Vintage Cartoons

[LizzieMaine]

In live-action films, at least you would see from time to time a Black or East Asian in the background just doing his/her own thing (I think of D.O.A., for example), to the contrary of animated films.

One of my favorite examples of this in a Golden Era film -- and when they don't come often, you tend to remember them -- is in the "Pettin' In The Park" number in "Gold Diggers Of 1933." During the first chorus, as the camera pans over various couples doing what they're doing, you see a nicely-dressed African American couple engaging in a bit of innocent flirtation among all the others. There's no racial business involved, and no particular reason why this couple "needed" to be black -- so give Busby Berkeley a bit of credit for being ahead of the trend here.

 

[Fletch]

Didn't the Code crack down on gratuitous ethnic stuff? (Probably in hopes of eliminating any ethnic stuff?)

 

[John in Covina]

In the Little Rascals there was a black kid in 99% of the shorts. Starting with Farina, then Stymie and lastly Buckwheat. THey were never treated ill because of their color, although on rare occassion it was a part of the humor. They got the last laugh many times. They were always considered part of the gang.

As an aside, Spanky McFarlin said that everybody in the show tended to get along very well and that Buckwheat was loved by all the kids. Buckwheat's mom would invite them all over to play at their house and they liked to go. Spanky also said she was a fabulous cook so they were especially happy to have a meal with Buckwheat's family. Stymie received his bowler hat from Laurel & Hardy as a gift. Farina was an excellent actor and could cry on cue, he could just turn on the waterworks.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Didn't the Code crack down on gratuitous ethnic stuff? (Probably in hopes of eliminating any ethnic stuff?)

Only thing in the Production Code about racial matters is that the depiction of "Miscegenation" was prohibited. (Made it kind of a tough job filming "Showboat.") Otherwise, pretty much anything went with ethnic humor. It took the NAACP -- and Walter White specifically, who made it one of his pet causes -- to pressure the studios into moving away from the Willie Best/Mantan Moreland type of eye-rolling stuff.

Radio was far ahead of the curve on this type of thing -- the NAB code as far back as 1935 came out strongly against "holding groups up to ridicule," and you could actually get comedy where African-American performers had the upper hand. Rochester was one example, but there was a fellow by the name of Wonderful Smith, who worked with Red Skelton, who took it even further -- he'd turn ethnic gags on their heads. "Are you Skelton?" he say to the announcer, who'd reply "No, that's him over there." "Ah," he'd reply. "I can never tell you white boys apart." *Big* laugh from the studio audience, who weren't as oblivious about stereotypes as people today think they were.

 

[Widebrim]

Of course a lot of that might have been because all of them, and their material, even the genre of stand-up itself*, were all part of a common culture of white-ethnic New York. It was one of the few places these groups mixed back then, and the only place it was really OK to talk about it.

*The idea of one person just telling jokes - not even stories, just one one-liner after another - was not mainstream entertainment before the Catskills' heyday. It certainly wasn't part of radio, the movies, or even vaudeville - it didn't make an "act."

Yes, the melting pot of New York provided the ingredients that became white-ethnic stand-up. When it came to one-liners, though, I would say that Bob Hope was an early exponent of them, especially during the openings of his radio programs.

 

[Widebrim]

Radio was far ahead of the curve on this type of thing -- the NAB code as far back as 1935 came out strongly against "holding groups up to ridicule," and you could actually get comedy where African-American performers had the upper hand. Rochester was one example, but there was a fellow by the name of Wonderful Smith, who worked with Red Skelton, who took it even further -- he'd turn ethnic gags on their heads. "Are you Skelton?" he say to the announcer, who'd reply "No, that's him over there." "Ah," he'd reply. "I can never tell you white boys apart." *Big* laugh from the studio audience, who weren't as oblivious about stereotypes as people today think they were.

Oh, my word, that is funny!