Disclaimer: This is the third entry on the Censored 11. While there are more cartoons out there that are just as vile, if not more so, than the cartoons on this list, this is a good indicator of what we’re about to see. This review contains racist content, imagery, and ideals. I do NOT in anyway endorse any of the depictions here. They are gross and wrong. However, it would be just as wrong to gloss over them like nothing even happened in the first place. These cartoons need addressing. PLEASE let me know if I make any mistakes or say something wrong or hurtful. It is NEVER my intention to do so, and I want my mistakes to be known so I can correct them and own up to them accordingly. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.
Release date: May 22nd, 1937
Series: Merrie Melodies
Director: Friz Freleng
Starring: Ben Carter’s Plantation Choir (Singers), Lillian Randolph (Dancing Woman), Bill Days (Al Jolson, Schlepperman Puppet), The Sportsmen Quartet (“Rhythm, Rhythm, Rhythm” song), Scott Whitaker (Cab Calloway), Basin Street Boys (“Rhythm’s What This Country Needs”), Harland Evans (Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong), Eddie Green (Women), Mel Blanc (Devil),
Not a fun time in Looney Tunes history–the cartoon released right after this one, Uncle Tom’s Bungalow, is another Censored 11, so we have 2 back to back. Nevertheless.
As you’ll notice, Phil Monroe gets his first animation credit—interestingly, that wasn’t always the case. According to Monroe, Cal Dalton originally had the credit, but Monroe threatened to quit if he didn’t get a credit, seeing as he had been working at the studio for 2 years now and worked hard enough to get some recognition. He would have been only 20 at the time.
Both Monroe and Dalton laughed off the situation in hindsight, seeing as the film was rarely played due to the Hays Office’s condemnation of the film, so Monroe’s quest for notoriety was in vein. Monroe cites Dalton as saying “You went in and made an ass of yourself, and what good did it do you?”
The title is a parody of the 1936 film Green Pastures. With many elements borrowed from Friz’s 1934 Goin’ to Heaven on a Mule, Clean Pastures chronicles the struggling economy of Pair-o-Dice, and what can be done to ensure Hades Inc. doesn’t prevail.
To give credit where credit is due, the opening montage is hardly anything less than impressive. Harlem is bustling with night life, as displayed by the blinking neon lights of various clubs, ballrooms, restaurants, etc. The animation of a line of dancers is absolutely to be commended: very complex, very high energy, very fun with a lot of energy.
Stereotypes are, unfortunately, perpetuated as we see the hand of a man shooting craps and snapping in frustration as he misses his shot. Another shot limited to just hands, this time preparing cocktails. The use of just hands, no faces or anything else identifiable, is certainly clever directing on Friz’s part, adding an air of mystery and excitement. More dancing from a happy (and stereotyped) couple as we get a variety of overlays–the women dancing at the beginning, the couple dancing, and the word HARLEM in big bold letters for all to see.
More very clever animation as the HARLEM spins away, revealing the surface it’s on to be a globe: the earth. The earth gets smaller and smaller as we zoom out into space, complete with details such as shooting stars and other planets. The opening is wonderfully executed in approach and is undeniably very well thought out, though the stereotypes and content itself obviously cannot go unnoticed.
Segue into a musical number provided by The Four Blackbirds. The vocals are too wonderful and lovely to belong to such a nasty cartoon, but I digress. A horizontal pan takes us further into space, where we spot a trail of empty milk glasses. A wonderful take on the milky way that only took me two watch-throughs to get. Above the milky way are the golden gates themselves: Pair-o-Dice. Pair-o-Dice was referenced in the moral monstrosity that is Goin’ to Heaven on a Mule.
Hone in on a forlorn, elderly angel, Saint Peter himself, reading the newspaper: Pair-o-Dice preferred hits new low as Hades Inc. soars. Sure enough, a glum glance at the stocks assert the newspaper’s credibility: the line representing stocks on the board literally goes out of bounds and onto the floor. Saint Peter checks his ticker tape: results are bleak. The underscoring song comes to an end as he decides to make a call.
And, of course, we are greeted with an insulting Stepin Fetchit caricature playing a trumpet. He’s more concerned about the foul notes he occasionally blats from his trumpet instead of answering the off-screen phone. Peter peter on the other end loses patience, angrily pressing the buzzer in conjunction with the underscore. There IS some clever animation as the fetchit angel’s wings pick up the phone and tap him on the head. He answers and gives the affirmative (the whole time speaking in a cruelly stereotypical dialect), a sudden burst of energy prompting him to run to whatever task he needs to tend to.
Friz certainly seemed to enjoy the lingering suspension brought on by this cartoon, with the introduction of the segmented hands gambling and pouring drinks and now the confidential phone call prompting the Fetchit caricature to plummet down to earth off of a diving board. The animation is very fun, loose, and weightless, all things considered. While the Fetchit angel plummets down towards the earth, Saint Peter places a pin on the globe in his office, right on the spot marking Harlem.
