A Guide to the Good War, Cartoons

Cartoons

Warner Brothers

1. Brother Brat, 1944: AA 035 Warner Brothers; A musclebound female defense worker at Blockheed recruits Porky Pig to watch her kid, but Porky is no match for little Butch, even though the pig follows the suggestions of a book, Child Psychology. Discipline returns when Mom comes home from her shift.

2. Bugs Bunny (Bond Rally), 194?: AC 311 Warner Brothers; Opens to Bugs dressed as a revolutionary soldier playing his carrot like a flute. He does a song and dance to sell war bonds, joined by Elmer Fudd and Porky Pig.

3. Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips, 1944: AA 041 Warner Brothers; Somewhere in the Pacific, Bugs, floating in a crate, lands on an island filled with Japanese soldiers. Bugs takes on all comers, disguised as the "Good Rumor Man."

4. Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs, 1943: AA 053 Warner Brothers; This blackface parody of Disney's Snow White includes a wicked queen who hoards sugar, coffee, tires, and scrap metal and seven dwarfs in army uniforms.

5. Conrad the Sailor, 1942: AA 055 Warner Brothers; On a large battleship leaving port, Conrad the cat is swabbing the deck. Daffy Duck comes along and causes him all sorts of grief.

6. Crazy Cruise, 1942: AA 064 Warner Brothers; A travelogue spoof including a Japanese vulture menacing cute bunnies, who fight back with heavy artillery.

7. Daffy the Commando, 1943: AA 073 Warner Brothers; Daffy Duck parachutes into Nazi territory taking on Kommandant Von Vulture and his lackey, Schultz, and finally hitting Hitler in the head with a mallet.

8. The Draft Horse, 1942: AA 086 Warner Brothers; A farm horse goes down to the draft board to enlist but is classified 44-F and sent home.

9. Draftee Daffy, 1945: AA 087 Warner Brothers; Daffy Duck is fully behind the war effort until he is drafted. The man from the draft board attempts to deliver his notice as Daffy frantically avoids him, even by hiding in Hell. Unfortunately for Daffy, the devil is the man from the draft board in disguise.

10. Falling Hare, 1943: AA 098 Warner Brothers; Bugs Bunny battles an orange gremlin intent on sabotage at an airfield. A horrible crash is avoided when the plane's ration of fuel runs out.

11. Fifth Column Mouse, 1943: AA 103 Warner Brothers; A trio of mice are singing and floating on a bar of soap. A cat bursts in and uses trickery to catch and enslave the mice. The mice build a mechanical bulldog and defeat the cat.

12. The Fighting 69½, 1941: AA 104 Warner Brothers; A couple is having a picnic in a peaceful forest. Red ants are on one side and black ants on the other. Both sides declare war over the picnic goodies.

13. Foney Fables, 1942: AA 108 Warner Brothers; Spoofs of children's storybook characters, including a grasshopper who buys war bonds, a fifth-columnist wolf in sheep's clothing, a goose who lays aluminum eggs for war production, and a Mother Hubbard who hoards.

14. Goldilocks and the Jivin' Bears, 1944: AA 119 Warner Brothers; This is the story of Goldilocks and the three black bears, who are jazz musicians, mixed with Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. Because Red is busy working at Lockheed, the wolf turns his attention to Goldilocks, who wears him out with her dancing.

15. Herr Meets Hare, 1945: AA 148 Warner Brothers; Bugs Bunny encounters "Fatso" Goering in the Black Forest while trying to get to Las Vegas. Bugs taunts the Nazi, who captures him and takes him to Hitler, but Bugs gets the last laugh disguised as Stalin.

16. Hollywood Canine Canteen, 1946: AA 167 Warner Brothers; This is the familiar Hollywood USO club except that film stars and famous musicians are depicted as dogs, such as Hairy James, Lionel Hambone, and Boney Goodman.

