LaserDisc cover (Volume 1)
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes is a collection of LaserDiscs released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Turner Entertainment in the early 1990s featuring the pre-1948 Warner Bros. Cartoons that had been part of the Associated Artists Productions (a.a.p.) library which Turner had acquired. There were five sets made, featuring five discs in Volumes 1 to 4, and four discs in Volume 5. Each disc side represented a different theme, and most included seven cartoons per side.
The first collection was also released on VHS, both as individual cassette tapes and a box set. Individual releases had each cassette tape carrying one disc side, while the box set had two volumes on each tape.
With the exception of the Censored Eleven and, in the case of later printings, "Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips", every Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies short in the Turner library was released in this collection.
Like many other Looney Tunes home video releases by MGM, this collection of cartoons uses the 35mm dupes Warner Bros. provided to a.a.p. in 1956, as MGM/UA and Turner had no access to the original negatives, which were being stored at the Warner Bros. Studios lot. Most of Volume 5 uses the newer 1995 Turner "Dubbed Versions" prints. Unlike the Cartoon Festivals series, they did not have hacked off opening titles (except for "The Brave Little Bat" on Volume 4) , and used the original source a.a.p. TV print materials (albeit with their a.a.p. opening logos edited out in most cases).
All of the sets were released before the Time Warner/Turner merger and before the Golden Collection DVDs came out, so none of them had restored elements of original titles.
The sets had a listed MSRP of $99.98, according to info from the LaserDisc Database.
LaserDisc[]
Volume 1[]
- This set was released 11 December 1991.
Notes:
- This is the only LaserDisc volume of the collection to also be released on VHS (see below).
- Later pressings of this set have "Racketeer Rabbit" in place of "Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips". About 8,000 copies with "Nips the Nips" were sold.
- "Daffy Duck & Egghead" was not Daffy Duck's first appearance, but was the first Daffy cartoon in color, and the first where the character is named. This was used because Turner did not own the rights to "Porky's Duck Hunt", Daffy's actual first appearance.
- "Have You Got Any Castles" appears without the Alexander Woollcott scenes, which were cut from the reissue upon his death. The scenes with Woollcott were later restored for the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2 DVD set.
- "A Wild Hare" is featured as an unrestored Blue Ribbon print.
- As of March 2024, every cartoon in this LaserDisc collection has been restored and released on DVD and Blu-Ray, with only three exceptions: "Dangerous Dan McFoo", "Inki at the Circus", and "Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips".
- Each side of this LaserDisc collection features cartoons based on a certain theme, and is named as such.
- Side 1, 1930's Musicals, featured several early musical Merrie Melodies cartoons from the 1930s.
- Side 2, Firsts, featured debut cartoons for several major Looney Tunes characters created between 1935-1948.
- Sides 3 through 6 were each dedicated to cartoons from one of the following directors: Tex Avery (side 3), Bob Clampett (side 4), Chuck Jones (side 5) and Friz Freleng (side 6)
- Side 7, Bugs Bunny by Each Director, features at least one Bugs Bunny cartoon from each director that did at least one between 1940 through mid-1948.
- Side 8, 1940's Zanies, featured several character-driven cartoons from the 1940s.
- Side 9, Hooray For Hollywood, featured cartoons in which show-business itself played a major part, which many featured caricatures of notable celebrities of the time.
- Side 10, The Art of Bugs, featured some of the most popular Bugs Bunny cartoons from the 1940s.
Volume 2[]
- This set was released 1 July 1992.
Notes:
- Each side of this LaserDisc collection features cartoons based on a certain theme, and is named as such.
- Side 1, Musical Madness, features several musical cartoons from the 1930s.
- Side 2, Early Wabbits, features all the color cartoons starring the Bugs Bunny prototype, and some early Bugs Bunny cartoons as well.
- Sides 3 through 6 are again dedicated to cartoons from a single (or in one case, a pair of) director(s), in the following order: Frank Tashlin, Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett and Robert McKimson/Arthur Davis
- Side 7, Fables & Fairy Tales, featured cartoons which parody famous fairy tales.
- Side 8, The Art of Daffy, is dedicated to Daffy Duck.
