Puss wasn't gettin' the boot, Mammy Two-Shoes was (old news)

November 14, 2006 1:44 PM

Youse is getting to old to cath mouse (disclaimer: loud southern ebonics). I love this woman - queen of the partially seen characters. Bring her back.
posted by Bravocharlie (10 comments total)

Tripod makes the baby Jesus cry. Also via this page and then the "Youse getting too old..." link at the very bottom.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 2:18 PM on November 14, 2006

You could make the argument that Mammy Two-Shoes is an offensive stereotype, but I thought she became a helluva lot more offensive when the the studio (or distributors, I'm not sure exactly who was responsible) tried to "fix" her, by digitally repainting her legs white and, in some cartoons, giving her an Irish accent. I'm positive I saw a T&J on Cartoon Network years ago where she brown legs and an Irish accent. (Black Irish, maybe?)
posted by maryh at 2:23 PM on November 14, 2006

I could cath a mouse--you just need a very very small catheter.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 2:27 PM on November 14, 2006 [1 favorite]

Mammy's voice was replaced by that of June Foray. Looks like she did them all. From Woody Woodpecker to Witch Hazel, and all of the Warner Bros. too.

She's still active, somewhere pampering her voice box I guess.
posted by Bravocharlie at 2:33 PM on November 14, 2006

T&J was my favorite of all cartoons, and I never knew what this character's name was! I agree with the comment on that last link:

Bring back Mammy Two-Shoes. She was a wonderful character. She enriched the Tom and Jerry cartoons...and it's a historic fact that she was in these cartoons...you cannot deny it...which is instructive to those unaware of the use of black caricatures throughout American culture at that time. Mammy Two-Shoes is a particularly harmless caricature, as opposed to some of the more truly offensive, belittling kinds that were quite widespread in the early 40's (in postcards, novels, gag books, etc. ...there you have a legitimate case...) It. seems like quite a stretch to paint Mammy Two-Shoes with the same condemning brush... Perhaps because we are leaning so far over backward to avoid offending ethnic minorities, we lose something we are overlooking: Mammy Two-Shoes is a beloved character that exists today... She exists! in the persona of any number of cararacters in situation comedies on TV, in movies, in life... I've seen them, talked to them, visited with them in their homes... Tell me: what is the difference? We are much the poorer for denying their existence. Does anybody worry about cartoons, TV programs, or movies that portray stereotypes of white people? Of belittling or offensive white people? I shudder to think what the world would become without the likes of Mammy Two-Shoes. One dull, homogenized, politically correct existence...heaven help us all.

-- Judd Lawson

posted by ernie at 2:57 PM on November 14, 2006

Cartoon Network still shows old Tom & Jerry almost every day. I noticed recently that they had replaced the early 90's June Foray voiceovers with a new voice, that of a still slightly caricatured but entirely nonoffensive black woman. It was really pretty well done, still with a little sass and inflection, but not likely to raise any hackles. She definitely still has brown legs. I remember the original voice well and very fondly (and frankly, we had a housekeeper with a decidedly similar voice), and I think this latest incarnation on CN does great justice to the original while remaining accessible to modern audiences and without any, ahem, whitewashing.

But then again, CN is almost all I watch, so I might be overanalyzing.
posted by ulotrichous at 3:03 PM on November 14, 2006

Tom and Jerry without the overt racism sucks. I guess we wouldn't want to offend anybody. Honkey spic nigger chink heeb.
posted by Sukiari at 3:29 PM on November 14, 2006

Bring back Mammy!!!!
posted by eunoia at 5:41 PM on November 14, 2006

Previous MetaFilter discussion.

June Foray provided supporting voices for the Woody Woodpecker show and some of the shorts; Mel Blanc provided the voice of Woody, later followed by Grace Stafford (Walter Lantz' wife, no less), and most recently, Billy West of Futurama fame.
posted by Smart Dalek at 7:09 PM on November 14, 2006

Honkey spic nigger chink heeb.

on a plunging bus?
posted by quonsar at 8:17 PM on November 14, 2006