Merrie Melodies short, directed by Bob Clampett, notable today for being one of the Censored Eleven. For those who don't know, the Censored Eleven are cartoons that were withheld from syndication because they were considered to be too offensive due to their use of racial stereotypes and imagery. This one, a spin on Snow White with a black cast of characters (mostly voiced by black actors), is arguably the best of all the cartoons on the Censored Eleven list. It's hailed as one of Clampett's masterpieces by many animation historians. Some viewers today might not see what all the fuss is about and will almost certainly be put off by the exaggerated racial stereotypes. But there is value here, particularly with the energetic animation and the incorporation of jazz music. And honestly it's funny in spots, too. Recommending cartoons like this is tricky business because people have strong reactions to anything racial. Many people will likely not enjoy it and may even find themselves uncomfortable watching a minute of it. But those who are able to view it through something other than a "modern lens" I think will see that there's a lot of artistic merit to it and, yes, even some entertainment. It's not for all tastes, though, obviously.
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utgard1424 September 2016
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While Walt Disney and his collaborators include fine music coming from classical instruments and from inspired emotional feeling into the legendary Grimm Brothers tale, Warner Bros. turn Snow White into a black Betty Boop surrounded by jazz and blues improvised singers and a modern landscape (well, the '40s at the time).
But that simply doesn't work. It's clear that WB doesn't care about making children cartoons. Or maybe they try to care, but they don't know how to do it the effective way. I can't stand from seeing a Black girlie moving her hips and her buttocks without stopping and the other people around her.
The music is good, however. It's the mood of the '40s and the cartoon owns musical pieces which would make Ray Charles and Al Jolson proud of. But I don't think that this music owns its place here. It should be elsewhere. Maybe in a real musical story, like "The Jazz Singer"... The animation is also good, I have to say. The images are well drawn and the motion is perfectly executed.
But the minor favorable elements are literally foreshadowed by the ridiculous, stupid and insupportable storyline and the images associated with it. I think that seeing this Black girl could have lead to more discrimination and moral harassment towards the American Black community. Maybe that was the goal. Maybe that racists made this movie. We might never know... -
Hitchcoc28 December 2015I know that those who whine at political correctness would disagree. But while I appreciate the wonderful music and the creative animation, I just can't get past the portrayal of black people as gorillas with big white or red lips. They are shown as out of control, oversexed, and stupid. The sad thing is that there are so few black people seen in the cartoons of the time. There is a portion of this that takes place in a war zone. One should remember how these people were expected to give of themselves, even to die, for a country that saw them as less than human, ninety years after the emancipation proclamation. Yes, it's a cartoon, but it certainly doesn't do much to show respect.
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GrouchoFan2 October 2003It's been a dream of mine for years to see Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs, and I finally achieved that dream. A friend of mine somehow got a copy, and he burned one for me, and at the age of 18 my life is complete. No, I don't think little kids should see it, but I have to say, it lives up to every word of it's reputation. The voice acting and music are great. But what gets me the most is the sheer energy of the thing. It's just a rush for seven and a half minutes. The introductions of each new character are really great (especially Prince Chawmin's. Just exhilarating), and the dance number is spectacular as well. I'm still on a total high. Any fan of animation should see it. It's a great one.
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This is a notorious Looney Tunes cartoon from celebrated exponent Robert Clampett, one of a handful of 'outrageous' efforts from The Golden Age Of Animation which were subsequently banned. Of course, as can be gleaned immediately from its altered title, it's a modernized all-black retelling of the Snow White fairy-tale with rampant (but not really offensive) racist and even sexual attitudes that were prevalent during the wartime era. As ever with the classic Warners style of animation, the short moves at breakneck speed throwing in a plethora of visual and verbal gags along the way, while being held firmly together by a constant and wholly agreeable jazz soundtrack (complete with half-sung and rhyming dialogue). All in all, however, given its reputation and prolonged suppression, I wouldn't count it among the best or even funniest shorts that Warners produced under the "Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies" banner.
