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China Jones is a 1959 Looney Tunes short directed by Robert McKimson.

Title[]

The title is a parody of animator Chuck Jones and the 1950s television series China Smith.

Plot[]

China Jones (Daffy Duck) is an Irish private eye working in Hong Kong in the Far East. Jones, looking for a fast buck, finds his next call via a fortune cookie in a restaurant with a message inside from someone telling Jones that they're being held prisoner in a Chinese bakery and that the reward for freeing them is £150 (around £4,374 in today's money). Jones is unsure where to look out of the thousands of Chinese bakeries, until his servant bangs a drum advertising good hot tips at a bar run by Limey Louie, a friend of Jones who is currently doing time. As Jones leaves the restaurant, he encounters Charlie Chung (Porky Pig) and thinks he's also working the same case hoping to get the reward; Chung's suggestion of bringing up a "matter of money" only further convinces Jones of this being the case.

As Jones heads off via rickshaw to investigate, the servant turns out to be a minion for Limey Louie (who has already gotten out of prison), who goes on ahead and tells him that China Jones is about to come. The ex-convict knew that Jones, whom he blames for his imprisonment, would fall for his trap and disguises himself as his widowed "wife" who is grieving for Louie. As Jones comes in, Louie beats Jones up, comparing that to the way that the police treated "her" husband. A dazed Jones then asks for a hot tip, and Louie gives him a card that suggests he visit "No. 10, Wong Way". Deciding Wong Way might be the right way to the bakery he's looking for, Jones takes a taxi to the address from the tip and finds a lady calling herself the "dragon lady". As Jones asks her why she is called that, the lady breathes fire on him. After Jones comes back from Wong Way, he tells Louie that the tip he'd been given was a little too hot to handle, so Louie gives Jones another card that suggests he investigate "Ho Down Wharf, second sampan". Once Jones arrives at the wharf, as soon as he boards the sampan in question, someone cuts the mooring rope securing it, causing the sampan to instantly sink into the wharf, Jones going down with it.

After Jones comes back from the wharf and inquires in irritation about more "hot tips", Louie drops his ruse and declares his intention of revenge on him. Jones promtly escapes into the back room and tries to make his exit via the back door, only to notice a space marked "trap door" at his feet. His attempt to open the door from a distance with a bamboo stick ends up triggering the actual trap door right beneath him and he almost falls into an alligator pit. Unfortunately, Louie comes in and makes Jones fall into the pit by playing "This Little Piggy" with his fingers.

As Jones narrowly escapes via a back hatch, Charlie Chung comes back and Jones begs him to arrest Limey Louie. However, Chung explains that he was not a detective; he's a laundry man, and that the money he was talking about earlier was Jones' laundry bill. Jones still refuses to pay the bill, telling Chung "Confucius say 'can't squeeze blood from turnip!", but Chung holds out a club and tells Jones "Also say, 'better you press shirt than press luck!'". Jones ends up as a "prisoner" in Chung's laundry, forced to work there until he can pay off his bill, ranting in "Chinese" with subtitles, "Help! - I'm being held prisoner in a Chinese laundry!"

Television[]

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Censorship[]

  • When this cartoon aired on Nickelodeon in the 1990s, the end where China Jones (Daffy) is imprisoned in Charlie Chung's (Porky's) laundromat, loudly ranting, "Help! I'm being held prisoner in a Chinese laundry!" in faux Chinese was cut, ending instead on Charlie Chung brandishing a club and telling China Jones, "Confucius also say, 'B-better you press shirt than press luck."[1]
  • This short is one of many that has not aired on American television since the 1990s due to outdated racial stereotyping of East Asians that modern audiences would find offensive. While it has been released on VHS in the United States and the United Kingdom, it was not until 2021 that Warner Bros. Discovery RIDE began streaming a restored print of the short. Three years after that (2024), the restored print was later released on the third volume of the Looney Tunes Collector's Choice Blu-ray series.

