In the first years of the Thirties, the medium of animation was virtually free from restrictive pressures of censorships .
The majority of the cartoons of this period feature risquè material, expecially the Fleischers and Van Beuren productions .
But Terrytoons too show their quota of sex-related material.
A relatively unknown short, " Farmer Al Falfa's Ape Girl " ( 1932 ), could probably win the prize as being the cartoon which shows more outrageous gags than any other one .
The plot narrates of Farmer Al Falfa's hunting exploration, but our hero only appears near the end of the picture. Before his appearence, we can see a number of gags with protagonist the title character, a beautiful female version of Tarzan of the Apes .
This marvellous "Ape Girl" wears only a bikini top and a really short mini skirt which does not leave anything to imagination!
We can see her having a erotic massage, in which a monkey is giving her a leg and butt rub down, riding a giant ape, swimming while exposing nudity (from the bottom down), using a pair of fish as skates and skating on the water, a hippo as a boat and much more .
When finally our Al Falfa and his faithful pup enter in the picture, she attacks the farmer and, as time goes by and springtime arrives, we see the destiny of our hero: father of a number of Al Falfa-look-a-like kiddies, the last reference to sex in the cartoon .
Enjoy some pics from this pre-Code extravaganza. I hope you'll appreciate the fact that this is no a reissue of the cartoon and it shows original intact title cards.
Yours Truly ,
Duck Dodgers
Blog Founder and Administrator
Any comments , folks ?
ReplyDeleteEverytime I watch this cartoon I'm more sure this is the best example of the pre-Code years .
And the animation is better than the one usually used in the Terrytoons of the early 30s .
I expecially enjoy the animation of the giant ape !
Was she toppless in this? That would be more shocking.
ReplyDeleteNope , Nic !
ReplyDeleteThat would have been too much even for such a cartoon !
I'm glad about that. I don't like cartoon nudity(This and others don't count).
ReplyDeleteBy the way could you soon post screenshots to the following Terrytoons later on: The Magic Pencil(1940), The Power of Thought(1950), and Flebus(1957)?
ReplyDeleteToo bad ...I do not have the latter two..and I'll not be able to post the ones from " The Magic Pencil " for ,at least , three weeks .
ReplyDeleteStill, I did this! I think it's interesting to see how much risque they could get away with during this period, though in terms of cartoon nudity, I tend to be very liberal about. I'd say you do it or you don't.
ReplyDelete