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. . . much more so than those animated propaganda shorts in the "Private SNAFU" series churned out by Convicted Expense Account Chiseler Leon Schlesinger, who probably lengthened the conflict by months if not years with his rip-offs from the U.S. Taxpayers' War Bonds Program and the Army's Munitions Budget. COAL BLACK AND DE SEBBEN DWARFS is carefully crafted to turn the Aryan Blueprint for Hitler's Genocide by the German Brothers Grimm on its head by incorporating the All-American Essence of Harlem AGAINST Adolph's White Supremacists. This brilliant counter-attack to combat the ranting and raving Fuhrer naturally rubbed Ted Turner and his then-spouse "Hanoi Jane" Fonda the wrong way, since they want America to lose ALL of its wars. Therefore, on the fatal night when these Tondas got soused on their veranda with six pitchers of mint juleps and red-lined a random grouping of the 1,000-plus Looney Tunes to become the infamous "Censored Eleven," they included this masterwork which more than offset the damage done by Looney Tunes Fifth Columnist Schlesinger by inspiring guys such as Brad Pitt's FURY tank commander to take down Hitler's so-called Third Reich.
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Tweekums16 July 2009I wasn't sure what to expect with this (in)famous Warner Brothers' spoof of Disney's Snow White, I can understand that the style of the animation looks racist today but had the character design been a bit different it would have probably have been acceptable with only one or two other changes.
In this version of the tale the wicked queen is jealous of "So White" so calls Murder Inc. to "black out So White", they grab her but later let her go, we can guess why as they have lipstick on them. She then meets up with the seven dwarfs who are in the army. The Queen then sends a poisoned apple to So White, this puts her to sleep and Prince Chawmin' tries to wake her with a kiss (several times) after he gives up one of the Dwarfs kisses her and she wakes up, he is asked how he did it and he replies suggestively that that is a military secret.
I suspect this cartoon was aimed at an adult audience as So White is drawn in a way that is more sexually provocative than a character one would expect in a children's cartoon. The most offensive joke is Murder Inc's advert saying they will rub out anybody for a dollar, midgets half price and Japanese people for free, and it used a derogatory term for the last.
I must admit that I found it fairly funny, certainly not as offensive as I thought it might be. -
sameolggp16 July 2007Although it has some interesting commentary on the war and is certainly a good tool for teaching and sparking discussion about American race relations, it is certainly not something that I think deserves the outright praise that some of you have been giving it.
It is still wrought full of stereotypes (specifcally the over-sexualized black female and the hyper-sexed black male pimp) that are sadly still represented far too often today in music videos, movies, and the like.
This is a good cartoon, but not for its entertainment value, but for its close-up on racism as it stood during that era and a representation of how racial stereotypes masked as entertainment are enacted today (and often in modalities directly targeting children). -
skad134 April 2003In the late 1980's, a documentary titled Amos 'n Andy: Anatomy of a Controversy looked at the infamous comedy show. Despite the doc's own testimonials by famous black performers who found the show funny, the only way to get the show looked at or praised these days was to surround it with politically correct analysis.
That's most likely the only way that cable TV's Cartoon Network, which owns the rights to Bob Clampett's Snow White parody Coal Black an de Sebben Dwarfs (1943), would ever be able to air this cartoon. Most likely, the Cartoon Networkers won't consider even that ploy, as they have seen fit to remove any possible inflammatory material from their huge backlog of cartoons. That's a great pity, because most of those who have been fortunate enough to view Coal Black regard it as one of Bob Clampett's most jaw-droppingly funny creations.
As has been well documented elsewhere, the unfortunate fact is that, at the time of Coal Black's making, African-Americans were rarely treated as equals to whites on the silver screen. (Dooley Wilson's Sam in Casablanca [1942] is a notable exception, depicting a warm friendship with Humphrey Bogart's Rick. Yet even Sam clears out of the room as soon as Bogie and Ingrid Bergman, the movie's iconic white lovers, reunite.)
And unsubtle stereotypes abound. Just to hit the highlights, "Prince Chawmin'" is a jive-spouting hero with dice for teeth (and he literally turns yellow when So White calls for him to rescue her). "De Sebben Dwarfs" are little more than thick-lipped comic relief.
And the movie begins with the tale being told by a loving "mammy" to her child.
Yet the underlying irony is that the racial aspect is merely a smokescreen for what this cartoon is really about: sex. This film's Wicked Queen doesn't even consider whether she's the fairest one of all; her first words in the story are "Magic mirror on the wall, send me a prince about six feet tall." So White, far from Disney's virginal image of Snow White, wears a low-cut blouse and thigh-high shorts, and she sends blazes of erotic ecstasy through every male she meets. If it weren't for the movie's parody approach, it's difficult to believe that the same censors who got all worked up about Tex Avery's Red Hot Riding Hood series would have let Clampett get away with such brazenness.
