My God, Mickey was annoying in this one!
If there was ever an MGM version of the 10 Commandments regarding the Our Gang shorts, the 1st amendment should be ---
Thou Shalt Not Let Mickey Be The Center of Attention
His voice is so whiny which makes his delivery of lines damned uncomfortable to listen to! And it's made all the more obvious in Baby Blues, as he rants and raves to everyone about the baby's arrival, worried that his mom might have a Chinese baby (he recently reads a statistic: "every fourth child is born Chinese").
It's too bad Mickey is so problematic, since Baby Blues is not an altogether bad short. What's most interesting about this film is that it makes an effort to be "politically correct" even before "political correctness" ever became fashionable.
For example, when a bunch of bullies pick on Lee Wong for being a "ching chong Chinaman," Spanky (who consider's Lee a "swell guy") admonishes them by saying that it doesn't matter if one is Chinese, American, etc., as long as he's a decent person. In another scene, when the gang is invited for lunch at Lee's house, they worry that they may get "mouse tails" or "bird's nests," only to be served ham and eggs (gee, the Chinese eat just like us...who'd have thought? ha ha).
Now, this being 1941, there are still the expected stereotypes about the Chinese. Lee Wong speaks quietly and calmly and quotes Confucious; however, he DOES make it a point to remind us that Chinese people don't wear pigtails anymore.
Baby Blues boasts a rather neat story, and has some things to recommend it (including a scene where the kids go to the zoo to speak to "the stork"). Unfortunately, Mickey's performance detracts from the quality of this short. Well, it could have been worse...Mickey's part could have gone to Janet Burston (who plays his sister). Thank goodness for small favors.
Thou Shalt Not Let Mickey Be The Center of Attention
His voice is so whiny which makes his delivery of lines damned uncomfortable to listen to! And it's made all the more obvious in Baby Blues, as he rants and raves to everyone about the baby's arrival, worried that his mom might have a Chinese baby (he recently reads a statistic: "every fourth child is born Chinese").
It's too bad Mickey is so problematic, since Baby Blues is not an altogether bad short. What's most interesting about this film is that it makes an effort to be "politically correct" even before "political correctness" ever became fashionable.
For example, when a bunch of bullies pick on Lee Wong for being a "ching chong Chinaman," Spanky (who consider's Lee a "swell guy") admonishes them by saying that it doesn't matter if one is Chinese, American, etc., as long as he's a decent person. In another scene, when the gang is invited for lunch at Lee's house, they worry that they may get "mouse tails" or "bird's nests," only to be served ham and eggs (gee, the Chinese eat just like us...who'd have thought? ha ha).
Now, this being 1941, there are still the expected stereotypes about the Chinese. Lee Wong speaks quietly and calmly and quotes Confucious; however, he DOES make it a point to remind us that Chinese people don't wear pigtails anymore.
Baby Blues boasts a rather neat story, and has some things to recommend it (including a scene where the kids go to the zoo to speak to "the stork"). Unfortunately, Mickey's performance detracts from the quality of this short. Well, it could have been worse...Mickey's part could have gone to Janet Burston (who plays his sister). Thank goodness for small favors.
- marjcbs
- Sep 28, 2004