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I find episode 19 very interesting. It is a sign of the times and how people thought of Native American Indians in the mass media back in the far-off age of 1937. It might be shocking in today’s time to hear Native Americans portrayed the way they are in this episode, but I think it’s great to have this kind of documentation. Society as a whole likes to ignore the fact that this kind of stereotype was commonplace and mostly accepted in the eyes and minds of the American public. I think this is a folly, because it gives today’s generation an incorrect bad historical impression.. Not retaining these types of examples, at least for educational purposes, confuses the younger generations. It confuses younger generations, because they don’t understand how far we really have come as a nation from the racism of then to the racism of now. It is good to have these kinds of things – cartoons, radio shows, tv shows, movies – of the past to see exactly how much has changed— and how much really hasn’t — in the times between.
Chief Cook-and-Bottlewasher is voiced by James Blaine. Unfortunately, I do not have any biography information on Mr. Blaine. If anyone can help with this, I’d be greatly appreciative.
Chief Cook-and-Bottlewasher has a great back story. I feel like they really thought about this character, and in his short appearance on The Cinnamon Bear, we learn a good bit about this guy.
Please enjoy!
Download all of Cinnamon Bear’s episodes at Radio Echoes. You can also listen to each episode there without downloading. Here is the link to today’s episode: Cinnamon Bear Episode 19
The Cinnamon Bear Episode 19 – Confronted by an Angry Witch
Opening: Cinnamon Bear Theme
Cinnamon Bear: And here’s the Cinnamon Bear!
Announcer: Now we’d better hurry and see about Judy and Jimmy. You’ll remember how the Cocklebur Cowboys headed by Slim Pickins rescued the twins, Cinnamon Bear and the Crazy Quilt Dragon from the awful river of mud. But mud was the least of their troubles. They had no more instructions for getting their silver star back together again. That is, not until Slim Pickins showed them a most magical trick. Taking Judy’s little looking glass, he placed it inside his ten gallon hat, and magic-o! Queen Melissa appeared just like that, and wrote them a note which said, ‘Underneath the Singing Tree, another clue you’re sure to see.’ They learned that the Singing Tree was somewhere in the Golden Grove and off they trouped across the Purple Plain until… Indians! Yessirree! And right now, our friends are running as fast as they can. They don’t dare look back. Goodness knows how many are chasing them, but I must say they’re certainly hooping up up.
Jimmy: Faster! We’ve just gotta get away from them.
Judy: I’m going as fast as I can, Jimmy.
Cinnamon Bear: So am I. I feel like I’m getting a stitch in my stuffing.
Crazy Quilt: Hang on to me, my friends. We must outdistance these aborigines.
Jimmy: Gee, Willikers! Look ahead.
Cinnamon Bear: Cactus! A regular forest of it.
Judy: Let’s run around it. Hurry!
Crazy Quilt: It’s no use. It stretches as far as I can see.
Jimmy: But we just gotta try to get through. We just got to.
Judy: They’re right behind us.
Cinnamon Bear: Oh, my poor cinnamon hide!
Crazy Quilt: Oh, why, they’ve stopped. Probably proceeding to surround us and subject us to their power.
Cinnamon Bear: Suppose we just don’t pay any attention to them. Just be nonchalant.
Judy: I’m scared to turn around and look at them.
Jimmy: Gee, I guess they’re waiting to spring on us.
Crazy Quilt: I’ve heard that Indians admire courage. Let us turn and face them as boldly as possible. As I always say, put up a united front.
Jimmy: Right, Crazy Quilt. Come on, everybody. When I count three, we’ll all turn around together. One… Two… Three!
Crazy Quilt: Oh!
Judy: Oh, my goodness!
Jimmy: Why, it’s only one indian!
Cinnamon Bear: Bless my stuffing, so it is.
Crazy Quilt: How our fears magnified the number!
Judy: Look! He’s all made out of wood.
Indian: How!
Cinnamon Bear: How do you do?
Indian: How!
Crazy Quilt: You said that before. Can’t you be less monotonous?
Jimmy: We better ask him who he is.
Judy: Maybe he doesn’t speak English.
Indian: Hmm. Me speakum plenty good English. Me go college. Play in football. Speakum swell English. Yeah, man.
Crazy Quilt: What is your name, my lone aborigine?
Indian: Me Chief Cook-and-Bottlewasher.
Cinnamon Bear: Bless my stuffing. What an extraordinary name!
Chief Cook–and–Bottlewasher: When me leave college, catchum job in cigar store.
Judy: What did you do?
Cinnamon Bear: Didn’t you ever hear of a cigar store indian?
Judy: Oh!
Chief Cook–and–Bottlewasher: Me no like cigar store. Get tired people scratching matches on face. Get tired standing up all day. Lay down on job. Mmm! Get fired.
Crazy Quilt: Well, my vanishing American, why did you chase us clear across the Purple Plain with your hideous war hoops?
Chief Cook–and–Bottlewasher: Hmm! Me like beautiful overcoat.
Crazy Quilt: Overcoat? What do you mean?
