Have You Got Any Castles?

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = Have You Got Any Castles
series = Merrie Melodies (re-issued as Blue Ribbon)

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caption = Blue Ribbon title card
director = Frank Tashlin
story_artist = Jack Miller
animator = Ken Harris
voice_actor = Mel Blanc
Delos Jewkes
musician = Carl W. Stalling
producer = Leon Schlesinger
distributor = The Vitaphone Corporation Warner Bros. Pictures
release_date = June 25, 1938
color_process = Technicolor
runtime =
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0030215

"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.

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

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 editing marks still appear during the Woolcott sequences on the DVD.
*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 mainstream American TV, since Cartoon has aired this cartoon uncut [save for the deleted scenes featuring Alex Woolcott] ), 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).

References

*"Review of the New Films-Shorts", Film Daily, Vol. 73, p.4, Monday, June 13, 1938

External links

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