Many Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts were given Blue Ribbon reissues by Warner Bros. between 1943 and 1969.
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Background
The Blue Ribbon program was initiated in late 1943 as a way to cut costs for producing cartoons during World War II, and later as a way to compete against the growing popularity of television. Through the reissue seasons, the reissues had a given season's opening rings, followed by a title card which showed a blue ribbon (hence the program's title) and a Grand Shorts Award trophy. Only color cartoons were reissued in this program.
A Feud There Was was the first cartoon to be reissued in September 1943.
Cartoons with original technical credits restored on DVD
Many of the above cartoons have been restored for DVD release as part of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Looney Tunes Platinum Collection, Looney Tunes Super Stars and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection DVD releases. However, only a handful of cartoons that were reissued prior to the 1956-57 season have their original technical credits restored. These are:
In addition to the cartoons listed above, the following cartoons reissued after 1956-57 have had their original rings restored:
In 1995, Turner Entertainment restored the original openings for Hop, Look and Listen and Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt.
The titles for Bone, Sweet, Bone are restored for TV, but has not been released on DVD.
The original titles for Sunday Go to Meetin' Time, The Merry Old Soul, September in the Rain, "Tweetie Pie", "The Isle of Pingo Pongo", "Tale of Two Mice", "House Hunting Mice", "Doggone Cats", "I Taw a Putty Tat", "Daffy Dilly", "Daffy Duck Hunt", "For Scent-Imental Reasons" and "The Scarlet Pumpernickel" all exist.
The titles for A Day at the Zoo, Of Fox and Hounds, The Isle of Pingo Pongo, Don't Look Now, Wacky Wild Life, Johnny Smith and Poker-Huntas, Thugs with Dirty Mugs, A Feud There Was, The Early Worm Gets the Bird, Circus Today, The Mice Will Play, Fresh Fish, Cross Country Detours, and I Only Have Eyes for You were found on eBay in 2007, but never released on DVD.
Sketches and photos of the original titles for Katnip Kollege, Sioux Me, The Fifth-Column Mouse, Pigs in a Polka, and The Cagey Canary have surfaced, but their real titles have not been found.