- Side 9, Best Supporting Players, featured cartoons starring several lesser-known Looney Tunes characters from the 1940s.
- Side 10, Variations on a Theme, was centered on shuteye.
The following cartoons from this set have yet to appear restored on DVD and Blu-ray as of May 2024:
- "Goopy Geer"
- "Three's a Crowd"
- "Fresh Hare"
- "The Major Lied 'Til Dawn"
- "The Little Lion Hunter"
- "Flop Goes the Weasel"
- "The Mouse-Merized Cat"
- "Beauty and the Beast"
- "A-Lad in Bagdad"
- "Robin Hood Makes Good"
- "The Hardship of Miles Standish"
- "The Goofy Gophers"
- "Of Fox and Hounds"
- "Good Night Elmer"
Volume 3[]
- This set was released 23 December 1992.
Notes:
- Each side of this LaserDisc collection features cartoons based on a certain theme, and is named as such.
- Side 1, Harman-Ising, exclusively featured the earliest Harman-Ising Merrie Melodies cartoons which are all produced in black-and-white.
- Side 2, Bugs Bunny, features Bugs Bunny cartoons.
- Sides 3 through 6 are again dedicated to cartoons from a single (or in one case, a pair of) director(s), in the following order: Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Tex Avery, Frank Tashlin/Bob Clampett
- Side 7, Sports, featured cartoons dealing with the world of sport.
- Side 8, The Evolution of Egghead, features some of the earliest Egghead cartoons in chronological order, eventually leading up to his evolution into Elmer Fudd.
- Side 9, Porky and Daffy, featured cartoons starring Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, or both.
- Side 10, Politically Incorrect, featured cartoons that contain racial and/or ethnic stereotypes, and references to sexism and adultery in Friz Freleng's "He Was Her Man".
- Side 9 is named after the black-and-white Looney Tunes cartoon "Porky & Daffy", which was otherwise not included as it was not part of the Turner library.
The following cartoons from this set have yet to appear restored on DVD and Blu-ray as of May 2024:
- "Pagan Moon"
- "The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives"
- "One Step Ahead of My Shadow"
- "The Squawkin' Hawk"
- "Inki and the Minah Bird"
- "The Cat's Tale"
- "Peck Up Your Troubles"
- "Circus Today"
- "Aviation Vacation"
- "Aloha Hooey"
- "The Cagey Canary"
- "Boulevardier from the Bronx"
- "Along Flirtation Walk"
- "Sport Chumpions"
- "Screwball Football"
- "Count Me Out"
- "Johnny Smith and Poker-Huntas"
- "A Day at the Zoo"
- "Believe It or Else"
- "Confederate Honey"
- "Slightly Daffy"
- "Ain't That Ducky"
- "Along Came Daffy"
- "Nothing but the Tooth"
- "Wake Up the Gypsy in Me"
- "He Was Her Man"
- "Sioux Me"
- "The Mighty Hunters"
- "A Feather in His Hare"
- "The Early Worm Gets the Bird"
- "Inki and the Lion"
Volume 4[]
- This set was released 14 July 1993.
Notes:
- The 1940 release version of "A Wild Hare" included on Side 1 of the release had the original opening rings and the "Carole Lombard" line restored, but had the wrong opening music; it uses the 1941-45 opening theme instead of the correct 1939-40 opening theme.
- As the opening was hacked off the a.a.p. print in 1956, the opening titles for this version of "Bars and Stripes Forever" were taken from "Gold Rush Daze". The opening titles would later be restored for the cartoon's dubbed version and 2021 restoration.
- "The Brave Little Bat" erroneously uses the mid-1980s Cartoon Festivals print with hacked off opening titles from "Inki and the Lion". The opening titles would later be restored for the cartoon's 1995 dubbed version and 2012 restoration.
- As the ending title card was hacked off the a.a.p. print at some point,[1][2][dead link] the ending titles for this version of "A Hick a Slick and a Chick" were taken from "Bone Sweet Bone"; this is made obvious by the abrupt change in music after the iris-out, as well as the small (but audible) gap of silence in-between both the iris-out and the "That's all, Folks!" ending card, and even having the exact same audio splices in the ending music cue as in "Bone Sweet Bone"'s original ending card. While its original ending title card was not reinstated in the 1995 dubbed version and 2021 restoration, these later prints have its original theatrical soundtrack restored in its entirety.
