Chop Suey

[mojoboy1984]

Too bad British can't drug Chinese today. I mean they are working too hard, they clearly need relaxation .

[blupapillon]

hahahahahaha llloooooolllllllllllllooollll.­thumbs up guys!!

[fullmetaljaco]

americans are like shit. the chinese people built them railways, streets and skyscrapers, and passed many decades living like hell as victim of racist religious bullshit in response. bunch of silly spoiled bitches.

[bonkasthebluetoon]

at 0:50 what is that tune there called? i've been trying to look for it.

[ZoeMariRome2]

a 1929 anime cartoon

[SovereignStatesman]

Don't forget it was the British who introduced Opium to China in the 1800's, since they had nothing else that the Chinese wanted.

[1952kid]

I watched this on TV as a child, probably the late 1950's and early 1960's , along with silent Farmer Grey or sometimes known as Farmer Alfalfa cartoons in N.Y.C.

[84jessaud]

il see a hint of the chinesse sex trade in this cartoon

[84jessaud]

we need to bring back opium dens lol

[vmpickle123]

The popular song "Chinatown, My Chinatown" starts at 1:26, quite appropriately. As does "Ain't She Sweet", at 3:30.

[flipside1545]

looks more like felix to me...

[Uncutcartoons247]

This is an incredibly rare cartoon and this is one of the few surviving copies in existince. Thanks for posting. Another lost Terrytoon is one called Fried Chicken. Guess what people are made fun of in that cartoon?

[calzo101]

is this a childrens cartoon? haha the cartoon cats and mice are stoned out there fucking mind!

[198952572]

did chinese people and americans ever intermarry back then? Cause if they didn't I would have been very sad girl if I lived in that era.

[Bogframe]

It's considered vile and racist today because of all the touchy-feely we are the world, we're all the same attitude of today. The so-called "racist" cartoons of yesterday weren't entirely negative. The depictions of Chinese people in this cartoon show them as industrious, inventive hard working people who like a bit of Opium now and again and enjoy a bit of tail once in a while. It's all in how you're indoctrinated.

[MislaidAlbum]

Interesting find, thanks for sharing.

[xRestJx]

lol das kukt man sich glaubich nur an wen man hai ist

[sebasvelezpinedo]

WTF?

[richyrollins]

fuckin chinamen smoking opium!

[MrDukemeister]

Am I the only one who doesn't find this cartoon racist? All gooks are distrustful, smelly, good for nothings and to draw them as cats is insulting only to cats.

One thing this cartoon got right: the only thing Chinamen are good for is doing laundry. To any Charlie out there: I got a laundry basket full of dirty undies that need cleaning and ironing.

[cardhang]

Kooky japs

They'll do anything.

[26blanco]

very good. old cartoons tells us much of old times.

[annfyban]

This video also touches on the fear of "white slavers" that the chinese aided

[Edward2616]

I'm guessing by the way they dressed this was created while the chinese were under the quing dynasty and based off of the refrence to opium this would elude to the boxer rebellion and the opium wars in china. Interesting though that this video was made in 1930...

[alexelliottwelch]

JACQUES HAIK INSTITUTIONS

present

The red of Placide

CARTOONS SOUND

WESTERN ELECTRIC RECORDING

[FluffyPi]

the beggining was like wtf?!

[justinlimkt]

hmm this video proves the chinese are efficient in doing their work. but the ending is scary tho....

[MoonGlorious950]

were they smoking weed?

[ekmad]

NO, Opium, It was a drug very similar to weed except it was legal!!!!

[NeuroManson]

Opium became illegal in the US around 1909, weed actually was made illegal in 1937. You used to also be able to get cocaine in everything, even Coca Cola up until 1904!

You still ingest coca flavoring in Coke today, it's made from spent leaves leftover from pharmacological processing(they still refine cocaine for medicinal usage).

[JullCzar]

Hey man thats a lot of wrong information, my verry best friiend

[royalfuzziness]

No it's not they took all traces of cocaine out of Coke in 1903.

[Stonehawk]

Opium, derived from the poppy, also known as morphine; a primative painkiller and euphoric substance which, unfortunately, is horrifyingly addictive, with an extremely unpleasant, sometimes lethal withdrawal. It is a very dangerous substance, FAR more dangerous than weed.

[infrogmation]

Yes, of course this is racist, but not with intent at spreading hatred but rather reflecting the ignorant and stereotyped attitudes about other peoples common at the time.

This is an interesting bit of history.

[veganmetalmilitia]

It's comforting to know that there are still those out there who appreciate a time and place where 'racism' was not yet a fashionable term to be thrown around. Cartoons such as these, afterall are but a caricature of a people, place and era such as they were. It is humor and meant to taken light-heartedly. For those who beg to differ...I invite you to view Betty Boop cartoon 'Hillbilly Jamboree' (if I am correct in naming the title), which pokes fun at caucasian farm folk. It's also quite funny!

[RayPointer]

I believe the BETTY BOOP cartoon you refer to is MUSICAL MOUNTAINEERS (1939).

[maju36]

was the show called chop suey or did u just do that for views?

[jgbennie]

No, that's the name of this cartoon short.

[bostonboyo]

God ....I wish I was one of the rats!

[sangokuwarrior]

jtrouve sa vachement nul !

[ftsjr]

I LOVE this cartoon. Obviously, it could never be produced today, what with opium dens and stereotypical chinese as the subject matter. Still, it evokes a time of innocence in animation.

[toecutterr6]

I sent this to comedian Jay Mohr and he LOVED it!! linnnnnnnnnngggggggggggrr loonnnnnnnnnngggggggrrrrrrrr!!­!!!!!

[yaintime5001]

And they showed KIDS this?

[Starfox4ever]

Yes. Yes they did.

This was probably something that mixed with propaganda and racism against the Chinese, and was showed to children to make them hate the Chinese people, and not be kind to them.

What a hateful past this world has had.

[Savizzaviz]

Though children undoubtedly did see them, early animation was primarily focused toward adult audiences as a novelty before their main feature at the cinema. More akin to the lighthearted revelry of Vaudeville (which also included plenty of racial caricatures such as blackface), shorts like these were meant simply for pleasure after a day's work. However, the impact of such flagrant stereotyping on society at large, and by extension the youth, was surely significant.

[tinyraskalG]

if i remember correctly!!! the 1st chinese peoples who settle in America couldn't do a DAMN thing and the white people ONLY let them do laundry and other MINOR jobs and the railroads and then DISCRIMINATE THEM on how they looked and acted!! and made HATE CRIMES on the Chinese and MADE FUN OF THEM!!!i see that as the racist are CHILDISH IGNORANT PEOPLE and only LAZY people DO DRUGS and that means in EVERY RACE there are LAZY PEOPLE

[elevensmiles11]

JASON WI... IS A FUCKING IDIOT, DONT YOU EVER, EVER HARASS ME BITCH, I CANT STAND WHITE GUYS LIKE YOU, GO TO HELL, YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!!!!! I HOPE THOSe JAPANESE GIRLS SLAP YOU SO HARD YOU GO BACK TO AUSTRALIA, ALSO GUYS WHO TALK ABOUT HOW BIG THEIR DICK IS, IN REALITY IS TWICE AS SMALL.

TO ALL THE WHITE GUYS OUT THERE, STOP THINKING EVERY ASIAN CHICK WANTS YOU, CAUSE I SURE AS HELL DONT (of course im talking about the white assholes only, so you could move along)

[cinechica]

thanks so much for posting this. reminds me of those racist bugs bunny cartoons, but this is even more nuts.

[cepacol06]

wow. the ending part when they get their hair stuck on the wire, thats akin to lynching.... very very subtle.

[Morlawnical]

subtitles are German

[gothicjokercro]

woooo chasing the dragon!!

[princette]

This is extremely primitive, basically a series of still images to a cheaply added soundtrack and caricatures of Chinese that were dated by 1930, this is more like c.1885.

Oh yes and extremely offensive

[Fehr88]

Not cheap for the time, Paul Terry was one of the first to incorporate sound into animated film.

This was however one of the first works by Terrytoons, created (as it states) in 1930. It is surprising how backwards and culturally insensitive society was not so long ago.

[weezcake]

From the look of these comments, we haven't progressed very much as a country..

But thank you, smart people.

[haro2009]

LLMMFAAO

[knockout13]

Terrytoons have always had the reputation as being "bottem-of-the-barrel", but, perhaps in spite of themselves, they have their own rough style that gives them an almost surrealsitc quality. This is also an unusual example of pop tunes being used on a Terrytoon soundtrack. Terry soon made Phil Scheib compose totally original scores to save royalty costs.

[OpiumMuseum]

I read on the Wiki that Paul Terry of Terrytoons once said, "Disney is the Tiffany's in this business, and I am the Woolworth's".

I have to agree with knockout13 that there is charm in the crudeness of the animation. Look at the eye movements and facial expressions at 4:45-50. Genius!

[OpiumMuseum]

This cartoon is supposed to be taking place in San Francisco's Chinatown as indicated by the famous pagoda roofs and view of the bay and Alcatraz Island seen at 4:33. Many Chinese laundries served as fronts for opium dens, which is the inspiration behind the scene at 00:50 which depicts two rats receiving an opium pipe from the cat in the laundry and then floating away on the clouds.

[Savizzaviz]

Thanks for the tidbit, OpiumMuseum! Gonna add that to the description. Let me know if you'd rather I not.

[OpiumMuseum]

Please go right ahead. Thank you.

[felixjazzage]

I'm more offended by the blatant & cheesy attempt to rip off the then very popular Mickey Mouse character, than by the horrible Chinese stereotypes.

[Savizzaviz]

To be fair, Mickey was as much a pattern of all the other animal characters floating around at the time (from Felix, to all the various Merry Melodies animals, even Walt and Iwerks's own Oswald) as these were. Though these may also be mice, they represent a different style of animation which is fitting more with the Terrytoons style than that of Disney's.

[felixjazzage]

True, although Oswald predated Mickey by one or two years, and Ub Iwerks sort of had a trial run for Mickey with the Oswald character, before Disney lost the rabbit due to some legal deviousness. Actually, if you've seen any of Ub Iwerks's own studios productions, particularly Flip the Frog, then you've seen a fair number of additional Mickey Mouse clones.

[toecutterr6]

Greatest thing evaar! how totally fucking hilarious! kids today get awful milktoast/vanilla pokemon bullshit hahahahaa!

[ryigenchi]

wow how fucked up can you get? Terminef is one of the few people in this world that really deserve to rot in the bottom pits of hell. The comments he's made are just unacceptable and disgusting. Im not sure if ive ever hated anyone more.

[LILPICKUPMAN]

Opium.. since the China man were notoriouse for smoking OPM right?

[GolumTR]

Actually, in China (and by extension probably in Chinatown) use of opium was a major social problem. When the Chinese government tried to illegalize opium, Britain declared war to keep their opium industry in business.

[OpiumMuseum]

The United States had a huge problem with opium addiction that began after migrant Chinese introduced the idea of smoking opium during the California Gold Rush. Not only Chinatowns in big cities, but every small town in the western US and Canada had opium dens.

My website has many old photos on this subject -- you will find the link on my YouTube profile page.

[GolumTR]

You have a very interesting website. Are you aware of an memoir by the name of You Can't Win? It was written by burglar and hobo Jack Black in 1926. It contains many observations of then contemporary Chinatown (Mr. Black was an opium addict for many years) and other criminal rings in the U.S. and Canada.

[OpiumMuseum]

Thanks for the tip! I'd never heard of that book. Memoirs are great -- they are often filled with details that you can't find anywhere else. Another very good one from the same period is called The Barbary Coast -- An Informal History of the San Francisco Underworld by Herbert Ashbury. It covers SF's Chinatown of course. Thanks again!

[artietang]

You r right about the chinaman being the a bunch of drug addicts. I also would make that the british are the biggest drug dealers in history. The british couldn't sell anything to China so they force drugs down their throat. History seems to be repeating itself again. Since China can't afford nor willing because of cost stuff from the west. Don't be shocked if drugs are sold again to subdue a nation. I guess being a drug dealer is something to strive4 to since selling drugs is better than using

[cha5]

The setting seems to change from China

to New York if you notice the Lower East Side looking tenement buildings at 1:44.

[sebaeoy]

<ROFL!> Waaaa!! Stoned rats!!! Hahahaha!!! </ROFL!>

[andrewgersten1]

Is this a documentary?

[JoeT13]

Looks like all characters are wearing Shriners hats.

[striderhiryu2]

the most shocking here is to see animated cartoons drugged.for the rest is not soo bad cause all the characters are aimals,exept for the laundry song and the end that parts are also offensive.

[mowm88]

Kinda inventive, def. racist, chinese laundry/opium etc stuff. interesting.

[ezraisaacjs]

terminef you dumbignorant fuck!!!!!!!!!!

you never know your mum and dad might be looking like that in a few months time..

also be careful your dad will fuck you in the night and have a chinese baby... Terminef

[biryanifan]

Apart from the incest, Terminef should be LUCKY enough to have Chinese kids. I'm fascinated by dated old cartoons, but *real* MODERN prejudice has no place!

[dvp9591]

Nice sight gags.

[terminef]

chinks depicted as rats. Man, i love these cartoons

[brendarox2006]

Why don't you get the picture? You don't call them 'chinks' anymore. This is 2007. When are YOU living?

[RayPointer]

"Chinks"? After 80 years, and what have we learned?

[12Zwolf]

Asiatic Rats brought in opium that causes permanent genetic damage from the first use/contact, add Asiatics poisoning children's toys/pet-food as their opium poisoned artistic expression; plus add an opium poisoned Middle East flying aeroplanes into buildings/Earth as their artistic expression, plus India's religious con-artists ( just ask the Beatles ), equals cultural Autism; Opium money prevents the Legalization of industrial Hemp, via financing 'Reefer Madness' lies.

Valkyrie Ziege Mourne

[StarAnice]

While this is true it was once widely thought by medical experts that the use of opium could cure certain illnesses.

[12Zwolf]

Actually, Opium/Cocaine were used to help the individual cope with the formerly un-curable symptoms of Syphilis, Gonorrhea, Malaria, and Rabies, but anti-biotics, e.g., penicillin, crushed the 'legal/medical' opium/cocaine trade.

The Industrial Hemp market for bio-fuels, and clothing, and intoxicant Hemp grown for personal use, needs to be legalized to push the opium/cocaine, and petroleum trade into extinction, thus removing the financial foundation from terrorists.

Valkyrie Ziege Mourne

[luudnoma]

can you find old Terrytoons ?(1927 to 1929, specially with Farmer Al Falfa ) It's so hard find these cartoons

[shoegazed]

what's that red stuff coming out kitty's ears?