''Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs'' is a 1943 ''

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animation, animated series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. starting in 1931, during the golden age of American animation, and ending in 1969. Then some new cartoons were produced from the late 197 ...

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

cartoon directed by

Bob Clampett Robert Emerson Clampett Sr. (May 8, 1913 – May 2, 1984) was an American animator, director, producer and puppeteer. He was best known for his work on the '' Looney Tunes'' animated series from Warner Bros. as well as the television shows '' ...

. The short was released on January 16, 1943. The film is an all-

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

parody of the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

Snow White "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as Ta ...

'', known to its audience from the popular 1937

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

animated feature ''

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as T ...

''. The stylistic portrayal of the characters is an example of "darky" iconography, which was widely accepted in

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

society at the time. As such, it is one of the most controversial cartoons in the classic Warner Brothers library, being one of the

Censored Eleven The Censored Eleven is a group of '' Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoons originally produced and released by Warner Bros. that were withheld from syndication in the United States by United Artists (UA) since 1968. UA owned the dis ...

. The cartoon has been rarely seen on television, and has never been officially released on home video.

History

Overview

In this version of the story, all of the characters are black, and speak all of their dialogue in rhyme. The story is set during World War II in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, and the original tale's

wholesomeness is replaced in this film by a hot

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

mentality and sexual overtones. Several scenes unique to Disney's film version of ''Snow White'', such as the wishing-well sequence, the forest full of staring eyes, and the awakening kiss, are directly parodied in this film. The film was intended to have been named ''So White and de Sebben Dwarfs'', which producer

Leon Schlesinger Leon Schlesinger (May 20, 1884 – December 25, 1949) was an American film producer who founded Leon Schlesinger Productions, which later became the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio, during the Golden Age of American animation. He was a distant r ...

thought was too close to the original film's actual title, and had changed to ''Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs''. Clampett intended ''Coal Black'' as both a parody of ''Snow White'' and a dedication to the all-black jazz

musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks ...

s popular in the early 1940s (like '' Cabin in the Sky'' and '' Stormy Weather''). In fact, the idea to produce ''Coal Black'' came to Clampett after he saw

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...

's 1941 musical revue '' Jump for Joy'', and Ellington and the cast suggested Clampett make a black musical cartoon. The Clampett unit made a couple of field trips to Club Alabam, a black club in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

area, to gain a feel for the music and the dancing, and Clampett cast popular radio actors as the voices of his three main characters. The main character, So White, is voiced by

Vivian Dandridge Vivian Alferetta Dandridge (April 22, 1921 – October 26, 1991) was an American singer, actress and dancer. Dandridge is best known for being the older sister of actress and singer Dorothy Dandridge and the daughter of actress Ruby Dandridge. ...

, sister of actress

Dorothy Dandridge Dorothy Jean Dandridge (November 9, 1922 – September 8, 1965) was an American actress, singer and dancer. She is the first African-American film star to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, which was for her performance in ''Ca ...

. Danny Webb, voices the Wicked Queen.

Leo Watson Leo Watson (February 27, 1898 – May 2, 1950) was an American jazz vocalese singer, drummer, trombonist and tiple player. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, and is probably best remembered as a member of The Spirits of R ...

is the voice of "Prince Chawmin'". The other characters, including the Sebben Dwarfs, are voiced by veteran Warner Bros. voice artist

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy ra ...

. Originally, Clampett wanted an all-black band to score the cartoon, the same way Max and

Dave Fleischer Dave Fleischer (; July 14, 1894 – June 25, 1979) was an American film director and producer, best known as a co-owner of Fleischer Studios with his older brother Max Fleischer. He was a native of New York City. Biography Fleischer was the y ...

had Cab Calloway and His Orchestra score the ''

Betty Boop Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer, with help from animators including Grim Natwick.Pointer (2017) She originally appeared in the ''Talkartoon'' and ''Betty Boop'' film series, which were produced by Fleischer ...

'' cartoons ''

Minnie the Moocher "Minnie the Moocher" is a jazz- scat song first recorded in 1931 by Cab Calloway and His Orchestra, selling over a million copies. "Minnie the Moocher" is most famous for its nonsensical ad libbed (" scat") lyrics (for example, "Hi De Hi De Hi ...

'', '' The Old Man of the Mountain'', and their own version of ''

''. However, Schlesinger refused, and the black band Clampett had hired, Eddie Beals and His Orchestra, only recorded the music for the final kiss sequence. The rest of the film was scored, as was standard for Warner Bros. cartoons, by

Carl W. Stalling Carl William Stalling (November 10, 1891 – November 29, 1972) was an American composer, voice actor and arranger for music in animated films. He is most closely associated with the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' shorts produced by War ...