- Side 7 is named after the black-and-white Looney Tunes cartoon "Wacky Blackout", which was otherwise not included as it was not part of the Turner library.
- Each side of this LaserDisc collection features cartoons based on a certain theme, and is named as such.
- Side 1, Bugs Bunny, features Bugs Bunny cartoons.
- Side 2, Early Chuck Jones, features the earliest Chuck Jones-directed color Merrie Melodies cartoons.
- Side 3, Friz Freleng, featured Friz Freleng-directed cartoons.
- Side 4, Cartoon All-Stars, featured several character-driven cartoons from the 1940s.
- Side 5, Radio Daze, featured cartoons themed on radio and it's popular stars of the time.
- Side 6, Frantic Forties, featured several one-shot cartoons from the 1940s.
- Side 7, Wacky Blackouts, featured several spot gag cartoons.
- Side 8, Ben Hardaway & Cal Dalton (and Private Snafu), featured cartoons from the Hardaway-Dalton team along with three Private Snafu cartoons
- Side 9, Sniffles, features some of the earliest Sniffles cartoons from 1939-1941
- Side 10, Merrie Melodies, featured several early musical Merrie Melodies cartoons from the 1930s.
The following cartoons from this set have yet to appear restored on DVD and Blu-ray as of May 2024:
- "Any Bonds Today?"
- "Snow Time for Comedy"
- "The Bird Came C.O.D."
- "Dog Tired"
- "Fox Pop"
- "Double Chaser"
- "The Gay Anties"
- "Of Thee I Sting"
- "I Taw a Putty Tat"
- "Crosby, Columbo, and Vallee"
- "Let It Be Me"
- "Little Blabbermouse"
- "Malibu Beach Party"
- "Meatless Flyday"
- "Bone Sweet Bone"
- "The Rattled Rooster"
- "Land of the Midnight Fun"
- "Wacky Wild Life"
- "Ceiling Hero"
- "Fresh Fish"
- "The Bug Parade"
- "Gold Rush Daze"
- "Bars and Stripes Forever"
- "Hobo Gadget Band"
- "Fagin's Freshman"
- "Busy Bakers"
- "Snafuperman"
- "Booby Traps"
- "Spies"
- "I Love a Parade"
- "Billboard Frolics"
- "Flowers for Madame"
- "September in the Rain"
Volume 5[]
- This set was released 2 April 1997.
Notes:
- This release was nearly four years after the last volume. By then Turner Entertainment had newer versions of the pre-1948 shorts created for television and home video, as most of the shorts on this volume are American 1995 Turner dubbed versions. The only cartoon on this set to be released as an a.a.p. print is "The Merry Old Soul".[3][4]
- The black-and-white Harman-Ising cartoons featured on side one are presented as new dubbed version prints like most of the cartoons in the set. Unlike most dubbed versions, the B&W Harman-Ising shorts had black borders around their original ending cards, which were kept, albeit with the disclaimer below.
- The version of "The Fighting 69½th" was later used on Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 6.
- Even though Turner had been acquired by Warner Bros. parent Time Warner the previous year, the set was still released by MGM/UA Home Video as Turner's contract with MGM for home video releases remained in place until 1999. In 1999, MGM paid $225 million to Warner Bros./Turner to end their distribution agreement early.
- Unlike previous volumes, this volume was distributed by Image Entertainment.
- Originally planned for inclusion on this volume's supplemental material on Side 10 were the original, non-Blue Ribbon prints of "Have You Got Any Castles" and "Book Revue", the unreleased original version of "The Crackpot Quail" (with an alternate soundtrack), and "So Much for So Little". As Turner and Warner Bros. were unwilling to cooperate, the cartoons were ultimately not included.[5]
- The original version of "The Crackpot Quail" would appear in 2021 on Tex Avery Screwball Classics: Volume 3. The other three cartoons would appear in 2004 on Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2.
