Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land

Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land is a 1931 Merrie Melodies short directed by Rudolf Ising.
== Plot ==
The plucky Piggy must rescue his girlfriend and a doglike Uncle Tom from perilous predicaments and villains. A singing steamboat dances down a river while, on the deck, three blackface caricatures play the song for which the short is named on the harmonica, banjo, and bones. Meanwhile, Uncle Tom drives Fluffy toward the boat by donkey cart. 
Piggy is a riverboat captain. Fluffy joins the frolicking steamboat passengers and reunites with her boyfriend, but during the revelry, Piggy falls overboard. The pig has a run in with an alligator, but he makes it back to the boat. Meanwhile, Uncle Tom's donkey bucks him into a cemetery. There, in a variation on a stock gag featuring a superstitious black man,Lindvall, Terry, and Ben Fraser (1998). "Darker Shades of Animation: African-American Images in Warner Bros. Cartoons". Reading the Rabbit: Explorations in Warner Bros. Animation. Rutgers University Press. page 128. he is scared by three dancing skeletons reminiscent of those in Disney's 1929 short The Skeleton Dance. Tom escapes to the middle of the river, but a shoddy boat leaves him stranded and drowning. Piggy saves the day but not before a vaudevillian villain kidnaps his porcine paramour. Piggy captures the villain on a passing mail hook, leaving the villain tortured over a buzz saw.
== Lyrics==
Open up your golden doorwayAnd stop. I'm coming your way.I'm hittin' the trail for Hallelujah Land.I can see my silver lining. (Daddy-O)With a passing green reclining. (Daddy-O)I'm hittin' the trail for da da Land.(Da da, wa da da do da!)
I sailed away on a miserable day in search of gold.And I want a pour and store a lot of the sunshine in my soul.A da da da da my heart beats truerAnd skies above are bluer.I'm hittin' the trail for that there Land. (toot)
== Notes== 
*This is the final starring role of Piggy. However, Piggy frequently appeared in the "So long Folks!" sequence of the Merrie Melodies shorts up to "I Love a Parade".
*This is also the final appearance of Fluffy.
*This cartoon is the earliest in the Censored Eleven, a group of eleven cartoons that has been withheld from USA television distribution since 1968 by United Artists.http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1995/did-bugs-bunny-appear-in-a-racist-cartoon-during-world-war-ii Did Bugs Bunny appear in a racist cartoon during World War II?, The Straight Dope, February 5, 2002 Because of this, the cartoon has never been officially released on home media. It is also the only black and white cartoon in the Censored Eleven.
** A restored version aired at the 2010 TCM Classic Film Festival, alongside seven other Censored Eleven shorts. This version was set for release on DVD, but such plans were aborted.
*This cartoon entered the public domain in 1960 due to United Artists failing to renew the copyright. This cartoon, alongside "Jungle Jitters" and "All This and Rabbit Stew" are the only cartoons in the Censored Eleven to be in the public domain.
==Gallery ==
Uncle Tom and the skeletons.png
Z4.jpg
Steamboat Willy - Hittin' the Trail comparison.png|Comparison of steamboat piloting scenes in Steamboat Willie (top) and Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land (bottom)
Hittin-the-trail2-piggy.jpg|Lobby card
Images2EKG1EJH.jpg|Lobby card
==References==
fr:Hittin' The Trail for Hallelujah Land
Category:1931
Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts
Category:Public domain films
Category:Hollywood in Cartoons
Category:Shorts
Category:Black-and-white cartoons
Category:Cartoons directed by Rudolf Ising
Category:Uncle Tom Cartoons
Category:Cartoons animated by Friz Freleng
Category:Cartoons with music by Frank Marsales
Category:Cartoons produced by Leon Schlesinger
Category:Cartoons in a.a.p. package
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Bernard B. Brown