
9305: A Tale of Two Mice (10-Jan-1953)
9306: The Bashful Buzzard (07-Feb-1953)
9307: The Country Mouse (14-Mar-1953)
9308: Little Dutch Plate (11-Apr-1953)
9309: Ain’t That Ducky (02-May-1953)
9310: Mighty Hunters (13-Jun-1953) (1st BR to retain the original title and credit card)
9311: The Fighting 69-1/2th (11-Jul-1953) 2nd BR
release
9312: Sniffles Takes a Trip (01-Aug-1953)
9313: Wacky Wildlife (29-Aug-1953)
1953-54:
1953-54:
1301: Old Glory (12-Sep-1953) 2nd BR release
1302: Walky Talky Hawky (17-Oct-1953)
1303: Birth of a Notion (07-Nov-1953)
1303: Birth of a Notion (07-Nov-1953)
1304: Eager Beaver (28-Nov-1953)
1305: Scent-Imental Over You (26-Dec-1953)
1306: Of Fox and Hounds (06-Feb-1954) 2nd BR
release
1307: Roughly Squeaking (27-Feb-1954)
1308: Hobo Bobo (03-Apr-1954)
1309: Gay Antics (24-Apr-1954)
1310: The Cat Came Back (05-Jun-1954) 2nd BR
release
1311: One Meat Brawl (10-Jul-1954)
1312: Along Came Daffy (24-Jul-1954)
1313: Mouse Menace (14-Aug-1954)
1954-55:
1954-55:
2301: Rhapsody in Rivets (11-Sep-1954) 2nd BR
release
2302: Inki at the Circus (16-Oct-1954)
2303: Foxy Duckling (06-Nov-1954)
2304: The Shell-Shocked Egg (27-Nov-1954)
2305: The Trial of Mr. Wolf (25-Dec-1954) 2nd BR release
2306: Back Alley
Oproar (05-Feb-1955)
2307: You Were Never
Duckier (26-Feb-1955)
2308: House Hunting
Mice (02-Apr-1955)
2309: Crowing Pains
(23-Apr-1955)
2310: Hop, Look and
Listen (04-Jun-1955)
2311: Tweetie Pie
(25-Jun-1955)
2312: Goofy Gophers
(23-Jul-1955)
2313: What’s Brewin’
Bruin? (20-Aug-1955)
1955-56 (final season in which credits were eliminated):
1955-56 (final season in which credits were eliminated):
3301: Doggone Cats
(10-Sep-1955)
3302: The Rattled
Rooster (22-Oct-1955)
3303: Fair and
Worm-er (5?-Nov-1955)
3304: The
Mouse-Merized Cat (26-Nov-1955)
3305: The Foghorn
Leghorn (24-Dec-1955)
3306: Bone, Sweet
Bone (21-Jan-1956)
3307: I Taw a Putty
Tat (25-Feb-1956)
3308: Two Gophers
from Texas (31-Mar-1956)
3309: Kit for Cat
(21-Apr-1956)
3310: Scaredy Cat
(02-Jun-1956)
3311: A Horsefly
Fleas (07-Jul-1956)
3312: Little Orphan
Airedale (04-Aug-1956)
3313: Daffy Dilly
(18-Aug-1956)
1956-57 (First with original title cards and credits intact):
1956-57 (First with original title cards and credits intact):
4301: Mouse Mazurka
(15-Sep-1956)
4302: Paying the
Piper (20-Oct-1956)
4303: Daffy Duck
Hunt (17-Nov-1956)
4304: Henhouse
Henery (01-Dec-1956)
4305: Swallow The
Leader (19-Jan-1957)
4306 For
Scent-imental Reasons (02-Feb-1957)
4307: Mouse Wreckers
(09-Mar-1957)
4308: Dough for the
Do-Do (06-Apr-1957)
4309: Fast and
Furry-ous (27-Apr-1957)
4310: Bear Feat
(18-May-1957)
4311: Each Dawn I
Crow (15-Jun-1957)
4312: Bad Ol’ Putty
Tat (29-Jun-1957)
4313: Hippety Hopper
(24-Aug-1957)
1957-58:
1957-58:
5301: Hare Splitter
(Sept? 1957)
5302: Pop ‘Im Pop!
