Jungle Jitters

I suspect that even if there weren't stereotypes and caricatures that would be viewed as unacceptable today, this one probably wouldn't air today because it simply isn't all that funny. It starts off okay, but then we meet the "hero", who's about as stupid as they come (I've seen better heads on a glass of root beer) and it goes downhill from his entrance on. This one just doesn't work for some reason. Of interest only to die-hard Warner Brothers fans and rare cartoon enthusiasts. Otherwise, skip this altogether.

Merrie Melodies short, directed by Friz Freleng, notable today for being one of the Censored Eleven. For those who don't know, the Censored Eleven are cartoons that were withheld from syndication because they were considered to be too offensive due to their use of racial stereotypes and imagery. This one takes place in an African village populated with black people, except for the queen, who is an old white woman (or some kind of bird, I couldn't really tell). The natives are dancing and carrying on at the start of the cartoon when a traveling salesman shows up and gets himself into trouble. Not a funny cartoon and, yes, as politically incorrect as they come. At one point one of the African natives even does an Asian accent. Most of the jokes are dumb, including the dated parodies of Robert Taylor, Clark Gable, and the now-forgotten Al Pearce. The animation is actually quite nice, grotesque depictions of black people aside. It's colorful and the action is well-animated. The music is also good, including the Looney Tunes theme song used during the merry-go-round bit. But really there's no reason to see this unless you are an animation buff or curious about the Censored Eleven.

Although this may not be the most racist cartoon ever made, I agree that this isn't among the best. But the thing that gets me is this: The other black-themed cartoons that make up the Censored 11, and other racist cartoons from the Golden Era of American Animation are banned but some of the more modern cartoons such as Family Guy, which also make racial (or racist) jokes are not and they're given a pass to keep that alive? Why? I inquired about this in a thread on another site, but I forgot the reason. Even as much as I don't care much for the cartoons that target racial (or racist) stereotypes toward my own race (black), what's the point in banning them if negative, ethnic, stereotypical jokes are allowed on Family Guy? Political incorrectness hasn't really been done away with at all. As much as I love some of those Golden Era Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts, they haplessly also have a negative side to them and in the WB cartoons' history.

Negative, racist, stereotypes aside, that's not the only reason to detest this cartoon. Other than the very few, funny moments like the reference to The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down when the cannibals form a carousel with the tent, there isn't much else to it. I concur the backgrounds and animation quality are better than the characters themselves. These one-off characters, including the salesman, the African natives, and the queen aren't the most intriguing ever. As much as I don't care much for the character designs of the African natives with their black-face look, I know that unfortunately, in most cases, that was the way of the world back then, when too much ignorance towards minorities was rampant. This is one of the less funny LT or MM shorts. Back in the early half of the 20th century especially, there were cartoons that poked fun at various races a lot, yes, true. But does that make them right? And are they any fun? Well, maybe not, if you're a part of the race that's being targeted. And I believe that right there is where the problem lies. Why so many people have a problem with this kind of cartoons, with generalizations toward everyone within that race that aren't true about everyone in that race. The artwork with the backgrounds may be one of the few bright spots about this. I can't state much else about this that the other reviewers who gave lower rated reviews about it have stated, as I'm on their side on the same issues. The two, only reasons I'd ever recommend this are either for historical purposes or to be a completist. And to the reviewer who actually likes this, at least somewhat, and doesn't care for almost any LT/MM shorts, all I can say about that is he has no taste or crappy taste when it comes to real entertainment, so what does he know?

I'd heard no end of horror stories about how 'Jungle Jitters' is allegedly so mind-bogglingly racist that it has been banned from polite society for all eternity. It turns out that this cartoon's major crime is that it isn't very funny. The single most racist gag involves a black man who looks like Stepin Fetchit but with enormous lips. He eats a persimmon, and his lips pucker until they're normal size. Elsewhere there are moronic gags involving African natives (all male) with nose rings and metal bands elongating their necks. (Apparently the gang at Termite Terrace have got African men confused with Burmese women.) I was surprised that there weren't any plate-lip gags ... but, really, most of this toon is just so stupid and unfunny that it's not worth the credibility of being called racist. Some other Hollywood toons from this same period are far more racist, maliciously so. Step forward, Chuck Jones's Inki.

After the initial gags, we get two interesting examples of Dorgan's Syndrome, a term I invented. Dorgan's Syndrome (named for comic-strip artist Tad Dorgan) is when a comic-strip character or cartoon character (almost invariably male) is drawn to look like an exaggerated human (fully clothed), but very minor details -- such as floppy spaniel ears or a black button nose -- indicate that he's actually a humanised animal, nearly always a dog. (Tad Dorgan drew comic-strip dogs who were so completely anthropomorphised, you have to look carefully to see they aren't comic-strip humans.) Into this cartoon jungle comes a commercial traveller who appears to be a white man, except that he has a dog's nose. The African natives (who are clearly human beings, at least by cartoon standards) want to put him in a big cauldron and eat him. Before anybody cries 'cannibalism', how can they be cannibals if they're humans eating a dog? The talking dog's flesh tones resemble a caucasian human's, so I guess he's 'white'.

Now we veer into H. Rider Haggard territory, as it turns out that all these black men are ruled by a white queen ... a very old queen, in fact, wearing Mammy Yokum high-button shoes. She too appears to suffer from Dorgan's Syndrome, as she looks nominally human but her mouth and nose are drawn to resemble a chicken's beak. (An old biddy?) She takes one look at the dog and starts screeching 'A man!'. She's surrounded by black men, but apparently she's been waiting for a talking dog with caucasian flesh tones. While the dog is talking, the hen imagines him morphing into Clark Gable (very unpleasantly drawn) and Robert Taylor. It shows how defeatist the makers of this Warner Brothers cartoon were, that they had to invoke two MGM contract actors as examples of male sex appeal. Couldn't they have used Warners actors Cagney, Raft ... even Dick Powell?

This whole toon is too dumb to bear much scrutiny. When the African men look at the dog, he morphs into a fried chicken. But their queen IS a chicken, so why don't they eat HER?

A previous IMDb reviewer, Randy H Farb, observes that the travelling salesman in this cartoon is a parody of a radio character named Elmer Blurt. He's correct, but Mr Farb has misspelt the name of the radio actor who invented the character: that would be Al Pearce, not Pierce. Al Pearce's radio character Elmer Blurt was nicknamed 'the Low Pressure Salesman'. As Farb notes, quite a few Warners toons featured parodies of radio or movie actors. Which brings me to the one good thing about this cartoon: the dog character (an imitation of Blurt) is actually fairly interesting in his own right, and could have been quite effective in a funnier cartoon. It's a shame that Warners never used him again. Maybe he'll show up in a Tiny Toon. I'll rate 'Jungle Jitters' just 2 out of 10. That's all, folks.

This film isn't all that bad. After all, when the Queen made an appearance in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?", those who remembered her howled with laughter. The animation is clever in spoofing Elmer as Clark Gable and Robert Taylor as seen by the queen; to the cannibals, he looks like fried chicken. Elmer, the shy salesman is a parody of the radio comedian Al Pierce's character, Elmer Blurt. The characteristic knock on the door, the stammer, "I Hope, I hope, I hope.", are all part of what became Warner's biggest trademark--parodies of radio comedians. After all, every time someone would pick up the telephone, Daffy might say, "Oh, is that you Myrt?", which came from "Fibber McGee and Molly." Also, how many times have Jack Benny and Rochester, not to mention Eddie Cantor, been used to good advantage?

This film starts slow, but does pick up speed when Elmer makes his entrance. He also has a great closing line, something the writers of some of these cartoons desperately needed. I recommend this film for students of old radio.