Hello!

A link offered by Joe Dante for another subject led us to this weird little animated cartoon that keys right into the Hollywood blacklist years. It was made in 1945 by the newly formed UPA, just as the war was ending. The director is Robert Cannon, who animated for all the great cartoon directors. He co-founded UPA and would direct many of its classy short subjects.

Brotherhood of Man is an early UPA cartoon that attracted a lot of unnecessary controversy: say something publicly that smacks of good will toward men, and you’ll draw political fire. T’was ever thus: the same year saw Frank Sinatra push through the production of a musical short subject promoting race and ethnic tolerance, Mervyn LeRoy and Albert Maltz’s  The House I Live In. All Frank does is sing a song encouraging some street kids to not discriminate, but it became ‘controversial’ anyway.

Brotherhood carries some credits that would would ring alert bells with the HUAC. One writer was the Hollyood Ten member Ring Lardner Jr.. Animator-designer and fellow blacklistee John Hubley is in the credits too. Art designer Paul Julian should be known to fans of the fantastic; besides working as an animator (as on  The Tell-Tale Heart) and painting on his own, he created a number of dramatic title sequences for Roger Corman.

The good ‘Animation Obsessive’ article  The Left Orientation has more background on the ‘dangerous’ cartoon. Imagine, saying that people of all races deserve a level playing field for employment and professions.

And don’t forget  J. Pierrepont Finch’s take on The Brotherhood of Man, too. The song has a satirical bite … success depends on Who Ya Know, Baby.

Then, from Gary Teetzel comes a strange variety show clip, from 1969.

Johnny Cash and activist folk singer Odetta sit on a TV stage, exchange some limp ‘intro’ talk, and launch into the Ballad of the Hammonds, the eerie song from Val Lewton’s  I Walked with a Zombie.

Written by calypso singer Sir Lancelot, the ballad pre-existed the movie, with different lyrics and a different theme. In the movie, it’s used as a passive-aggressive weapon against the white owners of the Island of San Sebastian, a protest song criticizing the scandal in the Hammond Family.

Other lyrics were used when various artists covered the song, but for reasons unknown Johnny Cash and Odetta stick very close to the text used in the movie, without explanation.

Maybe the show came together really quickly … we just never expected Johnny Cash to sing a song from a Val Lewton movie. Maybe he and Odetta took a liking to the “Ah woe, ah Me!” lyric. Maybe they were stumped for a song and took a break to watch a horror movie on TV!

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson