From Warner Bros.’ Oscar-nominated Mexicali Shmoes, 1959: Posted on 03/27/2002 4:37:53 PM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
From Warner Bros.’ Oscar-nominated Mexicali Shmoes, 1959:
Two Mexican gatos relax atop a bridge, where, wearing floppy sombreros, they enjoy a view of the placid, picture-perfect pueblo; José cat strums his guitar and sings as his compañero, Manuel, croons along. Suddenly… “¡Arriba, arriba, arriba, ándale, ándale, olé, olé, olé, ándale! – Hello, pussycats, you looking for a nice fat mouse for deenner?”
Manuel pounces, unsuccessfully.
Manuel - (bewildered) – “Andale, pues, pronto, pronto, el ratito…”
José – (shaking head) – “Ah, no… It’s no use, Manuel. This mouse fellow, he’s Speedy Gonzales.”
Manuel – “Speedy Gonzales? Who’s he?”
José – “Speedy Gonzales, he’s the fastest mouse in all Méjico. You don’t catch heem with the feets, you got to catch heem with ze brains.”
Manuel – “Brains? Where we get zees brains?”
José – (laughing) – “You don’t need no brains, I gotta ze brains. Come with me. We get thees Gonzales fellow…”
Like those Mexicali gatos, many cartoon fans would love to catch Speedy too. But nowadays, they’d need more luck than brains.
The veteran Looney Tunes hero, star of more than 40 cartoon shorts and winner of an Academy Award—for 1955’s Speedy Gonzales, his second outing co-starring Sylvester, the “greengo” pussycat—has been all but retired from the airwaves in the United States.
Since the late nineties, Speedy has been noticeably absent from the Cartoon Network’s daytime and prime time lineup, apparently for fear of offending Mexican Americans. And aficionados have launched a campaign to get him back, alerting other fans to join a letter-writing campaign to request that Cartoon Network restore Speedy to its rotation.
The decision seems to be a preemptive move on the part of Cartoon Network, which now owns the exclusive rights to all Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. [The Cartoon Network did not respond to several calls from HispanicOnline.] Jon Cooke, who runs the Unofficial Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Page, said he had received many e-mails about the absence of Speedy from such Cartoon Network shows as the Looney Tunes Show, Acme Hour, and the Bugs and Daffy Show.
“I get e-mail from cartoon fans all over the world, and in the five years I have been running my page I have yet to receive an e-mail from anyone who finds Speedy offensive,” Cooke said.
But CN officials say the network was instructed by its owner, Ted Turner, to stop showing the Speedy cartoons because of racial stereotyping.
“The problem with [Speedy cartoons] is the references to drinking, laziness, drug use, and womanizing (‘Speedy knows my sister, Speedy knows EVERYBODY’s sister…’),” according to Daniel Wineman, of the Cartoon Network Programming department, in a recent e-mail posted by Jon Cooke on his site.
“This isn’t worse than most any other WB character. However, since Speedy is Mexican, we’ve shied away from these ‘toons. Turner Broadcasting has always been super-careful not to promulgate any of these stereotypes and this case is no different.”
As Wineman points out, Speedy is only one in a list of now-controversial cartoons that have been archived. Reflecting changing notions of political correctness, many older cartoons rarely, if ever, now get television airplay, including the “censored eleven,” an infamous group of shorts focusing on black stereotypes.
Other censored cartoons include those with Indians, and cartoons from the WWII era, such as the Bugs Bunny short Bugs Nips the Nips, which has spurred protest from Japanese groups.
Speedy fans point out that the character itself is not the problem. “I think it’s mainly the OTHER Mexican mice in the cartoons that they are afraid of and not loveable Speedy,” says one fan identified as “snowpeck” on the Termite Terrace Trading Board, a message board for cartoon fans. “What they don’t realize is that Speedy breaks this stereotype by being a smart, hardworking, fast Mexican.”
Not to mention big-hearted. Endowed with street smarts that match his lightning speed, Speedy has a strong sense of justice and a healthy sense of humor. He can always be relied on to come to the rescue, despite his amorous pursuits:
(Mexican mouse #1: “You know Speedy Gonzales? Weel you get heem?”
Mouse #2: “Sí, I know Speedy Gonzales. I weel get heem. Speedy Gonzales, in love with my seester.”
Mouse #1: “Speedy Gonzales, in love weeth EVERYBODY’s seester!”)
His people’s protector—Speedy drags his mouse friends home if he thinks they’ve had too much to drink, and keeps an eye out for gatos and other predators who intrude on the mice’s home turf—it’s no wonder all the mouse señoritas swoon over Speedy.
Which brings us to another facet of this toon hero: Like other Hollywood Latino lovers, the chivalrous Speedy cannot resist the charm of a dropped hankie, a proffered flower, or brown-eyed glances from behind a demure fan.
(A crafty gato cooks up a contraption sure to snare Speedy and leaves it outside Speedy’s window. To catch Speedy’s attention, he attaches a note to the “present,” signed “Your loving Lupe.” Enter Speedy. Reads note. “Ah… A present from my loving Lupe. Such a sweet Lupe… I wonder which loving Lupe eet ees?”)
But lets face it. Speedy is not the only ethnic character in toon town to fall prey to Cupid’s arrows. There’s Pepe LePew, Warner Bros.’ debonair French skunk, whose defining characteristic is his penchant for falling in love and who continues to be featured regularly in CN programming.
And what say you to Disney’s Pepe Carioca, that samba-dancing, cigar-smoking, wordly parrot who guides an innocent Donald Duck through the ins and outs of Brazilian culture in 1945’s The Three Caballeros? Heck, even Droopy, MGM’s laconic and all-American basset hound, brightened up at the prospect of a date with a Latin señorita, although he must have had some Latino blood in him, judging from his many appearances as a torero.
Which all seems kind of harmless in light of the current revival of rambunctious—and often explicitly sexy—cartoons in the spirit of the golden (read pre-television) era of animated shorts, crafted for projection in movie theaters and meant to appeal to all ages. Cerebral slapstick, double-entendre, parodies of political figures, celebrities, and other entertainment genres were the norm.
We’re not talking skits the like of Comedy Central’s South Park, or MTV’s Beavis and Butthead, designed exclusively for an older audience.
We mean the kind of intellectual irreverence, always a staple of classic cartoon humor, that is experiencing a renaissance as producers seek to engage adults, as well as today’s more savvy youngsters, with such animated features as the Toy Story series and DreamWorks’ most recent release, Shrek.
But it was the release of 1988’s Academy Award-winning Who Framed Roger Rabbit? which brought back the feel of the 1940s cartoon heyday and put toons on a par, both intellectually and emotionally, with their human co-stars.
The storyline hinges on a heartbroken Roger Rabbit despairing over his wife Jessica’s rumored infidelity—(And Ted Turner is worried about a Mexican mouse with a soft spot for the señoritas?) Who can forget buxom, throaty voiced Jessica (“I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way”) agreeing to play patty-cake with lecherous gagman Marvin Acme to save Roger’s screen career? In classic film noir style, the plot also features murder, bribery, a private eye driven to drink, and seedy underworld cabaret scenes.
.It’s also shock-full of cartoon gags. Most interestingly, the film presents the ‘toons as minority contract workers subjugated by the animation studios, which keep them under control and segregated in Toontown.
This portrayal of cartoon characters as entities with a life of their own, subject to the same trials and tribulations as humans, provides an interesting basis for their enduring appeal. Mexican American comedian Adrián Villegas uses it as a vantage point from which to explore the figure of Speedy, one of six characters he portrays in his bilingual one-man show, “Six Mexicans Named González,” his take on the Mexican and Chicano experience.
“I depict him as nothing like the character in the cartoons, but rather illustrate that Speedy (his stage name) is actually a suave Ricardo Montalban-like mouse thespian who immigrated from Mexico and was only playing a part—but a part he cared deeply about,” said Villegas, who sees Speedy as a symbol of minority rebellion and subversive anti-establishment politics within the Latino, and specifically the Mexican American, community. Excerpt: "Six Mexicans Named González"
Wild Wacky World
“The monologue is done tongue-in-cheek,” he said, while pointing out that “it celebrates the Speedy Gonzales character rather than condemning it. It tells the rags-to-riches tale of Speedy’s struggles with racism in Hollywood and what it was like dealing with the double stigma of being Mexican AND a rodent,” said Villegas, who dons a sombrero, mouse ears, and mouse tail to impersonate Speedy on stage.
