Mammy Two Shoes (also known as Aunt Delilah) is a stereotypical black maid, so called because all that is generally seen are her legs and feet as she enters or leaves a scene. Because of the implied racism of the stereotype, she was edited out of the shorts for a time. A similar character is seen in the Tom and Jerry cartoons.
Appearances[]
Three Orphan Kittens[]
Possibly as a prototype for Mammy, the African-American housemaid's feet appear at the door to the kitchen, greeted by the three kittens, Fluffy, Muffy & Tuffy. The kittens run rampant around the house, causing havoc as they go. The house's pianola plays a variant of "Kitten On The Keys", caused by Tuffy, and when the pianola finishes its song, the kittens leave it and are caught by the housekeeper. As she prepares to throw them out, she is stopped by a little girl, who decides to adopt the kittens.
More Kittens[]
The Housemaid also appears in the film's sequel. She looks over Toliver the St. Bernard, and Fluffy, Muffy & Tuffy, whom she must care for, even though her last appearance had her kicking them out.
Pantry Pirate[]
Pluto is banished to the doghouse by the maid, this time showing her body, for trying to raid the pantry of ham.
Figaro and Cleo[]
The housemaid, now called Aunt Delilah, spends her time in this short cleaning up, and looking after Figaro and Cleo, tidying up the cat's mess.
Tom & Jerry[]
William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, also created a black housemaid with the same name, design, and voice as the Disney version for Tom & Jerry cartoons at MGM. Although they are the same in character, the only differences are she is more musophobic (fear of mice), having her rely on her pet cat Tom to catch Jerry.
For the modern Warner Bros incarnation of the character, check here: https://warner-bros-characters.fandom.com/wiki/Aunt_Two-Shoes
Name[]
Within the animated shorts, in Figaro and Cleo the character refers to herself as "Delilah". Specifically, she says "Old Aunt Delilah won't let that happen" to comfort Cleo after Figaro tries to fish her out of her bowl.
She is, however, more commonly known as Mammy Twoshoes. This name was given to her in storybook retellings of the original Three Orphan Kittens shorts.[1] In the books, this is a nickname given to her by Fluffy, Muffy, and Tuffy, due to the fact that her big shoes is what stands out from her in their perspective.[2]
Gallery[]
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