Hugh Harman's THE OLD MILL POND (1936) was such a hit with audiences, that he repeated the formula several more times over the next year. The film caricatured famous African-American singers and entertainers as frogs performing in a bayou. His star Bosko would be paired with the jazz frogs in unconventional settings.
Bosko had been redesigned into a quasi-realistic African American boy in 1935 after the studio started producing their cartoons in 3-strip Technicolor. Aside from the name, there was virtually nothing in common with the Bosko that starred in the first Looney Tunes. This Bosko was a typical little boy with a big imagination. In the second of three cartoons, where his mother has him deliver a bag of cookies to his grandmother, he imagines himself on a tropical island inhabited by frog cannibals. Like the previous film, they want his bag of cookies and go to great lengths to snatch it from him. What makes this cartoon very memorable is the catchy jazz tunes that play on the soundtrack from start to finish and the frantic paced chase scenes between Bosko and the frogs. But like the other entries, Bosko manages to outsmart them and escape.
While the Bosko films have not been shown on television nor been officially released on an official media format (with a couple exceptions), the character doesn't seem as degrading as an African-American character compared to the other stereotypes of that era. There are still some stereotypical aspects of the character, but they're kept at a minimum overall. Another negative for this film is caricaturing famous African Americans as cannibals, which is quite degrading to them, despite their great performances. I'd like to know who did the voices.
I'd like to see these films released on bluray, if not for the musical scores and the lush production values.
Bosko had been redesigned into a quasi-realistic African American boy in 1935 after the studio started producing their cartoons in 3-strip Technicolor. Aside from the name, there was virtually nothing in common with the Bosko that starred in the first Looney Tunes. This Bosko was a typical little boy with a big imagination. In the second of three cartoons, where his mother has him deliver a bag of cookies to his grandmother, he imagines himself on a tropical island inhabited by frog cannibals. Like the previous film, they want his bag of cookies and go to great lengths to snatch it from him. What makes this cartoon very memorable is the catchy jazz tunes that play on the soundtrack from start to finish and the frantic paced chase scenes between Bosko and the frogs. But like the other entries, Bosko manages to outsmart them and escape.
While the Bosko films have not been shown on television nor been officially released on an official media format (with a couple exceptions), the character doesn't seem as degrading as an African-American character compared to the other stereotypes of that era. There are still some stereotypical aspects of the character, but they're kept at a minimum overall. Another negative for this film is caricaturing famous African Americans as cannibals, which is quite degrading to them, despite their great performances. I'd like to know who did the voices.
I'd like to see these films released on bluray, if not for the musical scores and the lush production values.