Strange version of Hollywood Steps Out

[Do-Do]

On a PD video called FELIX THE CAT (which also includes The Goose That Laid The Golden Egg, Bold King Cole, and Sport Chumpions), there is a very strange version of Hollywood Steps Out which I have never seen before.

It starts with a card that must be from some reissue, with yellow letters on a black background. The music playing is the conga music that plays later in the cartoon. The title card says something like this:

"HOLLYWOOD STEPS OUT"

Directed by Fred 'Tex' Avery

Released May 4, 1941

Reissue copyright 1978


Not sure if that's word for word accurate, but you get the gist of it.


But here's the most important part:
We all know how abruptly this cartoon ends, with a quick little musical flourish after the girl is revealed to be Groucho Marx. But on this version, the music continues a bit, and you can hear Clark Gable starting to say something before the cartoon fades out.

Do you think something was cut from this? It was a late Avery release, around the time of The Heckling Hare...

And what's up with the title card??

[Brandon Pierce]

The original ending involved Clark Gable saying "After all that, I want what's coming ton me!" And he kisses Groucho anyway. Apparently Clark Gable saw this, and asked (what a fine choice of words... "asked") WB to cut the ending when it was re-issued (or when it was first released, as Clark Gable might have been brought in to see the cartoon after it was made. Someone like Sogturtle might know).

[Thad Komorowski]

The original ending involved Clark Gable saying "After all that, I want what's coming ton me!" And he kisses Groucho anyway. Apparently Clark Gable saw this, and asked (what a fine choice of words... "asked") WB to cut the ending when it was re-issued (or when it was first released, as Clark Gable might have been brought in to see the cartoon after it was made. Someone like Sogturtle might know).

Ummm... Where did you hear of this? Did you just make that up? :shrug: :rolleyes:

[Pietro]

Ummm... Where did you hear of this? Did you just make that up? :shrug: :rolleyes:
Actually, Brandon did not make it up.

According to Sody Clampett, Bob told several animation historian-hopefuls back in the 1970s, that the original ending really did indeed play-out like that, however no fact has been proven this is true.

I'm sure Sogturtle knows what I'm talking about...

-Pietro:daffy:

[JDWeil]

The original ending of The Heckling Hare was cut because Jack Warner did not like the ending. I don't believe that the ending of Hollywood Steps Out was cut for the same reason. I don't think that Gable had that much pull with either Schelsinger or Warner to have the ending changed during its intial release but the studio might have had second thoughts for the re-issue. Some Hollywood celebrities wre not at all pleased as how they were portrayed in the Looney Tunes. Bing Crosby threatened to sue the cartoon factory over his portrayal in Bingo Crosbyana (he never did, Crosby also didn't like his cartoonization in Swooner Crooner and said so, to Frank Tashlin who directed it, of all people), On the other hand, Alexander Woolcot did succeed in getting his caricature erased from Have You Got Any Castles so that explains the abbreviated opening to that short.

[Mike]

On a PD video called FELIX THE CAT (which also includes The Goose That Laid The Golden Egg, Bold King Cole, and Sport Chumpions), there is a very strange version of Hollywood Steps Out which I have never seen before.

It starts with a card that must be from some reissue, with yellow letters on a black background. The music playing is the conga music that plays later in the cartoon. The title card says something like this:

"HOLLYWOOD STEPS OUT"

Directed by Fred 'Tex' Avery

Released May 4, 1941

Reissue copyright 1978


Not sure if that's word for word accurate, but you get the gist of it.


Yeah, I have Hollywood Steps Out on some old PD video of mine (I think it might have been an old Elmer Fudd video with An Itch in Time and two other shorts, in addition to Hollywood..), and it opens with that same title card. In fact, the first time I ever saw the short was on that tape, so I thought the cartoon actually opened like that (don't remember the reissue part, though), so when I saw it on TV years later, and it opened with the Blue Ribbon card, I was rather surprised.

Don't remember that about the ending, though. I haven't watched all of that tape in a while (if that's even the right tape).

Mike

[Larry T]

I'm the one who recounted the ending according to Sody Clampett. When I was in animation college in the mid-80s, I attended a series of lectures and film revues which featured a great selection of surviving animation personalities: Zack Schwatrz (UPA), Shamus Culhane (Lantz/WB/Disney), Sody Clampett (WB), Don Bluth (Disney/Bluth), Charlie Bonifacio (Nelvana), and Jim McAuley (Disney).

On the night of Sody Clampett's visit, one of the cartoons we watched was indeed "Hollywood Steps Out" (reissue version). After each hour or so of cartoons, we had an open panel to discuss animation elements or pose questions to whomever the guest of the night was. Anyway, during this time someone inquired about the end of that cartoon when Sody was recalling Bob's gag writing activities at WB. She said that the original ending did include Clark Gable saying something along the lines of "Awwwww well, I still want what's comin' to me, and I'm a-gonna get it!" to which he kisses Groucho Marx anyway. Sody recounted that apparently Gable really thought himself a ladies' man however, and the minute he heard about that gag he went right to his agents at WB and demanded the joke be removed. Sody said that up until sometime in the mid-70s she was aware of a surviving original print existing in some film archive or collection, but unfortunately it was stolen, and hasn't been relocated since.