“For the record, I love Speedy Gonzales. I did the monologue because I feel he was a character ahead of his time, and possibly the ONLY positive Latino character for several decades,” Villegas emphasized.
The character remains immensely popular. He continues to appear on official Warner Bros. Looney Tunes merchandise and was featured on Rhino Records’ Looney Tunes Kwazy Christmas, released this past holiday season, as well as snagging a cameo role alongside Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Michael Jordan in 1996’s Space Jam.
He also stars in an adventure game for Nintendo’s Game Boy Color, in which, as in many of his cartoons, he is called on to save his more vulnerable mice friends from the greedy clutches of Sylvester. But, the manufacturers warn, the item can only be delivered within the European Union and several additional countries listed—which do not include the United States.
In fact, although originally directed not to play Speedy cartoons, Cartoon Network programmers are reconsidering, and Speedy has been sighted—albeit in the wee hours of the morning—in recent CN programming, apparently in response to complaints from Speedy’s fans, according to Matthew Hunter, who runs Matthew Hunter’s Unofficial Speedy Gonzales Page on the Web.
“Now that there have been some shakeups in the Warner conglomerate, Turner has lost his previously iron grip on his TV channels, and because of it, CN has made an effort to show what they’ve been able to get approved,” Hunter explained.
The Speedy cartoon canon includes not only the Academy Award winning Speedy Gonzales, but three other Oscar nominees: Tabasco Road (1957), Mexicali Schmoes (1959), and The Pied Piper of Guadalupe (1961).
While most often paired with Sylvester and Daffy, Speedy also shared billing with such other classic Warner toon stars as Yosemite Sam, Granny, and Tweety Bird. Often, his sidekick was his “cousin” Slowpoke Rodríguez, the slowest mouse in all Méjico, who, despite lacking Speedy’s quick wit and fleet foot, was just as formidable an opponent.
One of Warner Bros.’ most popular characters through the 1980s, second only to Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny, Speedy was teamed with the Roadrunner for 1965’s The Wild Chase, in which Sylvester and Wile E. Coyote pursue—Should we add “fruitlessly”?—their respective nemeses during an arranged race between Speedy and Roadrunner. (By the way, do you know which of our speeding heroes crossed the finish line first?)
Despite Speedy’s auspicious beginning, experts agree that later Speedy shorts are of inferior quality, another reason why CN has shied from airing them, according to CN programmer Daniel Wineman. Nevertheless, the character’s popularity endures. His limited reappearance on the Cartoon Network’s cartoon rotation has fans exulting and feeling vindicated.
“Speedy is back! Now let’s see if the Hispanics complain,” crowed a Speedy fan on the Termite Terrace Trading Post message board in April.
“Why would they?” wrote back another. “They never did to my knowledge when Nick[elodeon] showed all those Speedy cartoons. I think sometimes the censors are afraid of things that aren’t really there.”
Thanks for the alert, sweetie.
But...I do believe they'd *prefer* us bending over the other way?
Devil's in the details -- I know.
So true; a real mouthful you say there.
IMO that kind of bent is just about as evil as a person or person(s) can possibly get & yet?
The forces responsible for this whackery?
They'll surely find a way, & with help from our government, for all of us to be forced to pay for their folly.
Now, does that little aspect (about America) scream out to be *fixed*, or what?
Come out of there ya danged PC cruds sos I can BLAST ya!!
Adios, Senor Speedy
The League of United Latin American Citizens, the United States' oldest Hispanic-American rights group, has publicly come out on the side of cartoon fans who want Speedy back on the airwaves.
"Viva Speedy!" LULAC director of policy and legislation Gabriela Lemus said. "Give the mouse a chance."
The rapid rodent's films have been deemed to contain offensive ethnic stereotypes of Mexicans, and Speedy has been off the air since the cable network became the sole U.S. broadcaster of old Warner Brothers cartoons in late 1999.
"I've never heard any Mexican-American complain about him," Lemus said in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C. "I grew up in Mexico, I watched it with my grandmother and we weren't offended. How far do you push political correctness before you can't say anything about anything anymore?"
LULAC now joins thousands of fans who say the high-speed character is a cultural icon who deserves to be saved. Fans have gathered on animation-fan Web sites to debate and organize movements to bring him back.