The irony is that Bob Clampett intended his cartoon as a tribute to black culture. The movie's hot jazz score (by Eddie Beals) surpasses even Carl Stalling's usual high standards, with some incredible scat singing and white-hot trumpet playing. And So White is voiced by Vivian Dandridge, Dorothy Dandridge's sister, and the Evil Queen is voiced by their mother Ruby, which is enough to at least give the movie a legitimate pedigree. Beyond that, this cartoon is to Clampett's oeuvre what What's Opera, Doc? is to Chuck Jones's canon--a look at a Warner Bros. cartoon director at the height of his control. Like Jones's opera parody/tribute, Coal Black goes beyond funny to just plain astounding. Even in fifth-generation bootlegs, the cartoon is rich in the sort of frame-exploding work that has made Clampett's reputation. Even though many of the wartime references (to shortages and the military) date this cartoon far worse that most WB efforts, the jokes still come across quite clearly. (When Mammy tells us how rich the Evil Queen is, the camera pans across her riches: piles of stockpiled sugar and rubber tires.)
There is plenty to be offended about in Coal Black an de Sebben Dwarfs, if offense is all that you seek. But the most memorable cartoons are usually the ones that get somebody's dander up. In an era where Keenan Ivory Wayans makes the most profitable Afro-American movie ever (Scary Movie) by taking R-rated swipes at penises and mental retardation, surely there's room in our culture for a comparatively benign (and far funnier) six-minute cartoon. -
planktonrules18 October 2006This is a pretty good film technically,...but boy is the film likely to cause extremely high blood pressure or even heart attacks in modern audiences!!! And I DON'T recommend that the average person watch this, as the film is so racially offensive. In the 1940s, drawing characters of giant-lipped Black characters who spoke in Jive must have seemed very funny, but today it will most likely make many recoil in horror! However, I do recommend you see this film if you are interested in history or the progress we've made in race relations. As a history teacher, I see this as a wonderful film just as a teaching tool--to show us how far we've come. Plus, being a strong, strong advocate of free speech, I am loathe to encourage ANY film to be banned outright.
The film is on at least a superficial level, a pretty funny and interesting piece--particularly the wonderful ending. Just be forewarned--it is an awful aspect of race relations that some want to forget ever existed. Of course, if you ignore or forget your past, you are opening up the possibility you won't learn from our mistakes. -
I have only one gripe about this cartoon (which has nothing to do with the racial stereotyping). It seems to run very quickly -- even more so than most Avery/Clampett cartoons of the era -- and tends to become disjoint at points. This is probably due to the fact that Bob Clampett wanted to make this a two-reeler (~13 minutes), but producer Leon Schlesinger was totally against the idea of an animated film going beyond one reel (possibly some anti-Disney sentiment?) Yes, this cartoon should not be shown on regular TV, because it is shocking and too many people are uptight about political correctness -- not to mention that many of the war references would go over the public's head. However, I firmly believe that this cartoon should be made readily available to art historians, war historians, sociologists, musicians, and aspiring animators. It still holds great value to all of those fields to this day.
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Hotoil4 January 2001This is disturbing trash. To think that people found this to be funny, Bob Clampett mocking blacks for laughs. I usually like his animated shorts, but this is horrible. It boasts a nice soundtrack, but the dialogue and characterisations are nothing short of degrading.
Aside from that aspect, it's basically a stupid cartoon. I guess it's humour relies too much on the viewer to think black people are foolish and silly.
Should it be locked up? No, thats a stupid liberal answer. I don't think it should be embraced either, but it certainly is a good example of the kind of treatment african-americans got in the early days of cinema. -
jesse_barboza19 August 2004For years, I had heard of this cartoon yet never seen it. One of the infamous "Censored 11" (almost a dozen Warner Bros. theatrical cartoons that were forever suspended from television broadcast in the 1960s), it looked as if my chances would always be slim to none. But I have recently obtained a video copy of it and several other restricted "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies" and can now judge for myself how good it is.