More overlays of the bustling Harlem nightlife we saw at the beginning, dissolving to focus on the Fetchit angel peddling in the streets, trying to get more people to come to Pair-o-Dice, indicated by the sign on the platform he’s standing on: COME TO PAIR-O-DICE — BE CONTENT.
To boot, there’s another sign à la Uncle Sam with the elderly angel pointing at the audience. “PAIR-O-DICE NEEDS YOU!”, as well as listing a number of commodities promised at the venue. Most insulting on the list is the promise of watermelon. Very tasteless, offensive, and deplorable.
While the angel struggles to properly advertise, we’re met with an interlude of a random passerby tap-dancing. The synchronization between animation and sound at least provides some benefit.
Another one of the passersby is mister Al Jolson himself (the blackface caricature of him, anyway. Remember, Jolson WAS white), singing “I Love to Singa” while he strolls down the street. As he mentions about wanting to sing about “a sonny boy”, a little ventriloquist puppet randomly plops down from the sky, right on Jolson’s knee, the puppet greeting him “Hello, stranger!”
“Sonny Boy” was a popular Al Jolson song, whereas the “Hello, stranger!” was taken from Jack Benny’s radio show. The same catchphrase and I Love to Singa song were both used in, of course, Tex Avery’s I Love to Singa just a year before.
As Jolson wraps up his routine, he strolls into a nightclub (named the Kottin Klub *wince*), much to the Fetchit’s angel’s chagrin: “You can’t go in there! I’m supposed to keep you out of those places!”
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| Layout drawing. |
What engages next is a wonderfully catchy musical number—as deplorable as this cartoon is, the music score is wonderful and doesn’t deserve to be in such a hateful cartoon. The celebrities all chastise Saint Peter for his poor business practices, and how rhythm in your soul, rhythm in your feet, etc. is the way to properly recruit more people. The patter song, the snappy, lilting tempo, the energy, it’s all wonderful and is certainly one of the better musical numbers we’ve heard in Merrie Melodies thus far. It’s a shame it has to be dampened by such grotesque imagery. The animation is rather nice though, all things considered.
The angels all go down to Harlem where they play the big jazz number of the cartoon, “Swing for Sale” on the platform the Fetchit angel had just been peddling on, with Cab Calloway providing the primary vocals. Calloway’s closeups and animation in general is very smooth, flowing, and fun, and the call and response aspect of the entire song between calloway and the angels is a lovely touch. The backup angels have their own soft interlude, gathering around a microphone, making the mouth trumpet noises present since the Harman-Ising days.
Fats Waller provides a double piano solo, reused from Goin’ to Heaven on a Mule where his angel wings play on the piano behind him.
After Waller, Calloway points to Louis Armstrong, who sings a few lines of the song and launches into a trumpet solo. Once again, the animation is very nice, thinking in technical terms. Whoever does the celebrity impressions are quite good at them. A nice little detail is Louis’ face turning purple and his eyes bulging as he pushes to get the notes out—I can only imagine the extremes this would be pushed to if the cartoon were made 5 years later.
The song ends, allowing a transition to Pair-o-Dice, where the golden gates open to let the angels back in. A lovely up-shot of the gates, as well as the constantly moving background as the angels, still performing, traipse along the starry trail and prepare to enter. They’re not alone—a whole line of new recruits follow, wagging their fingers and dancing. The animation of the lead couple was reused from Sunday Go to Meetin’ Time, another deplorable freleng piece from 1936.
Now, Pair-o-Dice is bustling. Lovely choice on Friz’s part to be looking inside Pair-o-Dice from outside the gates, the golden gates partially obstructing the view of the busy streets. Angels line up to get their halos, distributed from a machine. Saint Peter contentedly places a NO VACANCIES sign on one of the doors, beaming with pride.
Suddenly, a knock. He opens the little door window at the top to peer at his visitor. Mel Blanc’s gravelly voice grunts “May I come in?” Saint Peter disregards his own sign. “Sure. There’s always room for one more!”
With that, Satan himself marches inside, prim and proper, hands clasped together, providing a knowing side-eye to the audience as we iris out.
This cartoon is much livelier than the previous Censored 11 entries, and its musical score is undeniably fantastic. With that said, this is a terrible, offensive, grotesque cartoon that parades a number of stereotypes and caricatures. It’s not in my place as a white person to decide what is racist and what isn’t, but this is a slight step above from the previous entry, Sunday Go to Meetin’ Time, which was just plain cruel. This cartoon is slightly more light-hearted, if that’s at all possible, but still lacks any sense or compassion.
There are a few things that do deserve praise. The animation, again, in technicality terms, is very nice. Lots of closeups, lots of flowing animation, lots of intricate hand movements. Cab Calloway’s animation during the big jazz number and Fats Waller’s animation playing the piano with his hands and wings are both to be commended.
The music score is wonderful, fun, and lively, much too good for the cartoon it’s in. The layouts are also stellar, especially the scenes in Pair-o-Dice. But still, there’s no way in good conscience that I can recommend this cartoon. You’ll be fine without watching it. It’s certainly polished, but it still remains inexcusable.
Yet, like always, if you want to watch this for educational or historical purposes, here’s the link. Obviously view this with discretion.
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