Doing Their Bit

by Shull, Michael S.; Wilt, David E.

• ISBN13: 9780786415557
• ISBN10: 078641555X
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-01-01
• Publisher: McFarland Publishing

Summary

The golden age of animation stretched from the early 1930s to the mid-1950s, with movie cartoons reaching an extraordinarily high level of artistry and technique--far higher than today's TV cartoons, for instance. Nearly 1000 cartoons were produced by the seven major animation studios in the U.S. between January 1, 1939, and September 30, 1945--the immediate pre-World War II period up to the cessation of hostilities. More than a quarter of the cartoons substantially refer to the war, and thereby are invaluable in helping to understand American attitudes and Hollywood's reflection of them. The meat of Doing Their Bit is a filmography with extremely detailed summaries of the 260 or so commercially produced, animated, war-related shorts, 1939-1945. There is also a good bit of overall commentary on these films as a group. Two chapters wrap up animated cartoons of World War I and the general political tenor of animated talkies of the 1930s. This edition also includes a new chapter on the outrageous government-sponsored Pvt Snafus.

Author Biography

Film historian and media propaganda specialist Michael S. Shull is an adjunct faculty member of Frederick Community College. He has formerly been a lecturer at Towson University and Mount St. Mary's College. David E. Wilt is a librarian at the University of Maryland in College Park

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Preface to the Second Edition	1	(2)
1. Not for Kids Only	3	(14)
2. Moving Lines Behind the Lines: Cartoons of World War I	17	(11)
3. Animated Talkies During the 1930's: A Political Overview	28	(8)
4. Meet John Doughboy: 1939-1941	36	(4)
5. All Out for V: 1942	40	(15)
6. Seein' Red, White 'n' Blue: 1943	55	(13)
7. Slow Fade on the Home Front: 1944-1945	68	(12)
8. The Adventures of Private Snafu, or, How to Laugh at the Military While Learning What Not to Do	80	(10)
9. That's All, Folks!	90	(3)
Filmography	93	(114)
Private Snafu Cartoons	187	(16)
Mr. Hook Cartoons	203	(4)
Appendix A. War-Related American Cartoons	207	(1)
Appendix B. Frequency of Selected Topical References (All Cartoons)	208	(2)
Appendix C. War Relevancy	210	(1)
Appendix D. Featured Characters	211	(3)
Appendix E. "Ambiguous" List	214	(3)
Appendix F. Selected War-Related Commercial Animated Shorts: 1915-1918	217	(4)
Notes	221	(6)
Bibliography	227	(4)
Text Index (to page numbers)	231	(5)
Filmography Index (to entry numbers)	236