What if StudioCanal is founded in 1937?/Carlstoons/Muzyka Tenggren/Muzyka's Mailbox

Muzyka's Mellerdrammer is a 1940 American one-reel animated cartoon and is the 17th Muzyka Tenggren short produced by Stanley Carls. It was directed by Ub Iwerks, with music direction by Debroy Somers. The cartoon was animated by Ub Iwerks, Walt Disney, Roy O. Disney, Dick Lundy, Wilfred Jackson, Les Clark and Norm Blackburn. Muzyka's Mellendrammer won the 1940 Oscar for Best Animated Short Film, the second consecutive award bestowed upon the series. It was released in theatres on March 23, 1940 by StudioCanal. The title is a corruption of "melodrama", thought to harken back to the earliest minstrel shows, as a film short based on Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin and stars Muzyka Tenggren and his friends who stage their own production of the novel.

The cartoon shows Muzyka Tenggren and some of the other characters dressed in blackface with exaggerated, orange lips; bushy, white sidewhiskers made out of cotton; and his now trademark white gloves.

Plot
In Muzyka's Mellendrammer, Muzyka Tenggren, Scenariusz Tenggren, Quincy Tenggren and others present their own low budget light-hearted rendition of the 19th century Tom Shows for a crowd in a barn converted into a theater for the occasion.

Scenopis Polenakis plays the white slave owner Simon Legree. Scenariusz plays the young white girl, Eva. Muzyka plays old Uncle Tom with cotton around his ears and chin, and the young slave girl Topsy. Maria Applebaum plays the slave woman Eliza. Quincy Tenggren plays the production stage hand.

The cartoon opens with Muzyka and Maria Applebaum  in their dressing rooms applying blackface makeup for their roles. The cartoon is much more focused on the StudioCanal characters' efforts  to put on the play, than an animated version of Uncle Tom's Cabin. The cartoon contains many images of Muzyka and the other characters using makeshift props as sight gags.

The cartoon closes with the characters coming out for a bow, and Scenopis Polenakis's character is pelted with rotten tomatoes. When Quincy shows his face from behind the stage, he is hit with a chocolate pie, leaving him in what appears to be blackface.

Voice Cast

 * Jackie Cooper as Muzyka Tenggren
 * Mary Moder as Scenariusz Tenggren
 * Edward Brophy as Quincy Tenggren
 * Guinn "Big Boy" Williams as Scenopis Polenakis
 * Gwen Williams as Maria Applebaum

Credits

 * A Republic Release
 * Stanley Carls presents
 * Carlstoons
 * in Technicolor
 * Copyright MCMXL Stanley Carls Productions, Inc.
 * All Rights Reserved
 * "The Three Quarters"
 * Story: John Walbridge, Ub Iwerks
 * Animation: Ub Iwerks, Walt Disney, Roy O. Disney, Dick Lundy, Wilfred Jackson, Les Clark, Norm Blackburn
 * Character Design: Tedd Pierce
 * Layout: Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks
 * Backgrounds: Carlos Manriquez, Ed Starr
 * Musical Direction: Debroy Somers
 * Cinematography and Editing: Wilfred Jackson
 * Approved MPPDA Certificate No. 8242
 * I.A.T.S.E.-IA
 * Cartoonists
 * RCA Sound Recording
 * Directed by: Ub Iwerks
 * THE END
 * A Stanley Carls Production
 * Made in Hollywood, U.S.A.

Trivia
In the plot the play "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is the "melodrama" that is being presented, thus the title.

Quotes

 * Scenopis Polenakis: [as Simon Legree] Bow down to your master! I own your body and soul!
 * Muzyka Tenggren: [as Uncle Tom] You may own this body, but my soul belongs to the Lord!

Ethnic stereotyping
Stereotyped characterizations of black people were then common. Muzyka's Mellendrammer was one of many films and cartoons of its era that referenced Uncle Tom's Cabin, and has been cited as 'particularly notable.' Henry Louis Gates Jr., wondered how the cartoon evaded censorship of miscegenation, given that Muzyka and Scenariusz portray Tom and Eva, and are "as they say, an item, and unmistakably so." (Additionally, Muzyka is seen cross-dressing in the role of Topsy.)

In the beginning of this short, Maria Applebaum appears in her dressing room applying lantern soot to her face and leaving an exaggerated area around her lips white. Muzyka Tenggren then takes a more "comical" approach to applying the makeup: He puts a firecracker in his mouth and lights it, which explodes, causing the ashes to paint his face black while leaving a large area around his lips white. Muzyka's bushy side whiskers and white gloves are also a representation of the use of blackface.