No pre-1948 Bugs Bunny cartoons as Blue Ribbon. Why? Options

[Deyan G. Mavrov]

I notice no Bugs Bunny cartoon released before 1948 (except A Wild Hare) was re-issued as Blue Ribbon. Why is that so? Did they re-release Bugs cartoons in a different way? After they sold the pre-1948 cartoons to AAP, they started doing Bugs Blue Ribbon re-releases (Rabbit Fire being just one of the many). I hope someone knows.

[The Super Star]

I notice no Bugs Bunny cartoon released before 1948 (except A Wild Hare) was re-issued as Blue Ribbon. Why is that so? Did they re-release Bugs cartoons in a different way? After they sold the pre-1948 cartoons to AAP, they started doing Bugs Blue Ribbon re-releases (Rabbit Fire being just one of the many). I hope someone knows.

Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt was also reissued as a Blue Ribbon.

Warner initiated a Bugs Bunny Special series in 1944 (when the 1940 cartoons and later were starting to come up for BR reissue rotation; hence the reissues of A Wild Hare and Hiawatha) which put all the new Bugs cartoons in a unique package sold to theatres at a premium, and according to at least one reputable source, theater owners complained about Bugs reissues showing up in the Blue Ribbon series in tandem with new Bugs cartoons appearing in the Bugs Bunny Special series. Thus, no more BR Bugs cartoons until the a.a.p. sale.

Even if this isn't the complete answer, it's a good thing, for modern viewers anyway, that only two Bugs shorts were ever inducted into the creditless BR series. Can you imagine if Tortoise Beats Hare or Wabbit Twouble had their credits lopped off and were reissued as Blue Ribbons?

[Guest_JackSpit_*]

Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt was also reissued as a Blue Ribbon.

Warner initiated a Bugs Bunny Special series in 1944 (when the 1940 cartoons and later were starting to come up for BR reissue rotation; hence the reissues of A Wild Hare and Hiawatha) which put all the new Bugs cartoons in a unique package sold to theatres at a premium, and according to at least one reputable source, theater owners complained about Bugs reissues showing up in the Blue Ribbon series in tandem with new Bugs cartoons appearing in the Bugs Bunny Special series. Thus, no more BR Bugs cartoons until the a.a.p. sale.

Even if this isn't the complete answer, it's a good thing, for modern viewers anyway, that only two Bugs shorts were ever inducted into the creditless BR series. Can you imagine if Tortoise Beats Hare or Wabbit Twouble had their credits lopped off and were reissued as Blue Ribbons?

Well, the Blue Ribbon designation started with the 2 you mentioned, in an attempt to try to Class it Up- to label it's highest dollar and most popular of the Looney Tunes Cast to compete with MGM and Disney and their high falutin' icons of "quality".
John K. parodies this approach with Spumco's label "The Dane's Call It 'Quality'"

[Deyan G. Mavrov]

Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt was also reissued as a Blue Ribbon.

Warner initiated a Bugs Bunny Special series in 1944 (when the 1940 cartoons and later were starting to come up for BR reissue rotation; hence the reissues of A Wild Hare and Hiawatha) which put all the new Bugs cartoons in a unique package sold to theatres at a premium, and according to at least one reputable source, theater owners complained about Bugs reissues showing up in the Blue Ribbon series in tandem with new Bugs cartoons appearing in the Bugs Bunny Special series. Thus, no more BR Bugs cartoons until the a.a.p. sale.

Even if this isn't the complete answer, it's a good thing, for modern viewers anyway, that only two Bugs shorts were ever inducted into the creditless BR series. Can you imagine if Tortoise Beats Hare or Wabbit Twouble had their credits lopped off and were reissued as Blue Ribbons?

Thanks for the reply. Yes, seeing these films with replaced credits would be bad (thinking about it, it wouldn't be easy to start Tortoise Beats Hare from where Bugs says "where's that turtle?", since it wouldn't be clear who "that turtle" is). Only two Bugs BR cartoons also contributed to the fact no Bugs credit sequences were lost.
Anyway, this answers a question I had ever since CN and Boomerang started showing only pre-1948 cartoons here.

[Steve Carras]

And all this time I thought that it was because of the special status of Bugs..

[SeattleChef]

What exactly does Blue Ribbon mean?
Does it refer to whether or not the original credits were included?

[Deyan G. Mavrov]

What exactly does Blue Ribbon mean?
Does it refer to whether or not the original credits were included?

A Blue Ribbon cartoon is any Warner Bros. cartoon beginning with a variant of this:



Some of them have credits, some not.

These are actualy second-release prints of the cartoons.

This post has been edited by Deyan G. Mavrov: Nov 20 2007, 03:23 PM

[Saneguy]

I always thought it was strange that all the Blue Ribbon reissues were labeled as Merrie Melodies, even though many of them were Looney Tunes. Was that just laziness on WB's part?