17. I Got Plenty of Mutton, 1944: AA 175 Warner Brothers; A wolf on the home front must scramble when his meat allowance is cut. Unfortunately, the sheepdog has joined the WAGS to enforce rationing.

18. Jack Wabbit and the Beanstalk, 1943: AA 187 Warner Brothers; This is the familiar story of Jack and the giant with Bugs Bunny playing Jack's part. The trouble begins when Bugs is caught harvesting the giant's victory garden.

19. Little Red Riding Rabbit, 1944: AA 204 Warner Brothers; Grandma is busy working at Lockheed in this war-era version of the story, so when Red tries to deliver Bugs as a present, the wolf has two victims to chase. Red winds up the loser.

20. Meatless Flydays, 1944: AA 211 Warner Brothers; A housefly is buzzing near the ceiling. On a table below a spider plans his trap. The warfare that ensues contains references to Japanese suicide planes, civil defense, and food rationing.

21. Nasty Quacks, 1945: AA 224 Warner Brothers; A daughter's pet baby duckling has grown into Daffy, who is driving her father insane. Dad tries to eliminate the duck in a number of imaginative ways. At one point Daffy is on the verge of leaving but remembers the government's wartime ban on nonessential travel.

22. Of Thee I Sting, 1946: AA 231 Warner Brothers; A battalion of mosquitoes is shown training for its mission, taking off from a sardine-can aircraft carrier, attacking and defeating a well-defended farmer, and then crash landing in the water.

23. Plane Daffy, 1944: AA 244 Warner Brothers; The alarm is raised at carrier pigeon headquarters when Pigeon 13 goes AWOL with a female Nazi spy bird to whom he reveals all his secrets. Daffy volunteers for the next mission but has to swallow his secret message when Hatta Mari corners him as well. She X-rays the duck and broadcasts the secret ("Hitler is a stinker") to Hitler, Goering, and Goebbels.

24. Rookie Revue, 1941: AA 032 Warner Brothers; Begins on a billboard reading "Join the Army." A narrator announces: "Let's join the army for a day." We are off to Fort Nix to observe army life, which consists of a series of gags and mistakes ending in the destruction of headquarters by friendly fire.

25. A Russian Rhapsody, 1944: AA 259 Warner Brothers; Hitler is furious that another squadron of planes has failed to reach Moscow. Hitler flies a plane to Moscow himself to find out what's happening, and the "gremlins from the Kremlin" stop him.

26. Super-Rabbit, 1943: AA 290 Warner Brothers; The cartoon begins as a Superman parody. A narrator describes how Bugs became the Super-Rabbit by eating a vitamin-enriched carrot. His adventures as Super-Rabbit are chronicled but end abruptly when Bugs becomes a real Superman--a U.S. Marine.

27. The Swooner Crooner, 1944: AA 292 Warner Brothers; Production drops at Flockheed Eggcraft Factory when the hens leave their posts to hear Frankie, a crooning rooster, sing. Porky Pig stages a contest to find a singer to encourage production. This ends with a singing duel between a Crosby rooster and Frankie that produces mountains of eggs.

28. A Tale of Two Kitties, 1942: AA 293 Warner Brothers; Two cats, based on Abbott and Costello, chase Tweety Bird. When one cat dons wooden wings, Tweety alerts the air-raid warden, who has the cat shot from the sky.

29. Tin Pan Alley Cats, 1943: AA 299 Warner Brothers; A Fats Waller cat visits the Kit Kat Club, where a hot jazz version of "Nagasaki" sends him to Wackyland, complete with Hitler, Stalin, and Japanese enemies. He runs from the club to join the Uncle Tomcat Mission band.

30. The Unruly Hare, 1945: AA 313 Warner Brothers; Elmer Fudd the surveyor plans to build a railroad track right over Bugs's hole. Bugs retaliates. Eventually the railroad is constructed, but civilians are reminded of the government's wartime ban on unnecessary travel.

