May 18, 1936

[wheelerwoolsey.livejournal.com]

An interesting ad for the Frank Watanabe radio show that appeared in the Portland Oregonian on May 18, 1936:

Comments

[tink-queen.livejournal.com]

...amd I the only one who didn't understand a single word this ad says...?

[neurotic-funk.livejournal.com]

It's an advert for what we would consider a "racist" caricature of Japanese/Asian people that was considered funny in that time period in America. Obviously, the caricature doesn't speak English that well.

Christmas Columbia = Christopher Columbus

[tabaqui]

Yes but.....what in hell is it an ad *for*? I makes no sense! I'm just baffled as to what 'product' it's pushing.

*aside from the fact that i'm repelled. gah.*

[moonjaguar.livejournal.com]

A radio program - "Frank Watanabe and Honorable Archie".

[tabaqui]

Ah. Sheesh.

[neurotic-funk.livejournal.com]

It's an ad for a radio show. White actor pretending to be Japanese stereotype. It was popular around the same time as Amos N Andy... white actors pretending to Black stereotypes.

[air-and-angels.livejournal.com]

I had thought Frank Watanabe was an actual Japanese person whose 'schtick' was stereotypes about his ethnicity, but dang it's hard to Google up information about the man himself. Can you recommend a source?

[neurotic-funk.livejournal.com]

I had to Google him myself so I wasn't that familiar with him. Frank Watanabe was played by white radio actor Eddie Holden. There's a link to a Google Book about Frank Watanabe:

The Economics and Politics of Racial Accommodation (http://books.google.com/books?id=nRCGMfqp9acC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=%22Frank+Watanabe%22+radio&source=bl&ots=9-0KjFkVa9&sig=o3X0X9Jl1STNuwvj16QGW5IJl5A&hl=en&ei=cArvS4LuEY6wsgOVjNjLDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBkQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=%22Frank%20Watanabe%22%20radio&f=false)

[neurotic-funk.livejournal.com]

Sorry about the link, it was a long link. Try this link to

The Economics and Politics of Racial Accommodation (http://bit.ly/91EQ7y)

[air-and-angels.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[air-and-angels.livejournal.com]

The text is a sample of the kind of thing the comedian would say - here he's 'riffing' on airships, which were topical at the time. So the logic of the ad is, if this sample makes you laugh, tune in to hear more like it.

[tabaqui]

Skeery stuff.

[moonjaguar.livejournal.com]

Obviously, the caricature doesn't speak English that well.

Or any kinds the Earth Language speak he doesn't too. I think it's secret code, have to send over 9000 box tops to get Dakota Ring to make sense of the.

[neurotic-funk.livejournal.com]

I'm sure this was hilarious in the 30's... Imagine people 100 years from now trying to figure out Lady Gaga...

[suzycat.livejournal.com]

It would be supremely glorious if it was sekrit spy speak to America's Enemies.

[tink-queen.livejournal.com]

I did pick up it was some sort of racist caricature from the...well, the caricature drawn on top. But what is the ad for?
(and I NEVER would've guessed Christmas Columbia = Christopher Columbus!! Shit's messed up.)

[air-and-angels.livejournal.com]

It's an ad for his radio comedy show. The text is a sample of the kind of thing he'd say - in this case, riffing on the then-topical topic of airships, in his signature style, which was meant to be a literal translation of Japanese idiom filtered through ESL (for some reason, there was a stereotype that Japanese and Chinese people spoke in flowery mixed metaphors).

[tink-queen.livejournal.com]

Ahh, so it was like a character played by someone pretending to be japanese for the lulz? Or an actual asian playing like a dummy role?

[air-and-angels.livejournal.com]

Pretending to be Japanese. Sad, that.

[tink-queen.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's all kinds of worse.
I get how war usually means villainizing whomever you're at war with, but this is like rubbin' it in.....actuslly, I just realized this is probably not worse than Achmed, the dead Terrorist, so I suppose people thought it was funny.

[air-and-angels.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I'm a teacher and I used to get really fed up with one girl telling me, in gales of laughter at the very thought, that I HAD to watch 'Achmed the Dead Terrorist.' I said no thank you, it sounds really racist. 'Miss! It's not racist! It's FUNNY!'

[wonderwonder.livejournal.com]

no, we would consider it racist. flat out. no quotes around it to imply otherwise. (that is what you mean to say by using quotes, isn't it? that's it's not truly racist?)

[neurotic-funk.livejournal.com]

The quotation marks was meant to be a sarcastic tone since within that particular time period, it wasn't looked at as horribly racist even though it was. I'm also Asian-American myself so I do realize how racist it is.

[misstia]

me too!