Cartoon Network spokeswoman Laurie Goldberg said LULAC and other Speedy fans won't necessarily change the Atlanta-based network's Speedy course.
Cartoon Network "If there's space for Speedy on our air or on (sister network) Boomerang, the programming department will consider it and make that decision. Just like when we get petitions from any group."
The network, however, remains very aware that a loyal fan following for a particular cartoon doesn't necessarily translate into ratings success, Goldberg said.
"A few years ago, there was an outcry to put on Speed Racer," she said. "We put on Speed Racer and it did terribly."
She said an e-mail petition of 1,000 names the network received Thursday morning was the very first fan comment on Speedy's absence. Before that, she said, there wasn't "a peep" about the missing mouse.
In his adventures, the sombrero-wearing mouse sports an over-the-top Mexican accent and uses his super speed to foil foes like the "Greengo Pussygato" Sylvester. Speedy is sometimes aided by a coterie of drunken, tobacco-smoking Mexican mice who lounge around the village, or by his lazy cousin Slowpoke Rodriguez, as slow-witted as he is slow-footed.
"The cartoons are still funny and it's a disservice and disgrace to the original animators to never show them again," said Geoff Mukhtar, an Indianapolis publicist and Speedy fan. "These cartoons reflect the time they were created and we're trying to impose modern standards on them."
There evidently wasn't a problem with the Mexican caricatures at the beginning of Speedy's career. The 1955 animated short "Speedy Gonzales" won an Academy Award, and two other cartoons, "Tabasco Road" and "The Pied Piper of Guadalupe," were nominated for Oscars in 1957 and 1961.
But the outdated messages in cartoons like Speedy aren't appropriate in the 21st century, Goldberg said last week in a previous interview.
"We're not about pushing the boundary. We're not HBO," she said. "We have a diverse audience and we have an impressionable audience."
Networks like the Cartoon Network have edited out scenes from or simply refused to show animated movies with now-questionable gags or behavior like smoking or drinking since the 1980s. Among the most taboo of Warner Brothers cartoons are the "Censored 11," which depict blacks as fat-lipped minstrels or cannibalistic savages.
And though adult fans may bemoan the fact their favorite rodent has been sent to broadcast limbo, they ought to consider most of the viewers are children, Los Angeles psychologist Robert Butterworth said.
"These stereotypes are ingrained when we're young. And what do kids watch? Cartoons," he said. "I know the adults are saying, 'Oh God, it's just Speedy Gonzales,' but these are impressions that are put in very early and very hard to pull out. I'm the last person to hold a sign for political correctness, but kids absorb this thing on a preconscious level."
Fans aren't buying that argument and ask where you draw the line with a medium that, by its nature, relies on caricature for humor.
"What about Pepe LePew? His chasing of unwilling females surely sends the message to children that's it's OK to stalk and attack them if they resist," Mukhtar wrote in an e-mail. "Plus, because he's French, does this mean that all Frenchmen are sexual predators?"
Speedy boosters shouldn't expect to see their furry hero to be back regularly anytime soon, at least in the United States, although he will appear in reruns of the full-length Warner Brothers movie "Fantastic Island" later this month, Goldberg said.
But there is a place where Speedy can still be found regularly zipping across TV screens — and, presumably, where the crude stereotypes he embodies don't touch a cultural nerve.
That place: The Cartoon Network Latin America, where, ironically enough, Speedy Gonzales is "hugely popular," Goldberg said.
The ironic thing is that political correctness is rooted in lessons taught by cartoons like Speedy Gonzalez. Children learn about the variety of human attributes that we value, and which ones cause problems for others. Plain and simple, cartoons stereotype people into The Good Guys and The Bad Guys. That grouping crosses all cultural, ethnic or racial lines. The most interesting thing is that kids are most drawn to cartoons that most completely portray the traits most valued by all cultures (I know, that's a lot of "mosts," but it's true). I think kids have an innate sense of justice, and they seek reassurance that The Good Guys will win -- that's why they're so drawn to certain characters and stories. That's why certain cartoons become popular. By banning Speedy and characters like him, PC adults are depriving kids of all cultures of the message that Mexicans are as fully human as Gringos -- some good, some bad... but most importantly, that Mexican Good Guys have a fully developed sense of justice and concern for other humans, and they're likable people too.
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