An incredible Charles Mintz produced cartoon animated by Manny Gould for Columbia Pictures. Unfortunately, some of it is cut off, but it is still utterly fantastic. What a great soundtrack! They start with some Cab Calloway style hi-de-ho mixed with a Mills Brothers-esque monkey making music with his mouth, move into something that sounds a lot like Jungle Fever (which I know through the Mills Brothers), and finish with St. Louis Blues. The person who posted this on DailyMotion thinks the soundtrack was most likely by Les Hite and his Orchestra.
Please note: The monkey jazz musicians in this cartoon could definitely be read as a racial slur if you’re inclined to read monkeys as a racial slur. If this sort of thing offends you, you may not want to view it.
Go here to see a whole lot of other classic monkey cartoons on this website.
Read more about this cartoon on the Big Cartoon Database here.
It is incorrect to say “The monkey jazz musicians in this cartoon could definitely be read as a racial slur if you’re inclined to read monkeys as a racial slur. If this sort of thing offends you, you may not want to view it.”
The cartoon does not appear to me to contain any monkeys, these are all apes. Sometimes they have tails (incorrect) but their faces, hands, feet, and ears are those of a Chimpanzee – an ape.
Indeed, you are right, Mike… that’s why I put this disclaimer on the Monkey Cartoons page…
Please note that for the sake of these cartoons, and our amusement, ‘monkey’ includes all primates that have hair all over their bodies. Yes I know a gorilla is not technically a monkey, Mr. Smarty-smart-smart… but I’ll call it a monkey if I damn well please! This ain’t National Geographic!
Note that this comment was not aimed at you… I just am quoting it from the other page. Hope you enjoyed the cartoon, and thanks for visiting!
This may be the single greatest thing I’ve seen this week. I’ve watched this like four times now. :D
Glad you enjoyed it, TC Giant… Thanks for stopping by!
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This is a delight. Thanks
Glad you liked it… thanks for commenting, Msindo!
The little message before the video was unnecessary. It’s condescending about black people to suggest that. It’s ridiculous that someone see racism about that! It’s a cartoon after all for 1937. We’re in 2008 now… And Barack is the president of the U.S. so i think we can get over it! hehe great video! thank you!
Hi Darwin… I agree the message is unnecessary, and in my view it is ridiculous to view this cartoon as racist… nevertheless, a lot of people inevitably will. I choose to include warnings of this kind on posts of this nature as a courtesy, so those who are offended by this sort of thing can easily avoid it if they wish. I don’t think I’m being condescending to anyone… just trying to be consistent and courteous… see the numerous other posts on this site with similar warnings for reference. Thanks for reading and commenting!