This cartoon appears very racist at first glance, with it’s depiction of black men as white men in blackface rather than actual black men. But after a little research, the cultural significance of this short makes it a whole lot more enjoyable.

It is racist, but that was out of necessity rather than a stylistic choice by animator Bob Clampett. He was a fan of African American jazz music, and wanted to do a cartoon starring all African American characters and have an African American band perform the music. Unfortunately, Hollywood at the time was very racist against anyone who did not fit the Caucasian mold, so a few concessions had to be made. The studio absolutely refused to let Clampett have an African American jazz band perform the music in the short, but Clampett did manage to get the studio to allow the band to perform the music at the kiss scene at the end of the short. The three main characters were all performed by African American actors and actresses, with versatile Warner Brothers cartoon mainstay Mel Blanc performing the voices for the remaining characters. Their portrayal was the norm for the time: the stereotypical southern African American accent complete with slang.

But, the fact that Mr. Clampett got a nearly all-African American cast to perform the characters makes the short perfectly watchable to me, despite the racism. When you realize the necessity behind the stylistic choices, and watch the short for it’s parody and humor rather than concentrate on the racism, you find a great musical parody of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The best part of this short is the music, which is wonderful. The short, from what I’ve read, was very influencial in helping to bring African American jazz music to mainstream America.