- This is the only volume of the collection that does not include shorts featuring any of the main Looney Tunes cast, not counting the director's cut of "Hare Ribbin'". Instead, this volume is entirely centered around one-shot cartoons, all but five of which are from the 1930s ("The Fighting 69½th", "Rookie Revue", "The Fifth-Column Mouse", "Stage Fright", and "Shop Look & Listen" being the only shorts dating from the 1940s).
- With this set, all of the cartoons in the Associated Artists Productions package were available on LaserDisc, with the exception of the Censored Eleven, which Turner refused to include, and "Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips" which had been replaced on reissues of the first volume by the time this set was released. No other series of Looney Tunes home media would be this comprehensive until the final Looney Tunes Golden Collection volume more than a decade later.
- Each side of this LaserDisc collection features cartoons based on a certain theme, and is named as such.
- Side 1, Black and White Classics, features the remaining Harman-Ising era black-and-white Merrie Melodies cartoons.
- Side 2, Early Avery, features some early cartoons from Tex Avery.
- Side 3, Freleng Follies, features a number of Friz Freleng-directed cartoons.
- Side 4, Musical Madness, features several musical cartoons from the 1930s.
- Side 5, Pesky Pets, features cartoons centered on animals normally kept as pets such as cats, dogs and rabbits.
- Side 6, Objects d'Art, features "objects come to life" cartoons.
- Side 7, Animal Antics, features cartoons driven by all-animal casts.
- Side 8, Supplement Material, features bonus material.
- (*)-Dubbed 1995 version (for pre-1948 shorts)
- (@) a.a.p. print, with a.a.p. logo
The following cartoons on this set have yet to appear restored on a DVD and Blu-ray as of May 2024:
- "It's Got Me Again!"
- "You're Too Careless with Your Kisses!"
- "Young and Healthy"
- "Don't Look Now"
- "Ain't We Got Fun"
- "The Mice Will Play"
- "Detouring America"
- "Sweet Sioux"
- "The Lyin' Mouse"
- "My Little Buckaroo"
- "The Fighting 69½th"
- "The Merry Old Soul"
- "Into Your Dance"
- "Country Mouse"
- "Bingo Crosbyana"
- "The Fella with the Fiddle"
- "The Cat Came Back"
- "Country Boy"
- "Dog Gone Modern"
- "The Curious Puppy"
- "Snowman's Land"
- "Those Beautiful Dames"
- "Little Dutch Plate"
- "I'd Love to Take Orders from You"
- "My Green Fedora"
- "Shop, Look and Listen"
- "Pop Goes Your Heart"
- "I Wanna Play House"
- "I'm a Big Shot Now"
- "When I Yoo Hoo"
- "At Your Service Madame"
- "The Return of Mr. Hook"
- "The Good Egg"
- "Tokyo Woes"
VHS[]
All the VHS tapes were released around 1992, some time after the first LaserDisc set came out. Tapes were sold individually, and as a box set containing all ten videos on five cassettes.
Notes[]
- Each of these ten VHS tapes' box art is a reference to one of the cartoons listed in each release:
- Vol. 1: 1930s Musicals: "Katnip Kollege"; Johnny Cat and Kitty Bright from that cartoon are featured on the VHS box art.
- Vol. 2: Firsts: "Walky Talky Hawky"; Foghorn Leghorn and Henery Hawk from that cartoon are featured on the VHS box art.
- Vol. 3: Tex Avery: "Hamateur Night"; Elmer Fudd, in his original "Egghead" design from that cartoon, is featured on the VHS box art.
- Vol. 4: Bob Clampett: "Kitty Kornered"; Porky Pig and the aliens from that cartoon are featured on the VHS box art.
- Vol. 5: Chuck Jones: "Sniffles Takes a Trip"; Sniffles is featured on the VHS box art.
- Vol. 6: Friz Freleng: "Hare Trigger"; Yosemite Sam, in his original design from his debut cartoon, is featured on the VHS box art.
- Vol. 7: Bugs Bunny By Each Director: Six Bugs Bunnys in his various designs from various Bugs Bunny cartoons from all six directors between 1940 to mid-1948 are featured on the VHS box art.
