Land o' Cotton
About Land o' Cotton
A steamboat carries black mice on deck. One plays a banjo and sings 'I Wish I Was in Dixie-Land' while the others dance, and two eat watermelon. At a slave auction a white bulldog named Simon Legree buys a male mouse and a female mouse. He whips the male into the cotton and puts the female in a horse stable to eat off the ground. The male paints a rabbit with glue and runs it through the rows so the cotton sticks to its body. He hides the female in a basket, they throw the basket on Legree, and they run. Legree calls bloodhounds. A horse from the stable rides a high-wheel bicycle, kicks the dogs aside, then kicks off its shoes, which hit Legree on the head and kill him. The mice ride the horse off together. An end card offers a mock Aesop line about a flapper.
Cast & crew
More about Land o' Cotton
An Aesop's Film Fables short directed by Paul Terry and Frank Moser, produced by Amadee J. Van Beuren, and distributed by Pathé Exchange. Wikidata dates the release December 28, 1928. The bulldog's name, Simon Legree, is taken from Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Themes
Background
The cartoon uses black mice, a banjo chorus of 'Dixie,' watermelon, and a whip-cracking Legree. Those were stock images in American comedy of the 1920s, put here into a one-reel fable.
Making
Terry had been making Aesop's Fables since the early 1920s, with Van Beuren producing. By the December 1928 release the series was using sound. This entry spends the reel on a cotton-field plot played as slapstick.
Music
On the steamboat a mouse sings 'I Wish I Was in Dixie-Land' with a banjo. No composer is named on the Wikidata credits.
Preservation
Wikidata records a United States public-domain date of January 1, 1957. A viewing is described in Alejandro Martinez's 2025 essay, so a copy was available to him.
Notes
- The opening steamboat shot follows the pattern of Steamboat Willie, released the month before.
- Wikidata lists the main subject as slavery.
- The end card reads: 'The flapper of today is as good as the one of thirty years ago — unless it's the same one.'
- Wikidata gives a United States public-domain date of January 1, 1957.
- Terry and Moser were still partners at Van Beuren. Terry left the studio the next year.
- Alejandro Martinez's account in The Early Years (January 2025) is a scene-by-scene viewing of the short.
Scenes
- Mice dance on the steamboat deck to a banjo version of 'Dixie.'
- Simon Legree buys two mice at auction and sets the male to picking cotton.
- A glue-covered rabbit comes out of the field stuck with cotton.
- The horse's thrown shoes strike Legree and kill him.
Influenced by
- Uncle Tom's Cabin
- Steamboat Willie (1928)
Quotes
The flapper of today is as good as the one of thirty years ago — unless it's the same one.