Tom and Jerry in...blackface?!

You might have heard about blackface in the years. T&J was one of them!

You might know that blackface is now racist. Back in the 1940s, many cartoons featured people in blackface. One of them was, of course, Tom and Jerry.

Like that article I was talking about over His Mouse Friday, these guys have been racist until Warner Bros. took over MGM's library. Like for example, when Tom's head goes into something and suddenly a piece of dynamite is in there and it explodes, Tom's face is shown with red or orange lips and a black face. This is called blackface.

Tom, Jerry, and Spike in blackface in The Truce Hurts.

Blackface has been seen in many Tom and Jerry cartoons (though Mammy Two-Shoes could have been seen in blackface, that is if we could find her appearence!), but that was one of those products resembled at the time. In Saturday Evening Puss however, Mammy Two-Shoes' face might have been shown in blackface. If you don't beleive me, take a look!:

If I'm wrong, then I apologize for this. Anyway, blackface has been the most racial stereotype in American history. Al Jolson, a famous and legendary singer, was one of those who performed in blackface.

However, here's something I never told you about His Mouse Friday: those black savages were the reason why the cartoon got banned, and, allthough most of the characters were in blackface, Tom wasn't. This in turn makes me believe that Tom was a white person and Jerry wasn't.

However, I also want to point out, two cartoons were removed from Volume 3 of the Spotlight Collection. The cartoons were named Casanova Cat and Mouse Cleaning. They were removed from the set by Warner Home Video due to the offensive scenes below:

There had been some cases however that their mouths were normal instead of those mouths frowning. Examples include The Little Orphan, Safety Second, His Mouse Friday, The Milky Waif, and etc.

Now to conclude the article with more pictures of Tom or Jerry in blackface, I have been telling you a lot about blackface in Tom and Jerry. Now the discussion has ended and today, when there is Tom and Jerry, there will be blackface.

More photos of blackface:
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Comments

An offensive issue, but I think certain "blackface" gags were supposed to look like SUNFLOWERS if said gags involved a yellow object and dynamite, like with Jerry and the party favor.

Most of these comments "brought me to tears."

500 million Chinese children just enrolled in engineering school at age four, while all of America takes a time out so our kids can watch "safe" cartoons with all traces of our cultural history removed.

Ah, the lengendary and offensive "Blackface". I am not a racist in any kind, but one thing's for sure: anything done in the 30's and 40's in movies and cartoons dealing with racism is downright wrong and shameful.

Units1019 you are wrong when you say "just because something doesn't mean to be racist doesn't mean it isn't". It actually does. Racism has a specific meaning. It is the belief that humanity is separated into groups called races, and the attempt to correlate unrelated traits together into a group. For example, skin color and behavior, like in the old days if you said black people are more likely to eat watermelons then that would be racist. It wouldn't be a negative stereotype considering eating watermelons is not a bad thing, yet it would be racist nonetheless. However, if you made a cartoon with a gag where a black person is eating a watermelon doesn't necessarily mean you necessarily are supporting the stereotype that you are referencing. It can potentially be offensive because it could bring back a memory of a time when people who bought into the watermelon stereotype bought into even more dangerous ideas, but being potentially offensive to minorities and being racist are two different things. Although you are correct that we do need to start having more dialogue about this sort of thing.

You don't realize just how racial attitudes were back then unless you happen to have seen those cartoons that feature the "blackface" gags.

Things sure have changed since then.

I found it very interesting!

Lillian Randolph did the voice of Mammy Two-Shoes. She was discontinued in honor of Hattie MacDowell who played Mammy from "Gone with the Wind" when she died in 1952.

And for 'The Truce Hurts', they did a good edit with the Blackface...I didn't even miss it. And one cartoon...which isn't a Tom and Jerry cartoon was 'Jungle Jitters'. I don't like the cartoon not because of the stereotype, but it was poorly done as a cartoon.

Many African-Americans even started out in Blackface, one of them was Bert Williams who was part of the Zigfried Follies. I feel that today that the Minstrel Show is seen in rap music which I'll explain later. Hell...even Whoopi Goldberg and Ted Danson got together and Danson was in Blackface at the Friars Club Roast which Whoopi admitted to being responsible of....

Um, why are you posting another article about the same subject. You should've just made it all one article.

I'm with Units1019. If you don't know why blackface is racist, then you need to do some research.

Some of the scenes you're seeing up there aren't blackface, but are picaninny jokes (any of those above with the black face and little bows on top of the head). Here's a paragraph about why picaninny jokes aren't funny:
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The picaninny caricature shows Black children as either poorly dressed -- ragged, torn, old oversized clothes -- or, and worse, they are shown as nude or near-nude. This nudity suggests that Black children, and by extension Black parents, are not concerned with modesty. The nudity also implies that Black parents neglect their children. A loving parent would provide clothing. The nudity of Black children suggests that Blacks are less civilized than Whites (who wear clothes).

