Uncle Tom's Bungalow

Uncle Tom's Bungalow is a 1937 Merrie Melodies short directed by Fred Avery.
== Plot ==
After the players are introduced, Simon Simon Legree (pronounced Seemoan Seemoan), a greedy used slave trader, sells Uncle Tom to Eve (a young white girl) and Topsey (a young black girl) on layaway. In winter, Legree finds that the girls have missed their last three payments and sets out to get his money or take Uncle Tom back. The girls hide Uncle Tom upon learning of Legree's arrival and Eliza, a black woman, whisks them away and a chase ensues. In the end Legree and his dogs corner Eliza, Topsey and Eve, when Uncle Tom arrives in a car and clearly much richer than before. Uncle Tom pays Legree the money he's owed and he leaves. The narrator suspects that Uncle Tom cashed in his social security, but it is soon revealed that he earned his newfound fortune by playing craps.
== Caricatures ==
* Simone Simon
* Tommy Mack - Eliza quotes his character Judge Hugo Straight from Community Sing, "Excited?! Who's excited?! I'm not excited!"
== Notes ==
* The pronunciation of Simon Simon Legree is a play on the actress Simone Simon, whose publicity releases included pronunciation notes.
* The short cartoon is a parody of the 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin and the "plantation melodrama" genre of the 1930s. That novel contains many stereotypical portrayals of black characters. The cartoon plays off of the Harriet Beecher Stowe novel in the way that it portrays Uncle Tom as an old man, and wooden shacks and cotton fields pervade the scenery. Director Tex Avery adds his own sense of humor and "trickster" animation, giving the classic theme a modern, humorous twist.
* In 1968, the cartoon became a part of the infamous Censored Eleven, a group of cartoons banned from syndication by the United Artists due to the controversy surrounding their ethnically offensive content. Brief segments did, however, appear in Turner Entertainment's 1989 home video release, Cartoons For Big Kids, hosted by Leonard Maltin.
** Additionally, the short was viewed with other films that are part of the Censored Eleven at the TCM Film Festival in Hollywood on 24 April 2010 as part of a classic film series presented by Donald Bogle.https://www.cartoonbrew.com/classic/looney-tunes-censored-11-to-screen-in-hollywood-20766.html A DVD release of this and the other ten in the Censored Eleven has been announced for 2011 by Warner Archive. However, this has yet to come to fruition.https://animesuperhero.com/nycc2010-warner-archive-to-release-the-censored-eleven/
* This short is not to be confused with "Uncle Tom's Cabaña", another spoof of Uncle Tom's Cabin by Avery.
* By January 1937, production on this cartoon had begun, shortly before Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones left Avery's unit.
* This is one of the first Merrie Melodies cartoons to not have a song break in the middle of the short; while the opening uses "Swanee River", no other songs were used as part of the short itself, beginning the breakaway from the traditions of the series of being used to promote songs.
== Gallery ==
Uncle Toms Bungalow.gif
Uncle-toms-bungalow-600.jpg|Lobby card
UTBLC.jpg|Lobby card
== References ==
Category:1937
Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts
Category:Shorts
Category:Cartoons directed by Tex Avery
Category:Uncle Tom Cartoons
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Tedd Pierce
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Berneice Hansell
Category:Cartoons produced by Leon Schlesinger
Category:Cartoons animated by Sid Sutherland
Category:Cartoons animated by Tom Ray
Category:Cartoons animated by Chuck Jones
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons in a.a.p. package
Category:One-Shot Cartoons