Jasper's Minstrels

This is a wonderful George Pal Puppetoon. Jasper is on his way to take the Deacon his coat for services. But the Scarecrow (voiced by Roy Glenn) thinks it would look better on him. He begins to tell Jasper that this was the kind of coat he wore when he was with the Minstrel troup. Dissolve to an all-scarecrow cast of minstrels in a lavish series of musical numbers. Chorals, quartets, olio numbers, etc. And, of course, Tambo and Mr. Bones as the end men. Yes, this short is wildly politically incorrect for today's audiences. But it is an authentic - with extremely tasteful musical arrangements - tribute to the days of the minstrel shows. Jasper only appears in the open and close (as does his Mammy), but he manages a couple of good gags with the Scarecrow and his shoulder pal, the Crow.

George Pal's Puppetoons aren't seen much these days, mostly because this top-motion genius with cartoon sensibilities chose as his central character "Jasper", a small Black boy and these days, that's racist. Why Pal, a Hungarian émigré, should have decided on him as a central character is an interesting question. Within half a decade, however, Pal was out of short subjects and producing fantasy and science fiction films that were doubtless more profitable.

Whatever the reasons, JASPER'S MINSTRELS comes off as an exercise in nostalgic fantasy. Even though the framing device can be viewed as racist, the Dutch angles of the interior story -- a minstrel show performance -- makes it more stylized, lending an air of unreality that softens the effect. here are also some musically elaborate performances of "Polly Wolly Doodle", "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" and "Dixie" that are well done.

I enjoyed this one, but quite obviously, your sense of outrage may make you hate it.