Confederate Honey

From blackwiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Extra1.jpg

Confederate Honey is a 1940 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. This short released in USA March 30, 1940. This cartoon is a parody of Gone With the Wind (1939).[1]

Confederate Honey 5.png

Plot

It's 1862, and Crimson, a southern belle, has her heart set on Ned Cutler (Elmer Fudd), a Confederate soldier who wants to marry her. Unfortunately, the Civil War breaks out before Cutler can propose, and the soldier is forced to fight. Meanwhile, Crimson waits for Cutler to return by hanging a lantern outside her window.

Colonel O'Hairoil, a literal blueblood in Kentucky's literally bluegrass country, presides over rich tobacco and cotton plantations in 1861 (B.Sea., which stands for "Before Seabiscuit"). When one young lad hands his recumbent father two bolls of cotton to place in the packing crate, he is warned, "Don't get too ambitious there, son."

The Colonel's daughter, Crimson O'Hairoil, is the pride of the plantation, and she is courted by a slew of suitors who leave empty-handed after having their horse parking ticket validated (for parking is charged by the hour). Crimson is only interested in Ned Cutler, the "chivalrous, hard-riding, square-shooting soldier of fortune" (From Elmer Fudd). Ned arrives and is about to ask Crimson a question when an explosion occurs. The Civil War in the United States of America has begun. Ned has to depart in order to join his "wegiment." Despite the attendant's warning, he parks his horse in the paid lot.

Meanwhile, the horse and his rider are waiting for Ned to return. The Colonel is depressed to hear on the radio that "The Yanks" have won again, and curses the Yankees.

Ned sighs as he reads a letter back at camp. A signal rocket transforms into a billboard. "Eat Southern Fried Chicken at Mammy's Shack after the battle." Crimson, who had promised to light a searchlight in the window for Ned, does so so zealously that she alarms Paul Revere, who rides away giving his famous warning.

Between 1861 and 1865, the war ends (with the horse and attendant still in the lot). Ned returns to Crimson, who has been patiently awaiting his arrival. Ned appears to be ready to propose, but all he wants is for her to validate his parking ticket. She responds by stamping a "Revoked" on his forehead, causing his head to reverberate like a gong.

The black hunter from All This and Rabbit Stew appears in the first of three cartoons. He appears as a slave waiting for Ned to return with his horse.

Confederate Honey 4.png

The Controversy

Confederate Honey was not one of the studio's infamous Censored Eleven cartoons, which were banned from syndication due to racially insensitive content, but it was never a big part of rerun culture either. It was included in a LaserDisc release in the 1990s that depicted the evolution of the Egghead character into Elmer Fudd, and a censored version that cut out or cropped scenes with the slave characters was included as a special feature on a 2005 DVD of Errol Flynn's Western "Virginia City."[2]

All the slaves in this cartoon drawn in black skin, exaggerate big lips, extreme lethargic, and half-closed sleepy eyes. All this characteristic features refer to black ethnic stereotype.

Trivia

The film is a parody of "Gone with the Wind" (1939), but it takes place in Kentucky rather than Georgia. During the American Civil War, it depicts Kentucky joining the Confederate States of America. Despite the fact that Kentucky was a Union state during the war, Kentucky soldiers served on both sides. A total of 125,000 Kentuckians served as Union soldiers, with another 35,000 serving as Confederate soldiers.[3]

External Link

Watch Confederate Honey at Dailymotion
Confederate Honey at IMDb

References

  1. Confederate Honey. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  2. Phil Hall, January 4, 2019. The Bootleg Files: Confederate Honey, cinema-crazed.com. Retrieved December 21, 2020
  3. IMDb Trivia. Retrieved December 21, 2020