While Cliff Edwards may have been the voice of the lead crow he never goes sterotypical sounding black voice and I never in a million years would have not thought it was not an African American actorģ) They are not portrayed as having low intelligence. They are voiced by the African American Hal Jolson choir!! They have a great song “When I See An Elephant Fly”, Specks Crow (voiced by Nick Stewart who would later be Brer Fox in Song of the South),Īnd Dopey Crow (voiced by Jim Carmichael who was a layout artist for Disney and later Hanna-Barbera), It is because of them Dumbo had the courage to fly.Īlso while the film does not list the crows names they are as follows starting with the lead:įats Crow (voiced by James Baskett who wouls later star in Song of the South as Uncle Remus and a few of the Brer characters), The rest are all voiced by African American Actors and the test reference dancing was done by a famous African American brother duo named the Jackson Brothers who were a song and dance team. As Eric Goldberg point out for the Behind the Scenes of Dumbo.Ģ) While it is true that lead crow is being voiced by a white actor. Plus that kind of back and forth talk was very popular especially in the big band, swing and jazz music. So let’s go over what people think is controversial about them:ġ) They are saying things in a rather folksy and quick talk way.Ģ) The lead crow is voiced by a White Actor (Cliff Edwards: Jiminy Cricket).ģ) They treat them in a negative way with no intelligence.ġ) The way I see it is they are free souls who can talk however they want and it is a fun jazzy sort of quick talk. We don’t see the Crows again until at the end of the film with the reprise of “When I See An Elephant Fly” to which even the other Elephants who were mean to Dumbo have now changed their tune as well!! To which the lead one says “Brothers now I’ve seen everything!” He starts flapping his ears up and down and once the dust clears we see That Dumbo is now flying high in the air. The go over to a big hill where the Crows are giving him a big old Heave Ho!! The crows come up with a plan to help Dumbo and give them “the magic feather” which even Timothy knows is just to give Dumbo the courage to fly. To make things right for both Timothy and Dumbo. Because they are able to relate nobody wants them around and have been picked on just like him. Timothy straightens them out talking about the plight Dumbo has been through and you see them feeling awful and even crying. Plus that scene has some great fast moving animation. Though I will say their laughter after was a little excessive. Plus they do it through one of the best songs in the film “When I See An Elephant Fly” I see it as not straight up being rude to Dumbo. While they may seem a little mean at first as thinking it is Impossible for an Elephant to fly. This time though I will be talking about something that upsets me People who think the Crows from Dumbo are offensive.įirst Though I will stand by the fact of The Crows from Dumbo are NOT Offensive!!Īlso I would like to add that legendary animator Ward Kimball was responsible the animation of the Crows best known for his comedic and supporting characters such as Jiminy Cricket from Pinocchio, and Lucifer along with the mice in Cinderella. Hello and welcome to another blog of mine.
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