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Pietro
10-06-2001, 02:23 PM
I found this interesting book at my local library called
"That's Enough Folks!: Black Images in Cartoons (1900-1960)."
It holds a very interesting piece about a Lantz-Oswald cartoon:


SUNNY SOUTH (1931):
The cartoon opens as Oswald 's girlfriend and his friends wait at the train station for his arrival in Dixieland. Oswald arrives as the band plays "Dixie." His arrival kicks off a celebration and Oswald and his girl start by doing a cakewalk dance down the main street. Meanwhile a small black boy with thick white lips shines the shoes of a tall black man wearing a minstrel's attire. After he applies the polish, he straps a brush to the bottoms of his feet then finishes the shine by doing a soft-shoe dance on the man's shoes. Oswald and his girl play a brief saxophone duet, and then Oswald drops to one knee and says, "Mammy!" Next the little black shoeshine boy eats a huge slice of watermelon as he dances on a pile of shoes while the farmer sleeps nearby. The farmer wakes up and is so irate that he throws a watermelon at the little boy. He misses and the melon hits Oswald in the face. Oswald swallows the melon and then spits the seeds out of his mouth like a machine-gun bullets, aiming them at the farmer. The seeds hit the farmer on his rear end. He leaps into the air before falling and landing on his rear end as the cartoon ends.

It seems that this Oswald cartoon is likely banned.
Very interesting, maybe Jon could look into this
for his "Censored Cartoons Page."

-Pietro

Thad Komorowski
10-06-2001, 03:36 PM
Hmm, I've heard about that book, but have never wanted to pay the very high price for it. What does it say about Buzzy the Crow and Mammy-Two-Shoes?

-Thad:D

Emmanuel Cruz
10-06-2001, 04:25 PM
I would love to get that book, but, as it is obvious as it is, the dough is needed.

Pietro
10-06-2001, 04:44 PM
Originally posted by Thad Komorowski
Hmm, I've heard about that book, but have never wanted to pay the very high price for it. What does it say about Buzzy the Crow and Mammy-Two-Shoes?

-Thad:D

Yes it does. Infact, the book includes info on cartoons that are considered lost. It's excellet. I give it five stars!:D

-Pietro

Thad Komorowski
10-06-2001, 06:30 PM
Yes, but what does it say about the two? I don't think anyone could find Buzzy that racist. In fact, they could title him as "Buzzy-the Funny Crow with a Sore Throat". I mean, if you told kids that he always has a sore throat, no one would know if he was a caricature of Rochester... No big lips, no references to Harlem...

-Thad:D

Jack
10-06-2001, 06:43 PM
Besides, what kid actually knows who Rochester is?


Jack:confused:

Sogturtle
10-06-2001, 06:51 PM
Originally posted by Jack
Besides, what kid actually knows who Rochester is?


Jack:confused:

As a little kid, I knew who Rochester was...

Jack
10-06-2001, 07:09 PM
Originally posted by Sogturtle


As a little kid, I knew who Rochester was...
Lemme rephrase that: What kid today knows who Rochester was? :D


Jack:p

Pietro
10-06-2001, 07:20 PM
Originally posted by Thad Komorowski
Yes, but what does it say about the two? I don't think anyone could find Buzzy that racist.

Yes here's what it says about Buzzy:

In 1947 Famous Studios/Paramount Pictures introduced a new character-Buzzy the black crow. Buzzy had the demeanor of Kingfish of the Amos 'n' Andy radio and television shows and a voice like Eddie "Rochester" Anderson's of the Jack Benny radio and television shows. Buzzy turned the tables on a dull-witted cat [Katnip], who attempted to eat him to cure common ailments such as hiccups, baldness, toothache, and insomnia. In this series the voice characterization by Buzzy was probably performed by a white actor, a common practice for cartoons of the period.

-Pietro

Sogturtle
10-06-2001, 07:30 PM
:D Actually Jack WHEN a cable network once-again digs out the classic Jack Benny Show then a great number of kids will know who Rochester is. And anybody who has ever seen "The Mouse That Jack Built" will have a darn good idea too...

But you are guys are right, for those children who've had no such exposure (yet) they would indeed likely think that Buzzy just had a very sore throat, permanently(?).

Jon Cooke
10-06-2001, 08:55 PM
Originally posted by Pietro
In this series the voice characterization by Buzzy was probably performed by a white actor, a common practice for cartoons of the period.

A bit of trivia: Buzzy's voice was done by Jackson Beck... also known as the voice of Bluto in the Famous Studios Popeye cartoons.


"...dat's all I needed to know!"


-Jon

Emmanuel Cruz
10-06-2001, 10:36 PM
This may seem like work, but does anyone have a clip of Herman and Buzzy talking? I'd like that.