Double Your Stereotypes

The Cubby Bear cartoon “Indian Whoopee” (1933) features, well, stereotypical Indians. But Manny Davis and his crew at the Van Beuren studio decided to add another stereotype. No, not a Jewish Indian (they pop up occasionally in cartoons of the era). But a swishy, nelly Indian.



And as an added bonus he gets an arrow zooming right under his privates.





And he seems to be contemplating pleasant thoughts about what happened.



Here’s the next drawing. What happened to his nose?

The gay brave runs away and out of the cartoon. We’re now left with just one stereotype instead of two. Can someone tell me why all the Indians are missing a tooth?



The cartoon just kind of ends for no particular reason with the cheerful Cubby waking up out of his dream and wagging an open-mouthed grin to the audience as the iris closes. It doesn’t make much sense. But it doesn’t have to. It’s a Van Beuren cartoon.