Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land

Last updated

Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land
Uncle Tom and the skeletons.png
Uncle Tom is terrorized by skeletons in a scene reminiscent of Walt Disney's 1929 film The Skeleton Dance .
Directed by Rudolf Ising
Produced by
Starring
Music by Frank Marsales
Animation by
Color process Black and white
Color Systems, Inc. (1973 Korean redrawn three-strip color edition with stock music and sounds added)
Production
company
Distributed by
Release date
  • November 28, 1931 (1931-11-28)
Running time
7 min (one reel)
LanguageEnglish

Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land is a 1931 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated cartoon directed by Rudolf Ising. [2] The short was released on November 28, 1931, and stars Piggy. [3]

Contents

The minimal storyline centers on the plucky Piggy's efforts to rescue his girlfriend and a doglike Uncle Tom from perilous predicaments and villains. The short's use of the racial epithet "Uncle Tom" and use of blackface stereotypes prompted United Artists to withhold it from syndication in 1968, making it one of the Censored Eleven.

Summary

Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land
Comparison of steamboat piloting scenes in Steamboat Willie (top) and Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land Steamboat Willy & Hittin' the Trail comparison.png
Comparison of steamboat piloting scenes in Steamboat Willie (top) and Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land

Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land has a rudimentary plot, unlike most of the Merrie Melodies of the time, which barely have any plot at all. [4] The cartoon stars the Mickey Mouse-esque Piggy, his girlfriend Fluffy, and a canine Uncle Tom. [5] The film opens with a singing steamboat dancing down a river. On the deck, three blackface caricatures play the song for which the short is named on the harmonica, banjo, and bones. Meanwhile, Uncle Tom drives Fluffy toward the boat by donkey cart. The scene shifts to Piggy the riverboat captain in a sequence reminiscent of Disney's 1928 film Steamboat Willie . [5]

Fluffy joins the frolicking steamboat passengers and reunites with her boyfriend, but during the revelry, Piggy falls overboard. The pig has a run in with an alligator, but he makes it back to the boat. Meanwhile, Uncle Tom's donkey bucks him into a cemetery. There, in a variation on a stock gag featuring a superstitious black man, [6] he is scared by three dancing skeletons reminiscent of those in Disney's 1929 short The Skeleton Dance . Tom escapes to the middle of the river, but a shoddy boat leaves him stranded and drowning. Piggy saves the day but not before a vaudevillian villain kidnaps Fluffy. Piggy captures the villain on a passing mail hook, leaving the villain tortured over a buzz saw. This short marks the second and last appearance of the characters Piggy and Fluffy. [5]

Distribution

Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land was released in theaters on November 28, 1931, by Warner Bros. The cartoon has been in the public domain since 1959 after its copyright expired and was not renewed. However, the cartoon has been withheld from distribution since 1968. At that time, United Artists owned the rights to some Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land and ten other cartoons were deemed to feature racist depictions of African Americans that were too integral to the films for simple cuts to make them palatable for modern audiences. [7] The cartoon has never been released on laserdisc, home video, or DVD, not counting public domain home releases. These eleven cartoons make up the so-called Censored Eleven. [5]

Reception

On December 19, 1931, Motion Picture Herald said, "A New York Strand audience seemed to enjoy this number of the Merrie Melodies series in which popular song numbers accompany the animated cartoon figures." [8]

Credits

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Merrie Melodies</i> Cartoon series owned by Warner Bros. (1931–1969 and 1988–1997)

Merrie Melodies is an American animated comedy short film series distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is the companion series to Looney Tunes, and featured many of the same characters as the former series. It originally ran from August 2, 1931, to September 20, 1969, during the golden age of American animation, though it had been revived in 1979, with new shorts sporadically released until June 13, 1997. Originally, Merrie Melodies placed emphasis on one-shot color films in comparison to the black and white Looney Tunes films. After Bugs Bunny became the breakout character of Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes transitioned to color production in the early 1940s, the two series gradually lost their distinctions and shorts were assigned to each series randomly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Censored Eleven</span> Group of animated short films

The Censored Eleven is a group of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons originally produced and released by Warner Bros. that have been withheld from syndication in the United States by United Artists (UA) since 1968. UA owned the distribution rights to the Associated Artists Productions library at that time, and decided to pull these 11 cartoons from broadcast because the use of ethnic stereotypes in the cartoons, specifically African and African-American stereotypes, was deemed too offensive for contemporary audiences.

Piggy (<i>Merrie Melodies</i>) Warner Bros. theatrical cartoon character

Piggy is the name of two animated cartoon characters in the Merrie Melodies series of films distributed by Warner Bros. The first character was a fat, black pig wearing a pair of shorts with two large buttons in the front, and his first film was You Don't Know What You're Doin'!

Foxy (<i>Merrie Melodies</i>) Warner Bros. theatrical cartoon character

Foxy is an animated cartoon character featured in the first three animated shorts in the Merrie Melodies series, all distributed by Warner Bros. in 1931. He was the creation of animator Rudolf Ising, who had worked for Walt Disney in the 1920s.

<i>Bosko, the Talk-Ink Kid</i> 1929 film by Hugh Harman

Bosko, the Talk-Ink Kid is a 1929 live-action/animated short film produced to sell a series of Bosko cartoons. The film was never released to theaters, and therefore not seen by a wide audience until 2000 on Cartoon Network's television special Toonheads: The Lost Cartoons. The film was produced on May 29, 1929 and directed by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising.

<i>Lady, Play Your Mandolin!</i> 1931 film

Lady, Play Your Mandolin! is the first Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon, directed by Rudolf Ising of Harman and Ising. The short was released in August 1931, and stars Foxy, a character who appeared in three 1931 shorts.

One More Time is a 1931 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Rudolf Ising. The short was released on October 3, 1931, and stars Foxy as a Prohibition-era cop. This was Foxy's last theatrical appearance.

Wake Up the Gypsy in Me is a 1933 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short, directed by Rudolf Ising and based on the title song written by Lew Lehr, Harry Miller and Lew Pollack. The short was released on May 13, 1933.

This is a listing of all the animated shorts released by Warner Bros. under the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies banners between 1930 and 1939, plus the pilot film from 1929 which was used to sell the Looney Tunes series to Leon Schlesinger and Warner Bros. A total of 270 shorts were released during the 1930s.

The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives is a 1933 Christmas-themed Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short film directed by Rudolf Ising. The short was released on January 7, 1933.

<i>Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!</i> 1931 animated film

Smile, Darn Ya, Smile! is a 1931 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon short directed by Rudolf Ising. The short was released on September 5, 1931, and features Foxy, an early Merrie Melodies star.

Good Night Elmer is a 1940 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon short, directed by Chuck Jones, animated by Phil Monroe and written by Rich Hogan. The short was released on October 26, 1940, and features Elmer Fudd.

This article is about the 1934 film. For other uses, see Beauty and the Beast (disambiguation).

<i>You Dont Know What Youre Doin!</i> 1931 film

You Don't Know What You're Doin'! is a 1931 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon short directed by Rudolf Ising. The short was released on October 21, 1931, and stars Piggy, one of the series' early recurring characters. The film is perhaps one of the most amusing and effective of the cartoons from the studio's earliest years.

<i>Aint Nature Grand!</i> 1931 film

Ain't Nature Grand! is a February 1931 Looney Tunes cartoon featuring Bosko. It was directed by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dumb Patrol (1931 film)</span> 1931 film

Dumb Patrol is a 1931 one-reel short subject, part of the Looney Tunes series. It was released in May 1931 and is directed by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising. The film score was composed by Frank Marsales.

Yodeling Yokels is a 1931 one-reel short subject featuring Bosko; it is part of the Looney Tunes series. It was released in June 1931 and is directed by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising. The film score was composed by Frank Marsales.

<i>The Trees Knees</i> 1931 film

The Tree's Knees is a 1931 one-reel short subject featuring Bosko, part of the Looney Tunes series. It was released in August 1931 and is directed by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, the last cartoon in the series to be directed by the two. Every Looney Tunes cartoon after this was directed by Hugh Harman until 1933, and every Merrie Melodies cartoon was directed by Rudolf Ising until the aforementioned year. It is also the last Bosko cartoon to not feature the main character's (Bosko's) name in the title. The short is also notable for the extensive use of footage from the earlier short Ain't Nature Grand! that it reuses, in particular a scene of Bosko happily and innocently pursuing a butterfly.

Bosko Shipwrecked! is a 1931 one-reel short subject featuring Bosko; part of the Looney Tunes series. It was released on September 19, 1931, and is directed by Hugh Harman. This is the first Looney Tunes short to only have one director. The film score was composed by Frank Marsales.

<i>Red-Headed Baby</i> 1931 film

Red-Headed Baby is a 1931 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Rudolf Ising. The short was released on December 26, 1931.

References

  1. ↑ Scott, Keith (October 3, 2022). Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, Vol. 2. BearManor Media.
  2. ↑ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 12. ISBN   0-8050-0894-2.
  3. ↑ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 118. ISBN   0-8160-3831-7 . Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  4. ↑ BBeck, Jerry, and Will Friedwald (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Owl Books. ISBN   0-8050-0894-2. Page 12.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Cruz, Brian (2003). "Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land Archived 2007-06-14 at the Wayback Machine ". Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: The Early Years. Toon Zone. Accessed June 21, 2007.
  6. ↑ Lindvall, Terry, and Ben Fraser (1998). "Darker Shades of Animation: African-American Images in Warner Bros. Cartoons". Reading the Rabbit: Explorations in Warner Bros. Animation. Rutgers University Press. page 128.
  7. ↑ Did Bugs Bunny appear in a racist cartoon during World War II?, The Straight Dope, February 5, 2002
  8. ↑ Sampson, Henry T. (1998). That's Enough, Folks: Black Images in Animated Cartoons, 1900-1960. Scarecrow Press. p. 137. ISBN   978-0810832503.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.