Woodland Cafe - 1937

This cartoon has an extended Apache Dance as the stage show which some might find distasteful. The Apache Dance is named after the nickname of Parisian street gang members, Apaches and was first introduced at the beginning of the 20th century. The music usually associated with it (not here) is from Offenbach's ballet Valse des Rayons used in a 1908 production at the Moulin Rouge.

In this cartoon a nightclub is staffed and frequented entirely by insects. Lighting is provided by fireflies and card games are dealt by centipedes. Everyone dances, even the snails, as the orchestra plays jazz on their instruments made of flowers.

This is the original unedited R-K-O Radio Pictures release. Selective editing was done on the revised United Artist version of this cartoon. During the Apache Dance, the male fly's smoking was kept in but the female's was edited out. A black doorman and some black grasshoppers were also edited out although some racial stereotypes, typical of the era, were retained.

Animation: Ward Kimball and Paul Allen. Director: Wilfred Jackson