Picaninny girls (and sometimes boys) have hair tied or matted in short stalks that point in all directions; often the boys are bald, their heads shining like metal. The children have big, wide eyes, and oversized mouths -- ostensibly to accommodate huge pieces of watermelon.
=====

Do some additional research.

As a white man, all this brought me to tears when I started researching it. In particular, the picture of tiny black babies who are stamped as "Alligator Bait" will probably make you think twice.

The suicide gags article sounds awesome, can't wait.

While I can see how some may be offended by the article, I was not, I found it informative and interesting. There will always be things that divide certain people, because they, CHOOSE, to let those things divide them. Race is only a drop in a vast ocean. Beyond that, the HUMAN RACE, will always find SOMETHING to argue about, it's unfortunate, but true. Regarding the race issue though, this article sort of makes me remember back to when I was a kid. You see, I look "straight up white", but my dad is Spanish, and my last name is Pena. Other kids would always say "Huh, that's your dad?!" (my dad is several shades darker) or "your last name is Pena?!" It never really bothered me though, I found it amusing. Thumbs up.

Horribly written article. You would do well to do further research into the topic and it's impact on cartoons esp the resent controversey regarding "Manny two shoes" .

Sure, some want to continue playing the "We are all equal" or "if we continue talking about this, racism never dies card" when something like this is mentioned. The fact is, blackface IS offensive and factually carries with it negative stereotypes towards African Americans. Look at some of the pictures of Jerry as Mashedpotatojones, I am quite certain there are things that aren't meant to be malicious as all. But as they say, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Cause something doesn't mean to be racist or demeaning, doesn't mean it isn't. And trust me, I am not one who goes on websites looking to make things about race. I don't. But to say blackface doesn't carry with it racist intentions is absurd and an ignorance to history. In the end, to say these discussions shouldn't come up is the real problem. We all need to have dialogue about race. Avoiding it certainly hasn't helped the issue

Hyper sensitivity, that's what the world has become. We've become a nation of pussies that have to take offense in every single little thing. As a man who comes from black ancestry, I take absolutely no offense in black face. It was never done to deliberately insult black people. Personally I wouldn't give a damn if they did it today, so long as it wasn't designed as a slight against people of African ancestry. People really need to learn to separate the truly malicious from the inherently harmless, otherwise people are NEVER going grow up and lose their baggage over these trivialities.

You watch the edited versions on television. The spotlight collection has most of these cartoons with these images.

Wow I never thought about T&J like that! Probably because i haven't seen them since i was about 12.

Uh, you may want to stop posting articles about the same series and the same offensive gag.

Your'e right about that!

What the F*CK?! Are you serious? Even if you aren't completely off your nut, (which I think you are) Who cares? Heed the words of the Barbarian. As long as we worry about "Racial sensativity" We will never get past racisim as a whole. Racial sensativity is not the cure, it's fuel that feeds the fire and reminds us of an age that should have died with the civil war.

I still don't get how its racist, just because the character has a "black" face that's racist? That's not racist at all.

Yeah lets not write or create anything. It might be offensive to someone. That's stupid. I grew up in a culturally diverse environment and I don't know one person that would be offended by this or the cymbal scenes. Why don't we ban the whole show for violence. Lets just play the mind numbing card game cartoons that come on today and loose touch with anything slightly entertaining to use and our parents. Its a sad day when my kids won't know who Popeye or Tom and Jerry or The Looney Tunes are.

You got that right! Many of these cartoons have been censored mostly on TV. In the next article I'm currently producing, it will talk about suicide gags in WB cartoons, and a disclaimer will appear on the top. Keep in touch!

Yes, it's funny how something which was considered 'acceptable' back then is now considered 'offensive' & 'racist.' @Second Exodous, I agree about the disclaimer since I noticed the recent DVD releases have the classic Tom & Jerry and MGM cartoons unedited and with disclaimers.

I suspect the worst editing was not from Tom & Jerry, but an MGM short called 'Magic Maestro' where several scenes were cut. One where the opera singer makes fun of Asians when the magician conductor throws a cymbal upon his head. Then the blackface scenes when an angry patron squirts the singer with ink then drops an anvil on him.

Digressing a bit, I do agree about the censorship because it seems to not protect but dumb-down our culture considerably. Great article!

I don't think these cartoons should be banned because of Blackface, it's just silly to pretend this never happened. If not have them on TV then at least let them be released on DVD with a disclaimer. Maybe Cartoon Network have a special on raciest cartoons and give disclaimers before each one, educate our kids, not wipe it from our history.

So I'm assuming you are trying to rectify your controversial statement by repeating the same topic for an article in as many days. That, or you're really lobbying for Blackface cartoons to make a comeback.

Interesting artice...I actually never thought of this or considered racist when watching the cartoons as a kid, even now.
But you got me thinking.

Those Tom and Jerry cartoons reminds me of the black ink in a Donald Duck cartoon, Modern Inventions. Where the Robot keeps on taking away Donald Duck's hat (Your hat, Sir.) In the last machine, Donald Duck sat in a barber chair. The ink put on Donald Duck's face.