''China Jones'' is a 1959

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

'' Looney Tunes'' short directed by Robert McKimson. The short was released on February 14, 1959, and stars

Daffy Duck Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character created for Leon Schlesinger Productions by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett. Styled as an anthropomorphic black duck, he has appeared in cartoon series such as ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Mel ...

. This cartoon later became rarely shown in the United States due to ethnic caricatures of Chinese and other

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both Geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The modern State (polity), states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. ...

n people. The cartoon is a spoof of the 1950s TV series ''

China Smith ''China Smith'' is a 30-minute American syndicated television adventure series starring Dan Duryea. It is set in Singapore. It was released in the fall of 1952. The program's alternate title was ''The Affairs of China Smith'', and the last 26 epis ...

'', starring

Dan Duryea Dan Duryea ( , January 23, 1907 – June 7, 1968) was an American actor in film, stage, and television. Known for portraying a vast range of character roles as a villain, he nonetheless had a long career in a wide variety of leading and second ...

Plot

Daffy Duck is China Jones, an Irish private investigator working in the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

. He finds a fortune cookie containing a call for help which states: "Help. I'm being held prisoner in a Chinese Bakery, £150 reward" and decides to investigate. This is actually a trap set by a vengeful criminal named Limey Louie, whom Jones had busted before. Several times throughout, Jones' assistant. Charlie Chung (Porky), a caricature for

Charlie Chan Charlie Chan is a fictional Honolulu police detective created by author Earl Derr Biggers for a series of mystery novels. Biggers loosely based Chan on Hawaiian detective Chang Apana. The benevolent and heroic Chan was conceived as an alter ...

, reminds China Jones that he owes him a great deal of money, revealed at the end, after Jones escapes from Limey Louie, to be due to a large laundry bill. When Jones tells Chung "

Confucius Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...

say, 'can squeeze blood from turnip!'", the latter threatens him with a club, telling him "Also say, 'B-better you press shirt than press luck!'" The last scene shows Jones being forced to work for Chung, as he speaks rapidly in subtitled "Chinese": "Help! - I'm being held prisoner in a Chinese Laundry!" (in reference to the earlier fortune).

Censorship

In the 1990s, cable network

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

removed the ending, which is the laundromat scene when Daffy was held prisoner with his faux Chinese rant. The reason is due to offensive ethnic stereotypes, as that cartoon wasn't shown in the United States nor the United Kingdom (although it was released in the latter country on the ''Looney Tunes Classic Collection'' VHS in 1995), not even DVD or Blu-ray Disc until WarnerMedia Ride restored a streaming print in 2021. Thus, in the censored version the cartoon ended immediately after Porky's last line, "B-better you press shirt than press luck!"

References

External links

* {{Robert McKimson 1959 animated films 1959 short films 1959 films 1950s Warner Bros. animated short films Films directed by Robert McKimson Daffy Duck films Porky Pig films Looney Tunes shorts Films scored by Milt Franklyn 1950s English-language films American detective films