31. The Weakly Reporter, 1944: AA 324 Warner Brothers; This newsreel parody covers home-front activities during the war. The Statue of Liberty and the presidents on Mt. Rushmore are air-raid wardens, and there are references to rationing and women doing industrial war work.

Popeye

32. Blunder Below, 1942: AA 358 Popeye; On the bridge of a navy ship, the captain is teaching the sailors how to work a gun. Popeye is not as quick as the others and has his troubles firing the gun, but he ends up sinking a Japanese submarine.

33. Fleets of Stren'th, 1942: AA 385 Popeye; Popeye scrubs the deck of a navy ship while reading a Superman comic. An officer orders him to load a mosquito boat. Suddenly, they are attacked by planes and Popeye rescues the ship.

34. Happy Birthdaze, 1942: AA 401 Popeye; A V-mail truck is at the wharf next to a navy ship. On board all the sailors are reading their mail, except one, who is so depressed that he tries to kill himself. Popeye stops him and invites him to Olive's. Olive gives Popeye a cake for his birthday. The sailor gets into all sorts of trouble.

35. A Hull of a Mess, 1942: AA 411 Popeye; Opens to a government official giving Popeye and Bluto plans for a ship. The first one to build the ship will get the military contract. The race is on.

36. The Hungry Goat, 1943: AA 412 Popeye; A goat is starving because all scrap metal is being used for the war effort. Spying a navy ship, he begins to munch, and Popeye tries to stop him.

37. A Jolly Good Furlough, 1943: AA 430 Popeye; Popeye is in the South Seas fighting the Japanese. He is given leave to return home. But at home Olive is too busy for him, and his nephews make life so hectic that he goes back to the war.

38. Many Tanks, 1942: AA 445 Popeye; Bluto is in the army. He tries to get past the guard at the gate but has no luck. Along comes Popeye, who changes places with him. Popeye gets stuck on maneuvers while Bluto is at Olive's.

39. Mess Production, 1945: AA 448 Popeye; Bluto and Popeye are working in a factory, and each tries to be the first to ask out Olive, the new girl on the job.

40. Olive Oyl and Water Don't Mix, 1942: AA 463 Popeye; On a navy ship, Popeye and Bluto swear off women. Then Olive comes on board for a tour.

41. Ration for the Duration, 1943: AA 503 Popeye; Opens in a Spinach Victory Garden. Popeye is planting spinach everywhere. His nephews are picking up worms to go fishing. Popeye tells them the tale of Jack and the Beanstalk and then takes a nap and dreams of the giant as a hoarder of rationed home-front supplies.

42. Scrap the Japs, 1942: AA 510 Popeye; Popeye is punished for doing things the wrong way onboard ship. The ship is suddenly attacked by the Japanese, and Popeye scrambles up in an airplane to fight them.

43. Seein' Red, White, 'n' Blue, 1943: AA 512 Popeye; Bluto is at work shoeing a horse. The mailman comes along with Bluto's draft notice. He tries several ploys to get out of serving and complains to the draft board, constituted by Popeye. Finally, he tries to hurt himself, but he gains a sense of patriotism in the end.

44. Service with a Guile, 1946: AA 513 Popeye; A large yellow car carrying an admiral pulls up at Olive's Service Station. At the same time, Popeye and Bluto arrive on a twenty-four-hour pass. They want to take Olive rowing in the park, but she must service the car first. They try to help but they cannot stop trying to best each other. It's the admiral's car that suffers.

45. Spinach for Britain, 1943: AA 524 Popeye; A small Allied ship is sunk by a German sub. While looking for other targets, the sub comes upon Popeye bringing a ship full of spinach to Britain. The fight is on.

46. Spinach Packin' Popeye, 1944: AA 526 Popeye; Popeye donates at the local blood bank, and later that night he fights Bluto and loses, but it's only a dream.

47. You're a Sap Mister Jap, 1942: AA 556 Popeye; Popeye is on patrol in the Pacific. He finds a Japanese fishing boat that is really a warship in disguise. After some setbacks, Popeye triumphs.