In the very first Tom and Jerry short, 1940’s Puss Gets the Boot,
Tom’s owner is a faceless, buxom woman named Mammy Two-Shoes. Best known for
shooing away Tom’s large and intimidating nemesis, Spike the bulldog, with a
broom, Mammy Two-Shoes was a semi-regular, recurring character in many of the
early Tom and Jerry films. In fact, Mammy Two-Shoes–a maid by
profession–appeared in 19 Tom and Jerry films during a 12-year period.

Lillian Randolph, also well known for her voice work as Birdie on The
Great Gildersleeve radio and television shows, voiced Mammy Two-Shoes and is
best know for referring to Tom as “Thomas!” and for her many exclamatory
expositions like, “Cat, if you been in that ice box, start
prayin’!”

Though many welcomed the character and thought very little
about any racial implications her presence in the animated cast might add, MGM
recognized the changing climate of the U.S.’s outlook on racism (even though the
civil rights movement wouldn’t reach its height for another decade) and removed
the original Mammy Two-Shoes from the shorts in 1952. Animators replaced the
character with a thinner, Caucasian version and voice actress June Foray was
brought in to overdub the character’s lines.

The shorts still air in the
their original form outside the United States, though the recent Tom and Jerry
Spotlight Collection DVD volumes have either not included episodes featuring
Mammy Two-Shoes or have included the replacement character instead of the
original.

Months ago, several of our readers wrote in to voice their
support of Disney’s potential DVD release of Song
of the South, citing that they did not consider Uncle Remus a
racist or stereotypical character? Now we must ask: do you feel the same way
about Mammy Two-Shoes? Should she have been edited out of the new Tom and Jerry
classic releases to avoid potential offenses, or should the original character
have been left in tact as representative of the era?

Let us
know.