The Fighting 69th And A 1/2!
When
I was a kid, this cartoon could be seen once a week on the Dallas after
school cartoon shows. 2 days ago I decided to look for it, I could not
remember the name or the studio. This is Merrie Melodies, Warner
Brothers, The Fighting 69 1/2th. In it two armies of ants clash over a
picnic.
https://www.b98.tv/video/fighting-69-%C2%BDth/
When two scouts discover the picnic a tussle ensues over an olive.
Of course you know, this means war.
They just couldn't resist the Black Ant possibilities.*
But the Black Ants are more than up to the task, and are shown as superb fighters.
This
cartoon is a 'funny' version of trench warfare. The only fight the U.
S. Army was in between 1918 and 1941 was the Bonus Army disgrace, so
this is what the animators knew and showed as warfare. Here is the
Black Ant Army chemical corps.
Douglas MacArthur and his Aide-de-Camp Dwight Eisenhower oversee the
operation of clearing the desperately poor unarmed WWI veterans off of
Anacostia Flats, July 28, 1932. Major George Patton led the charge of 6
tanks against the crowd of 45,000, 17,000 of whom were war veterans. 2
dead. MacArthur is wearing 7 rows of ribbons, Eisenhower none.
In
9 years Field Marshal MacArthur will lose his entire air force on the ground 12 hours
after being informed of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In the
Corps, we would go practice crowd control out at Anacostia, ha ha!
The
Marine Corps was in constant combat between the wars, against armed
opponents in horrible conditions. I draw no conclusions, of course.
Your objective is the Hot Dog. Over the top!
Both sides make local gains.
Every war has it's heroes. Here is the ant equivalent of Sgt. Alvin York.
In order to kill one must first learn to live. Savvy infantry use every scrap of cover the terrain offers.
'Gung Ho' means working together...
...yet even in battle there can be time for common decency.
As always, a single objective will become paramount and must be taken at all costs!
But when the fighting is done even old enemies can be friends. This is a direct reference to the 1938 75th Gettysburg Reunion.
I'd have my thumbs in that Yankee's eyes. Grrrrr!
Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a frightfully well deserving Medal of Honor winner.
(Under
his command the 20th Maine held the absolutely vital Little Round Top
at Gettysburg and finally, out of ammo, drove back the Texas troops
under John Bell Hood with a bayonet charge that saved the position and
the day. I mention this because my co-conspirator in the running of
Hybrid Online is from Maine and Chamberlain is buried not far from where
he lives. Courage knows no nationality, and Texans like myself admit that even if it takes a bayonet charge to make us see
reason. But we're all friends now)!
While I am rambling on at a tangent about Gettysburg, that fight started when two opposing units ran into each other while looking for shoes, just as the olive thing transpired.
But,
as usual the war to end all wars is the prelude to another war. Leaders are
constitutionally unable to refrain from grabbing spoils. "We shall divide the cake like this"!
...and war breaks out anew. When will we ever learn?
This is what the cartoon title is referring to, released the year before by, (wait for it)...Warner Brothers!
Warner Brothers - Merrie Melodies. d). Fritz Freleng, with Mel Blanc, of course. 1941.
*About the racism in this. The black ants are clearly identifiable with the German army, just as the red ants are dressed like American doughboys. The watermelon scene is no accident. Why black people got tagged with the watermelon stigma I have no idea, everyone but me in the American South loves watermelon and also fried chicken, fried anything in fact. The old black ant is wearing the Confederate hat, insult to injury. This is nothing compared to the blackface routine Bugs Bunny performs in Southern Fried Rabbit, also a Friz Freleng outing, and 11 years later to boot. The black ants are also shown as the first to use gas warfare by throwing Limburger cheese at the red ants, although that may be coincidental. After all, the red ant scout starts all this. On the whole, I would say Warner's could be thoughtless and some of these jokes were mean even at the time. This cartoon is a masterpiece, and that's why I featured it. It's also why it's so hard to find. Here at Hybrid we have no tolerance for prejudice of any kind, but ignoring it does not make it go away. So, great cartoon, poor judgement to say the least.
The Gay Anties, 1947. Another Freleng ant cartoon.
Wow, what a gem; thanks Billy!
ReplyDeleteMaking a cartoon poking fun at trench warfare makes no sense, but then again War makes no sense. Like death, stopping war would appear to be universally desirable yet universally beyond our control to stop...much like with ants. Even when reduced to names and numbers, war is so horrible that we have to laugh or we would cry continually. Racism was laughed at in the past, but now is treated differently; maybe because we think we can combat it and so recognizing and fighting it has become a current war. So your footnote on racism was needed and aptly worded; well done.
Thanks, I hesitated to write about this cartoon but it is very well done. As it turns out Fritz Freleng directed 4 of the 'Censored 11' cartoons, and there are more than 11 in questionable taste. But now these have started being viewed in their entirety as lots of folks think that such cartoons were a product of their time and place. Warner's has finally released re-mastered versions of those, it was 1968 when the more egregiously racist were banned from national TV. That would fit exactly the time frame when I saw this all the time and then never saw it again. Disney needs to quit being so stupid about Song of the South, it is not racist and if the animal characters sound like black southerners, well, who were they supposed to be? That James Baskin got the first Academy Award given to a black man for that movie seems to be forgotten, Walt lobbied for him to get it and Walt would be in shock at how his brainchild is being run these days. People might remember Dudley Dickerson in some of the 3 Stooges shorts, he is one of the funniest people I have ever seen and at no time does he play a Stepin Fetchit character. His turn in A Plumbing We Will Go as the bewildered cook is probably the most memorable scene from my childhood. If he is being silly what do people think the Jewish Stooges are being? If it was not for them we would not have seen this comic genius. So, while I never think people should be mocked for who they are, it's OK to laugh at a great funny performance. Nowadays let some good black stand up make fun of white people and watch the white audience roll on the floor laughing.
DeleteHaving said all that I avoid race completely, in the world of my anthro's prejudice is based on species, societal rank and smell, the color of fur means no more than that of a black or white cat would mean to you or me. People need to drop this skin color nonsense and get back to hating each other because of politics just as the Good Lord intended!
I remember this cartoon! True,it does contain bits of racism here and there but so did a lot of the cartoons of that day.When I was a child I overlooked it because most of the cartoons were so darn funny!
ReplyDeleteThese guys just didn't think anything of it. I bet if you called them racist they would be insulted to the tips of their toes. The blackface thing has been around for a long time, they were referencing that. Still, it was rude but nothing compared to Speedy Gonzales, dear lord almighty is that offensive. Of course I loved it as a kid and it was just a cartoon, Texas is heavy with Mexican culture and such stereotypes were only for entertainment, I don't know anyone who thinks badly of Mexicans or anyone else because of cartoons. We know better now, yet think of all the stereotypes that are still laughed at. Mr. Humphries in Are You Being Served is a riot, although never identified as gay he is over the top swishy and funny as the day is long! So as far as the old cartoons, no, don't show them on television to kids, let people see them in context of the time and society.
DeleteOne thing I have never understood is why Hollywood did not target the black audience out there, millions of customers who would have paid to see a black superhero or slice of life movies. The incredibly racist Harlem on the Prarie was mobbed by black audiences, you wonder what the studios were thinking. Intelligent movies like Black Orpheus or Green Pastures showed what could have been done. I grew up wanting to be like Shaft or Woody Strode or Joe Frazier, I never noticed color at all. What mattered to me was being cool and tough, and nobody ever wore a white suit like Geoffrey Holder in the Un-Cola commercials.