''Angel Puss'' is a 1944

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...

'' cartoon directed by

Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, painter, voice actor and filmmaker, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He ...

. The short was released on June 3, 1944. The protagonist is a " Li'l Sambo" type

blackface Blackface is the practice of performers using burned cork, shoe polish, or theatrical makeup to portray a caricature of black people on stage or in entertainment. Scholarship on the origins or definition of blackface vary with some taking a glo ...

character who exhibited common racial stereotypes in speech, intelligence and fear of the supernatural. The

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

weekly newspaper '' The Pittsburgh Courier'' objected strongly to the cartoon, especially because it was run in

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alongside the '' March of Time'' short ''Americans All'', on the theme of fighting prejudice and stereotypes. The film press did not acknowledge these concerns. The short is one of the " Censored Eleven", a group of Warner Bros. animated shorts that are withheld from circulation due to their dated racist stereotyping and portrayals. This is also the only ''

'' short in the Censored Eleven, as the other shorts are ''

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animated comedy short film series distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was part of the ''Looney Tunes'' franchise and featured many of the same characters. Originally running from August 2, 1931, to Septem ...

''.

Plot

A young African-American boy (drawn in

style) carries a sack to a river and laments that he has agreed to drown a cat. While the boy stares at the water, the cat slips out of the sack and fills it with bricks. When the boy says that he can't go through with the task, the hidden cat, pretending to be the boy's

conscience A conscience is a Cognition, cognitive process that elicits emotion and rational associations based on an individual's ethics, moral philosophy or value system. Conscience is not an elicited emotion or thought produced by associations based on i ...

, says, "Go ahead, Sambo, go ahead, boy," and reminds him that he has been paid "four bits" to do the job. Sambo reluctantly drops the bag in the river rather than return the money. The cat then disguises itself as its own

ghost In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

, painting itself white and donning wings and a

halo HALO, halo, halos or haloes may refer to: Most common meanings * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head * ''Halo'' (franchise), a sci-fi video game series (2001–2021) Arts and en ...

, and proceeds to "haunt" Sambo by repeatedly sneaking up on him and whispering "boo." Sambo runs away, but the cat rattles a pair of dice, causing Sambo to fall into a trance and unconsciously walk back to the cat (part of a

running gag A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling. Though they are similar, catchphrases are no ...

in Warner Bros. cartoons that stereotypes African-Americans as being addicted to gambling). The hauntings continue until Sambo and the cat fall in a pond, washing off the cat's paint. When Sambo realizes that he has been tricked, he kills the cat with a shotgun blast. Immediately afterward, a line of nine ghost cats (representing a cat's nine lives) marches toward Sambo, saying, "And this time, brother, us ain't kiddin'."

Reception

On October 7, 1944, Herman Hill wrote an editorial for the African-American weekly '' The Pittsburgh Courier'' titled ''Angel Puss vs. Americans for All''. Hill wrote, "Basis for the spontaneous protest by the long and patient suffering Negro theater-going public were the many forth-right expressions of condemnation regarding Warner Brothers' animated cartoon ''Angel Puss''. Almost in direct irony was the picture's showing in Los Angeles, in that it was sandwiched between the main feature and March of Time's ''Americans for All'', which theme is directly aimed at the lessening of racisms. It has since been learned that the Warner Brothers had ordered the somewhat considered controversial ''Americans for All'' to be shown in each of their theatres throughout the country as a contributory effort towards breaking down the evils of race prejudice. In a further attempt to throw light on the subject of caricatures, March of Time offices here were contacted. A spokesman stated that they had nothing to do with the placing of their film on the same program as ''Angel Puss'' or any other such picture. It was admitted, however, that in consideration of the type of cartoon, poor taste was shown in the matter." However, this concern was not expressed in the film press, which echoed and celebrated the film's stereotypes. On June 24, '' Boxoffice'' said: "A delectable bit of cartoon animation catches the natural aversion of a Colored boy to any form of supernatural suggestion as represented by a cat that was supposed to be drowned by the boy, but escaped. The cat makes life extremely miserable for the boy by dressing up as a spirit, but comes to an unfortunate end. There are lots of hearty chuckles in the reel."

References

External links

* {{Censored Eleven 1944 films Short films directed by Chuck Jones Looney Tunes shorts Warner Bros. Cartoons animated short films Films about race and ethnicity History of racism in the cinema of the United States Censored Eleven Vitaphone short films Films produced by Leon Schlesinger Films scored by Carl Stalling 1940s Warner Bros. animated short films 1940s English-language films English-language short films 1944 animated short films