   coal black and de sebben dwarfs (working title: so white and de sebben dwarfs) is a merrie melodies animated cartoon directed by bob clampett, produced by leon schlesinger productions, and released to theatres on january 16, 1943 by warner bros. pictures and the vitaphone corporation. the film is notable for being an all-black parody of the brothers grimm fairy tale snow white, known to its audience from the popular 1937 walt disney animated feature snow white and the seven dwarfs. the stylistic portrayal of the characters, however, is an example of darky iconography (see blackface), which was widely accepted in american society at the time. as such, it is one of the most controversial cartoons in the classic warner bros. library, has been rarely seen on television, and (because it is one of the censored eleven; see below) has never been officially released on home video. however, it is often named as one of the best cartoons ever made,"history of the 50 greatest cartoons of all time". in part for its african-american-inspired jazz and swing music, and is considered one of clampett's masterpieces. ==history== thumb|left|200px|coal black lobby card. the character designs for "so white" and her seven friends are examples of the 'darky' iconography typical of hollywood animation during the first half of the 20th century. as a result, coal black and similar cartoons have been removed from circulation and are little known today among mainstream audiences. ===overview=== in this version of the story, all of the characters are african american, and speak all of their dialogue in rhyme. the story is set during world war ii in the united states, and the original tale's fairy tale wholesom
1940s_American_animated_films 1940s_musical_films 1943_animated_films American_World_War_II_propaganda_films Censored_Eleven Censorship_in_the_arts English-language_films Films_about_race_and_ethnicity Films_based_on_Snow_White Films_directed_by_Bob_Clampett Jazz_films Merrie_Melodies_shorts Obscenity_controversies