Synopsis

''Coal Black'' opens in front of a fireplace with a red-tinted silhouette of a large woman holding a young child in her lap. The little black girl asks her " mammy" to tell her the story of "So White an' de Sebben Dwarfs". "Mammy" begins:

Well, once there was a ''mean'' ol' queen. And she lived in a gorgeous castle. And was that ole' gal rich! She was just as rich as she was mean! She had ''everythang!''

The rich, Wicked Queen then appears, depicted as a "food hoarder", with a large repository of items that were on ration during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

: rubber, sugar, gin ("

Eli Whitney Eli Whitney Jr. (December 8, 1765January 8, 1825) was an American inventor, widely known for inventing the cotton gin, one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution that shaped the economy of the Antebellum South. Although Whitney hi ...

Cotton Gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); a ...

" brand) and more. After stuffing her face with candies (from a box marked " Chattanooga Chew-Chews"), she asks her magic mirror to "send her a prince 'bout six feet tall", but when Prince Chawmin' arrives in his flashy car, he declares "that mean ol' queen sho' is a fright / but her gal So White is dyn-a-mite!" Finding So White hard at work doing the laundry, the prince takes her hand and the two swing out into a wild

jitterbug Jitterbug is a generalized term used to describe swing dancing. It is often synonymous with the lindy hop dance but might include elements of the jive, east coast swing, collegiate shag, charleston, balboa and other swing dances. Swing dan ...

. The queen sees this, calls, and hires " Murder, Incorporated" to "black-out So White." She eats the phone in frustration, as the assassins immediately arrive in a panel truck that advertises, "We rub out anybody for $1.00;

Midget Midget (from ''midge'', a tiny biting insect) is a term for a person of unusually short stature that is considered by some to be pejorative due to its etymology. While not a medical term like "dwarfism", a medical condition with a number of ca ...

s: 1/2-price;

Jap ''Jap'' is an English abbreviation of the word "Japanese". Today, it is generally regarded as an ethnic slur. In the United States, some Japanese Americans have come to find the term very offensive, even when used as an abbreviation. Prior to t ...

s: free". The assassins kidnap the girl, but after several unseen "favors" which make the would-be assassins very happy, slowly set her free in the woods unharmed. Just before they drive off, the assassins are seen covered with So White's lipstick all over their heads, an

innuendo An innuendo is a hint, insinuation or intimation about a person or thing, especially of a denigrating or derogatory nature. It can also be a remark or question, typically disparaging (also called insinuation), that works obliquely by allusion ...

as to exactly how she earned her freedom. Wandering through the woods by herself, So White discovers a dwarf who hoots like an

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

. In fright, she immediately lights up a lighter and reveals one of the dwarfs holding a

rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...

. He asked, "Who goes there, Friend or Foe?" She then runs the answer into the Sebben Dwarfs, seven diminutive army men in uniform who marched and sing " We're in the Army Now," with two dwarfs singing "it takes us cats ... to catch them rats" at the end, and So White declares in a 1940s swing-style singing voice, "I'm wacky over

khaki The color khaki (, ) is a light shade of tan with a slight yellowish tinge. Khaki has been used by many armies around the world for uniforms and equipment, particularly in arid or desert regions, where it provides camouflage relative to sandy ...

now!" They immediately recruit her as their squad cook, and she spends her days "fryin' up eggs an' pork chops too" (to the tune of "Five O'Clock Whistle") for the hungry soldiers, as a sign which hangs from her outdoor antique stove reads, "Keep 'em frying," as a sendup of the World War II slogan, "Keep 'Em Flying." Meanwhile, the queen has learned that So White is still alive, and pumps an apple full of poison (turning the red apple into a green apple) to give it to the girl and kill her. Four worms escape the apple as the queen injects it with poison, one carrying a sign that says "Refugees", and one other thinks it smells like

Limburger Limburger (in southern Dutch contexts Rommedoe, and in Belgium Herve cheese) is a cheese that originated in the Herve area of the historical Duchy of Limburg, which had its capital in Limbourg-sur-Vesdre, now in the French-speaking Belgian pr ...

