Chew Chew Baby

1958 film

August 15, 1958 (1958-08-15)

Running time

7 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglish

Chew Chew Baby is a Paramount/Harveytoon animated short in the Noveltoon series made by Paramount Cartoon Studios for release on August 15, 1958.^[1] It was directed by Isadore Sparber from a story by Irving Spector. Jackson Beck and Jack Mercer provide uncredited voices.

Cannibalism is the theme of this film, in which seven characters are attacked (six get swallowed) by a pygmy after he tracks a tourist to Cincinnati.

This film shows a strong Tex Avery influence, and copies Avery's blood transfusion gag from Crazy Mixed-Up Pup.

Reception

Motion Picture Exhibitor (October 1, 1958): "Featuring modernistic drawings, this concerns an American hunter in Africa who tangles with a small native who comes to America and turns out to be a purple people eater. The cannibal finds the loud-mouthed hunter. There is an accident. The hunter is given a blood transfusion from the cannibal, and this makes him a people eater, too. Fair".^[2]

References

^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 113–114. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
^ Sampson, Henry T. (1998). That's Enough, Folks: Black Images in Animated Cartoons, 1900-1960. Scarecrow Press. p. 91. ISBN 978-0810832503.