# Weird references in vintage cartoons **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** cartoons-animation\ **Created:** [April 14, 2021, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-references-in-vintage-cartoons/939944 "2021-04-14T03:30:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-references-in-vintage-cartoons/939944/81 "2021-04-15T21:05:01Z")
Wild! I always assumed that “Gravy ain’t wavy” from Smokey Stover was just another one of the writer’s non-sequetors. ---
**Author:** ![I.Dunno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9f8e36/32.png) [@I.Dunno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I.Dunno)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-references-in-vintage-cartoons/939944/82 "2021-04-15T22:58:27Z")
Well, I was just guessing at that. If they hadn’t had the two boys, I’d have doubted they ever had sex. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-references-in-vintage-cartoons/939944/83 "2021-04-15T23:07:49Z")
Maybe they were adopted. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-references-in-vintage-cartoons/939944/84 "2021-04-15T23:45:02Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > One that caught me just now was this one: a Tom and Jerry mixup where the radio says there’s an escaped white mouse that will _esplode!_ if mishandled. So of course Jerry dies himself white and messes with Tom. Then the actual white mouse shows up, Tom bampfs it and boom, the city is leveled. Then we get [this scene](https://youtu.be/YqGuxOH4Sg4?t=167) after the explosion. This _has_ to be a reference to something, doesn’t it?!? Not that EWM but of interest: [Exploding White Mice - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_White_Mice) From there: “The band’s name was taken from a scene in the 1979 film Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, where a laboratory mouse spontaneously explodes upon exposure to music by the Ramones.” That’s gotta be a reference to the T&J cartoon, right? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-references-in-vintage-cartoons/939944/85 "2021-04-16T00:34:55Z")
I once read that the cast of _ **Mork and Mindy** _ were irked somewhat by how the dialogue in the show was apportioned. Whole sections of an episode’s script would simply say **MORK DOES HIS THING** , and Williams would improvise to fill the time. I expect the situation was exacerbated when Jonathan Winters joined the cast. I’m amazed the other characters got any lines at all. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-references-in-vintage-cartoons/939944/86 "2021-04-16T00:45:07Z")
Listening to Buckley talk was like sitting through a Poli Sci lecture! ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-references-in-vintage-cartoons/939944/87 "2021-04-16T07:11:36Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > One line I found kinda creepy as a child: “What for you bury me in the cold, cold ground?” It may be a reference to the song Sgt. MacKenzie, with the lyric (in Scots dialect), “Lay me doon in the caul caul groon,” which translates to "Lay me down in the cold cold ground.: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/K8UeWzOfiqo/hqdefault.jpg "Sgt. Mackenzie - lyrics - Joseph Kilna Mackenzie") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8UeWzOfiqo) ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-references-in-vintage-cartoons/939944/88 "2021-04-16T07:47:37Z")
In those old cartoons they liked to use celebrities who had characteristics that were easy to identify. Hugh Herbert wasn’t as famous as, say, Cary Grant, but all the animators had to do was show someone pressing his fingers together while saying, “Hoo Hoo.” Other ones who were easy to caricature include: Ned Sparks (deadpan expression, sardonic vocal delivery) Joe Penner (catch phrase “Wanna buy a duck?”) Joe E. Brown (very wide mouth) Edna May Oliver (tall, thin, lined oval face, pursed lips) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-references-in-vintage-cartoons/939944/89 "2021-04-16T12:00:50Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Listening to Buckley talk was like sitting through a Poli Sci lecture! I once attended a lecture he gave. He spoke like that all the way through, with that weird, tentative style of his. But he certainly was erudite, with a highly diversified and elegant style. I also liked the way he avoided cliches. Instead of using the then-popular line “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you,” he said “Even paranoids have enemies”. The problem is, of course, that our philosophies differed, something that was grounded in our not having a shared set of starting postulates. It was the same experience I have reading a piece in his _National Review_ – I’d start out with that beautiful prose and logical arguments, and suddenly come to a point where our viewpoints diverged and I’d just watch him sailing over the edge, unable and unwilling to follow. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-references-in-vintage-cartoons/939944/90 "2021-04-17T00:20:39Z")
