| A Hugh Harman/Rudolf Ising Production. This is the second of two cartoons featuring 1930's African-American celebrities caricatured as frogs (unless you count their appearances in a handful of MGM Bosko cartoons). The other one was the 1936 Oscar-nominated "The Old Mill Pond". However, unlike its predecessor, this one actually has a story to go along with all the musical numbers. The celebrities caricatured throughout this cartoon include Cab Calloway, Ethel Waters, Stepin Fetchit, Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Bill Robinson and the Boswell Sisters. A few words of caution, some might find the content of this cartoon to be racially offensive. But, in defense of the people who originally worked on this cartoon, no harm was intended. In fact, the characterizations in this cartoon are very tame compared to what you'd see in several other cartoons of the 1930's. To some, it might not be so noticeable since the celebrities are all portrayed here as cartoon frogs. While this cartoon is politically incorrect by today's standards, it actually aired quite a few times on TCM several years ago when TCM would show cartoons to fill time between movies. |
