191. Jungle Jitters (1938)

(Disclaimer: This is the fifth entry in the notorious Censored 11. So, as you can imagine, this review entails racist content and imagery. I do not endorse any of this content--this is all purely for educational and historical purposes. Please feel free to let me know if I ever say anything harmful or insensitive. It's never my intention to do so, and I want to take accountability for my actions should that happen. Thank you!)

Release date: February 19th, 1938

Series: Merrie Melodies 

Director: Friz Freleng

Starring: Mel Blanc (Natives, Guard, Officiant), Tedd Pierce (Salesman, Queen)

Inarguably one of Friz Freleng's worst cartoons, blatant racism aside. This (along with Tex Avery's All This and Rabbit Stew) cartoon is in the public domain, meaning that it was slapped on a number of cheap VHS tapes you'd find in the bargain bin at Walmart--20-30 years after it had been banned from TV syndication. 

It's truly mind boggling to think about--if you're going to showcase such deplorable cartoons in the first place, at least present it in an informed, proper historical context for a sensible, open-minded adult audience. Don't put it in the bargain bin where clueless kids will be allowed to take it home, watch it, and digest such vile caricatures without being able to discern what is right or wrong about it. No disclaimers, no context, no nothing. It genuinely hurts my brain just to think about.

Strong feelings aside--after a barrage of gags involving the natives, the story shifts to a cannibalistic queen who has her sights set on a dopey, incompetent salesman.

The cartoon opens with a barrage of musical gags involving the natives of the jungle. Three of them set in a row, pounding on some drums. An overhead shot reveals a crowd of natives performing a war cry, dancing to the beat of the drums. One native in particular bangs the drum with his rear, patting his polka-dotted underwear to the beat of the music. 

Repeat the crowd shot and close-up once more (with a gag of one of the natives "jumping rope" with his nose ring wedged in between), a loose attempt at a musical montage. If there is any merit to this scene, it's that the musical timing (as to be expected in a Freleng cartoon) is snappy and succinct. However, the scene comes across as dull, tired, and repetitive, marred by grotesque imagery.

While the crowd of natives continue their chanting for just a while longer, out of nowhere they suddenly transform the hut they're dancing around into a merry-go-round, riding their spears as Carl Stalling's score of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" plays in the background. 

Meanwhile, three of the natives (including one whose skin is absolutely pitch black... 1938 was far from being radical, but seriously, is this 1938 or 1885? What the hell?) imitate a calliope, blowing steam from their mouths in tune to the music. 

Once again, if there is any merit to be found, it's that Stalling's score (as it usually is) is fun and jaunty. Ken Harris animates a scene of the riders on the merry-go-round trying to pull the nose ring off of one the natives (if a rider managed to grab a brass ring on the ride, that usually entailed a prize of some sort). One of the riders indeed catches it, but it merely pulls the native's head out, which shoots back and bobs around like a slinky, the rings on his neck forming the slinky. 

As indicated by the song's title, the natives mimicking the calliope eventually go out of tune, and the entire merry-go-round deflates on top of the riders... and that's that. The gag continues on for far too long--Friz Freleng did a sharper, snappier rendition of the same gag in another derogatory cartoon of his, Sweet Si*ux, which was actually the first cartoon to debut the then-future Looney Tunes theme song. Here, it's just uncomfortable, long, and dull.

With any anti-Black cartoon comes a Stepin Fetchit caricature, a favorite of the Warner Bros. directors.  Here, he sits beneath a persimmon tree, eats one, and puckers his face to the audience, exclaiming "Oh, for goodness sakes!" And, as if it never existed, we move on to the next gag.

Spot gag cartoons don't bother me too much, and I understand it can be difficult to string gags together in a comprehensible manner, but here they all feel so haphazardly thrown together. Maybe that's just the racism talking--perhaps I'd enjoy this more if it weren't reeking with nastiness--but there's no build to any of the gags, and they feel exceedingly half-hearted. Freleng is a very underrated director in my book, and I'm quite sympathetic to his Merrie Melodies of the 1930s, but it's very clear his heart wasn't quite in this one. Considering this is his second-to-last cartoon during his first tenure at WB, perhaps that may be why.

A gag reused from Frank Tashlin's Porky's Building, one of the natives ties toilet plungers to his feet, using them to vertically scale a palm tree. He approaches the top, where he keeps a lookout by rotating his torso 360 degrees. Fade out and back in.

A brief bit of filler as we're greeted to an overhead view of the jungle for a few seconds, interrupted by an iris transition to a man knocking on a wooden door. 

Cue the second half of the cartoon: Tedd Pierce (obnoxiously) voices a dog-faced caricature of Elmer Blurt from The Al Pearce Show, referenced in a number of cartoons such as Little Red Walking Hood and Porky's Hero Agency. Here, we have an entire cartoon dedicated to it.

A rather out of place "cuckoo" sound effect makes an attempt to assert "Elmer" (as model sheets label him)'s goofiness, but instead comes across as haphazard and obligatory. Barely a pause goes by before Elmer tells the audience "I guess nobody's to home, I hope, I hope, I hope, I hope, I hope." No disrespect to Tedd Pierce--I find his vocals in other cartoons quite charming, but his voice for Elmer here sounds like nails on a chalkboard. Obnoxious, gravelly, and slow. At the very least, he does a wonderful job of making the character annoying.