. The queen disguises herself as an old peddler woman as she arrives at the Sebben Dwarfs' camp, reveals a

Jimmy Durante James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, vaudevillian, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced song ...

reference, and gives So White the poisoned apple (who immediately forced her to eat it). She gobbled the entire apple down. One of the seven dwarfs (modeled on the "Dopey" dwarf in Disney's film) sees her lying on the ground and alerts the others that the queen has caused So White to "

kick the bucket To kick the bucket is an English idiom considered a euphemistic, informal, or slang term meaning "to die". Its origin remains unclear, though there have been several theories. Origin theories A common theory is that the idiom refers to hanging, ei ...

" (with one other dwarf who immediately sticks his head out to repeat the response in a question while acting like a

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

), as the situation forced the entire squad to rush, ramming over "Dopey", and hops into its vehicles (a

Jeep Jeep is an American automobile marque, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with remaining assets, from its previous owner American Moto ...

, a "Beep," and, for "Dopey," a "Peep"). As the queen makes her escape over the hills, the dwarfs load a cannon with both a war shell and "Dopey." The shell sails over to the queen, stops in front of her in mid-air, opens, and "Dopey" appears, knocking the crone out with a normal-sized mallet. Even though the queen has been defeated, So White is still dead to the world. The dwarfs' note, in spoken rhyme:

She's outta this world! She's stiff as wood! She's got it bad, and that ain't good! There's only one thing that'll remedy this and dat's Prince Chawmin' and his Dynamite
Kiss A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...
!

Upon the dwarfs' invoking his name, the prince jumps into the scene in a spotlight and promises to "give her a kiss / and it won't be a dud / I'll bring her to life with my special 'Rosebud'", a nod to ''

Citizen Kane ''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 American drama film produced by, directed by, and starring Orson Welles. He also co-wrote the screenplay with Herman J. Mankiewicz. The picture was Welles' first feature film. ''Citizen Kane'' is frequently cited ...

''. Wiping his lip and leaning over the girl in preparation, Prince Chawmin proceeds to give So White a succession of highly aerobic kisses, practically swallowing the girl's face whole in trying to awaken her, but without any luck. Prince Chawmin' keeps frantically kissing So White while the dwarfs attempt to copy his actions (as his efforts are underscored by a solo from Eddie Beale's trumpet player), and the efforts literally take the life out of him as he first turns blue in the face (same to the dwarfs), before turning into a withered old, pale-faced man, shrugging his shoulders in defeat, with the dwarfs entirely falling and tumbling to the ground in relief. The "Dopey" dwarf then saunters over to So White, and, to the tune of "You're in the Army Now," lays a kiss on the girl so dynamic that not only does So White wake up, but her eyes become large as saucers and her pigtails fly straight up into the air (depicted in Rod Scribner's typically extreme animation style) as she jumps into the air. The worn-out, tired, and aged Prince asks "Dopey," "Man, what you got that makes So White think ''you'' so hot?!" "Dopey" replies, with the only non-rhyming line in the cartoon, "well, dat is a military secret," and lays another kiss on So White, which sends her pigtails sailing into the air again and causes the red ribbons on them to turn into twin

American flag The national flag of the United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the c ...

s, to several notes of "

Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean" is an American patriotic song which was popular in the United States during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Composed 1843, it was long used as an unofficial national anthem of the United States, in competition ...

", and immediately after the kiss, So White and "Dopey" both show an obvious "afterglow" in their eyes and their smile. The film then fades to the standard ''Merrie Melodies'' "That's all, Folks!" end title text, superimposed over a shot of the little girl and her "mammy" from the opening scene.

Reaction

Race controversy

In January 1943, the film press greeted the cartoon with glowing reviews, and no mention of stereotype or offense. ''Motion Picture Exhibitor'' said, "A satire on ''Snow White'' done in

blackface Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person. In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereo ...

, set in modern swing, this is the best in a long time. It's very funny." ''

The Film Daily ''The Film Daily'' was a daily publication that existed from 1918 to 1970 in the United States. It was the first daily newspaper published solely for the film industry. It covered the latest trade news, film reviews, financial updates, informatio ...

'' agreed, saying, "Set this one down as a rather amusing satire on ''

''. All the characters in the latter are replaced by

darkies The following is a list of ethnic slurs or ethnophaulisms or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnicity or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pejorative, or ot ...

