Scrub Me Mama with a Boogie Beat is a 1941 hit boogie-woogie song written by Don Raye. A bawdy, jazzy tune, the song describes a laundry woman from Harlem, New York whose technique is so unusual that people come from all around just to watch her scrub. The Andrews Sisters and Will Bradley & His Orchestra recorded the most successful pop versions of the song, but it is today best recognized as the centerpiece of an eponymous Walter Lantz Studio cartoon from 1941.The short version, released on March 28, 1941 by Universal Pictures features no director credit (Woody Woodpecker creator Walter Lantz claims to have directed the cartoon himself), with a story by Ben Hardaway, animation by Alex Lovy and Frank Tipper, and voice work by Mel Blanc. The short is awash with what is now considered offensive blackface stereotypes of African-American people and culture, and of life in the rural Southern United States. The short was re-released in 1948. On October 20, 1948, the NAACP wrote a letter to Universal Studios. It objected to the vicious caricature of Negro life in the South. They found the short to depict negroes as lazy and only activated by swing music. They also objected to the images of scantily clad, dancing young women. They requested the end of distribution for the film and better judgement from Universal. On October 29, 1948, a representative of Universal wrote to the NAACP. He pointed that none of the companys theaters had received complaints concerning the film. On November 3, 1948, Madison Jones, Jr met with E.L. McEvoy at the New York office of Universal. Jones represented the NAACP, and McEvoy represented Universal. McEvoy defended the racist humor of the film. Jones responded that NAACP was holding an education campaign against this type of humor. McEvoy offered to let the NAACP contact the West Coast offices of the company, but he warned that in consequence for taking action, niggers would be prevented from getting work in the industry. He also claimed the NAACP members were better educated than the average audience member, who would not object to seeing racist images. Jones responded that this was a reason to avoid the racist films, that the audience might think them to be based on fact. McEvoy pointed that caricatures of Negroes, Jews, Germans, and Irish used to be top entertainment. He also explained that the office language at Universal included the terms Sheenie and Kike (both used for Jews). He also pointed that the film was only on re-release due to the Walter Lantz Studio being shut down at the moment. On November 20, 1948, there was an article on the Los Angeles Tribune concerning the complaints of the NAACP. On February 3, 1949, Universal announced in a press release that the studio was withdrawing the film, following the protest. A memo on February 19, pointed that the Jewish Labor Committee had co-operated with the NAACP in protesting the film
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 19:48:42 +0000
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