I’m afraid that my temporary obsession with the obscure cartoon, Abdul Abulbul Amir, hasn’t shown any sign of going away, at least until now – I finally tracked down a copy of it on YouTube.
I can’t believe that I didn’t come across it earlier, possibly because it was under the title Abdul the Bulbul-Ameer, but I thought the search engines would have taken care of that anomaly.
Anyway, I can now lay the whole business to rest by including it on my blog and you’ll find it below.
The person who posted it on YouTube says that the cartoon is banned because it is politically incorrect and includes the following to cover him or herself:
WARNING this is NOT for children and was only uploaded for the sake of history. This cartoon features unfair racial stereotypes and in NO way shape or form should ever be imitated. This is from the 1930′s.
He or she is wrong with the last bit – Abdul the Bulbul-Ameer was produced in 1941 which also explains why there is some racial stereotyping going on.
Abdul is depicted as the classic bullying character (think Bluto) with a more positive portrayal of Ivan Skavinsky Skavar. Of course, Russia had just formed an alliance with Britain after Hitler had invaded the Soviet Union which probably explains it.
Anyway, here is the video and below it is a gallery of stills that I produced since I didn’t find too many of those online either. Hopefully that is now the obsession exorcised!
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exercise that exorcism!
Make sure that Mrs Parrots remembers that “Abdul the Bulbul-Ameer” needs to be the lead-in song for your funeral many years hence…. “Fire!” by Arthur Brown at the end.
I have a lengthy comment that has morphed into a post on my own blog; it should be appearing shortly.
Do you know what you’ve done? Do you?
You’ve solved a minor mystery, that’s what! That song has been floating round my head, popping up from time to time over the years, since my childhood! I don’t remember ever seeing the cartoon before, but I do remember my Dad singing the song, and I never knew who ‘Abdul Abulbul Ameer’ was!
So, I guess I should thank you! And the cartoon was quite fun.
I’m glad to help Jay. You have to be a certain age to remember the cartoon and I’m sure you are far too young.