Thugs with Dirty Mugs

Thugs with Dirty Mugs is a 1939 Merrie Melodies short directed by Fred Avery.
== Title ==
The title is a play on Warner Bros.' 1938 feature film Angels with Dirty Faces.
== Plot ==
Gangster Killer Diller goes on a bank-robbing spree and the police attempt to apprehend him.
== Caricatures ==
* Edward G. Robinson - as Ed. G. Robemsome
* Fred Allen - Killer Diller impersonates him
== Availability ==
Golden Age LT Vol 1.jpg|(1991) LaserDisc The Golden Age of Looney Tunes Volume 1, Side 3: Tex Avery
The golden age of looney tunes vhs 3.jpg|(1992) VHS The Golden Age of Looney Tunes Volume 3: Tex Avery
Lt roaring twenties.jpg|(2005) DVD The Roaring Twenties (1995 Turner dubbed version)
Golden Collection box 3.jpg|(2005) DVD Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3, Disc Two
===Streaming===
Lt itunes.jpg|iTunes ( - ) (restored)https://itunes.apple.com/us/tv-season/porky-pig-vol-2/id472060473
== Censorship ==
* The WB airing of this cartoon cut the part where one of the robbers hits a bank teller (who taunts them with "I'm going to tell-ell!") in the back of the head during one of their heists. Also cut was the police chief yelling "Take that, you rat!" and then feeding cheese to an actual rodent.http://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/censored-t.aspx
*According to Canadian animation historian Gene Walz, this short was banned from being released in Winnipeg, Manitoba back in the 1930s for glorifying criminal behavior and showing Killer Diller being punished like a schoolkid (by being shown in prison writing "I've been a naughty boy" several times on a blackboard with a prison-striped dunce cap on his head) rather than an adult, which the censors thought wasn't "sincere." It should be noted that the Hays Code in America had a similar rule about not glorifying criminals or criminal activity in movies, but animated shorts such as this one were mostly exempt from this rule.
== Notes ==
* Similar to Tex Avery's later MGM crime/detective-oriented cartoon Who Killed Who?, the ostensible plot is secondary to a fast and furious series of gags. Coincidentally, both shorts have a similar theme of crime and featuring a police protagonist portrayed by an anthropomorphic dog.
* This short marks the first color Warner Bros. cartoon to open with "WARNER BROS." and "Present" in a banner on the original opening titles. Since the original credits were cut for Blue Ribbon reissues, the original opening rings have not been shown since 1944.
* This short was re-released in 1944, cutting out the specific production credits. The version on Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3 is the Blue Ribbon version, the first Blue Ribbon to credit Schlesinger to be present on a restored DVD.https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/warner-bros-cartoons/
** It is also the earliest Blue Ribbon reissue to be restored.
** In 2004, about forty Tex Avery title cards that were believed lost due to the Blue Ribbon reissues were being sold on eBay, among them being this short.
* This cartoon was shown in theaters with Confessions of a Nazi Spy during its original release.
== Gallery ==
Thugs with Dirty Mugs title card.png|Faded version of the Blue Ribbon re-issue titles
File:Thugs.PNG
File:40filmclips.jpg|Original titles for "Thugs with Dirty Mugs" along with various other Tex Avery WB cartoons
== References ==
 
Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts
Category:Cartoons directed by Tex Avery
Category:1939
Category:Shorts
Category:Blue Ribbon reissues
Category:Cartoons animated by Sid Sutherland
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons produced by Leon Schlesinger
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Caricatures of real people
Category:Cartoons in a.a.p. package
Category:One-Shot Cartoons
Category:Re-released cartoons whose original titles are known to exist
Category:Spot Gag Cartoons