Disney had a few things right, For example, Dumbo. His experience rings true. I’m quite certain if you get drunk and learn to fly, you will in fact become popular, and probably won’t be bullied anymore.
How did they get away with that? A different time, I guess.
Wait, that movie was released in 1941, the height of strict standards in film known as the Motion Picture Production Code. You’d think sending that message to children would be borderline, at best, and the Code didn’t tolerate a lot of borderline at that point.
I guess drunk cartoon characters weren’t taboo. Or perhaps because Dumbo didn’t intend to drink champagne, the message is different.
Warner Bros. cartoon characters used to sing, “no more cursing, rehearsing our parts” at the beginning of each show. Now it’s “no more nursing, rehearsing our parts.” Nursing, of course, as in nursing something along — a pretty outdated expression, but nothing else rhymes.
They were cursing from 1944 to 1964. Well, not on camera, and saying you would curse met code standards for adults, so I guess no one seriously questioned it for kids. And frankly, that change irritates me. Unless Bugs Bunny actually cursed, big deal. Of all the battles to pick, petitioning for new wording there seems useless, and the difference sounds weird to boot.
(Bugs was a bit of a wise-ass, and Elmer Fudd was a grouch, so it’s easy to imagine them swearing, but that would leave me disillusioned.)
Standards are a funny thing. I have a friend who’s a vegetarian, and endlessly wears us out preaching about the horrors related to eating meat, particularly what it does to your body over a lifetime. Still, she has no problem ordering dessert, as long as it’s “vegetable based” (her words). Like carrot cake. Seriously.
No doubt we’re all guilty of something similar, something we probably don’t recognize anymore than my friend sees that her choice to eat carrot cake but not beef isn’t logical to most. I tried hard to think of my own such inconsistency, but couldn’t come up with anything. Well, given my logic that we’re blind to our own conflicting behavior, that makes sense
Ooooh. Was calling Bugs a wise-ass inconsistent with the sentences immediately preceding that comment?
Okay, let my friend eat cake, and I’ll eat my words.
My World With Words 
I am an animation lover and read extensively about WB, Chuck Jones, Tex Avery and the rest, but I did not know about cursing changing to nursing. The song is an old Broadway standard and I assumed it was cursing all a long.
The vegetable based dessert made me laugh.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I noticed it when I was watching the cartoons one Saturday morning many years ago. Since writing that post I’ve learned they may have made the change later than I originally thought, but I can’t confirm the date. If you know of any good resources, I’d love to verify it. I’m nothing if not obsessive, and I can’t find anything online.
And yes, we all get a good laugh coming up with vegetable-based desserts for all occasions with her. I have to believe she’s caught on, but if she has, she hasn’t given it away.
LikeLike
What about fruit? Can it be fruit based?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, apple spice cake, for example.
LikeLike