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1934 film by Isadore Freleng

Goin' to Heaven on a Mule
Title card
Directed byIsadore Freleng
Produced byLeon Schlesinger
Music byNorman Spencer
Animation byRollin Hamilton
Bob McKimson
Color processBlack-and-white
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date
  • May 19, 1934 (1934-05-19)
Running time
7 min
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Goin' to Heaven on a Mule is a 1934 American animated comedy short film directed by Isadore Freleng.[1] It was originally released on May 19, 1934. It is the 34th film in the Merrie Melodies series, featuring the titular song from the film Wonder Bar.[2][3]

Alongside the song featured in Wonder Bar, the film is controversial for depicting racial stereotypes of black people in bad faith, as well as portraying God in blackface. It was withheld from circulation, but is not considered to be one of the "Censored Eleven" shorts, as Associated Artists Productions did not acquire the film's rights from Warner Bros. Pictures.[4][5][6]

Plot

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A group of African-American cotton pickers work at a field using various tools. The cotton are then used to produced clothes claimed to be made of wool. Elsewhere, a lazy man is sleeping on the job, only to be waken by a group of flies he had been blowing away in his sleep. When he reaches for a bottle of gin, his conscience, personified by an angel and the Devil, fight over decision-making, but the slave drinks it anyway and breathes fire, unable to handle the alcohol

The man drunkenly hallucinates a scenario he walks to Heaven while riding a mule and singing the titular song. He reaches the gate, aptly titled "Pair-O-Dice". God and a crowd of black angels welcome him, while a guard rolls two dice to decide if he gets to stay. God kicks out a Fuller Brush salesman before welcoming the man into a town in Heaven. The man goes into the "Milkyway Cafe" and eats a spare watermelon while he watches black people giving musical performances.

The man finds a gin garden, where he blatantly disregards the sign calling it a "forbidden fruit" and drinks a bottle. His act is discovered by God, who sends him to Hell for sinning while he is still drunk. The man wakes up and throws the bottle away, but immediately succumbs to temptation and catches the bottle for another sip, having not learnt his lesson.

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 31. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
  2. ↑ Parten, James (December 10, 2019). "Big Changes For Merrie Melodies 1933-34". Cartoon Research. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
  3. ↑ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 104–106. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  4. ↑ Hischak, Thomas S. (2008). The Oxford Companion to the American Musical. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 807–808. ISBN 978-0-19-533533-0.
  5. ↑ Sampson, Henry T. (1998). That's Enough, Folks: Black Images in Animated Cartoons, 1900-1960. Scarecrow Press. p. 210. ISBN 978-0810832503.
  6. ↑ TIME (March 5, 1934). "Cinema: The New Pictures: Mar. 5, 1934". TIME. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
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