As it turns out, all those critics were dead right! "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs" is undoubtedly the flat-out funniest and most frenetically paced Bob Clampett cartoon I've ever laid eyes on - and this is up there with "The Great Piggy Bank Robbery", "Kitty Kornered", "Baby Bottleneck", "The Big Snooze", "Tortoise Wins By a Hare", Draftee Daffy", "A Tale of Two Kitties", and scads of others. Sure, its caricatures are seen today as appalling, but I know the context that this cartoon was supposed to be seen in. When thought of as a morale-raising wartime cartoon with one foot steadied in the world of jazz and black entertainment, this film is hilarious. In fact, several people have noted that this film's positive portrayal of blacks in the US Army was actually one of the few instances of such in film at the time. And the animation is certainly some of the best to come out of the Clampett unit - the dance scenes between Prince Chawmin' and So White, the flailing and unrestrained movements of the characters, and the Dwarfs' final attack on "Queenie" are all virtuoso pieces of work. The music and singing are astoundingly well-done, adding a jazzy spin to this particular Merrie Melodie. And as always, Treg Brown's sound effects make the film that much better (the numerous "p-zings" and "beyowhups" and "trombone gobbles" throughout the soundtrack never get old). Altogether this is a true winning effort. Despite its reputation, this cartoon can't be overlooked when observing Clampett's efforts at the Warner studio. As Steve Schneider put it in his 1988 book "That's All Folks! The Art of Warner Bros. Animation", this is a film masterpiece in miniature. And that is not a military secret.
Now, if I can only get my hands on "Tin Pan Alley Cats" and "Russian Rhapsody"... -
The story of Snow-white and the seven dwarfs retold with black people. We see the 'big momma' queen and 'So White', her servant prince 'Chawmin'' takes a liking to. So So White has to flee (for a death squad who kills 'japs for free') and crosses the path of the seven dwarfs, who for some reason are called the Sebben Dwarfs here (not really sure why). She is killed anyway by the infamous apple, but we all know Snow-white always ends well...
Maybe it's just me, but I thought this movie was not only racist and offensive (as one would expect), but quite boring as well. The songs didn't work well and the animation wasn't really good. Plus I don't understand the 'patriotic' ending, when So White is brought back to live by 'a military secret', having flags coming out of her head. What was that all about?
Silly, offensive, boring. 2/10. -
Markc6527 June 2001The War references and racial humor tend to date this cartoon a bit, but it is some of the greatest animation you'll ever see, from any studio. Rod Scribner's best work, especially the scene of Prince Chawmin' trying to revive So White. It is also side-splittingly funny to boot. A cartoon that both ridicules and celebrates 1940's black culture.
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Seeing the racially offensive content in Bob Clampett's "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs", one of the most surprising things to learn is that Clampett made the cartoon with nary an iota of hostility towards African-Americans. Of course, racism doesn't have to involve hatred of a different race; it can just refer to stereotypes. I agree that it would be inappropriate to show this cartoon as straight-forward entertainment, but we should show it as a look at how Hollywood portrayed African-Americans over the years. I have to admit that it had some pretty clever dialog, and did offer a look into some of the music of that era. Worth seeing as long as you understand what it portrays.
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skad1314 August 1999There's no way on Earth you'll ever see it on Cartoon Network, even though it's in their vaults. It would cause more controversy than BIRTH OF A NATION these days. But viewed with an open mind, it's one of the most hysterical cartoons ever made, by "Termite Terrace" or any other studio. It's more like a tribute to great black jazz than anything else, with perhaps the most astounding score ever recorded for a cartoon. Granted, "Prince Chawmin'" has dice for teeth, but I wouldn't say he's any more offensive than Martin Lawrence on his Fox TV series. If you can get a copy of it on videocassette (and you can, just not
readily), you'll be very gratified. -
Horst_In_Translation10 September 2015"Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs" is basically Warner Bros' version of Snow White in the hood, very loosely based on the successful Disney movie from 6 years earlier. And even if I did not really enjoy these 7 minutes here, I believe that people who call everything racist only because there are black animated characters in here need to get a clue. It's absolutely not offensive by any means to people who emphasize equality. And if you do then stop complaining that there is actually also a black people version of Snow White here, because this is exactly what equality means. I only wish it would have been better. Clampett, Fister and Blanc of course have done many very funny cartoons, but this is not one of them. One reason to watch it is maybe to find all the historic/military/political references in here as this was done over 70 years during the days of World War II. But other than that, it is far far from Warner Bros' best. Thumbs down.
