Ceiling Hero

Ceiling Hero
← Previous	Patient Porky
Next →	Malibu Beach Party
Airdate:	24 August 1940
Series:	Merrie Melodies
MPAA Number:	6083
Vitaphone Number:	9361
Copyright Renewed:	21 May 1968
Crew
Voice Characterizations:	Mel Blanc (uncredited) Robert C. Bruce (uncredited)
Director:	Fred Avery
Written By:	Dave Monahan
Producer:	Leon Schlesinger
Animated By:	Rod Scribner Virgil Ross Robert McKimson
Background Artist:	John Didrik Johnsen (uncredited)
Film Editor:	Treg Brown (uncredited)
Musician:	Carl W. Stalling

Ceiling Hero is a 1940 Merrie Melodies short directed by Tex Avery.

Title

The title is a play on the 1936 film Ceiling Zero.

Plot

Through the medium of the motion picture screen are brought the latest developments in the science of modern flying. At a Midwestern airport, all pilots must receive a licence. Eventually, a six-motor airliner starts to take off, but only the wings of the plane fly off. Another tip given is that the larger the tires, the softer the landing. A small plane with over-sized tires demonstrates this advice.

After a preview of a rocket ship experiment that explodes into fireworks saying "Eat Tony's Hot Dogs", a mobile home appears. The narrator states that planes are used for vacation travel, advertising, and cabin cruising. In addition, military planes use camouflage, covering the entire plane in sky background except for the propeller. Lastly, a pilot showcases using a parachute after his plane encounters engine trouble.

An airline cruiser starts to take off for flight, following a "highway passage" with traffic waits. After passing bad weather, it makes it past the California coastline to land. Next, a team of stunt pilots explains that blind flight is important for pilots. A new model is then ready to take flight, and a test pilot takes the risk. The test plane flies so high that the plane begins to freeze as it exits the atmosphere, and then eventually flips over to descend rapidly. After reporting an accident, the test pilot crashes onto the ground. The narrator questions if the test pilot was hurt, but the test pilot, still alive and well, replies "Could be."

Caricatures

• Artie Auerbach - as his character Mr Kitzel, "Mm, could be."

Availability

(1989) VHS
Sniffles the Mouse in Toy Trouble

(1993) LaserDisc
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Volume 4, Side 7

Streaming

HBO Max
(18 August 2020 - 2020) (restored, but taken down)

Warner Bros. Discovery RIDE (2021 - 2023) (restored)

Censorship

• A brief sight gag involving a Chinese airliner with a stereotypical Asian face, and the accompanying narration "Winging its way to the Orient, we pass the China clipper" was cut when this short aired on Cartoon Network and Boomerang USA, though it is left uncensored on international Cartoon Network and Boomerang feeds as well as the Latin American channel Tooncast. This may have been why the short was taken off of HBO Max in 2020. The short was later made available on the WBD Ride streaming service, but since the service shut down in 2023, the restoration has not been available to view legally.

Notes

• This is the final short to use the 1940 black, red, blue and white rings.
• In both the US and EU 1995 Turner "dubbed version" prints, there are visible screen shakes at certain points of the cartoon, especially in the title card, perhaps due to minor film damage of the source negative from which this Turner print is remastered from.