| Jungle Jitters | |
|---|---|
_-_Lobby_Card.jpg) Lobby card | |
| Directed by | I. Freleng |
| Story by | Geo. Manuell |
| Produced by | Leon Schlesinger |
| Starring | Mel Blanc Tedd Pierce[1] |
| Edited by | Treg Brown |
| Music by | Carl W. Stalling |
| Animation by | Phil Monroe |
| Layouts by | Griff Jay |
| Backgrounds by | Art Loomer |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation |
Release date |
|
Running time | 7:03 7:13 (a.p.p. edition) |
| Language | English |
Jungle Jitters is a 1938Warner Bros.Merrie Melodies cartoon directed byFriz Freleng.[2] The short was released on February 19, 1938.[3]
Because of theracial stereotypes ofblack people throughout the short, it promptedUnited Artists to withhold it fromsyndication within the United States in 1968. As such, the short was placed into theCensored Eleven, a group of elevenMerrie Melodies andLooney Tunes shorts withheld from official television distribution in the United States since 1968 due to heavy stereotyping of black people; because its copyright had already lapsed without renewal a year before this decision, it has remained publicly available through numerous unofficial distributors via secondhand prints.[citation needed]
In a jungle, a primitive tribe of people with black noses anddark skin with light muzzles are going about their day, with the jungle elements being intertwined with modern-day gags; for example, the people dancing around a tent (in a style more reminiscent of Native American fire dances) when it turns into a makeshift merry-go-round, to the tune of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down", which promptly deflates and slows to a halt, and at least one of the denizens wears atop hat in resemblance ofminstrel show stereotypes.
A travelingdog-faced salesman named Elmer (a parody ofAl Pearce's character Elmer Blurt) comes by to offer them the latest in "assorted useful, useless, utensils". The natives, after initially trying their hardest to avoid him, decide he would make a delicious dinner, so they invite him in, ransack his goods, and throw him into a cauldron while amammy chef prepares him as soup. They proceed to familiarize themselves with vacuum cleaners, batteries, light bulbs, etc.
The village queen (depicted as an old, chicken-like white woman, probably as a parody ofEdna May Oliver and possibly to avoid any problems with theHays code over the issue ofmiscegenation) hears of the arrival of the salesman, and desperate for a husband, she brings him in. As Elmer delivers his sales pitch, the queen sees him asClark Gable andRobert Taylor and is smitten, demanding her to be married right away. The two are rushed into a marriage, and when asked to kiss the bride, Elmer panics and jumps back into the cauldron; in aclosing shot, he curses his captors with the hope that "they all get indigestion" as he submerges into the pot to his death.
The Film Daily said on January 31, 1938, "Producer Leon Schlesinger goes to darkest Africa in this one with a highly amusing set of characters... There are some very funny sequences and gags, with the characterizations very amusing."[4]
National Exhibitor agreed on February 1: "It sounds forced to say that this is better than the best so far, but that is what one must say about a series that improves continually. This is full of cute little touches that will be best appreciated by a class audience, but will still have the masses chuckling."[4]
