All right, I just watched this Van Beuren cartoon on YouTube. It has humanized animals depicted as stereotypical Chinese laundry workers with a stereotypical Jewish customer. Oh, and they all speak and sing in gibberish so I don't think the words are supposed to be understood by anyone watching or listening. One of them seems to idolize Rudy Vallee as he's playing the saxophone. There are some amusing gags like someone spitting out clothespins after being dumped in a large basin and another making tea from that water. To tell the truth, there wasn't too much I'd consider offensive but it's not every entertaining, either. Still, if you're interested in these vintage cartoons, Laundry Blues is worth a look at the site I mentioned at the beginning of this review.
4 Reviews
Early "racist" Cartoon
haildevilman19 August 2011
Came out in 1930 and LOOKS it.
It's basically a series of sight/spot gags surrounding a Chinese laundry with a few musical numbers mixed in. Of course everybody has the long ponytail and clacks around in wooden shoes. And apart from the brief singing....no one says anything comprehensible. It's all fake chatter.
This one doesn't get played today due to the obvious racial stereotyping. But I'll bet it also doesn't get played due to the outdated "entertainment" value. Anyone over the age of five wouldn't enjoy it that much.
The Van Bueren studios were more famous for their Little King. And like said, this is just a lot of music with visual gags. Also like said, it tends to be repetitious.
See this for what it is.....and old theatrical cartoon that may have gotten laughs way back then but won't be much more than a curiosity/historical piece now. You don't even see this one on DVD's of racist animation. Hell, it hardly gets mentioned at all ANYWHERE.
Two stand out scenes. Despite everyone being Chinese, why did the four laundrymen's singing sound like a jazz quartet? And the Jewish customer (NOT very flattering either) wanting his beard cleaned. And his ticket was written in Hebrew.
I saw a quick blurb about this in a book. The cartoon is on youtube. Check it at your own desire.
It's basically a series of sight/spot gags surrounding a Chinese laundry with a few musical numbers mixed in. Of course everybody has the long ponytail and clacks around in wooden shoes. And apart from the brief singing....no one says anything comprehensible. It's all fake chatter.
This one doesn't get played today due to the obvious racial stereotyping. But I'll bet it also doesn't get played due to the outdated "entertainment" value. Anyone over the age of five wouldn't enjoy it that much.
The Van Bueren studios were more famous for their Little King. And like said, this is just a lot of music with visual gags. Also like said, it tends to be repetitious.
See this for what it is.....and old theatrical cartoon that may have gotten laughs way back then but won't be much more than a curiosity/historical piece now. You don't even see this one on DVD's of racist animation. Hell, it hardly gets mentioned at all ANYWHERE.
Two stand out scenes. Despite everyone being Chinese, why did the four laundrymen's singing sound like a jazz quartet? And the Jewish customer (NOT very flattering either) wanting his beard cleaned. And his ticket was written in Hebrew.
I saw a quick blurb about this in a book. The cartoon is on youtube. Check it at your own desire.
Doesn't wash the blues away
TheLittleSongbird8 January 2018
Van Beuren cartoons are extremely variable, especially in the number of gags and whether the absurdist humour shines through enough (sometimes it does, other times it doesn't), but are strangely interesting. Although they are often poorly animated with barely existent stories and less than compelling lead characters, they are also often outstandingly scored, there can be some fun support characters and some are well-timed and amusing.
'Laundry Blues' is among the worst 1930 Van Beuren/Aesop's Fables cartoons. To me, it is also one of Van Beuren's worst. It's not just because it's not for the easily offended, with poorly drawn ugly and offensive racial stereotypes, it's also because it's not good in quality at all.
It does contain pretty much all of the faults of Van Beuren's worst, or all the faults of many Van Beuren cartoons, while having a few good points. Van Beuren have actually done quite a number of watchable or more cartoons, a few pretty good even though imperfect. So it's not as if they are all being hated on.
Its best asset is the music score, pretty much the best thing consistently of Van Beuren's output. Sometimes even the only good thing, like here. It is so beautifully and cleverly orchestrated, is great fun to listen to and full of lively energy, doing so well with enhancing the action.
Synchronisation can be sloppy however and the energy just isn't there.
The animation is not good, in fact it is downright bad most of the time with erratically sloppy character designs in particular while the simplistic background detail and lack of fluidity and crispness are just as difficult to ignore.
None of the characters are that interesting or fun, most are over-cutesy and unmemorable and others are pretty annoying. On top of being poorly drawn and stereotypical. Story is very slight to the point of non-existence and suffers from a lack of energy. It feels aimless and also random and disjointed. If you are looking for sense too, look elsewhere.
Basically 'Laundry Blues' is a stringing along of gags structured in a way that's disorganised and random. Generally it is very low on laughs, actually none of it is remotely amusing. Nothing is inventive, never rising above the forgettable and there is not much absurdist about them.
In conclusion, very poor in almost every department excepting the music. 2/10 Bethany Cox
'Laundry Blues' is among the worst 1930 Van Beuren/Aesop's Fables cartoons. To me, it is also one of Van Beuren's worst. It's not just because it's not for the easily offended, with poorly drawn ugly and offensive racial stereotypes, it's also because it's not good in quality at all.
It does contain pretty much all of the faults of Van Beuren's worst, or all the faults of many Van Beuren cartoons, while having a few good points. Van Beuren have actually done quite a number of watchable or more cartoons, a few pretty good even though imperfect. So it's not as if they are all being hated on.
Its best asset is the music score, pretty much the best thing consistently of Van Beuren's output. Sometimes even the only good thing, like here. It is so beautifully and cleverly orchestrated, is great fun to listen to and full of lively energy, doing so well with enhancing the action.
Synchronisation can be sloppy however and the energy just isn't there.
The animation is not good, in fact it is downright bad most of the time with erratically sloppy character designs in particular while the simplistic background detail and lack of fluidity and crispness are just as difficult to ignore.
None of the characters are that interesting or fun, most are over-cutesy and unmemorable and others are pretty annoying. On top of being poorly drawn and stereotypical. Story is very slight to the point of non-existence and suffers from a lack of energy. It feels aimless and also random and disjointed. If you are looking for sense too, look elsewhere.
Basically 'Laundry Blues' is a stringing along of gags structured in a way that's disorganised and random. Generally it is very low on laughs, actually none of it is remotely amusing. Nothing is inventive, never rising above the forgettable and there is not much absurdist about them.
In conclusion, very poor in almost every department excepting the music. 2/10 Bethany Cox
Very poorly animated, unfunny and,...oh yeah...very racist!
planktonrules10 July 2015
This is a wonderful example for why practically no one has heard of the Van Beuren studio today. In every possible way the film is incompetent and it's quite racist to boot!
The film has practically no plot and mostly consists of very stereotypical Chinese and Jewish characters singing, acting sub-human and trying to make us laugh...with no success whatsoever. If I hadn't known better, I might have been convinced that the Third Reich made the film- -it's THAT offensive and takes so many cheap shots.
When you add all this up as well as the very rough and poorly drawn characters, you're left with a cartoon with almost no appeal. Perhaps folks might like to see it out of morbid curiosity, though I can think of no other reason to see this short film.
The film has practically no plot and mostly consists of very stereotypical Chinese and Jewish characters singing, acting sub-human and trying to make us laugh...with no success whatsoever. If I hadn't known better, I might have been convinced that the Third Reich made the film- -it's THAT offensive and takes so many cheap shots.
When you add all this up as well as the very rough and poorly drawn characters, you're left with a cartoon with almost no appeal. Perhaps folks might like to see it out of morbid curiosity, though I can think of no other reason to see this short film.
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