Swing Wedding

Swing Wedding is a 1937 MGM Happy Harmonies cartoon directed by Hugh Harman.[1]

Swing Wedding
Directed byHugh Harman
Produced byHugh Harman
Rudolph Ising
Animation byLarry Martin (unc.)
Tom McKimson (unc.)
Color processTechnicolor
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
February 13, 1937 (US)
Running time
8 min (one reel)
LanguageEnglish

A "sequel" to the 1936 short The Old Mill Pond, the cartoon portrays a wedding celebrated by a group of frogs in a swamp. The frogs are designed as caricatures of various African American celebrities of the 1930s, such as Ethel Waters, Stepin Fetchit, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller and the Mills Brothers.

Though hailed as "'one of the finest one-reelers in all of animation" by some commentators,[2] others have derided the use of Zip Coon-type figures and stereotypical dialogue (including expressions such as "Who dat?" and "Yowza!").[3] The film also contains a controversial scene in which a frog musician uses his trumpet valve as a syringe. The scene plays on the stereotype of black jazz musicians using drugs before performing.[4][5]

This cartoon was re-released in a shorter version called "Hot Frogs" in 1942 as a “soundies” format.

Plot

The story parallels a Mill Pond sequence but without a wedding in the plotline. In Swing Wedding, Ethel-like Minnie sings "Let Me Take You Down to Chinatown (It's Minnie the Moocher's Wedding Day)" quite well, backed up by the Boswell Sisters sound-alike gal frogs, who wear flimsy long gowns that reveals their very chorus-girl legs right up to their crotches. In The Old Mill Pond following a big number by Frog Calloway, Ethel as Minnie sings "Jungle Rhythm" without back-up singers, although she is attended by a chorus line of dancing gals. Cab's appearance is delayed in Swing Wedding until cued by his intention to steal Minnie away from Smoky Joe.

— Wild Realm Reviews, The Jazz Frogs

Reception

National Exhibitor (March 20, 1937): "The frogs put on a wedding to hot music. Caricatures are made of Negro mannerisms. There appear characters very much like Stepin Fetchit, Bill Robinson, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller. This isn't up to the previous efforts from the Harman-Ising bunch."[6]

Boxoffice (Apr 10, 1937): "Against a background of riotous color, Harman-Ising studios have executed a clever satire on the current craze for swing music which is certain to add a bright note to any program. Such famous sepia stars as Cab Calloway a famous American jazz singer, dancer, bandleader and actor, "Fats" Waller a Pianist and Bill Robinson who was a famous tap dancer during the first half of the 20th century these African American musicians and dancers are caricatured as frogs and the resemblance to the millpond denizens is astounding. The musical accompaniment to the gay frog-pond wedding ceremony is delightfully swinging, although the basic tunes are easily recognizable. A distinctly novel color cartoon."[6]

Selected Motion Pictures (May 1, 1937): "A colorful fantasy of the wedding of two frogs. Fine musical syncopation. Amusing though noisy entertainment."[6]

References
  1. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 89. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  2. quoted in Ian Conrich, et al. Film's Musical Moments. Edinburgh University Press, 2006. 23.
  3. Ian Conrich, et al. Film's Musical Moments. Edinburgh University Press, 2006. 23.
  4. Jesse Hamlin. "Jazz in the City Benefit". San Francisco Chronicle. August 21, 1988.
  5. "The Jazz Frogs". Wild Realm Reviews.
  6. Sampson, Henry T. (1998). That's Enough, Folks: Black Images in Animated Cartoons, 1900-1960. Scarecrow Press. p. 212. ISBN 978-0810832503.
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