Regardless, our hero is undeterred. Another door is opened up by one of the natives offscreen, Mel Blanc providing his voice--I can't tell if he's saying "hold up, hold up" or "goin' up, goin' up," but it's annoying regardless. Elmer makes a dash for the door, but is met with wood in the face instead as the door closes on him.

No matter! Pan over to another door with another native echoing the same mutterings. And, like before, Elmer makes a run for it, but the door is closed right in his face before he can make his way in. We repeat this two more times, the entire gag three times. 

The way the gag is staged makes it take far too long--Tex Avery did the same gag two years prior in Page Miss Glory, and it hardly took any time at all. No long pans, no extraneous dialogue. Look at how quick and snappy the animation is in the gif above, and compare that to the gag here. It draws too much attention to itself, when it hardly rises any laughs to begin with.

Nevertheless, if there's any merit to be given, it's that Carl Stalling's underscore of "Rural Rhythm" is refreshingly catchy--the strings that accompany Elmer recovering from his daze are particularly nice.

Elmer makes way to another door, which is handily equipped with a doorbell. He rings it, flashing a toothy, self-satisfied grin in the process, and is met with a friendly boxing glove in the face that darts out the doorbell. 

I will concede that the animation of Elmer concealing himself, preparing for another blow as he rings the doorbell for a second time is pretty funny. He ducks, and just as he thinks he's been spared, a second boxing glove juts out from beneath the doorbell and socks him in the gut. A bit of awkward timing as he stares at the audience for a second before recovering again, transitioning to the next scene.

And, to give credit where credit is due, Freleng's musical timing is on point as Elmer runs alongside the row of adjacent doors, knocking them to the beat of the music. He darts to the end of the wall, peering out as he gleefully ogles at the befuddled natives standing by their open but empty doors. Once more, good musical timing as the salesman darts past the row of doors, all of them closing on him in conjunction to the beat of the music. This gag has already taken up 1/7th of the cartoon, but the easy listening of the music makes it slightly more bearable. Regardless, it lasts for far too long.

Luckily for Elmer, he's able to jab his foot in an ajar door, asking one of the natives (who is frantically trying to shut the door on Elmer) if "the lady of the house is to home, a-huh a-huh a-huh a-huh a-huh a-huh." 

Bad Staging 101.

There's an incredibly awkward cut to the next scene as Elmer lifts up his suitcase, putting it down again... and then we're onto the next scene. The cut is arbitrary as is, but it's staged incredibly poorly, too--the audience can hardly see the suitcase or Elmer. Instead, the background takes up half of the shot. The problem is only exacerbated as Elmer leans offscreen to talk some more. They would have been much better off just cutting out to the next scene or keeping him where he was--a failed attempt at splicing things up.

Nevertheless, while Elmer advertises his "Assorted Useful Useless Utensils", we pan up to the top of the wall, where a line of natives stare down Elmer, licking their lips as they imagine him as a plump roast chicken (boater hat and all.) Indeed, Elmer has stumbled upon a cannibalistic village. The slightly out of tune calliope score of "Rural Rhythm" could pass as commentary for the cartoon's quality itself--which is to say, not very good.

The natives all lower themselves from their post, and an offscreen hand yanks Elmer off screen, only returning to pluck his hat away. Fade out and in to a befuddled Elmer blinking at the audience, sitting in a stewpot as one of the natives prepares to cook him. 

In a gag reused from Freleng's Pigs is Pigs, the native prepares to dump a bowl of onions into the mixture, but is stopped by a sign coming in from off screen: HOLD THE ONIONS.

That's the end of that. Wipe to the villagers pillaging Elmer's briefcase, going through his wares. One of the natives switches on a vacuum cleaner, which sucks all of the straw off of a nearby hut. The animation of the straw unraveling into the vacuum is nice, but the lack of in-betweens from the vacuum just sitting there to suddenly sucking up straw makes for a jarring watch.

Elsewhere, in a gag directly used from Buddy in Africa, one of the villagers screws lightbulbs into his ears, placing a lampshade on his head and settling down to read the newspaper. This cartoon here has the benefit of Carl Stalling's fun music score, but other than that, the gag wasn't funny in Buddy in Africa and it isn't here, either, not even accounting for the grotesque imagery.

After a nonsensical 5 second shot of Elmer's hat bouncing around like the lid on a teapot, steam whistling from his agape mouth, we cut to the villagers lined up at a picnic table, banging their forks and knives on the table to the beat of the music. 

Pan across the village to "THE PALACE (temporary) -- MOVING TO MORE PALATIAL QUARTERS JAN. 1ST", where we meet the queen (a Tex Avery-esque subtitle declaring her as such)--a curiously bird-faced woman. She, like Elmer, is voiced also by Pierce, but is instead a caricature of Bill Comstock's character Tizzie Lish, who was referenced in previous cartoons such as The Woods are Full of Cuckoos and Porky's Hero Agency.

