People asked me to do one, so here it is. This is a thread about all the MGM cartoons version differences, recreated title cards, censored gags, etc.
Unlike Looney Tunes, MGM shorts got a lot of alterations with the time, so I'll try to explain what I know until now.
First of all, MGM apparently made the first Pan & Scan versions to theaters which were not ready for wider aspect ratios.
Back in the 16mm era the Chuck Jones team made altered versions to hide racial stereotypes and a few scenes of violence by redrawing these scenes by using all the backgrounds and original animation they had access to. Also, Mammy Two Shoes was sometimes redubbed by June Foray.
These versions were sent to CBS when they also recreated the title cards, made a new intro and split the shorts with fade outs in order to fill them with ad breaks. These altered versions were lately mastered.
In theaters instead they had the original lion logo replaced with the 60s one. In any case, these versions were not processed by Technicolor. They had the yellow color faded out and the blue one being really dark. It does not seem Eastmancolor to me either. They also fixed the Cinemascope shorts to be shown in Pan & Scan.
Then MGM started sending 16mms to TV stations, and in foreign countries they used them for dubs. Then all these prints were mastered.
For an example, these are the ones sent to RAI's dubbing studios in Italy. Some had the 60s logo, some were unaltered and some had the Technicolor line blanked out, these usually look worse. During the dub they also added fake translated title cards directly cut into the reel.
Then, they made more transfers from TV, I don't really know all of these.
Then MGM started releasing home video tapes and remastered shorts specifically for those releases.
First T&J volume used non 35mm sources very similar to the Italian prints and had the pitch shifted for the PAL versions. The NTSC ones instead had frame blending. The Little Orphan was the 60s version.
The second tape also used 16mms and they looked even worse, but the sound quality was really good (the best one in almost all the shorts), and no blending on NTSC or pitch shift on PAL. Some of these move left/right very badly in certain scenes. Saturday Evening Puss was the 60s version with the original soundtrack.
From the next volume they started using high quality sources, and the best part... all these tapes were uncensored.
They made around the same time prints which some ended up on VHS, with a line on the left side on the NTSC versions. The one of The Framed Cat had June Foray's voice over a 35mm (best looking version so far).
A good amount of these 80s transfers looks way better than the mid 90s prints in the Turner era.
Then in the mid 90s when CN was launched already they made new masters done around the same time as the Looney Tunes ones. These had various altered versions, some for an example have two versions, one uncut and the other one censored.
At the same time they redubbed Mammy's voice again by using the m/e track. All these shorts have a music effect track and even more different tracks.
PAL and NTSC versions are also quite different. I'll explain these ones more in another post or this one will be too long.
Unlike Looney Tunes, MGM shorts got a lot of alterations with the time, so I'll try to explain what I know until now.
First of all, MGM apparently made the first Pan & Scan versions to theaters which were not ready for wider aspect ratios.
Back in the 16mm era the Chuck Jones team made altered versions to hide racial stereotypes and a few scenes of violence by redrawing these scenes by using all the backgrounds and original animation they had access to. Also, Mammy Two Shoes was sometimes redubbed by June Foray.
These versions were sent to CBS when they also recreated the title cards, made a new intro and split the shorts with fade outs in order to fill them with ad breaks. These altered versions were lately mastered.
In theaters instead they had the original lion logo replaced with the 60s one. In any case, these versions were not processed by Technicolor. They had the yellow color faded out and the blue one being really dark. It does not seem Eastmancolor to me either. They also fixed the Cinemascope shorts to be shown in Pan & Scan.
Then MGM started sending 16mms to TV stations, and in foreign countries they used them for dubs. Then all these prints were mastered.
For an example, these are the ones sent to RAI's dubbing studios in Italy. Some had the 60s logo, some were unaltered and some had the Technicolor line blanked out, these usually look worse. During the dub they also added fake translated title cards directly cut into the reel.
Then, they made more transfers from TV, I don't really know all of these.
Then MGM started releasing home video tapes and remastered shorts specifically for those releases.
First T&J volume used non 35mm sources very similar to the Italian prints and had the pitch shifted for the PAL versions. The NTSC ones instead had frame blending. The Little Orphan was the 60s version.
The second tape also used 16mms and they looked even worse, but the sound quality was really good (the best one in almost all the shorts), and no blending on NTSC or pitch shift on PAL. Some of these move left/right very badly in certain scenes. Saturday Evening Puss was the 60s version with the original soundtrack.
From the next volume they started using high quality sources, and the best part... all these tapes were uncensored.
They made around the same time prints which some ended up on VHS, with a line on the left side on the NTSC versions. The one of The Framed Cat had June Foray's voice over a 35mm (best looking version so far).
A good amount of these 80s transfers looks way better than the mid 90s prints in the Turner era.
Then in the mid 90s when CN was launched already they made new masters done around the same time as the Looney Tunes ones. These had various altered versions, some for an example have two versions, one uncut and the other one censored.
At the same time they redubbed Mammy's voice again by using the m/e track. All these shorts have a music effect track and even more different tracks.
PAL and NTSC versions are also quite different. I'll explain these ones more in another post or this one will be too long.
But how did they manage to do that mistake? If they could get through the widescreen title cards, then why not also through the full cartoon itself? Wasn't it included on the full print along with the title cards? 
