"Tom & Jerry" history question?

Question

Does anyone out there know or remember whether the "Tom & Jerry" cartoons were shown to mostly black audiences? I know there's a recurrent character who's the black "lady of the house", and that those wouldn't likely have been shown to white audiences at the time (1940's)... I'm submitting this in History b/c I don't think many historians will find it in Animation!

I'm also wondering if the black woman's voice was done over for the Cartoon Network, etc. I've watched these for my whole life, and somehow I remember her voice being different when I was younger... (I'm 30).

Answer 1

I done a great deal of study in American cinematic history and I've never come across this issue in ANY book. In the 1940s theaters were either segregated or the SEATING was segregated with Blacks forced to sit in the hotter balcony seats while the Whites were given the preferential (and cooler) floor seats. Generally, the MGM "Tom and Jerry" cartoons along with the Warner Bros. "Looney Toons" and "Merrie Melodies" were used as warm-up films to prep the audience for the main attraction. They, along with newsreels played the same role that trailers and pre-recorded music play today in theaters. But I don't believe they were made for, or shown especially to audiences of Black theater goers.

Answer 2

I think the first answer you have covers some of the key aspects of this question.

The black woman in the early Tom & Jerry shorts was the housekeeper. Thus her dress, time in the kitchen, chores, etc. There was no -- at the time -- racial connotation to this. It was simple the portral of a common society figure of the time. Keep in mind most of these cartoons were made between 1935 and 1950.

I think Tex Avery (the guy who created Bugs Bunny) had left Warner Brothers to go a create most of the early Tom & Jerrys we're talking about here. Doing a search with his name as the key phrase might help get you closer to some of the deeper information you're looking for on this.

Good luck. --Andy

Answer 3

I think the "lady of the house" was like the maid, because I remember some of the cartoons where a white man was featured as Tom's owner. I think she was modeled after "Mammy" (Hattie McDaniel) from "Gone with the Wind" which was released in 1939. I have never heard anything about it being shown to any particular audience. I know that my parents watched it growing up in the 50's and they are white.