The Hep Cat is a 1942 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Bob Clampett, written by Warren Foster, animated primarily by Robert McKimson, and set to a musical score composed by Carl W. Stalling. The short was released on October 3, 1942. This cartoon was the first color Looney Tunes short. Voice cast: Mel Blanc as The Hep Cat Bea Benaderet as Bird Sara Berner as Cat Puppet, Bird Kent Rogers as various characters, including Rosebud Title alterations: When Cartoon Network aired this short on The Bob Clampett Show, the titles were replaced with title cards of a colorized Porky Pig Looney Tune, with "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" as the opening music. The Looney Tunes title card cuts to the Blue Ribbon title card with "Merrily We Roll Along" as title music. The Looney Tunes drum with Porky Pig saying That's All Folks!, also closes the cartoon. This was done to identify the short as a Looney Tune, since the Blue Ribbon titles miscredited the short as a Merrie Melody. The opening title cards are not correct, since the 1942–43 season was the first in which Looney Tunes cartoons opened with the "bulls-eye" titles, usually with thicker rings. Cultural references: When the cat claims to be a "gorgeous hunk of man" his face turns into a caricature of Victor Mature. As the cat feels Willoughby's hand beside the puppet he is kissing he exclaims: "Well, something new has been added!". At the end of the cartoon the cat says: "Well, I can dream, can't I?" Both quotes were used often in Looney Tunes cartoons of this era (like for instance Plane Daffy) and are both catch phrases by Jerry Colonna. "Ah, something new has been added" was a slogan for Old Gold (cigarette). Reception: Comic book and animation writer Earl Kress writes, "This cartoon is one of director Bob Clampett's bat-out-of-hell-paced efforts... There's some really nice staging in this cartoon — for example, the scenes in which we only see shadows on a fence and the scene where the cat and dog race up a fire escape, shown at a steep down-angle from the top of a building. The staging, plus the outstanding script by Warren Foster, make this one of the greatest Looney Tunes."

+++ Uncut version...one of the Censored Eleven +++ Angel Puss is a 1944 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on June 3, 1944. The protagonist is a "Li'l Sambo" type blackface character who exhibited common racial stereotypes in speech, intelligence and fear of the supernatural. The African-American weekly newspaper The Pittsburgh Courier objected strongly to the cartoon, especially because it was run in Los Angeles alongside the March of Time short Americans All, on the theme of fighting prejudice and stereotypes. The film press did not acknowledge these concerns. The short is one of the "Censored Eleven," a group of Warner Bros. animated shorts that are withheld from circulation due to their dated racist stereotyping and portrayals. Reception: On October 7, 1944, Herman Hill wrote an editorial for the African-American weekly The Pittsburgh Courier titled Angel Puss vs. Americans for All. Hill wrote, "Basis for the spontaneous protest by the long and patient suffering Negro theater-going public were the many forth-right expressions of condemnation regarding Warner Brothers' animated cartoon Angel Puss. Almost in direct irony was the picture's showing in Los Angeles, in that it was sandwiched between the main feature and March of Time's Americans for All, which theme is directly aimed at the lessening of racisms. It has since been learned that the Warner Brothers had ordered the somewhat considered controversial Americans for All to be shown in each of their theatres throughout the country as a contributory effort towards breaking down the evils of race prejudice. In a further attempt to throw light on the subject of caricatures, March of Time offices here were contacted. A spokesman stated that they had nothing to do with the placing of their film on the same program as Angel Puss or any other such picture. It was admitted, however, that in consideration of the type of cartoon, poor taste was shown in the matter." However, this concern was not expressed in the film press, which echoed and celebrated the film's stereotypes. On June 24, Boxoffice said: "A delectable bit of cartoon animation catches the natural aversion of a Colored boy to any form of supernatural suggestion as represented by a cat that was supposed to be drowned by the boy, but escaped. The cat makes life extremely miserable for the boy by dressing up as a spirit, but comes to an unfortunate end. There are lots of hearty chuckles in the reel."