''Uncle Tom's Bungalow'' is an American ''

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animated comedy short film series distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was part of the ''Looney Tunes'' franchise and featured many of the same characters. Originally running from August 2, 1931, to Septem ...

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

cartoon directed by

Tex Avery Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery (; February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, animation director, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of America ...

, and released to theatres on June 5, 1937, by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

The short cartoon is a

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

of the 1852 novel ''

Uncle Tom's Cabin ''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two Volume (bibliography), volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans ...

'' and of the "plantation melodrama" genre of the 1930s. ''bcdb.com'' May 9, 2011 It contains many

stereotypical In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalization, generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can ...

portrayals of

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

characters. The cartoon plays off

Harriet Beecher Stowe Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American author and Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and wrote the popular novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (185 ...

's novel in that it portrays

Uncle Tom Uncle Tom is the title character of Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin''. The character was seen in the Victorian era as a ground-breaking literary attack against the dehumanization of slaves. Tom is a deeply religious Chri ...

as an old man, and wooden shacks and cotton fields pervade the scenery. Director Tex Avery adds his own sense of humor and "trickster" animation, giving the classic theme a modern, humorous twist. In 1968, the cartoon became a part of the

Censored Eleven The Censored Eleven is a group of ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoons originally produced and released by Warner Bros. between 1931 and 1944. All of them have been withheld from syndication in the United States by United A ...

, a group of cartoons withheld from syndication by the television arm of

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

due to the controversy surrounding their racially stereotypical content. Brief segments did, however, appear in

Turner Entertainment Turner Entertainment Co. is an American multimedia company founded by Ted Turner on August 2, 1986. Purchased by Time Warner Entertainment on October 10, 1996, as part of its acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), the company was lar ...

's 1989 home video release, ''Cartoons For Big Kids'', hosted by

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic, film historian, and author. He is known for his book of film capsule reviews, '' Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'', published from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film criti ...

Summary

After a narrator introduces the players, Simon Simon Legree ("pronounced Seemoan Seemoan"), a greedy used slave trader, sells

to Little Eva (a young white girl) and Topsy (a young black girl) on

layaway Layaway ('' lay-by'' in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa) is a purchase agreement in which the seller reserves an item for a consumer until the consumer completes all the payments necessary to pay for that item, and only then hands over th ...

. In winter, Legree finds that the girls have missed their last three payments and sets out to get his money or take Uncle Tom back. The girls hide Uncle Tom upon learning of Legree's arrival and Eliza, a black woman, whisks them away and a chase ensues. In the end Legree and his dogs corner Eliza, Topsy and Eva, when Uncle Tom arrives in a car and clearly much richer than before. Uncle Tom pays Legree the money he's owed and he leaves. The narrator suspects that Uncle Tom cashed in his

social security Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...

, but it is soon revealed that he earned his newfound fortune by playing

craps Craps is a dice game in which players gambling, bet on the outcomes of the roll of a pair of dice. Players can wager money against each other (playing "street craps") or against a bank ("casino craps"). Because it requires little equipment, " ...

cheating with loaded dice.

Withdrawal

The cartoon was included in the

, as it was deemed offensive by

, and it is currently withheld from distribution. However, it was exhibited once, along with other films as part of "The Censored Eleven" at the TCM Film Festival in Hollywood on April 24, 2010, as part of a classic film series, presented by

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 ...

Reception

On June 1, 1937, ''Selected Motion Pictures'' called the film "an interesting travesty in Technicolor of the well-known story." The

National Board of Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered the first major harbinger of the film awards season that ...

of Motion Pictures called it "highly amusing."

References

External links

* 1937 films 1930s parody films Merrie Melodies short films Films based on works by Harriet Beecher Stowe Films directed by Tex Avery Censored Eleven Films based on American novels Uncle Tom's Cabin 1937 comedy films 1930s Warner Bros. animated short films 1930s English-language films English-language short films 1937 animated short films {{MerrieMelodies-stub

Summary

Withdrawal

Reception

See also

References

External links