Warner Bros.: Merrie Melodies: Coal Black And De Sebben Dwarfs

Coal Black And De Sebben Dwarfs Production Information

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Production Notes:

According to Beck and Friedwald, Coal Black is a Bob Clampett masterpiece, and certainly one of the greatest Warner Bros. cartoons ever made. Sure to offend, but not to be ignored.

In 1968, United Artists (then owners of the A.A.P. library) compiled the cartoons they considered too potentially offensive to be shown on television, and withheld those cartoons from distribution. This cartoon is one of those withheld from distribution, one of the so-called "Censored 11." More recently, when Ted Turner became owner of the library, he continued the ban, and refused to allow any of these cartoons to be shown or released on video. However, according to a recent e-mail, a woman in Phoenix claims that she has seen this on television there recently.

Along with black stereotypes, this cartoon features savagely anti-Japanese jokes (the film was made a year after Pearl Harbor).

Vivian Dandridge (the voice of So White) and Ruby Dandridge (the voice of Queenie) were the sister and mother, respectively, of actress-singer Dorothy Dandridge.

Jimmy Durante is caricatured.

A unique "That's All, Folks!" card features an animated shot of Mammy and a little girl rocking in an armchair.

Working title: "So White And De Sebben Dwarfs." It was changed at the last minute because someone in film marketing at Warner Bros. pointed out that in those days the theaters sometimes included the name of the cartoon short on the marquee, and was concerned that some people would think that the Disney feature was being shown, and be angry about the "false advertising." So the name was changed and became "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs".

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