Sunday Go to Meetin' Time

Sunday Go to Meetin' Time
Original title card
Directed byIsadore Freleng
Produced byLeon Schlesinger
Starring
Music byNorman Spencer
Animation byBob McKimson
Paul Smith
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros. Productions
The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date
  • August 8, 1936 (1936-08-08)
Running time
7 min
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Sunday Go to Meetin' Time is a 1936 American animated comedy short film directed by Isadore Freleng.[2] The short was released on August 8, 1936. It is the 62nd film in the Merrie Melodies series. It was re-released as a "Blue Ribbon" reissue in 1944.[3][4] The name of the short comes from the colloquial adjective "sunday-go-to-meeting", describing something appropriate for church or otherwise presentable.[5]

Because of the racial stereotypes of black people throughout the short, it is withheld from circulation, one of the "Censored Eleven" shorts. It was rejected by the British Board of Film Censors in 1936 and remains unreleased in the United Kingdom. It was banned in Australia and Germany.

Plot

Ringing bells in a lazy town announce that it is time to go to church. A black preacher greets his parishioners as he sings the titular song. The bell is rung by church staff in humiliating manners. A minstrel show dandy and his gal jazz up the song as they dance their way to church. A mammy and old uncle shine the heads of children; a woman takes a bra off a clothesline to use as a bonnet for her twin children.[6]

A mammy finds her husband Nicodemus playing dice and drags him off by the ear for his insolence. Nevertheless, Nicodemus sneaks out to steal a chicken, only to be knocked out in front of a poster of a judge. In his dream, he perceives the poster as "Hades Court of Justice" in Hell, where a demon reviews his crimes and sends him deeper into Hell, where he falls off a cliff and is flung like a pinball. Big-lipped demons carry him to the Devil himself, who sings to Nicodemus as a threat. Nicodemus is then prod with pitchforks, which are revealed to be chickens pecking at him. He notices the poster of the judge and repents, hearing the church bells and makes his way to the meeting house, just in time for mass.

Reception

Boxoffice (Aug 22, 1936): "When a cartoon arouses enthusiasm in a projection room of hard-boiled critics, it denotes a hit. In Technicolor, this subject tells the story mostly in Negro rhythm and tuneful jazz."[7]

National Exhibitor (Sept 5, 1936): "One of the best in the series this, however, should not be played on the same bill with Green Pastures. The shiftless darky doesn't want to go to church on Sunday, escapes from his wife, runs away, is knocked out chasing a chicken, dreams he is in Hell where he is made the ball in a bagatelle (pinball) game with other things happening to him. Finally he wakes up, heads for church. Color, animation, gags are above average with the whole thing a stand out. Very Good."[7]

References

  1. ↑ Scott, Keith (2022). Cartoon Voices from the Golden Age, 1930–70. BearManor Media. p. 19. ISBN 979-8-88771-010-5.
  2. ↑ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 48. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
  3. ↑ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 104–106. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  4. ↑ Parten, James (February 4, 2020). "Merrie Melodies 1935-36: Let's Meet Some Old Friends". Cartoon Research. Retrieved June 18, 2026.
  5. ↑ "Sunday-go-to-meeting". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved March 13, 2022. {{cite encyclopedia}}: |website= ignored (help)
  6. ↑ Lindvall 128.
  7. 1 2 Sampson, Henry T. (1998). That's Enough, Folks: Black Images in Animated Cartoons, 1900-1960. Scarecrow Press. p. 210. ISBN 978-0810832503.

Further reading

This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.