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xtonybueno18 June 2000I've seen my fair share of racial, sexist, and/or politically incorrect humor. Some of it is funny, some just downright offensive, but this animated short is curiously not much of either.
I bought the bootleg tape after reading the praise in The 50 Greatest Cartoons book. OK soundtrack, some cute takes on Snow White, but really, I can't see what all the fuss is about. Kind of like the Disney film, Song of the South. WB's Coal Black is not terrible, but no great loss, either. -
Quinoa198415 February 2017Look - Bob Clampett was an extremely talented animator. He made some of the more distinctive shorts for Loony Tunes and Merry Melodies over the years, and always his frames were alive with action and intensity and physical comedy. There's always something going on when it comes to his cartoons, and it's not simply gags; Clampett's cartoons are effective because of the bursting energy within the frame, how many movements his animation team accomplish with the characters, all the personality and mayhem (this was especially an influence years later for Kricfalusi in his Ren & Stimpy series). It's a shame then that he poured his efforts into this, which is a tasteless and insensitive 'parody' of Snow White.
One of the buzzword-terms going about right now is 'White privilege' and for good reason - this is what it means to live in a society when white people have all the power and influence. I have no idea whether Clampett was a racist or had feelings that black people all had big lips and acted like fools and buffoons, but the depiction at the least shows that he and his animators could've given less than a rat's ass about the intentions.
This isn't satirical in any way because there's no point, it's simply showing these characters in the most cartoonish way, but not with anything creative or cleverness. If there was a point to it or the point of view had something to say about black stereotypes (using Snow White as the jumping off point), but there is none. That there were zero black animators may seem like moot, but it isn't, as there's clearly no voice to be shared from the other side - it's just a bunch of white guys using black figures for the hell of it.
I give the short a couple of marks only because it is animated with the same passion and verve as the other works that made Clampett so valuable to Warners. But in its way it's as bad as something like Birth of a Nation - it didn't have that movie's affect on culture of course (a 7 minute cartoon didn't inadvertently bring back the KKK), and yet it's kind of unwatchable as something so tone-deaf. It's currently one of those "banned" cartoons that you can only find online or in bootleg form, and maybe for good reason; while there may be some historical reason to watch it, to check it out for the same reason one would like One Froggy Evening or Duck Amuck is insanity. -
Dino_Imblurski3 October 2005Coal Black's obscurity helps cartoon buffs to describe it in gushing terms. Animation historians call it one of the greatest cartoons that Warner Brothers put out. It's a product of its time, they writeit came from an America that still enjoyed a minstrel show. Hollywood was giving the public black mammies, Steppin Fetchit, shucking and jiving, Amos and Andy. We can view those live-action films with a sense of historical distance the film stock looks ancient, the acting looks hammy, and the actors themselves are generally dead. However, cartoons don't age like that. Though the film needs restoration, Prince Chawmin' looks to be as ludicrously vibrant today as he was in 1942 just more shocking.
To those who say, "The film exists and it's wrong to deny that " Well, yeah. That doesn't mean we should put this into rotation on Cartoon Network. Your average viewer doesn't know or care about context. Coal Black provokes a visceral reaction. It churns up the ugliest parts of American history, reminding us that we're still a long way from having racial inequities worked out. Maybe Clampett was just having fun, but in today's climate and without commentary (i.e., without couching it in a documentary), Coal Black can look degrading.
Bob Clampett's style was to exaggerate, stretch, distort, and rubberize. Applying this style to the racial stereotypes of the dayeven if he did so in fun, or even in admirationClampett produced some truly grotesque character designs. It makes Coal Black hard to reconcile. Freeze-frame it at some points and it looks like racist propaganda. Watch it as a cartoon, however, and it rollicks along good-naturedly.
Coal Black is Clampett's celebration of black culture and jazz, and to make it he fought with the studio to bring in as many black musicians and voices as he could. It's a jubilant film, and to watch it ignorant of race is to enjoy a bunch of rubbery cartoon characters in a twisted, high-speed parody of Snow White (there's even a jab at Disney's overuse of rotoscopingcheck the beginning of the dance number). Jazz and action bounce along in wonderful syncopation, and seven minutes fly by so fast that they feel like two. Rod Scribner's animation is often astounding.