Yeah. Very bright dude in thrall to a very broken worldview. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-references-in-vintage-cartoons/939944/91 "2021-04-17T21:26:42Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Wild! I always assumed that “Gravy ain’t wavy” from Smokey Stover was just another one of the writer’s non-sequetors. As I learned here on the SCMB, the Smokey Stover phrase came first and W[avy Gravy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wavy_Gravy) (of the Hog Farm, etc.) came second. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-references-in-vintage-cartoons/939944/92 "2021-04-17T22:33:32Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > … And yes, Ward was sometimes hard on the Beaver. 🤭 How the hell did a pun name like “Beaver Cleaver” ever get approved? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-references-in-vintage-cartoons/939944/93 "2021-04-17T22:43:48Z")
The censors must have really been asleep on that one! ---
**Author:** ![Hakushon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hakushon/32/5503_2.png) [@Hakushon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hakushon)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2021, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-references-in-vintage-cartoons/939944/94 "2021-04-18T00:14:13Z")
Over the years (decades?) I have found this website useful for explaining some of these now-obscure references in Warner Bros. cartoons: > **[The Warner Bros Cartoon Companion](http://www.warnercompanion.com/)** > > Glossary of terms commonly encountered in the classic Warner Bros cartoons. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2021, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-references-in-vintage-cartoons/939944/95 "2021-04-18T00:26:36Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I wonder how much Warner Bros. executives thought about producing classic cartoons with enduring appeal, as opposed to just pleasing audiences of the day. > > In the '50s, those in charge of TV networks thought that people like Jackie Gleason and Desi Arnaz were crazy for wanting to film their shows. “Nobody’s gonna want to watch the same thing twice!” > [@Miller](#): > > I’m pretty sure it was 100% the latter. Being popular with audiences fifty years from now doesn’t help when you have bills due last Friday. Of course they had no conception of being able to sell the rights to their work for “home media.” The only “home media” of the day was limited to the very wealthy or the very powerful-in-Hollywood, who were able to buy copies of movies as well as theater-grade projection systems. Most filmed entertainment was made with the ‘certain knowledge’ that it was ephemeral. An interesting party game might be made of guessing the way creative decisions would have gone, had the creators envisioned VHS and its successors… ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2021, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-references-in-vintage-cartoons/939944/96 "2021-04-18T02:09:23Z")
There may not have been home media in the sense of VCRs, laser discs, DVDs, et cetera, bu they were certainly aware of television by the 1930s. Disney, so I’ve read, was already contemplating color broadcasts by the time they were trying to buy the rights to properties like _ **Mary Poppins** _ (which weren’t acquired until twenty-odd years later). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2021, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-references-in-vintage-cartoons/939944/97 "2021-04-18T13:11:14Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I wonder how much Warner Bros. executives thought about producing classic cartoons with enduring appeal, as opposed to just pleasing audiences of the day. > > In the '50s, those in charge of TV networks thought that people like Jackie Gleason and Desi Arnaz were crazy for wanting to film their shows. “Nobody’s gonna want to watch the same thing twice!” Warner Brothers Executives had nothing to do with. They just needed product to put in their theaters. Audiences expected a cartoon with a show, so they provided them. It was the creators at Termite Terrace who made the cartoons, and they wanted to make the best possible cartoons. They weren’t even all that interested in pleasing the audience – they made them to please themselves and no one higher up than Leon Schlesinger bothered with them. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2021, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-references-in-vintage-cartoons/939944/98 "2021-04-18T13:13:26Z")
“I don’t want it _good_, I want it _ **today** _!” ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2021, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-references-in-vintage-cartoons/939944/99 "2021-04-18T13:44:27Z")
> [@digs](#): > > But this is where I think WB and others made a misstep. If they hadn’t featured “current” celebrities, the cartoons would be timeless. But would they have been popular in the first place without the topical jokes? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2021, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-references-in-vintage-cartoons/939944/100 "2021-04-18T14:35:11Z")
On the other hand, some of these cartoons were winning Academy Awards. There must have been at least some inkling that appreciation for the work would outlive the creators. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-references-in-vintage-cartoons/939944.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-references-in-vintage-cartoons/939944.md?page=6)