Confederate Honey is a 1940 Merrie Melodies short directed by Friz Freleng.
Title
The cartoon's title is meant to evoke "Confederate Money".
Plot
It is 1861 (B.Sea., that is "Before Seabiscuit"), and Colonel O'Hairoil, a literal blueblood in the literally bluegrass country of Kentucky, presides over rich tobacco and cotton plantations. His black workers slowly pick the cotton one boll at a time, and when one young lad takes two bolls of cotton and hands them to his recumbent father to place in the packing crate, he is warned, "Don't get too ambitious there, son."
The pride of the plantation is the Colonel's daughter, Crimson O'Hairoil, who is courted by many suitors, who leave in vain after having their horse parking ticket validated, for parking is charged by the hour. Crimson has eyes only for the "chivalrous," "hard riding, square shooting soldier of fortune, Ned Cutler." (Elmer Fudd). Ned arrives, and is just, with some difficulty, about to ask Crimson a question, when there is an explosion—the war has started. Ned must leave to join his "wegiment." He leaves his horse in the paid lot, despite the warning of the attendant.
The war drags on. The war is picketed on the grounds that it is unfair to the Union, while civilians are equipped with blue "Union suits" (uniforms). An officer addresses his men, warning that the other side is pitching Stoneball Jackson, "a southpaw" against them, and if they win, they will meet the South in the Cotton Bowl. A trumpeter sounds a call, but things degenerate into a jazz band. A nervous Confederate officer paces in a tent with information coming in by telegraph—it turns out to be race results. Ned shoots a cannon, whose ball acts like a pinball in a machine.
Meanwhile, the horse and attendant await Ned's return. The Colonel is dispirited to hear, on the radio, that "The Yanks" have won again, announced before a victory for Brooklyn (and all others rained out), and curses the Yankees.
Back at camp, Ned reads a letter and sighs. A signal rocket turns into an advertisement "After the battle, eat Southern Fried Chicken at Mammy's Shack." Crimson, having promised to burn a light in the window for Ned, does so with such enthusiasm with a searchlight that she alarms Paul Revere, who rides away giving his famous warning.
Time passes (with the horse and attendant still in the lot) from 1861 to 1865, and the war ends. Crimson looks out her window, strewn with the remains of candles. At last, Ned returns, and finally asks Crimson the question—can she validate his parking ticket? She stamps "REVOKED" across his forehead.
Caricatures
- Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara
- Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes
- Hugh Herbert
Availability
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 3, Side 8: The Evolution of Egghead (uncensored)
Banned & Censored Cartoons Volume II
Errol Flynn Westerns Collection Virginia City (USA 1995 Turner print, censored)
Censorship
- While this cartoon is not listed as a "Censored Eleven" short, it has rarely been shown in full on American television because of the Civil War theme and scenes featuring African-American slaves. On the rare occasions this short aired on Cartoon Network, its sister channel Boomerang and the former WB channel, the following parts were cut[3]
- The shot of the sign reading, "Uncle Tom's Bungalows--$1.50 a Night and Up"
- All scenes featuring the black cotton pickers.
- A shot of a slave girl (called Topsy by Crimson O'Hairoil) putting the finishing touches on Crimson O'Hairoil's dress.
- The scene with the slave validating parking tickets is cropped so the viewer only sees the slave's hand.
- The scene where Elmer gives his horse to a slave valet crops out the appearance of the slave valet and is shortened to remove the part where the slave actually parks the horse.
- All three scenes of the slave waiting for Elmer to retrieve his horse.
The edits listed here also appear on the Errol Flynn Westerns Collection DVD set (but not the Golden Age of Looney Tunes LaserDisc).
Notes
- It is a sendup of Gone with the Wind.
- Caricatures of Henry Binder, Tubby Millar, Ray Katz, and animator Paul J. Smith appear as Union soldiers.
- This is the first of three cartoons featuring the black hunter from "All This and Rabbit Stew". He appears as the slave who is waiting for Ned to pick up his horse.
- This is the first cartoon to have the 1940 rings evident from the red, white, and blue rings and a black background instead of a sky one. It is also the first cartoon to have the finalized "That's all Folks!" ending which is still used today.
