Johnny Smith & The Poker-Huntas





Johnny Smith & The Poker-Huntas is a cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series directed by Tex Avery and written by Rich Hogan, and released by Warner Bros. on October 22, 1938. It stars Egghead as Johnny Smith, a caricature of the colonist Captain John Smith, who arrives on the Mayflower to be met by some sarcastic Native Americans as he makes his escape with Poker-Huntas, a caricature of Pocahontas, and makes off to England with her to raise a family.

In reality, the cartoon contains many historical goofs apart from the anachronisms normally expected in such a deliberate farce. The real Captain Smith, who arrived in present-day Virginia in 1607, was totally unconnected with the Mayflower, which disembarked at Massachusetts Bay in 1620. No actual romance ever existed between him and Pocahontas, who married John Rolfe. But it is unclear whether the cartoon depiction displayed confusion on Hogan's part or whether it was a deliberate distortion of history.