| Angel Puss | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Charles M. Jones |
| Story by | Lou Lilly |
| Produced by | Leon Schlesinger |
| Music by | Carl W. Stalling |
| Animation by | Ken Harris |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation |
Release date |
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Running time | 7 minutes |
Angel Puss is a 1944Warner Bros.Looney Tunes cartoon directed byChuck Jones.[1] The short was released on June 3, 1944.[2]
The protagonist is a "Li'l Sambo" typeblackface character who exhibited common racial stereotypes in speech, intelligence and fear of the supernatural. TheAfrican-American weekly newspaperThe Pittsburgh Courier objected strongly to the cartoon, especially because it was run inLos Angeles alongside theMarch of Time shortAmericans All, on the theme of fighting prejudice and stereotypes. The film press did not acknowledge these concerns.[3]
The short is one of the "Censored Eleven", a group of Warner Bros. animated shorts that are withheld from circulation due to their dated racist stereotyping and portrayals. This is also the onlyLooney Tunes short in the Censored Eleven, as the other shorts areMerrie Melodies.
A young African-American boy (drawn inblackface style) carries a sack to a river and laments that he has agreed to drown a cat. While the boy stares at the water, the cat slips out of the sack and fills it with bricks. When the boy says that he can't go through with the task, the hidden cat, pretending to be the boy'sconscience, says, "Go ahead,Sambo, go ahead, boy," and reminds him that he has been paid "fourbits" to do the job. Sambo reluctantly drops the bag in the river rather than return the money.
The cat then disguises itself as its ownghost, painting itself white and donning wings and ahalo, and proceeds to "haunt" Sambo by repeatedly sneaking up on him and whispering "boo." Sambo runs away, but the cat rattles a pair of dice, causing Sambo to fall into a trance and unconsciously walk back to the cat (part of arunning gag in Warner Bros. cartoons that stereotypes African-Americans as being addicted to gambling).
The hauntings continue until Sambo and the cat fall in a pond, washing off the cat's paint. When Sambo realizes that he has been tricked, he kills the cat with a shotgun blast. Immediately afterward, a line of nine ghost cats (representing a cat'snine lives) marches toward Sambo, saying, "And this time, brother, us ain't kiddin'."
On October 7, 1944, Herman Hill wrote an editorial for the African-American weeklyThe Pittsburgh Courier titledAngel Puss vs. Americans for All. Hill wrote, "Basis for the spontaneous protest by the long and patient suffering Negro theater-going public were the many forth-right expressions of condemnation regarding Warner Brothers' animated cartoonAngel Puss. Almost in direct irony was the picture's showing in Los Angeles, in that it was sandwiched between the main feature andMarch of Time'sAmericans for All, which theme is directly aimed at the lessening of racisms. It has since been learned that the Warner Brothers had ordered the somewhat considered controversialAmericans for All to be shown in each of their theatres throughout the country as a contributory effort towards breaking down the evils of race prejudice. In a further attempt to throw light on the subject of caricatures, March of Time offices here were contacted. A spokesman stated that they had nothing to do with the placing of their film on the same program asAngel Puss or any other such picture. It was admitted, however, that in consideration of the type of cartoon, poor taste was shown in the matter."[3]
However, this concern was not expressed in the film press, which echoed and celebrated the film's stereotypes. On June 24,Boxoffice said: "A delectable bit of cartoon animation catches the natural aversion of a Colored boy to any form of supernatural suggestion as represented by a cat that was supposed to be drowned by the boy, but escaped. The cat makes life extremely miserable for the boy by dressing up as a spirit, but comes to an unfortunate end. There are lots of hearty chuckles in the reel."[3]