Adventures of Pow Wow, The – Nostalgia Central

1 9 4 9 – 1 9 5 8 (USA)
52 x 5 minute episodes

“Pow Wow was a friend of all the animals in the woods/If there was any trouble he would help them if he could/ If Pow Wow couldn’t help them, he would go to the Medicine Man/ And he would tell them stories just how it all began”

The Adventures of Pow Wow began life as a series of animated short films that initially ran for 15 minutes when it premiered locally on New York’s WNBT-TV every Sunday morning between 30 January and 13 March 1949.

The series re-emerged in 1956 as part of CBS-TV’s Captain Kangaroo show and consisted of 52 five-minute, black-and-white shorts, which were eventually colourised.

Created and directed by Sam Singer and produced by Tempe Toons, the cartoons were then syndicated by Screen Gems.

The titular hero was a Native American boy. Other regular characters included Pow Wow’s female friend and the tribe’s wise medicine man, who provided counsel when required.

Stories often centred on Pow Wow discovering an animal (hurt or otherwise) and his attempts to protect the forest and wildlife from various threats.

Native American groups protested the stereotypes in the cartoon, with the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) calling the series “cultural genocide disguised as children’s entertainment” and organising boycotts and letter-writing campaigns. The Bureau of Indian Affairs also officially condemned the show.

“Pow Wow, the Indian boy, loves all the animals and the woods”

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