... The dwarfs come to the rescue in a way that makes for numerous laughs." In April 1943, the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

protested the caricatures which appeared in ''Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs'', and called on Warner to withdraw it. ''Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs'' is one of the "

": 11 Schlesinger/Warner Bros. cartoons produced at the height of the Golden Age of Hollywood animation based on its unflattering and stereotypical use of darky iconography. Because it was produced in America during

, there is also

anti-Japanese sentiment Anti-Japanese sentiment (also called Japanophobia, Nipponophobia and anti-Japanism) involves the hatred or fear of anything which is Japanese, be it its culture or its people. Its opposite is Japanophilia. Overview Anti-Japanese sentim ...

: the firm "Murder Inc." advertises that it does not charge to kill "Japs". The same basic stereotypical elements present in the earlier Censored Eleven films are also present in ''Coal Black'', depicted with more detail and made to conform to Clampett's "wacky" directorial style. In ''Racism in American Popular Media'', Behnken and Smithers assert, "The racism in ''Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs'' is unparalleled in cartoon history. This short throws virtually every black stereotype into the mix, beginning with the Mammy character, who, while in shadow, is clearly a large black woman with a distinct "Negroid" voice. The child is a big-cheeked pickanniny with a bow in her hair... The Prince is a similarly caricatured black man: he has

straightened hair Hair straightening is a hair styling technique used since the 1890s involving the flattening and straightening of hair in order to give it a smooth, streamlined, and sleek appearance. It became very popular during the 1950s among black males and ...

, wears a white zoot suit and a

monocle A monocle is a type of corrective lens used to correct or enhance the visual perception in only one eye. It consists of a circular lens, generally with a wire ring around the circumference that can be attached to a string or wire. The other ...

, and has

gold teeth A gold crown Gold teeth are a form of dental prosthesis where the visible part of a tooth is replaced or capped with a prosthetic molded from gold. History The academic paper titled "Gold Work, Filing and Blackened Teeth: Dental Modifications i ...

(his two front teeth are dominoes). So White is portrayed as a hypersexual, big-bottomed younger black woman, with perky bosoms and revealing clothing. She is less representative of blackface characters and instead represents the black

Jezebel Jezebel (;"Jezebel"
(US) and ) was the daughte ...

or whore, voluptuous, lascivious and sexually available." Clampett would revisit black jazz culture again in another 1943 Merrie Melodies cartoon, ''

Tin Pan Alley Cats ''Tin Pan Alley Cats'' is a 1943 Warner Bros. '' Merrie Melodies'' directed by Bob Clampett. A follow-up to Clampett's successful ''Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs'', released earlier in 1943, ''Tin Pan Alley Cats'' focuses upon contemporary them ...

'', which features a feline caricature of

Fats Waller Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, violinist, singer, and comedic entertainer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz pi ...

in a repurposing of the wacky fantasy world from ''

Porky in Wackyland ''Porky in Wackyland'' is a 1938 Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' animated short film, directed by Bob Clampett. The short was released on September 24, 1938, and stars Porky Pig venturing out to find the last do-do bird, which he finds in Wackyland ...

'' (during the opening sequence, the "Fats" cat is distracted by what appears to be So White). Clampett's colleague

Friz Freleng Isadore "Friz" Freleng (August 21, 1905May 26, 1995), credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, director, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and '' ...

directed a cartoon titled ''

Goldilocks and the Jivin' Bears ''Goldilocks and the Jivin' Bears'' is a 1944 Warner Bros. '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Friz Freleng and produced by Eddie Selzer. The short was released on September 2, 1944. Because of the racial stereotypes of black people throug ...

'' in 1944, essentially ''Coal Black'' remade with a different fairy tale, and Warner's director

Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He wrote, produ ...

directed a series of shorts starring a prepubescent

African African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

hunter named

Inki Inki is the lead character in an animated cartoon series of Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' short films by animator Chuck Jones. Five Inki cartoons were made between 1939 and 1950. History and description Inki, created for ...

from 1939 to 1950. Like ''Coal Black'', ''Tin Pan Alley Cats'' and ''Goldilocks and the Jivin' Bears'' would also end up in the Censored Eleven. Bob Clampett claimed in the cartoon's defense that;

''Coal Black'' in later years

The racially stereotyped portrayals of African-Americans in ''Coal Black'' and the other "

" cartoons led to their being suppressed from

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

broadcast. In 1968,

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...

, which then owned the rights to the pre-August 1948 Warner Bros. cartoon library, officially banned the cartoons from circulation, and they have not been officially broadcast or released on

home video Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming me ...

since - even as the rights returned to Warners. ''Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs'' has been praised and defended by film scholars and animation historians, and has been included on lists of the greatest animated films ever made. One such list, the subject of

Jerry Beck Jerry Beck (born February 9, 1955, in New York City) is an American animation historian, author, blogger, and video producer. Beck wrote or edited several books on classic American animation and classic characters, including ''The 50 Greatest C ...

