''Plane Dumb'' is the 12th Van Beuren Tom and Jerry cartoon, released on June 4, 1932. The cartoon's soundtrack is done by

Gene Rodemich Eugene Frederick Rodemich (April 13, 1890 in St Louis, Missouri – February 27, 1934 in New York) was a pianist and orchestra leader, who composed the music for numerous films in the late 1920s and early 1930s, mostly cartoons and live-action sh ...

Plot

Tom and Jerry are flying a small airplane and find themselves off the coast of Africa. In an ill-advised effort to fit in among the natives, the two decide to don

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 ...

and talk in a stereotypical African-American dialect. While doing this, the plane goes off balance and crashes into the ocean. After encounters with sharks, an overly-friendly octopus, and a whale, Tom and Jerry make it to the mainland. They are confronted by beasts of the African jungle, from which they take refuge in a cave, where they meet some skeletal Africans that were retooled from the first Tom and Jerry short, " Wot a Night." Once Tom and Jerry come out of the cave, African tribesmen (also stereotypically portrayed as spear-chuckers with bones in their hair) appear from behind almost every rock and crevice, outraged at the sight of the two in blackface, and begin an angry pursuit. The cartoon ends with Tom and Jerry wiping the blackface off their face, still running away from the Africans.

References

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* * Tom and Jerry (Van Beuren) American animated short films Blackface minstrel shows and films Animated film controversies African-American-related controversies in film Race-related controversies in animation Race-related controversies in film 1930s English-language films 1930s buddy comedy films American buddy comedy films Films set in Africa RKO Pictures short films RKO Pictures animated short films 1930s American films English-language short films English-language buddy comedy films 1932 animated short films {{short-animation-film-stub