Tin pan alley cats (1943)

[9895jeremy]

Dude this has made me freak out!! 6:28

[Eternalgamers1]

This isn't racist if you've seen films or movies with fats Waller performing he alwasy acted over the top it's just portrayal of him hamming it up

[Baudrush]

More disturbing than "The Wall"... No, really, I'm scared!

[TheTrit0n]

can't find it offensive, it's a cartoon making fun of Fats Waller's way of hamming it up to the camera in his old films,

in 4:38, it's pretty much like Porky in Wackyland.

oh look it's catdog's ancestor in 6:10

The Wackyland Rubber Band in 6:20

[Kartoonkid95]

BEAT ME DADDY WIT A BASEBALL BAT

[Metepunk]

:S :S ... its its /.. :S Gross make feel bad :S

[fizzycone]

@ comrade. First it isn't cold war it's world war 2 second they had hitler and Tojo in it

[Pentagonshark666]

Fats Waller is the best.too bad that he was true alcholic.he music was the best

ever.

[web2student]

I wanna find someone who finds this genuinely offensive, point and say:

"WATSA MADDA WIT HEEEM?!"

[helikos1]

@web2student its just stereotyping

[Ivanatis]

the music's great, the cartoon not so much..

[JRodHacker]

6:10 One fine day with a woof and a purr.....CATDOG! lol

[ComradeDmytro]

Well, you, people are stupid, or what? There's no racism in this cartoon, because, you know, if there's a black grotesque cartoonish main character, it isn't racism. So, if the main character was white, will this be attributed as an act of racism to the white race? No. It's like saying "racism" on Cold War anti-soviet cartoons with evil commies (in that case Stalin in the end of this cartoon can be attributed as an act of racism too, by the way). It's nonsense to ban cartoons because of that!

[vcam9]

5:08-5:46 uhhhh......it just seems a bit out of place that Wacky Land just happens to be right there....

OMG 6:06-6:16 its CatDog`s long lost parents! lol

6:29-6:35 lol big butts where`s Sir Mix-A-Lot? kinda expected him to be in Wacky Land

[BankaiIchigo12345]

And more LOLWUT at 5:59

[BankaiIchigo12345]

5:50 LOLWUT?

[Bobby4rd]

Fats Waller character ftw

[caresmisback]

I like the intro from 0:21 to 0:33...Carl Stalling was the best

[tekbarrier]

I'm not a big fan of Jazz music (it is to my sense of hearing as earwax is to my sense of taste), but you can tell by watching old footage of 40s jazz clubs that there was a hell of a lot of passion and love for the music they made.

[tekbarrier]

Oops I meant to say "according to wikipedia, Clampett said..."

The thing to remember is you have to take these kinds of cartoons in proper historical context. What people today may consider racist or offensive may not have been considered as such a century ago. Just like today, there are lots of good-humored portrayals of white people as rednecks and hillbillies. People in 100 years may consider Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel from The Simpsons to be highly insulting and offensive.

[cfwpiano]

@tekbarrier Yeah exactly. Clampett was probably the least racist of all the directors at WB. He was a really young guy that was pretty hip to modern trends and music. This cartoon is pretty much an homage to jazz and Fats Waller.

[6891man]

@cfwpiano He didn't intend for this or his "Coal Black" cartoon to be racist; he intended for them to be tributes to black jazz.

[tekbarrier]

Oops I meant to say "according to wikipedia, Clampett said that..."

Was that Hirohito or Tojo bumping butts with Hitler?

[tekbarrier]

According to Clampett the characters in this cartoon and Coal Black And De Sebben Dwarves were based on real jazz musicians of the time. They aren't just random stereotypical portrayals of black people in general. I'd be willing to bet that Tex Avery's black stereotypes are less well-intentioned than the other Merry Melodies/Looney Tunes ones.

[hpdragon723]

That is crazy

[walrusguyjr]

This is absolutely not racist. Sure the stereotype gags are rather prolonged, but it is not racist at all.

[funkycoldland]

@walrusguyjr definition of racism: The belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, esp. so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races

this is def racist granted at the time this was the normal mindset of the county but the mindset was racist

ill admit the creator may not have done this tryin to be racist but you notice even in a cartoon the characters are black face? the young woman is skinny long legged sexy. ect

[walrusguyjr]

@funkycoldland The only thing I found racist is the watermelon gag. I have freinds who are black who say this is not racist at all. Some of them found rap music and hip hop actually more demeaning than this.

[btuard]

fats waller cat is the best

[SergeantLuke]

People who say this is racist have clearly never heard of Fats Waller. The main character is essentially an animated version of him.

[darkcoeficient]

and don't think this is racist... more like, stereotypical (a lot)... you gotta admit, everybody loved their music. and this really made me laugh... stalin kicking hitler's butt LOL

[captainstranger1]

this is what I would picture toontown in 1943 4:39 and tell me it possible when 1947

four more years later after a series of racists cartoons not just Warner Bro's but others just picture it if it was that one scene in Who Framed Roger Rabbit where

Eddie Valiant, is their well, just picture him here in 1943

[J5MARLON]

@captainstranger1 its also used for Porky Pig in Wacky Land and in Tiny Toons Wacky land

[Hyman74Roth]

@captainstranger1 You know what I think you would be absolutely right.

[626joshua]

Excuse me? What the heck does that mean?

[fenriz218]

@626joshua He's implying you're a vagina ... y'know, cunt, pussy, muff, fuckhole, whatever you call it in your part of the world.

[626joshua]

The cat at 1:06 he sounds almost like Louis Armstrong the guy who sang "What a Wonderful World."

[ShonoughIdo]

@626joshua You're a twat

[ilovejackman]

Thank you for putting this up. :)

[6891man]

A lot of this was borrowed from "Porky in Wackyland", another Clampett cartoon. But this cartoon mocks black jazz as "sinful", so I can see why black people would take offense to this. I did find the whole sequence with Hitler and Hirohito dancing with each other as amusing, as well as Stalin kicking Hitler's butt.

[leadbelly123]

@6891man

i'm not sure why black people would take offence to that in particular. what would the black gospel churches have said about those clubs at the time? interestingly, clampett was a friend to many of the great jazz musicians in LA and insisted they be in the recordings for these cartoons. he actually hung out in these clubs.

[helikos1]

@leadbelly123 well considering how the missonary is called uncle tomcat and referance to uncle tom

[yeshiva83]

Seems kinda racist. Without the humor like bakshi stuff. And fats Waller wasn't nearly that fat.

[captainstranger1]

@yeshiva83 it was the time where racist cartoons were really in now it kinda in and out by you standards

[stiltoncheesewright]

The "wacky-land" concept was also used by Tex Avery in "The Cat who Hated People" circa 1949.

[Mr111989]

The Wackyland-ish setting was used in "Porky in Wackyland" (1938) and it would be used again in "Dough for the Do-Do" (1949).

[shlumpuppatum12]

looks like a bad acid trip to me

[Henryduckfan63]

This is garbage compared to the beautiful quality copy that a user named Stephen Worth put up. I'm not insulting you or anything put you should really check it out.

[weikko79]

Wow, an amazingly clean copy!

[Finning23]

Stalin and Hitler haha

[helikos1]

umm racism

[HypnotistFox]

@helikos1 Public Domain and the sign of the time back then.. I agree with Konnerdad. Its nice to see stuff from that era so it kinda draws a picture of what little kids/preteens saw during that time before serving in what.. the Korea war?

[helikos1]

@HypnotistFox huh?

[Konnerdad]

Dowm with cencorship, thank you youtube.

[famguyrox1993]

Hahahahaha 5:20-5:48 is exactly like the episode where porky pig goes and looks for the last of the do-do. Lol they do not make em like this anymore :P

[Ilikevids84]

Wow....

[clarkstuff]

could someone tell me what that cat is playing on the piano from 2:46-3:00? That tune really sounds good on the piano!

[professortheremin]

@clarkstuff The name of that song is "Nagasaki". It was used often in the Warner Bros cartoons. Look up Spanky and Our Gang (the 60's jugband) on Youtube. Nagasaki is on their live album.

[brutusmuerto]

@clarkstuff

Nagasaki

[Weezing101]

"mammy, mammy, mammy, mammy" lol I liked this! it aint bad

[kittycatgirly]

beat me daddy with a belt??

[Vitanola]

No, "Beat me daddy with a baseball bat"