The George Pal Puppetoons are a golden treasure trove yet to be tapped by classic Hollywood animation buffs. Fortunately, there's at least one DVD (The Puppetoon Movie) on the market with some good samples of his work, including this naughty ditty produced at the height of the Dorothy Lamour craze. (Both the puppetoons and Lamour were Paramount properties.)
Ever smiling Jim Dandy is marooned on a tropical Isle, where he meets sexy Sarong Sarong. Like the wolf in Tex Avery's "Red Hot Riding Hood" series, Pal's male characters are hardly subtle in their libido... but, hey, he's been at sea for a long time. Enter a bunch of hungry cannibals who find him a tasty morsel and are only outwitted when Sarong poses as a mask-wearing "spook". The use of Technicolor and lighting effects are really eye-popping in this short, as are the impressive jungle temple sets.
Without going into a lot of discussion, this short is certainly more taboo than even the contemporary shorts of Jasper (who is, after all, just another little boy character... if slightly stereotyped). All of the cartoon studios were guilty of cannibal gags; even Disney was utilizing them as late as the '50s with both Disneyland's Jungle Cruise and Donald Duck's "Spare The Rod". (By this time, Sidney Poitier had succeeded Stephen Fetchet and Native Americans and Asians were better represented in feature films.)
Ever smiling Jim Dandy is marooned on a tropical Isle, where he meets sexy Sarong Sarong. Like the wolf in Tex Avery's "Red Hot Riding Hood" series, Pal's male characters are hardly subtle in their libido... but, hey, he's been at sea for a long time. Enter a bunch of hungry cannibals who find him a tasty morsel and are only outwitted when Sarong poses as a mask-wearing "spook". The use of Technicolor and lighting effects are really eye-popping in this short, as are the impressive jungle temple sets.
Without going into a lot of discussion, this short is certainly more taboo than even the contemporary shorts of Jasper (who is, after all, just another little boy character... if slightly stereotyped). All of the cartoon studios were guilty of cannibal gags; even Disney was utilizing them as late as the '50s with both Disneyland's Jungle Cruise and Donald Duck's "Spare The Rod". (By this time, Sidney Poitier had succeeded Stephen Fetchet and Native Americans and Asians were better represented in feature films.)
