The Colored Cartoon: Black Presentation in American Animated Short Films, 1907-1954 PDF
Preview The Colored Cartoon: Black Presentation in American Animated Short Films, 1907-1954
The Colored Cartoon LLEEHHMM__ttxxtt__ffiinnaall..iinndddd ii 1100//1111//0077 1111::1155::1133 AAMM LLEEHHMM__ttxxtt__ffiinnaall..iinndddd iiii 1100//1111//0077 1111::1155::1144 AAMM The Colored Cartoon Black Representation in American Animated Short Films, 1907–1954 Christopher P. Lehman University of Massachusetts Press (cid:129) Amherst LLEEHHMM__ttxxtt__ffiinnaall..iinndddd iiiiii 1100//1111//0077 1111::1155::1144 AAMM Copyright © 2007 by University of Massachusetts Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America LC 2007020200 ISBN 978-1-55849-613-2 Designed by Jack Harrison Set in Adobe Minion and Kabel Display Printed and bound by The Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lehman, Christopher P. The Colored cartoon : Black representation in American animated short fi lms, 1907–1954 / Christopher P. Lehman. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-1-55849-613-2 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Animated fi lms—United States—History and criticism. 2. Blacks in motion pictures. I. Title. NC1766.U5L442 2007 791.43'652996073—dc22 2007020200 British Library Cataloguing in Publication data are available. LLEEHHMM__ttxxtt__ffiinnaall..iinndddd iivv 1100//1111//0077 1111::1155::1144 AAMM CONTENTS Acknowledgments vii Note to the Reader ix Introduction: The Blackness of Animation 1 1. The Silent Era 5 2. The Arrival of Sound 15 3. Black Characterizations 37 4. Fred “Tex” Avery and “Trickster” Animation 61 5. Black Representation and World War II Political Concerns 73 6. African American Representation and Changing Race Relations 87 7. United Productions and the End of Animated Black Representation 104 Conclusion: The Legacy of Animated African American Expression 120 Notes 123 Index 133 LLEEHHMM__ttxxtt__ffiinnaall..iinndddd vv 1100//2255//0077 11::5500::4499 PPMM LLEEHHMM__ttxxtt__ffiinnaall..iinndddd vvii 1100//1111//0077 1111::1155::1144 AAMM ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My writing of The Colored Cartoon has been a labor of love. I thank God for the opportunity. I am grateful to my editor, Clark Dougan, for his encouragement and support. He has patiently and sensitively guided me through transforming early versions into a publishable book. I thank the faculty and staff of the University of Massachusetts’s Afro American Studies Department for believing in my research. John Bracey, Robert Wolff, and Ernest Allen of the University of Massachusetts and Lynda Morgan of Mount Holyoke College—offered invaluable advice and critiques. Michael Meeropol— my former colleague at Western New England College—offered moral support and allowed me to present my initial fi ndings to his students. My current col- leagues at St. Cloud State University have also given me encouragement. I am indebted to archivists of various collections for allowing me access to im- portant primary materials. I am truly thankful to Ned Comstock of the University of Southern California for providing access to numerous cartoon scripts. Tom Featherstone of the United Auto Workers Archives and Julie Graham of the UCLA Arts Library Special Collections also provided me with archival materials. I conducted many interviews over the years of my research. For their time and recollections I am grateful to Robert Givens, the late Faith Hubley, the late Bill Hurtz, the late Bill Littlejohn, the late Norm McCabe, Bill Melendez, Emanuel Muravchik, the late Ray Patterson, Ray Pointer, Martha Sigall, Ken Southworth, the late Myron Waldman, the late Berny Wolf, and Jack Zander. I thank my parents for giving me the tools to write my book. My father instilled in me a love of writing, and my mother suggested that I research and analyze the caricatured black images that I regularly saw on television. I also appreciate my brother’s willingness to watch many of the cartoons with me and allow me to pitch my ideas to him. My daughter, Imani, expresses an unceasing joy in life that inspired me to dili- gence in writing the book. I am extremely grateful to my wife, Yolanda, for all of her sacrifi ce, patience, support, and love. Because of her, The Colored Cartoon exists. LLEEHHMM__ttxxtt__ffiinnaall..iinndddd vviiii 1100//1111//0077 1111::1155::1144 AAMM LLEEHHMM__ttxxtt__ffiinnaall..iinndddd vviiiiii 1100//1111//0077 1111::1155::1155 AAMM
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