Notes[]

  • The part where China Jones/Daffy hits an alligator with his bat and closes the cellar door is reused from "Stork Naked".
  • According to the press release for Looney Tunes Collector's Choice: Volume 3, which will serve as the first official time the short is released on disc, it was wrongly said to be directed by Chuck Jones, in which the title itself is already a pun on him, but in reality and as credited, it is actually directed by Robert McKimson. This was corrected shortly after.[2]

Gallery[]

References[]

Daffy Duck Cartoons
1937 Porky's Duck Hunt
1938 Daffy Duck & EggheadWhat Price PorkyPorky & DaffyThe Daffy DocDaffy Duck in Hollywood
1939 Daffy Duck and the DinosaurScalp TroubleWise Quacks
1940 Porky's Last StandYou Ought to Be in Pictures
1941 A Coy DecoyThe Henpecked Duck
1942 Conrad the SailorDaffy's Southern ExposureThe Impatient PatientThe Daffy DuckarooMy Favorite Duck
1943 To Duck .... or Not to DuckThe Wise Quacking DuckYankee Doodle DaffyPorky Pig's FeatScrap Happy DaffyA Corny ConcertoDaffy - The Commando
1944 Tom Turk and DaffyTick Tock TuckeredDuck Soup to NutsSlightly DaffyPlane DaffyThe Stupid Cupid
1945 Draftee DaffyAin't That DuckyNasty Quacks
1946 Book RevueBaby BottleneckDaffy DoodlesHollywood DaffyThe Great Piggy Bank Robbery
1947 Birth of a NotionAlong Came DaffyA Pest in the HouseMexican Joyride
1948 What Makes Daffy DuckDaffy Duck Slept HereThe Up-Standing SitterYou Were Never DuckierDaffy DillyThe Stupor SalesmanRiff Raffy Daffy
1949 Wise QuackersHoliday for DrumsticksDaffy Duck Hunt
1950 Boobs in the WoodsThe Scarlet PumpernickelHis Bitter HalfGolden YeggsThe Ducksters
1951 Rabbit FireDrip-Along DaffyThe Prize Pest
1952 Thumb FunCracked QuackRabbit SeasoningThe Super SnooperFool Coverage
1953 Duck AmuckMuscle TussleDuck Dodgers in the 24½th CenturyDuck! Rabbit, Duck!
1954 Design for LeavingQuack ShotMy Little Duckaroo
1955 Beanstalk BunnySahara HareStork NakedThis Is a Life?Dime to Retire
1956 The High and the FlightyRocket SquadStupor DuckA Star Is BoredDeduce, You Say
1957 Ali Baba BunnyBoston QuackieDucking the DevilShow Biz Bugs
1958 Don't Axe MeRobin Hood Daffy
1959 China JonesPeople Are BunnyApes of Wrath
1960 Person to Bunny
1961 The Abominable Snow RabbitDaffy's Inn Trouble
1962 Quackodile TearsGood Noose
1963 Fast Buck DuckThe Million HareAqua Duck
1964 The Iceman Ducketh
1965 It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the HouseMoby DuckAssault and PepperedWell Worn DaffySuppressed DuckCorn on the CopTease for TwoChili Corn CornyGo Go Amigo
1966 The AstroduckMucho LocosMexican MousepieceDaffy RentsA-Haunting We Will GoSnow ExcuseA Squeak in the DeepFeather FingerSwing Ding AmigoA Taste of Catnip
1967 Daffy's DinerQuacker TrackerThe Music Mice-TroThe Spy SwatterSpeedy Ghost to TownRodent to StardomGo Away StowawayFiesta Fiasco
1968 Skyscraper CaperSee Ya Later Gladiator
1980 The Yolks on YouThe Chocolate ChaseDaffy Flies NorthDuck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century
1987 The Duxorcist
1988 The Night of the Living Duck
1990 Box Office Bunny
1991 (Blooper) Bunny
1992 Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers
1995 Carrotblanca
1996 Superior Duck
2003 Attack of the Drones
2004 Daffy Duck for President
2012 Daffy's Rhapsody
Porky Pig Cartoons
1935 I Haven't Got a HatGold Diggers of '49
1936 Plane DippyAlpine AnticsThe Phantom ShipBoom BoomThe Blow OutWestward WhoaFish TalesShanghaied ShipmatesPorky's PetPorky the Rain-MakerPorky's Poultry PlantPorky's Moving DayMilk and MoneyLittle Beau PorkyThe Village SmithyPorky in the North WoodsBoulevardier from the Bronx
1937 Porky the WrestlerPorky's Road RacePicador PorkyPorky's RomancePorky's Duck HuntPorky and GabbyPorky's BuildingPorky's Super ServicePorky's Badtime StoryPorky's RailroadGet Rich Quick PorkyPorky's GardenRover's RivalThe Case of the Stuttering PigPorky's Double TroublePorky's Hero Agency
1938 Porky's PoppaPorky at the CrocaderoWhat Price PorkyPorky's Phoney ExpressPorky's Five & TenPorky's Hare HuntInjun TroublePorky the FiremanPorky's PartyPorky's Spring PlantingPorky & DaffyWholly SmokePorky in WackylandPorky's Naughty NephewPorky in EgyptThe Daffy DocPorky the Gob
1939 The Lone Stranger and PorkyIt's an Ill WindPorky's Tire TroublePorky's Movie MysteryChicken JittersPorky and TeabiscuitKristopher Kolumbus Jr.Polar PalsScalp TroubleOld GloryPorky's PicnicWise QuacksPorky's HotelJeepers CreepersNaughty NeighborsPied Piper PorkyPorky the Giant KillerThe Film Fan
1940 Porky's Last StandAfrica SqueaksAli-Baba BoundPilgrim PorkySlap Happy PappyPorky's Poor FishYou Ought to Be in PicturesThe Chewin' BruinPorky's Baseball BroadcastPatient PorkyCalling Dr. PorkyPrehistoric PorkyThe Sour PussPorky's Hired HandThe Timid Toreador
1941 Porky's Snooze ReelPorky's Bear FactsPorky's PreviewPorky's AntA Coy DecoyPorky's Prize PonyMeet John DoughboyWe, the Animals - Squeak!The Henpecked DuckNotes to YouRobinson Crusoe Jr.Porky's Midnight MatineePorky's Pooch
1942 Porky's Pastry PiratesWho's Who in the ZooPorky's CafeAny Bonds Today?My Favorite Duck
1943 Confusions of a Nutzy SpyYankee Doodle DaffyPorky Pig's FeatA Corny Concerto
1944 Tom Turk and DaffyTick Tock TuckeredSwooner CroonerDuck Soup to NutsSlightly DaffyBrother Brat
1945 Trap Happy PorkyWagon Heels
1946 Baby BottleneckDaffy DoodlesKitty KorneredThe Great Piggy Bank RobberyMouse Menace
1947 One Meat BrawlLittle Orphan Airedale
1948 Daffy Duck Slept HereNothing but the ToothThe Pest That Came to DinnerRiff Raffy DaffyScaredy Cat
1949 Awful OrphanPorky ChopsPaying the PiperDaffy Duck HuntCurtain RazorOften an OrphanDough for the Do-DoBye, Bye Bluebeard
1950 Boobs in the WoodsThe Scarlet PumpernickelAn Egg ScrambleGolden YeggsThe DuckstersDog Collared
1951 The Wearing of the GrinDrip-Along DaffyThe Prize Pest
1952 Thumb FunCracked QuackFool Coverage
1953 Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century
1954 Claws for AlarmMy Little Duckaroo
1955 Jumpin' JupiterDime to Retire
1956 Rocket SquadDeduce, You Say
1957 Boston Quackie
1958 Robin Hood Daffy
1959 China Jones
1961 Daffy's Inn Trouble
1965 Corn on the Cop
1966 Mucho Locos
1980 Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century
1996 Superior Duck
2004 My Generation G...G... Gap
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