Cleaning the Past

Rewriting history, making the past safe for Political Correctness, does a disservice to the present. But that is what is done time and time again.

Bosko, the creation of Rudy Ising and Hugh Harman, launched 2 major animation studios. Bosko was the original star at Schlesinger/Warners and at MGM. And he was a racial stereotype but that is no longer correct so they miss remember.

By they I mean Harman and Ising. In later years they would say Bugs was a bunny and Mickey was a mouse but I can`t remember what Bosko was. He was a Black Boy in the minstrel tradition and trying to pretend that our country did not have a racist past is like trying to deny the Holocaust. Which some people do but I have seen the numbers tattooed on the old people`s wrists.

Here are a couple of model sheets that put the lie to Bosko being a funny animal. I understand being ashamed of our racist history but hiding it not only lets us, as a nation, off the hook it also hides a lot of good animation. Animation which I will be showing in my animation history class today when we deal with Bosko.