Uncle Tom's Cabaña
| Uncle Tom's Cabana | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Tex Avery |
| Story by | Heck Allen |
| Produced by | Fred Quimby |
| Starring | Will Wright Sara Berner[1] Imogene Lynn |
| Music by | Scott Bradley |
| Animation by |
|
| Layouts by | Walter Clinton (uncredited) |
| Backgrounds by | John Didrik Johnsen (uncredited) |
| Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
|
Running time | 8 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Uncle Tom's Cabaña is a 1947 American animated short film directed by Tex Avery.[2] The short is a parody of Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, and is Avery's second parody of the novel, the first being Uncle Tom's Bungalow in 1937 while at Warner Bros. Cartoons.
The cartoon was well-received by the film press in 1947, but was fiercely criticized by an African-American weekly newspaper on its re-release in 1954, which, seven years after the cartoon's first release, accused the film of inflaming racial misunderstanding.[3] The short was later banned from television airings.
Premise
[edit]Uncle Tom tells the blood-curdling story of how the evil Simon Legree tried to foreclose on Tom's simple log cabin. Also features Red from Red Hot Riding Hood as Little Eva.
Voice Cast
[edit]- Will Wright as Uncle Tom[4]
- Sara Berner as the Little Boy[4]
- Imogene Lynn as Red singing Carry Me Back to Old Virginny[4]
Reception
[edit]Upon it's original release, The Film Daily wrote, "A modern version of the old tale, it is a real seller." Motion Picture Herald described it as "a modern version with the emphasis on swing," and Motion Picture Exhibitor said, "This will appeal, especially to kids."[3]
During the cartoon's 1954 re-issue, the African-American weekly Pittsburgh Courier published an editorial titled "Uncle Tom's Cabana Outrages Negro Audiences: What Price Brotherhood If Movies Play Up Handkerchief Heads?" The editorial called the cartoon "a base stereotype and an insult to Negroes", saying, "Even though there has been a general loosening of the Production Code in order to hype the box office, there is no reason why Negroes should continue to be ridiculed and jeered at in motion pictures. This medium reaches all levels of mentalities and feeds the flames of prejudice by projecting such canards as Uncle Tom's Cabana... Showing this insult during Brotherhood Week was a kick in the teeth to a fine effort to wipe out prejudice in America. With the world in ferment, Uncle Tom's Cabana set the movies back ten years."[3]
In his 1996 book Tex Avery: The MGM Years, John Canemaker critisized the short saying: "In Uncle Tom’s Cabana a black man is the title character, but he is designed in a particularly gross caricature of an African-American with thick lips taking up the lower half of his face. Uncle Tom is amiable and slow, not too bright, poor, elderly (and therefore sexless). Remus-like, he is a dreamer and a fabricator of tall tales for children. (Disney’s feature Song of the South was released the year before)." He also criticizes the ending by saying: "That a black man could best a white one... was a conclusion that would not be allowed to stand. In the final scene, Tom is killed by lightning as a punishment for lying about his past, and his exit floating to heaven [is] less than dignified as his large bare ass leads the way."[5]
Cesnsorship and Availability
[edit]Uncle Tom's Cabaña, along with Half-Pint Pygmy, are banned from television airings in the United States due to ethnic stereotyping of African-Americans.
The only official home media release of both Uncle Tom's Cabaña and Half-Pint Pygmy was on The Compleat Tex Avery laserdisc boxset from MGM/UA Home Video in 1993.[6] As of 2025, Uncle Tom's Cabaña is one of five Tex Avery MGM cartoons not included on the Tex Avery Screwball Classics Blu-Ray and DVD sets from the Warner Archive Collection: along with Henpecked Hoboes, Half-Pint Pygmy, Lucky Ducky and Droopy's Good Deed.
See also
[edit]- Uncle Tom's Bungalow, a 1937 Warner Bros. short also directed by Tex Avery
- Mickey's Mellerdrammer, 1933 Disney animated short
References
[edit]- ^ "Tralfaz: A Nose for Beauty". April 25, 2022.
- ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 146–147. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.
- ^ a b c Sampson, Henry T. (1998). That's Enough, Folks: Black Images in Animated Cartoons, 1900-1960. Scarecrow Press. p. 145. ISBN 978-0810832503.
- ^ a b c Scott, Keith (2022). Cartoon Voices: of the Golden Age, 1930-1970 - Volume Two: Selected Filmographies with Voice Credits. Orlando: BearManor Media. p. 131. ISBN 979-8-88771-010-5. Retrieved November 20, 2025.
- ^ Canemaker, John (1996). Tex Avery: The MGM Years. Atlanta: Turner Publishing. pp. 98–99. ISBN 1-57036-291-2. Retrieved November 20, 2025.
- ^ "Compleat Tex Avery, The [ML102681]". Laserdisc Database. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
External links
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