It's worth hunting for, it's worth talking about, and in ten years maybe it'll be time for Cartoon Network to dust it off, restore it, and put it on an official DVD. In the meantime, enthusiasts can have the satisfaction of tracking down a rare, paradoxical cartoon made by a brilliant collaboration. -
llltdesq12 January 2002This short is funny, witty, creative and has some of the best music ever for a short cartoon. It would also (understandably) offend a great number of people. So, in the United States, instead of discussing it out in the open, it's buried and many would rather pretend it never existed at all. Which is a shame, when you consider that ignoring something because it may be unpleasant seldom works in your best interest. Enjoyable, if quite dated, short. Worth the trouble to find. Recommended.
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MCL115030 April 2006After reading through all of the other comments, my review won't be either eye opening or original. My aim is to pile on the accolades. Easily one of the greatest if not the greatest cartoon ever made as well as my personal favorite. The animation and the music are both fantastic. When I finally got a copy of "Coal Black" some years ago I watched it at least ten times in a row. It's that amazing. Yes, the racial caricatures are disturbing by todays "standards" and I wouldn't show it anywhere at anytime, but it does have its place. And it's place is in front of anyone who loves classic animation and can view it within the context of the times in which it was made. Director Bob Clampett loved the African American music he included. There isn't a single frame that had any intent what so ever of offending anyone. The problem here is that there's absolutely NO WAY to animate an African American cartoon character without coming across as racist. Just think about it. You couldn't draw a racist depiction of a white person if you tried. In fact, it's rather impossible. Even if you set out to do so and tell everyone that's your intention, it simply can't be done. So the fact remains that any cartoon drawing of an African American will always come across as a demeaning caricature. Ironically, it was black comedians themselves such as Steppin Fetchit (real name Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry!) who created the stereotypical black characters in the first place. They were meant to be FUNNY and not reflections of reality. Unfortunately though, stupid white Americans came to accept these comedic characters as what African Americans were really like. It's every bit as idiotic as thinking that all white Americans are actually like Elmer Fudd or Red Skelton's Clem Kaddiddlehopper! Too bad, because great cartoons such as "Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs" continue to be hidden from view and kept away from all but the most fanatic of animation fans who take the time to go out and hunt them down.
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TheLittleSongbird28 September 2011Okay, I get why some mayn't like Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs, the characters are rather stereotyped. As for complaints of racism, I can kind of see why people say that, but I do think people need to remember when this cartoon was made, in the 40s, an era where racism was much bigger in a sense than it is now.
This aside, I think Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs is terrific, and one of Clampett's funniest and most unique achievements. The animation is really very good, the characters while on the stereotypical side are still well animated, the colours are plentiful, done in a subtle shade without dating the film one bit and the background art is smooth enough.
I also have to say that I love the music here. Merrie Melodies always have great music, but Carl Stalling's score here is very jazzy and extremely catchy. As I've said too, Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs is very funny, not just with the timeless fairytale done in a fresh twist but the quotes are quotable and irreverent with a lot of effective exaggerated comedic effect and I love also the subtle cues and nuances.
The voice acting is great, Mel Blanc for one lends his distinctive voice and once again excels. Need I mention as well that Snow White is one sassy babe? Overall, funny, unique, catchy, just a great cartoon really. 9/10 Bethany Cox -
tavm6 July 2008This cartoon, Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs, has a unique place among the Warner "Censored 11" cartoons: This one is highly inventive and very entertaining! Oh, yeah, there's some unflattering stereotypes here like Prince Chawmin' having a couple of dice for front teeth and the Queen being an ugly Mammy character (who seems to speak with a male voice) so jealous of So White she intends to have her "blacked out" but otherwise, it's so full of the fast pace of gags typical of Bob Clampett that you can't help but laugh your behind off! And wait till you see Chawmin's face after constantly trying to bring So White back to life with his kisses! Or the Dopey-looking dwarf's energy that he gives when doing the same thing! There's also great use of jazz music that livens the short considerably. Perhaps the most interesting thing to point out here is that the storytelling Mammy in the beginning and end is Dorothy Dandridge's mom, Ruby, and So White is her older sister, Vivian. There's also a dated reference to killing Japs that I can excuse because of the wartime setting. So for all that, if you want to watch Warner Bros. cartoons at their wackiest as done by the highly creative Bob Clampett, I highly recommend Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs, stereotypes and all!