Detouring America

Detouring America is a 1939 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Tex Avery.^[1] The short was released on August 26, 1939.^[2]

Detouring America
Directed by	Fred Avery
Story by	Jack Miller
Produced by	Leon Schlesinger
Starring	Robert C. Bruce Mel Blanc (all uncredited)
Music by	Carl W. Stalling
Animation by	Rollin Hamilton
Color process	Technicolor
Production company	Leon Schlesinger Productions
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date	August 26, 1939 (1939-08-26)
Running time	7 minutes 57 seconds
Language	English

Plot

A tour of the United States, with recurring checks on the progress of the human fly climbing the Empire State Building. Also featured are jokes and gags on the Everglades, the Wyoming prairies, Alaska, a California prospector, Sioux Indians and a Jerry Colonna-esque (literal) Texas cow-puncher.

Home media

• LaserDisc – The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Volume 5, Side 2 (USA 1995 Turner print)
• DVD – Each Dawn I Die (USA 1995 Turner print added as a bonus)

Censorship

• Two scenes are excised from the cartoon when aired on Cartoon Network and Boomerang United States television networks due to ethnic stereotyping against Native Americans and Inuit. They are:^[3]

• The scene with a poor, black hitchhiker at the North Pole, who sings "Carry Me Back to Ol' Virginny". Then, an Eskimo sends him back by taking him all the way back to the Virginia state line.
• The scene with an Indian mother dealing with her dopey, oversized, adult son she's carrying on her back.