Confederate Honey

Confederate Honey is a 1940 Merrie Melodies short planned by Cal Dalton and Ben Hardaway and finished by Friz Freleng. 
== Title ==
The title is meant to evoke "Confederate Money".
== Plot ==
It is 1861 (B.Sea., that is "Before Seabiscuit"), and Colonel O'Hairoil, a literal blueblood in the literally bluegrass country of Kentucky, presides over rich tobacco and cotton plantations. His black workers slowly pick the cotton one boll at a time, and when one young lad takes two bolls of cotton and hands them to his recumbent father to place in the packing crate, he is warned, "Don't get too ambitious there, son."
The pride of the plantation is the Colonel's daughter, Crimson O'Hairoil, who is courted by many suitors, who leave in vain after having their horse parking ticket validated, for parking is charged by the hour. Crimson has eyes only for the "chivalrous, hard-riding, square-shooting soldier of fortune, Ned Cutler." Ned (portrayed by Elmer Fudd) arrives, and is just, with some difficulty, about to ask Crimson a question when suddenly, there is an explosion, the war has started. Ned must leave to join his "wegiment." He leaves his horse in the paid lot, despite the warning of the attendant.
The war drags on. The war is picketed on the grounds that it is unfair to the Union, while civilians are equipped with blue "Union suits". An officer addresses his men, warning that the other side is pitching Stoneball Jackson, "a southpaw" against them, and if they win, they will meet the South in the Cotton Bowl. A trumpeter sounds a call, but things degenerate into a jazz band. A nervous Confederate officer paces in a tent with information coming in by telegraph—it turns out to be race results. Ned shoots a cannon, whose ball acts like a pinball in a machine.
Meanwhile, the horse and attendant await Ned's return. The Colonel is dispirited to hear, on the radio, that "The Yanks" have won again, announced before a victory for Brooklyn, and all others rained out, and curses the Yankees.
Back at camp, Ned reads a letter and sighs. A signal rocket turns into an advertisement "After the battle, eat Southern Fried Chicken at Mammy's Shack." Crimson, having promised to burn a light in the window for Ned, does so with such enthusiasm with a searchlight that she alarms Paul Revere, who rides away giving his famous warning.
Time passes (with the horse and attendant still in the lot) from 1861 to 1865, and the war ends. Crimson looks out her window, strewn with the remains of candles. At last, Ned returns, and finally asks Crimson the question—can she validate his parking ticket? She stamps "REVOKED" across his forehead.
== Caricatures ==
* Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara
* Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes
* Hugh Herbert - Stoneball Jackson is a caricature of him
== Availability ==
Golden-Age-of-Looney-Tunes-3-F.jpg|(1992) LaserDisc The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 3, Side 8: The Evolution of Egghead (uncensored)
lt virginia city.jpg|(2016) DVD Errol Flynn Westerns Collection Virginia City (USA 1995 Turner print, censored)
== Censorship ==
* While this cartoon is not listed as a "Censored Eleven" short, it has seldom aired on American television because of the Civil War theme and scenes featuring African-American slaves. On the rare occasions the 1995 dubbed version of this short aired on Cartoon Network, its sister channel Boomerang, and the former WB channel, the following parts were cut, heavily trimming this cartoon's runtime from its original 8 minute 14 second runtime to 7 minutes 3 seconds;http://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/censored-c.aspx
** The shot of the sign reading, "Uncle Tom's Bungalows--$1.50 a Night and Up"
** All scenes featuring the black cotton pickers.
** A shot of a black slave girl (called Topsy by Crimson O'Hairoil) putting the finishing touches on Crimson O'Hairoil's dress.
** The scene with the black slave validating parking tickets is cropped so the viewer only sees the parking validation sign and the customers getting their tickets stamped.
** The scene where Elmer gives his horse to a black slave valet crops out the appearance of the slave valet and is shortened to remove the part where the slave actually parks the horse.
** All three scenes of the black slave waiting for Elmer to retrieve his horse.
The edits listed here also appear on the Errol Flynn Westerns Collection DVD set, but not the Golden Age of Looney Tunes LaserDisc.
== Notes ==
* This short is a spoof of Gone with the Wind.
* Caricatures of Henry Binder, Tubby Millar, Ray Katz, and animator Paul J. Smith appear as Union soldiers.
* This is the first cartoon to have the black background instead of the sky one. It is also the first cartoon to have the finalized "That's all Folks!" ending design, which is still used today.
*This cartoon was originally planned to be an Egghead cartoon directed by Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton. However, when Friz Freleng returned after leaving from MGM, the cartoon was taken over by him, who decided to use the Elmer Fudd character instead.https://www.cartoonbrew.com/classic/rare-1938-looney-tunes-book-found-5389.html
*This is the only time that Rod Scribner ever animated for a Friz Freleng cartoon.https://www.cartoonbrew.com/classic/rare-1938-looney-tunes-book-found-5389.html
== Gallery ==
Confedhoney.jpg|Lobby card
== References ==
es:Confederate Honey
Category:Elmer Fudd Cartoons
Category:Shorts
Category:1940
Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts
Category:Cartoons directed by Friz Freleng
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons with layouts by Owen Fitzgerald
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Bea Benaderet
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 in a.a.p. package
Category:Cartoons with camera by John W. Burton