Have You Got Any Castles?
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| Have You Got Any Castles
Merrie Melodies (re-issued as Blue Ribbon) series |
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 Blue Ribbon title card |
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| Directed by | Frank Tashlin |
| Produced by | Leon Schlesinger |
| Story by | Jack Miller |
| Voices by | Mel Blanc Delos Jewkes |
| Music by | Carl W. Stalling |
| Animation by | Ken Harris |
| Distributed by | The Vitaphone Corporation Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Release date(s) | June 25, 1938 |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| IMDb profile | |
Have You Got Any Castles? is a seven minute animated short film that premiered in theaters in June 1938. It was a part of the Merry Melodies series produced by Leon Schlesinger, and distributed by Vitaphone.
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[edit] Synopsis
The daily publication "Film Daily" called the short a "fine fantasy", and gave it the following review:
"The story takes place in a library, with all the characters coming to life from well known works of fiction, both classical and modern. Rip Van Winkle is the center of interest, as he cannot continue sleeping with the noise. Finally he gets "The Hurricane" to blow all the noise-makers back into the covers of their books again, and he goes peacefully to sleep. The final titles show the pop book, "Gone with the Wind." Produced by Leon Schlesinger. Story by Jack Miller. Animation by Ken Harris. In Technicolor."1
[edit] Censorship
- After this film's initial release, Alexander Woolcott requested that his caricature as "The Town Crier" in this cartoon be cut. The cartoon has aired in syndication with these edits until it appeared on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2 with both scenes of Alexander Woolcott as "The Town Crier" and an ending where Rip van Winkle is asleep on the cuckoo clock (with the cuckoo bird's beak wrapped shut) restored after sixty-six years of being removed.
- The version of this cartoon that aired on TBS not only aired the version that was popularly circulated in syndication, but edited the cartoon further to remove caricatures of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson tap dancing in a book called "The 39 Steps", Cab Calloway singing "I've Got Swing For Sale" (which was recycled from the 1937 Censored Eleven cartoon Clean Pastures, making it the closest that a Censored Eleven cartoon has come to ever airing on television), and a scene of Rip van Winkle twice stealing scissors from "The Valiant Little Tailor" and using them to cut Uncle Tom's hair to use as ear plugs (the second time resulting in Uncle Tom punching Rip van Winkle in the face and cutting his beard off). Surprisingly, this is one of the few cartoons Cartoon Network has aired uncut (save for the scenes with Alex Woolcott), despite the many racial and ethnic stereotypes.
[edit] References
- "Review of the New Films-Shorts", Film Daily, Vol. 73, p.4, Monday, June 13, 1938