's 1994 book ''

The 50 Greatest Cartoons ''The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals'' is a 1994 book by animation historian Jerry Beck. Criteria It consists of articles about 50 highly regarded animated short films made in North America and other notable car ...

'', placed ''Coal Black'' at number 21, based upon votes from over 1,000 members of the American animation industry. It is often bootlegged for release on home video. It was seen briefly in the 1989

Turner Entertainment Turner Entertainment Company is an American multimedia company founded by Ted Turner in 1986. Purchased by Time Warner in 1996 as part of its acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), the company was largely responsible for overseeing th ...

VHS release ''Cartoons For Big Kids'', hosted by

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fil ...

, and in the ''Behind the Tunes'' featurette "Once Upon a Looney Tune", which is included in the '' Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5''

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

box set. On April 24, 2010, ''Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs'', along with seven other titles from the

, was screened at the first annual

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...

(TCM) Film Festival as part of a special presentation hosted by film historian

Donald Bogle Donald Bogle is an American film historian and author of six books concerning black history in film and on television. He is an instructor at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and at the University of Pennsylvania. Early years Bogle g ...

; the eight shorts shown were restored for that release.https://www.cartoonbrew.com/classic/looney-tunes-censored-11-to-screen-in-hollywood-20766.html

Credits

Crew

*Produced by

*Directed by

Robert Clampett Robert Emerson Clampett Sr. (May 8, 1913 – May 2, 1984) was an American animator, film director, director, film producer, producer and puppeteer. He was best known for his work on the ''Looney Tunes'' animated series from Warner Bros. as well ...

*Story and storyboards by

Warren Foster Warren Foster (October 24, 1904 – December 13, 1971) was an American writer, cartoonist and composer for the animation division of Warner Brothers and later with Hanna-Barbera. Early life He was born in Brooklyn, New York to Marion B. Fos ...

*Animation by

Rod Scribner Roderick H. Scribner (October 10, 1910 – December 21, 1976) was an American animator best known for his work on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons from Warner Bros. Cartoons. He worked during the Golden age of Am ...

Art Babbitt Arthur Harold Babitsky (October 8, 1907 – March 4, 1992), better known as Art Babbitt, was an American animator, best known for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios. He received over 80 awards as an animation director and animator, and al ...

Robert McKimson Robert Porter McKimson Sr. (October 13, 1910 – September 29, 1977) was an American animator and illustrator, best known for his work on the ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons from Warner Bros. Cartoons and later DePa ...

Virgil Ross Virgil Walter Ross (August 8, 1907 – May 15, 1996) was an American artist, cartoonist, and animator best known for his work on the Warner Bros. animated shorts including the shorts of legendary animator Friz Freleng. Biography Early yea ...

, and

Manny Gould Emanuel Gould (May 30, 1904 – July 19, 1975) was an American animated cartoonist from the 1920s to the 1970s, best known for his contributions as a director, writer and animator for Screen Gems, and solely an animator for Warner Bros. Cartoon ...

**(note: only Scribner receives screen credit, as per a Schlesinger edict that, in the interest of saving money on title card lettering, only one animator could be credited on each cartoon) *Musical score by

Voice cast

* Danny Webb as the Queen *

as So White *

as Prince Chawmin' *

Lillian Randolph Lillian Randolph (December 14, 1898 – September 12, 1980) was an American actress and singer, a veteran of radio, film, and television. She worked in entertainment from the 1930s until shortly before her death. She appeared in hundreds of radi ...

as Mammy and Honeychile *

as the Sebben Dwarfs and the worm

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

* *
Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs
at

Dailymotion Dailymotion is a French video-sharing technology platform owned by Vivendi. North American launch partners included Vice Media, Bloomberg and Hearst Digital Media. It is among the earliest known platforms to support HD (720p) resolution video. ...

Milt Gray on ''Coal Black''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coal Black And De Sebben Dwarfs 1943 animated films 1943 short films 1943 films 1940s American animated films 1940s animated short films 1943 musical films American World War II propaganda shorts Films based on Snow White Films directed by Bob Clampett Merrie Melodies short films American parody films Fairy tale parody films Films about race and ethnicity Censored Eleven Vitaphone short films African-American musical films Films scored by Carl Stalling Films produced by Leon Schlesinger African-American-related controversies 1940s English-language films