(Oct? 1957)
5303: His Bitter
Half (Oct? 1957)
5304: The Leghorn
Blows at Midnight (Nov 1957)
5305: The Pest That
Came to Dinner (Dec 1957)
5306: The
Hypo-Chondri-Cat (Dec 1957)
5307: Home, Tweet
Home (Jan 1958)
5308: Mississippi Hare
(Feb 1958)
5309: Caveman Inki
(Mar 1958)
5310: It’s Hummer
Time (Mar 1958)
5311: A Fractured
Leghorn (Apr 1958)
5312: The Scarlet
Pumpernickel (May 1958)
5313: All
A-bir-r-r-d! (Jun 1958)
5314: Awful Orphan
(Jul 1958)
5315: Rebel Rabbit
(Aug 1958)
5316: Stooge for a
Mouse (Aug 1958)
1958-59:
1958-59:
6301: Bowery Bugs
(Sept 1958)
6302: An Egg
Scramble (Oct 1958)
6303: Wise Quackers
(Oct 1958)
6304: Two’s a Crowd
(Nov 1958)
6305: Canary Row
(Dec 1958)
6306: Dog Collared
(Jan 1959)
6307: Fox in a Fix
(Jan 1959)
6308: My Bunny Lies
Over the Sea (Feb 1959)
6309: Golden Yeggs
(Mar 1959)
6310: Scent-imental
Romeo (Mar 1959)
6311: Canned Feud
(May 1959)
6312: Early to Bet
(May 1959)
6313: Boobs in the
Woods (Jun 1959)
6314: The
Bee-Deviled Bruin (Jul 1959)
6315: High-Diving
Hare (Jul 1959)
6316: Doggone South
(Aug 1959)
1959-60:
1959-60:
7301: Drip-Along
Daffy (Sept 1959)
7302: Often an
Orphan (Oct 1959)
7303: Putty Tat
Trouble (Oct 1959)
7304: Hot Cross
Bunny (Nov 1959)
7305: A Bear For
Punishment (Dec 1959)
7306: A Bone For a
Bone (Jan 1960)
7307: The Prize Pest
(Jan 1960)
7308: Tweety’s
S.O.S. (Feb 1960)
7309: Lovelorn
Leghorn (Mar 1960)
7310: Sleepytime
Possum (Apr 1960)
7311: Cheese Chasers
(Apr 1960)
7312: Who’s Kitten Who? (May 1960)
7313: The Ducksters (Jun 1960)
7314: Chow Hound (Jul 1960)
7315: French Rarebit (Aug 1960)
7316: A Ham in a Role (Aug 1960)
1960-61:
1960-61:
8301: Room and Bird
(Sept 1960)
8302: Cracked Quack
(Oct 1960)
8303: His
Hare-Raising Tale (Oct 1960)
8304: Gift Wrapped
(Nov 1960)
8305: Little Beau
Pepe (Dec 1960)
8306: Tweet Tweet
Tweety (Dec 1960)
8307: Bunny Hugged
(Jan 1961)
8308: The Wearing of
the Grin (Feb 1961)
8309: Beep Beep (Mar
1961)
8310: Rabbit Fire
(Apr 1961)
8311: Feed the Kitty
(Apr 1961)
8312: The Lion’s
Busy (May 1961)
8313: Thumb Fun (Jun
1961)
8314: Corn Plastered
(Jul 1961)
8315: Kiddin’ the
Kitten (Aug 1961)
8316: Ballot Box
Bunny (Aug 1961)
1961-62:
1961-62:
9301: A Hound for
Trouble (Sept 1961)
9302: Strife With
Father (Sept 1961)
9303: The Grey
Hounded Hare (Oct 1961)
9304: Leghorn
Swaggled (Nov 1961)
9305: A Peck o’
Trouble (Dec 1961)
9306: Tom-Tom Tomcat
(Jan 1962)
9307:
Sock-a-Doodle-Do (Feb 1962)
9308: Rabbit Hood
(Mar 1962)
9309: Ain’t She
Tweet? (Apr 1962)
9310: Bye Bye
Bluebeard (May 1962)
9311: Homeless Hare
(Jun 1962)
9312: A Bird in a
Guilty Cage (Jul 1962)
9313: Fool Coverage
(Aug 1962)
1962-63:
1962-63:
1301: ?
1302: ?
1303: ?
1304: ?
1305: ?
1306: Dog Pounded
(Jan 1963)
1307: Cat-Tails for
Two (Feb 1963)
1308: Easy Peckin’s
(Mar 1963)
1309: No Barking
(Apr 1963)
1310: Upswept Hare
(May 1963)
1311: Bell-Hoppy
(Jun 1963)
1312: Satan’s
Waitin’ (Jul 1963)
1313: Big Top Bunny (Aug 1963)
1963-64:
1313: Big Top Bunny (Aug 1963)
1963-64:
2301: Yankee Dood It
(Sept 1963)
2302: Gone Batty
(Oct 1963)
2303: From A to
Z-z-z (Nov 1963)
2304: Tweet Zoo (Dec
1963)
2305: Weasel Stop
(Jan 1964)
2306: Tabasco Road
(Feb 1964)
2307: Greedy for
Tweety (Mar 1964)
2308: The High and
the Flighty (May 1964)
2309: Pests for
Guests (May 1964)
2310: Birds
Anonymous (Jun 1964)
2311: Raw! Raw!
Rooster! (Jul 1964)
2312: A Kiddie’s
Kitty (Aug 1964)
2313: Fox Terror
(Aug 1964)
Leftover Blue Ribbons from the 1959-64 era, per Dave Mackey (shown in original release order):
Knights Must Fall
Hurdy Gurdy Hare
8-Ball Bunny
14 Carrot Rabbit
Fowl Weather
Muscle Tussle
Design For Leaving