Jarring camera cuts and disconcerting stares seem to be a theme in this cartoon--among others--as the queen stares directly into the camera, quipping "Hello, folksies!" We cut back to the natives pounding their fists on the table, and back AGAIN to the queen as she asks "What's going on out there?"

Truly incredible--the cartoon outperforms itself in its racism as one of her blackfaced assistants speaks in a stereotypical Chinese accent, telling her that they're having a salesman for dinner. 

Queenie is delighted. "A man? Bring him in!" She sings a pitchy version of "Vienni, Vienni" as she douses herself with perfume and combs at the strands of her hair, prepping herself for the big date. Her assistants bring a befuddled Elmer (who seems unscathed from his time in the stewpot) and throw him at the queen's feet, much to her delight.

It's love at first sight. The queen stares into our souls once more as she asks "Kinda cute, don't'cha think? ...or don't'cha?" 

I have no problem with characters looking at the camera and talking to the screen, but the way it's executed here seems incredibly uncanny--perhaps it's because we're so close to her face. There are many, many uncomfortable aspects about the short, and this is just another topper. Disconcerting, uncanny, strange, not good.

Enter the song portion of the cartoon, if there is such a thing. Elmer shows off his wares to the queen, engaging in an obnoxious, grating talk-song rendition of "Too Marvelous for Words". The queen is absolutely smitten--while Elmer guffaws and stutters, she sees him as a regular Clark Gable and Robert Taylor. Despite the obnoxious vocals, the animation is quite amusing. I believe this is Bob McKimson at work. The caricatures (and Elmer, too) are very well constructed, and seeing the likes of Gable and Taylor contort their flawless, solid faces into dopey grins as they echo breathy guffaws is quite amusing. Nevertheless, the scene drags on, prolonged by the queen's guards imagining Elmer as (once again) a plump roast chicken, licking their lips at the thought of the meal before them. 

"We'll get married right away!" The queen doesn't need any more advertisements from her salesman sweetie to win her over. There's some much needed snappiness as the queen pulls on a curtain rod from above her throne, emerging in a wedding gown and batting her eyelashes. More much desired speed as an officiator rolls in on a podium (literally, it has wheels) as the wedding is on.

The queen takes Elmer as her sweetie, facetiously quipping "Oh, this is so sudden!" whereas Elmer needs extra reinforcement, a guard jabbing him in the butt with a spear prompting him to grunt "Yea-yea-yea-yea-yea-yea-yea-yea-yea-yea-yea-yea-yeah

"I now sentence you to be man and wife, kiss the bride, that'll be $2 please." Blanc's delivery as the officiator wastes no time getting to the point. It seems like they're overcompensating for all of the time spent dragging in the beginning half--had the cartoon followed this pace throughout (which is, admittedly, a very difficult pace to maintain) I feel like it would have been in slightly better shape structurally.

Nevertheless, our cartoon cuts to an abrupt close as Queenie awaits for Elmer to give her a kiss. He does a rather tame take, his suit rolling up to reveal his long johns, before running away (a smear giving this away as Ken Harris animation) and diving into the boiling cauldron he was stewing in before.

With that, Elmer curses in his same, gravelly, monotone drawl: "I hope they all get in-die-gestion! I hope, I hope, I hope, I hope, I hope!" He plugs his nose, submerging himself into the scalding liquid as we iris out.

No sugarcoating, this is a terrible cartoon. Not even just accounting for the blatant racism and disgusting imagery in this cartoon, but structurally, humor-wise and the like, it falls to pieces in many categories. The racism is certainly one of the strongest turn-offs--grotesque caricatures, stereotypes and the like, all incredibly difficult to sit through, but even if this short wasn't marred by such imagery, I'd still give it the same verdict of being bad.

Many of the scenes are very poorly staged. Camera close ups are too close, characters bobbing off screen, arbitrary camera cuts, you name it. It breaks up what little flow this cartoon has and makes watching it an actual task with how distracting everything is. 

Likewise, this cartoon's story is very poor--a string of gags, one after the other, that don't have the padding to make them work. George Manuell wrote the story as opposed to Friz's usual writer (for this period) Tedd Pierce. I'm not sure how many of Freleng's cartoons did Manuell write--he seems to have worked with Frank Tashlin the most--but he didn't do a very good job on this one.

There's also the fact that these characters of Elmer Blurt and Tizzie Lish, nobody in 2021 knows who these characters are. They've all faded into obscurity. The outdated radio show references don't bother me nearly as much as other people because I enjoy learning about the history that accompanies them, but I can only imagine how incredibly confusing this short is to people who have no idea that these characters are referencing 80+ year old radio show characters.

Regardless, this is one of Friz's worst, hands down, not even for the blatant racism. It's just a bad cartoon. Again, even if it weren't bogged down with dehumanizing and disgusting caricatures, I'd say skip it--it's not worth watching. There are so many other better cartoons out there (structurally and morally) that you could spend your time watching. I've come to respect Friz greatly as a director, but this was not his short.

Nevertheless, as I always do, I'll provide a link. Watch with discretion if you do decide to check it out.