Chief Cook–and–Bottlewasher: Your overcoat. Blue, green, red.
Crazy Quilt: Wha?
Chief Cook–and–Bottlewasher: Me love indian Princess Many Happy Returns. Catchum coat, go see Many Happy Returns. Knock ‘em cold.
Crazy Quilt: Well, I… I’m sensible of your admiration for my lovely colors, my petrified Hiawatha, but this is not an overcoat that I wear. It is my own hide.
Chief Cook–and–Bottlewasher: Hmm! Wantum just same. Make trade. You givum coat, me give you head start.
Cinnamon Bear: Bless my stuffing, that’s hardly a trade, friend indian.
Judy: I should say not. Poor Crazy Quilt.
Crazy Quilt: I’m sorry, but I can scarcely bring myself to part with my pelt. After all, a Crazy Quilt Dragon without his outside would be nothing.
Chief Cook–and–Bottlewasher: Hmm! Gotta havum. No give, scalp ‘em all over. Yeah, man!
Judy: Oh, please, Mister Indian. Don’t take Crazy Quilt’s beautiful coat away from him. Wait! I’ll give you this wonderful magic lunch box instead. It has cookies and sandwiches and lemonade, and…
Chief Cook–and–Bottlewasher: No! Me wooden indian. No eat. Hmm!
Judy: Oh, dear. What will we do?
Chief Cook–and–Bottlewasher: Hmm! Must have overcoat. Me wear. Chief Soap in the Eye no get looking with Many Happy Returns. Hmm! Give.
Jimmy: Say, Judy, remember how we got away from the Wintergreen Witch by showing her your looking glass? Try that on him.
Judy: Alright, Jimmy. Mister Indian, please look at this pretty looking glass. You can see your face in it.
Chief Cook–and–Bottlewasher: Hmm!
Crazy Quilt: I hardly blame you for saying ‘Hmm!’ As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if you said Mm-Mm.
Chief Cook–and–Bottlewasher: Pretty. Me like see face. Make trade. How much costum?
Judy: Oh, nothing.
Chief Cook–and–Bottlewasher: Too much.
Judy: I mean we’ll give it to you, if you’ll just leave the Crazy Quilt Dragon alone.
Crazy Quilt: Yes, my naughty native. That’s a fair trade.
Chief Cook–and–Bottlewasher: Hmm! Me take to Many Happy Returns. Goodbye.
All: Goodbye!
Cinnamon Bear: I was scared for a minute that you’d be a skinned dragon, Crazy Quilt.
Crazy Quilt: As a matter of fact, so was I. I’m very grateful to you, Judy, for saving my hide.
Judy: Oh, that’s all right, dear Crazy Quilt, but if you’ll excuse me, I’m getting awful anxious to find the Golden Grove with the Singing Tree like Melissa told us to do.
Jimmy: You bet! And Christmas is getting closer and closer, and we’ve just got to get the silver star mended before we go back home.
Cinnamon Bear: Well, the Golden Grove is still a long way off, and we have to get around this mess of cactus first.
Judy: I wish we had the airplane which we left at the bottom of Looking Glass Valley.
Jimmy: Well, if we did have it, it wouldn’t do us any good, ‘cause it would be too small for Crazy Quilt to get into, and anyway, it had holes in the tank where the stork poked his bill through it.
Cinnamon Bear: And we didn’t have any more soda pop to run it, besides.
Judy: Oh, dear.
Cinnamon Bear: Would you feel inclined toward a bit of piggy back, Crazy Quilt? I think we’d make better time.
Crazy Quilt: Why, I’m just in the mood for piggy back! Hop on, and I’ll take you on a personally conducted tour of the Purple Plains.
All: Hurray!
Judy: Oh my! I thought we’d never get here.
Jimmy: Boy! This is sure something!
Cinnamon Bear: It’s the Golden Grove, or I’m a cinnamon so-and-so.
Crazy Quilt: Couldn’t be anything else. Why, these trees are every one just as gold as can be. I never saw anything like it.
Judy: My goodness! I touched that one, and it felt just like a real honest-to-goodness tree!
Jimmy: Gee, isn’t it funny? They’re all just about the same size and shape and everything!
Cinnamon Bear: They’re laid out like an orchard, aren’t they? Stretchin’ as far as I can see.
Crazy Quilt: Even the grass and the moss are a sort of greenish gold.
Judy: Well, it’s certainly awful pretty, but how are we going to know which one of these trees is the Singing Tree? They all look alike…
Wintergreen Witch: Ahhhhh!
Judy: Oh! What’s that?
Jimmy: Jeepers!
Cinnamon Bear: The Wintergreen Witch!
Jimmy: Judy, the looking glass. Quick! Show her the looking glass!
Judy: Oh, Jimmy, I can’t! I just gave it to the indian!
Jimmy: Oh, Willikers, I forgot!
Cinnamon Bear: Oh, my poor stuffing!
Wintergreen Witch: What’s that? No looking glass? Heh-heh-heh. It’s very kind of you to tell me that you no longer have that dreadful looking glass with you.
