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Why Original Opening Credits Vanished From Looney Tunes Cartoons: The Blue Ribbon Program Explained!

Anthony's Animation Talk

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Ever wondered why some Looney Tunes shorts have beautiful opening title sequences while others just show a very bland blue ribbon title card? This video explains the history behind Warner Brothers' Blue Ribbon reissue program and why original opening credits were replaced.

0:00 - Introduction to the Blue Ribbon Program
0:44 - Original title sequences vs Blue Ribbon titles
2:27 - How theaters showed these shorts
4:53 - World War II's impact and the program's beginning
6:15 - How they replaced the opening titles
7:10 - Why only Merrie Melodies at first
8:03 - Notable alterations: "A Wild Hare"
9:37 - Why the program made business sense
11:33 - Other studios follow suit
13:28 - MGM's realization and Hanna-Barbera's birth
16:29 - Final thoughts on the Blue Ribbon program

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#LooneyTunes #WarnerBros #BlueRibbon #AnimationHistory #BugsBunny #MerrieMelodies #ClassicCartoons #GoldenAgeAnimation #CartoonHistory #AnimationTalk

20 Comments

@AnthonysAnimationTalk Creator 8 months ago Pinned

If you guys like this sort of stuff I’ll definitely do more

@charlieilardi481 8 months ago

One fact: the inauguration of the Blue Ribbon re-release program in 1943 was the occasion for Manny Farber to write his seminal article "Short and Happy" in New Republic magazine; the first critical review that placed the Warner cartoon shorts above Disney. One opinion: one possible reason for removing the original credits from the Blue Ribbon releases was to not recognize talent that was no longer with the studio, or, more specifically, with a rival studio. Choosing "A Feud There Was" for the first release was a good choice, but with Tex Avery now famous at MGM, they weren't going to leave his name on their product! (...maybe.)

@ChristopherSobieniak 8 months ago

The "Blue Ribbon" certainly gets it's phrase from county fairs and other similar events. That statue seen in these titles was a real award separate from the Oscars. I forgot what it was called.

@samp.8099 8 months ago (edited)

Wasn't the "Blue Ribbon" name a ploy to "trick" theater owners into thinking the reissued shorts were some sort of selected award-winners? When in reality the plan was to eventually reissue all backlog color cartoons, regardless of quality

@ToothlessCuteness-l5v 8 months ago

And also the final Blue Ribbon Reissue short in 1969 was "Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z" (1956) that marked the closure of the original Warner Bros Seven-Arts studio of that era

@fmphotooffice5513 8 months ago

One Froggy Evening is a masterpiece.

@40stbotolph 8 months ago

Leon Schlesinger, unsung pioneer of reruns.

@eaglescout1984 8 months ago

I wouldn't say the blue ribbon wasn't exclusively known to people living in the rural areas. The idea of a "blue ribbon" was known throughout the US as a sort of accolade bestowed upon the best things. Obviously, it was used in agricultural fairs, but it was also used in athletic games and food competitions as well. One famous example is Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, which was rebranded as such due to a win at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.

@mr.a1957 8 months ago

A Hithwatha Rabbit Hunt was the another pre-1948 to be reissued under the original blue ribbon program.

@darbow898 8 months ago

The recent Looney Tunes Cartoons short Trophy Hunter made a reference to the Blue Ribbon titles.

@verkehrsteilnehmer-berlin 8 months ago

The best is, a Television Company has a copyright in 1932, when television was in experimental status.

@Mad-Mel1 8 months ago

When I was a child we watched these on a black and white TV. I always wondered to myself, “Why is there a tree stump at the start of the cartoon?”

@lexbates 8 months ago

I had read elsewhere that another reason the cartoons were reissued was that Schlesinger wanted to reduce the number of new cartoons for each year by one third. Warners wanted to keep releasing the same number of films per year; so the reissues made up the difference.

@Deinotherium646 8 months ago

It was recently uncovered that Warners submitted two cartoons for best animated short of 1938- one is the Frank Tashlin classic “Wholly Smoke” and the other? “The Isle of Pingo Pongo”!! Fascinating how a cartoon that is basically banned forever today was considered excellent enough for a coveted Oscar consideration back in the day when it was released. For anyone else interested, the documentation also reveals two Terrytoons were submitted as well as MGM’s similarly tobacco dream themed “Pipe Dreams” (as well as the Disney and Fleischer shorts that actually got nominated that year).

@face4radio 8 months ago

Ah the $1 VHS tapes with bogus cover art.. you push play and get the Blue Ribbon logo.. then the theme restarts in a different key to show the a.a.p. logo, all zoomed and cropped to hell, with dogwater color grading...

@isaiahtheclassichistorian 8 months ago

9:44 There was another Bugs Bunny short apart of the Pre-1948 package to be reissued in the Blue Ribbon Program, which was Hiawatha’s Rabbit Hunt

@supermanprime6758 8 months ago

Please do more history stuff like this.

@HodgeCountyNetwork 8 months ago

An answer to a question that I never knew I had.

@MrCREWCRUSHIN95 8 months ago

Classic Looney Tunes were NEVER made for children. They have sophisticated adult humor and references. They were created to be played before feature films.