- Vol. 8: 1940s Zanies: "Book Revue"; Daffy Duck, in his zoot suit from that cartoon, is featured on the VHS box art.
- Vol. 9: Hooray for Hollywood: "What's Cookin' Doc?"; The VHS box art references the ending scene where Bugs Bunny caresses his Oscar from that cartoon.
- Vol. 10: The Art of Bugs: "Haredevil Hare"; Bugs Bunny and Marvin the Martian are featured on the VHS box art.
| Cover | Title | Shorts |
|---|---|---|
 |
Vol. 1: 1930s Musicals | |
 |
Vol. 2: Firsts |
Note: "Daffy Duck and Egghead" was not Daffy Duck's first appearance, but was the first Daffy cartoon in color, and the first where the character is named. This was used because Turner did not own the rights to "Porky's Duck Hunt", Daffy's actual first appearance. |
 |
Vol. 3: Tex Avery | |
 |
Vol. 4: Bob Clampett | |
 |
Vol. 5: Chuck Jones | |
 |
Vol. 6: Friz Freleng | |
 |
Vol. 7: Bugs Bunny By Each Director |
Note: This video was recalled because of objections over the inclusion of "Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips". The 5-tape VHS boxed set and LaserDisc set were also recalled for the same reason. |
 |
Vol. 8: 1940s Zanies | |
 |
Vol. 9: Hooray for Hollywood | |
 |
Vol. 10: The Art of Bugs | |
 |
VHS Boxed Set |
Note: This boxed set was recalled.
|
Gallery[]
VHS boxset (covers the shorts of the Volume 1 LaserDisc)
Notes[]
- "The Merry Old Soul" on Volume 5 is the only cartoon to retain the a.a.p. opening logo in this LaserDisc series. All the other a.a.p. prints of the cartoons on Volumes 1-4 have their a.a.p. logos edited out, likely to save time (as LaserDiscs can hold only two hours of content, one on each side).
- The "Looney Tunes" logo on each of the LaserDisc sets contain artwork which are references of the Looney Tunes cartoons included in each volume. These references are the following;
- "Daffy Duck and Egghead" (Picture of Egghead in the "L" of the logo)
- "I Haven't Got a Hat" (Picture of Porky Pig's original debut design in the first "O" of the logo)
- "Horton Hatches the Egg" (Picture of Horton the Elephant in the second "O" of the logo)
- "The Wise Quacking Duck" (Picture of Mr. Meek showing his one lump to Daffy Duck in the first "N" of the logo)
- "Hair-Raising Hare" (Picture of Gossamer in the first "E" of the logo)
- "The Great Piggy Bank Robbery" (Picture of Mouse Man in the first "Y" of the logo)
- "Kitty Kornered" (Picture of Sylvester, in his design from that cartoon, in the "T" of the logo)
- "Falling Hare" (Picture of the Gremlin in the "U" of the logo)
- "Baseball Bugs" (Picture of Bugs distracting one of the Gas-House Gorillas with a pin-up girl in the second "N" of the logo)
- "Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid" (Picture of Beaky Buzzard and Mama Buzzard in the second "E" of the logo)
- The Bugs Bunny mugshot from the 1944-1945 Bugs Bunny cartoons from "Hare Ribbin'" up until "The Unruly Hare" in the "S" of the logo
References[]
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20011217165933/http://www.megalink.net:80/~cooke/looney/update13.html
- ↑ http://mfoxweb-001-site22.mysitepanel.net/viewtopic.php?t=6925
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20020213193931/http://www.megalink.net/~cooke/looney/update1.html
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20020213201019/http://www.megalink.net/~cooke/looney/update5.html
- ↑ http://www.dohtem.com/bugs/history/history2.htm
See also[]
- Looney Tunes LaserDiscs - the WB-owned post-1948 counterpart of this LaserDisc series from Warner Home Video
- Looney Tunes The Collector's Edition -A similar collector-aimed VHS series from Columbia House which packaged the Looney Tunes shorts in a similar fashion as this LaserDisc series
- Looney Tunes Golden Collection - A similar successor DVD series from Warner Home Video which packaged the Looney Tunes shorts in a similar fashion as this LaserDisc series