Well it's clearly blackface, 100%. The lips, the wide smile. It's the typical cartoonish depiction of Black people at the time. That was the gag --> "Jerry f

Well it's clearly blackface, 100%. The lips, the wide smile. It's the typical cartoonish depiction of Black people at the time. That was the gag --> "Jerry falls into shoe dye and now he's a negro." Incidentally, another favorite of mine from the 40s --The Spirit comics by Will Eisner-- also feature a character with the cartoon black face: huge lips, etc. Unfortunately, that limits the exposure the comics will get with modern audiences.