Joe Jitsu (Dick Tracy)

Joe Jitsu is a fictional police officer, one of Dick Tracy's crimefighters in the 1961 syndicated animated cartoon series of the popular comic strip. He has since been criticised as a Japanese stereotype. He is named after Ju-Jitsu, a Japanese martial art. His method of subduing criminals was to grab them by the wrist, and exclaim "So solly!" and "Excuse, prease!" while repeatedly judo-flipping them on the ground violently. The voice for this character was provided by Benny Rubin.

Joe Jitsu
Publication information
PublisherTribune Media Services
First appearanceJanuary 1, 1961
The Dick Tracy Show
In-story information
Supporting character ofDick Tracy
AbilitiesMartial arts

Both Joe Jitsu and Go-Go Gomez, a Mexican stereotype, have been edited out of some reruns of the Dick Tracy cartoon series. Henry G. Saperstein, then the chairman of UPA, stated "It's just a cartoon, for goodness' sake." Others pointed out that the 'stereotypes' included two Europeans (Hemlock Holmes and Heap O'Calorie, who are British and Irish respectively), and that the Joe Jitsu character was a deliberate attempt to re-introduce a sympathetic Japanese character after the passions of the last war had died down.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.