[Do-Do]

She said that the original ending did include Clark Gable saying something along the lines of "Awwwww well, I still want what's comin' to me, and I'm a-gonna get it!"
Well that would make since, since you can hear him start to go "Aw--" before it gets cut off.:cool:

[Thad Komorowski]

Thanks for that information Larry... I just wanted to hear it from a reliable source ... :sweat:


-Thad

[Boy Wonder]

The Fred "Tex" Avery card is FAKE. It was confirmed at the Dave Mackey Filmography, and that the real title card is missing, or rarely used.

[Jack]

There's another fake title card other than the black one. If I remember right, it is meant to look like a stage curtain with stars stitched onto it.

[Sogturtle]

Slightly off-topic!!!

I'll just add this brief-like... Gable (and his family) were (and are) acutely sensitive about him and any negative depictions. In the Nineties some goof-ball company started publishing an alleged humorous greeting-card which depicted Clark Gable in a homosexual situation (they also did one depicting W.C. Fields). Gable's family were understandably outraged and (ditto for Fields') and got it stopped legally, they have now taken steps to regain full control of his likeness (same for the clan of W.C.).

[cinper]

Yep, I have this on super 8 sound, purchased in the late 70s. It opens and closes with the late 30's MM logo, the title card you described, with an additional logo of "Encore Entertainment" after "That's All Folks." It also has the abrupt ending.



On a PD video called FELIX THE CAT (which also includes The Goose That Laid The Golden Egg, Bold King Cole, and Sport Chumpions), there is a very strange version of Hollywood Steps Out which I have never seen before.

It starts with a card that must be from some reissue, with yellow letters on a black background. The music playing is the conga music that plays later in the cartoon. The title card says something like this:

"HOLLYWOOD STEPS OUT"

Directed by Fred 'Tex' Avery

Released May 4, 1941

Reissue copyright 1978


Not sure if that's word for word accurate, but you get the gist of it.


But here's the most important part:
We all know how abruptly this cartoon ends, with a quick little musical flourish after the girl is revealed to be Groucho Marx. But on this version, the music continues a bit, and you can hear Clark Gable starting to say something before the cartoon fades out.

Do you think something was cut from this? It was a late Avery release, around the time of The Heckling Hare...

And what's up with the title card??

[Tom Stathes]

Guys,
I always wondered about the opening card as well. I think it might be from a 16mm print intended to circulate thru-out TV stations in the 70's or 80's (just an idea) and I also beleive maybe your verisons are a bit dark, I think I remember a dark brown background with yellow text.

[Patrick McCart]

My tape has that plain opening, but it's white text on black. I think some prints have decomposed slightly (causing a yellowish cast).

[Tom Stathes]

Guys!

I found a pd Bugs Bunny video today while thrift-shopping,.

and it had Hollywood Steps Out. When I got home to watch it, it turns out it had the Blue Ribbon RE-release titles!

I couldnt beleive it!

Also, some of you guys know about the cue mark at the end of the blue ribbon films that look like a golden seal? Well, it has that and it is also cut off right before you hear "awww" to the "That's All Folks" end title. I could also be mistaken about "awww" being clipped totally, because during the film to video transfer on this tape particularly, there were one or two jump splices right smack dab at the end, as you may know, causing the screen to move up and down and causing the "warped" sound. So who knows, I have no 16mm print of this to check.

A point of interest in my eyes.

Another thing: in the fake title card version, there is a jump splice while the guy at the table is talking to us (forgot his name, at the beginning)
Causing some words to be obliterated. My blue ribbon version is intact except for the end as usual.

[Do-Do]

Another thing: in the fake title card version, there is a jump splice while the guy at the table is talking to us (forgot his name, at the beginning)
Causing some words to be obliterated. My blue ribbon version is intact except for the end as usual.
That's Clark Gable, and I've noticed that too. The words that get wrecked are "land right on The Front Page".

[J. J. Hunsecker]

That's Clark Gable, and I've noticed that too. The words that get wrecked are "land right on The Front Page".No, that's Cary Grant! The joke is that he mentions several movie titles that he starred in during his dialog, "But if I only told 'My Favorite Wife' 'The Awful Truth' I'd land right on 'The Front Page'!"

[Emmanuel Cruz]

Wow, that's interesting. I've seen "Hollywood Steps Out" for years and I always noticed the abrupt ending. I wouldn't figure that there could be some missing footage in it, like "Heckling Hare." I used to have a PD tape when I was little with that cartoon on it, as well as "An Itch in Time" and "Gold Rush Daze." "Hollywood Steps Out" had the Blue Ribbon Title on that tape.

-Emmanuel:bosko: