| Uncle Tom's Cabana | |
| Director: | Tex Avery |
| Producer: | Fred Quimby |
| Story: | Heck Allen |
| Starring: | Paul Frees Sara Berner[1] Imogene Lynn |
| Music: | Scott Bradley |
| Animator: |
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| Studio: | MGM cartoon studio |
| Distributor: | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Color Process: | Technicolor |
| Runtime: | 8 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
Uncle Tom's Cabaña is a 1947 American animated short film directed by Tex Avery.[2] The short is a parody of Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, and is Avery's second parody of the novel, the first being Uncle Tom's Bungalow in 1937 while at Warner Bros. Cartoons.
The cartoon was well-received by the film press in 1947, but was fiercely criticized by an African-American weekly newspaper on its re-release in 1954, which, seven years after the cartoon's first release, accused the film of inflaming racial misunderstanding. The short was later banned from television airings.
Uncle Tom tells the blood-curdling story of how the evil Simon Legree tried to foreclose on Tom's simple log cabin. Also features Red from Red Hot Riding Hood as Little Eva.
In 1954, the African-American weekly Pittsburgh Courier published an editorial titled "Uncle Tom's Cabana Outrages Negro Audiences: What Price Brotherhood If Movies Play Up Handkerchief Heads?" The editorial called the cartoon "a base stereotype and an insult to Negroes", saying, "Even though there has been a general loosening of the Production Code in order to hype the box office, there is no reason why Negroes should continue to be ridiculed and jeered at in motion pictures. This medium reaches all levels of mentalities and feeds the flames of prejudice by projecting such canards as Uncle Tom's Cabana... Showing this insult during Brotherhood Week was a kick in the teeth to a fine effort to wipe out prejudice in America. With the world in ferment, Uncle Tom's Cabana set the movies back ten years."[3]
However, the film press had no such objections in 1947. The Film Daily said, "A modern version of the old tale, it is a real seller." Motion Picture Herald described it as "a modern version with the emphasis on swing," and Motion Picture Exhibitor said, "This will appeal, especially to kids."[3]
Uncle Tom's Cabaña, along with Half-Pint Pygmy, were banned from television airings in the United States due to ethnic stereotyping of African-Americans. Despite the controversy, this short and Half-Pint Pygmy were released on The Compleat Tex Avery laserdisc in the 1990s.
The short was included on the 1993 laserdisc compilation The Compleat Tex Avery.[4]