It's Jack Sparrow getting into trouble big time. No, we don't mean
Johnny Depp (although Zephyr gives a big nod to him in his
performance of the character); the folks at Disney have a habit of
borrowing from older sources, and it's quite likely that the name Jack
Sparrow came from this African-American tale related by noted author
Joel Chandler Harris. A simple fable about the dangers of gossiping and
meddling in other peoples' affairs, this story is included among
Harris' writings about the fictional character Uncle Remus, a sort of
African-American version of Aesop. An accomplished folklorist who heard
these charming animal yarns from slaves when he was a teenager working
on a plantation, Harris has come under fire in more recent times for
the racist overtones in his heavy usage of southern black dialect and
also for the very name Uncle Remus -- "uncle" was a demeaning term
sometimes applied to slaves by their owners. But hey, he lived in
racist times; and in view of that, his tone was perhaps far less
insulting than it might have been.
Harris was born in 1848 in Eatonton, GA., which we just happened to
pass through on a Sunday morning in December, so we couldn't pass up
the Uncle Remus Museum, with its statue of Brother Rabbit ("Br'er"
Rabbit) in the yard. The museum, which features mementos from the life,
times and work of Harris, is housed in a building comprised of two
former slave cabins joined together. (You can see the seams on the
sides.) It's on the property once occupied by the family of Joseph
Sidney Turner, the "Little Boy" in the "Tales of Uncle Remus".
We also dropped in at the Laurel and Hardy Museum
in the hometown of Norvell "Oliver" Hardy, Harlem, GA. This town is so
proud of its celebrated native son that the water tower sports a
picture of him and his skinny partner, Stanley Jefferson -- who gave
himself the shorter name of Stan Laurel so it would fit on signs
better. This pair of comedy titans made over 100 films together of
varying lengths over a period of about 30 years, and were also the best
of friends. And they had a major influence on virtually every comic
performer to come afterward -- including, no doubt, us.
Happy listening,
Dennis (Narrator and Fox), Kimberly (Rabbit) and Zephyr (Jack Sparrow, natch)