Are Bosko & Honey black?
A. There is evidence that they were intended to be cartoon versions of a black boy and girl, but most of the cartoons do not make this obvious. At the time, all-black characters with white facial features were the norm (Mickey Mouse, Felix the Cat, etc.), so their skin coloring alone does not necessarily define them as being black. Bosko had a stereotypical black voice in his first appearance, and Honey’s hair is occasionally shown with African features. Expressions like Bosko’s “Dat sho is fine!” also reinforce this notion. Nevertheless, the characters are probably best categorized as non-descript living blobs of ink. The characters became undeniably black when they appeared in a series of MGM color cartoons, which Harman & Ising made after leaving Warner Bros.
