Another 1943 cartoon by Bob Clampett that pokes fun at a Disney feature is the controversial “Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs.” What makes it controversial is the fun is at the expense of Black people. This video commentary was posted yesterday.
https://youtu.be/E5hnDTNB4Nw
In 1980, four years before Clampett’s death, Leonard Maltin wrote in defense of the cartoon that, “Many independent film makers have labored for years to create a short film as personal and unique as COAL BLACK, which was just one of a dozen shorts Clampett had to put on the assembly line in 1943.”
This 1943 send-up of Fantasia by Frank Tashlin and Bob Clampett is a favorite of animation fans. The name is a wordplay on Disney’s Silly Symphony series.
“A Corny Concerto” was actually the second nod made to the Disney classic by the boys at Termite Terrace. “Pigs in a Polka” was released earlier that same year. Directed by Friz Freleng, it makes fun of Disney’s “Three Little Pigs” from ten years before.
Behind the high school version of me in the picture above was a pair of Realistic MC-1000 speakers from Radio Shack. MC-1000’s are now a butt of jokes in audio circles, but only my steady girlfriend had more of my undivided attention than my stereo system did at that time.
Consumer Reports gave the MC-1000 a Best Buy rating. I bought a pair with money earned working at a restaurant (following my night working as a carny). At the time they cost $100. That’s equivalent to $600 today, which will still buy a very good pair of speakers.
Radio Shack 1972 catalog
When I quit the restaurant at the end of high school I was earning $1.85/hour, or about $11.50 today. The summer after graduation I worked for the town’s school system at the incredible rate of $3.00/hour, or $18 when adjusted for inflation. I could easily have been killed by an accident that happened while doing unsupervised and dangerous work for that job, but I escaped unscathed.
Even with the money spent on girlfriends, comic books and related items, and the stereo and records for it, I managed to save $2500 for college. That’s $15,000 in today’s money, which wouldn’t get anyone past their freshman year at even a public 4-year college.
P.S. to mih — We met 50 years ago this month. You were the one who told me I should get a job.