Judy: Oh, dear.
Wintergreen Witch: That was the only thing that bothered me. Now, my pretties, it’s Wintergreen’s turn.
Crazy Quilt: Oh, why do you have to disturb us? We promised to leave the Island of Obee and we did. We haven’t done anything to hurt you.
Wintergreen Witch: Oh, you haven’t, eh? Well it happens that you caused me a great deal of trouble. A great deal too much trouble, indeed.
Cinnamon Bear: What did we do?
Wintergreen Witch: Do? I’ll tell you what you did. Didn’t you go to see Melissa?
Jimmy: Sure we did!
Wintergreen Witch: And you had the colossal impudence to tell her about meeting me. And what does she do? Just banishes me from the Island of Obee, that’s all.
Crazy Quilt: I remember Melissa’s remark about your practicing unlicensed magic, but surely, you realize that you were breaking the law, and should be punished.
Wintergreen Witch: Oh, indeed. And who is Melissa to make laws for Wintergreen the witch? That empty headed little minx! Before she became ruler of Maybeland I was the ruler of the Island of Obee, and now she takes away my Magic Forest, all my fine captives gone. Just turns me out of my home, that’s all.
Judy: Oh, goody! I bet Fee Fo the Gentle Giant got out of your Magic Forest.
Wintergreen Witch: Ahhhh! Yes, he did. And it’s all due to you. Melissa just this minute pronounced judgment on me and magicalled me off the island. Ah, but I’ll fool her. I’m a better magic maker that she is anyway. You’ll see!
Cinnamon Bear: Well, what are you going to do?
Wintergreen Witch: You’ll see, I said. Heh-Heh-Heh-Heh. I’ll make Melissa sorry that she ever commanded me to leave the Island of Obee, never to return!
Crazy Quilt: I can’t understand why Melissa let such a dangerous creature run loose in Maybeland.
Wintergreen Witch: I’m going to make life pretty miserable for Melissa and the people of Maybeland, and I think I’ll begin with you!
Judy: With us? You mean, cruel, ugly old witch! You just better not!
Wintergreen Witch: Heh Heh Heh Heh Heh Heh Heh! What can you do to stop me now? First of all, give me your silver star.
Jimmy: But it’s all broken.
Judy: Broken in a dozen pieces.
Cinnamon Bear: What do you want with a broken star?
Wintergreen Witch: I’ll make a dozen stars out of it. Hand it over.
Jimmy: I will not, you old buzzard.
Wintergreen Witch: Ahhh! I said hand it over.
Jimmy: Gee, Willikers. Here it is.
Judy: Now, please. Will you let us go?
Wintergreen Witch: No, my pretties. You’re not going to have the chance to interfere with me again, no indeed!
Crazy Quilt: Oh, come now. None of us has any intention of interfering with you, my, uh, good woman.
Wintergreen Witch: Don’t call me a good woman!
Crazy Quilt: Good witch, then.
Wintergreen Witch: Don’t call me good. I’m wicked, I am. I’m Wintergreen the witch, and you dare to call me good.
Crazy Quilt: Well, I’m sure I didn’t know, I…
Wintergreen Witch: You talk too much, Crazy Quilt Dragon, but you won’t much longer.
Judy: Oh, dear. I’m so scared, Jimmy.
Jimmy: Aw, don’t be scared, Judy.
Cinnamon Bear: Yes, maybe she’s just joking.
Crazy Quilt: Somehow I don’t just think she is.
Judy: Oh, dear. I wish Melissa could see this mean old witch trying to make trouble for us again.
Wintergreen Witch: Melissa! Melissa can’t save you now.
Jimmy: I bet she could if she knew you were making magic when she told you not to.
Wintergreen Witch: Perhaps if she knew it, but she doesn’t know it, and I’m going to make certain this time you won’t do any more talking. I’m going to change you all into…
Cinnamon Bear: Into what?
Wintergreen Witch: I’m going to change you into bullfrogs!
Crazy Quilt: Bullfrogs?
Wintergreen Witch: And all you’ll be able to do is croak! That’s all. Croak! And the sooner you croak, my pretties, the better I’ll like it!
Announcer: My, my! That wicked Wintergreen Witch is back again. I thought we’d seen the last of her, but that’s the way it is with witches, they pop up when you least expect them. I certainly hope something happens to save our friends, but just between you and me, I can’t imagine what it will be.
Sources:
This is an amusing episode. The Chief Cook-and-Bottlewasher is a funny character. And I’ve forgotten the name of the actress who voiced the Wintergreen Witch, but what a great voice talent she was! Although I am used to the cowboys = good guys / “Indians” = bad guys plots from when I was younger, I still found myself taken aback by this episode (both the announcer’s statements and the Chief’s dialogue in the fake Indian dialect). Just shows how much things have changed, I guess, and in good ways. You make an excellent point that sweeping under the rug everything… Read more »
You’re so right! Martha Wentworth was the Wintergreen Witch. I think she is spectacular! She did some voices for disney, too. I’m glad you liked our Indian chief! How romantic he is! 😀