Lunchbox Lecture: Cartoons for Victory - Walt Disney in World War II

Hello everyone!  It may be freezing cold outside, but here at the Memorial we are gearing up for all the wonderful events we have planned for the public this year.  It gives me great pleasure to announce the first of our lunchbox lecture series—Cartoons for Victory: Walt Disney in World War II.  During the course of the hour, we will look at the link between Hollywood and the government in the 1930s and 1940s, the growth of the Walt Disney Company, and, most importantly, explore the five different veins Walt Disney used to create animated shorts during World War II. 

Out of the Frying Pan; Into the Firing Line

Walt Disney once stated “Animation can explain whatever the mind of man can conceive.  This facility makes it the most versatile and explicit means of communication yet devised for quick mass appreciation.”  Using the medium of animation in conjunction with other forms of propaganda coming from the government during World War II, reinforced the same ideas of national unity and victory.  For my study at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, I analyzed 35 animated shorts and 1 full length film produced by Walt Disney Studios from 1941-1946.  Based on the message of the film and the intended audience, I divided them into five distinct categories: military, psychological, home front, instructional, and educational. 

The Spirit of '43

Through the use of personality development—which is type casting for animators—Walt Disney was able to quickly create these animated shorts (by quickly, I mean the studio was going through the entire production process in a month in certain cases).  For instance, Mickey Mouse was created as the hero.  You won’t see him causing any trouble, and in all 36 of the animated films I analyzed, he is only seen once in a photograph in his military uniform.  One the other hand, Donald Duck was created as the comic foil to Mickey.  He is the character and the star of many of these shorts.  Walt Disney once stated that using Donald in a cartoon was akin to using stars like Humphrey Bogart or Clarke Gable.  By the time the United States was involved in World War II, Donald was also well-known in American society.  

To hold you over until next week, I present to you the 1943 animated short Education for Death. This animation was based on the work of Gregor Ziemer Education for Death: The Making of a Nazi.  Throughout this psychological film, we follow the life of Hans, a young German boy, as he grows up and is indoctrinated with Nazi ideas.  We see the psychological undertones of nature versus nurture in this dominating state which young children were being raised. 

I hope to see you all at the Bedford Welcome Center on January 28, 2014 at Noon for the exciting beginning to our lecture series.  Be sure to bring your lunch and any questions you may have on the topic! 

Until next time,

Felicia 

*To learn more about this topic, visit our previous post Disney Goes to War. 

Walt (center) showing drawing of Mickey Mouse gas mask to Colonel Baker and Colonel Fisher; January 1942

It's then you'll see the Gremlins...

Gremlins (n)…a mischievous invisible being, said by airmen in WWII to cause engine trouble and mechanical difficulties

WWII Veterans Photo of the 388th Heavy Bomb Group

Hello everyone!  This week we are going to take a little detour to look at a lighter side of history by talking about gremlins.  Not the ones that you do not want to get wet or ever feed after midnight, but the little gremlins found in British folklore and in WWII.  What could gremlins possibly have to do with WWII? 

For one, these little guys and gals were blamed for mechanical issues in airplanes.  These creatures were handy, but they liked to play pranks on people.  With all the new planes of WWII, pilots had to learn many new things – enter the gremlin to explain situations that we had a hard time explaining.  These became so popular that author Roald Dahl, a WWII RAF fighter pilot, was commissioned by Walt Disney to write a book about gremlins.  Dahl took on this task while he was recovering from a crash.  Intending to turn the book into a film, Disney began the illustrations that brought gremlins to life.  However, the films were canceled and in 1943 The Gremlins was published.  The book features many gremlins including Gremlin Gus and Fifinella.  This book was much loved by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her grandchildren. 

Throughout the war, we see instances of these gremlins with British pilots.  To the left is a piece of mail from a pilot to his girlfriend in November 1943.  The ambition of the gremlin is to come to England and join the land army!  The other image is mascot and good luck charm of the 482^nd Bomb Group.  He rode along on bombing runs to bring luck to the crew. 

The most famous of gremlins is Fifinella.  When the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) was initiated in 1943, they asked Walt Disney if they could use the female gremlin as their official mascot.  He agreed and Fifinella could be seen on the patches these pilots wore. 

I hope you have enjoyed our look into gremlins.  Until next time, I will leave you with this little poem published in RAF bulletins during the war as a warning about the gremlins. 

This is the tale of the Gremlins
As told by the PRU
At Benson and Wick and St Eval-
And believe me, you slobs, it's true.

When you're seven miles up in the heavens,
(That's a hell of a lonely spot)
And it's fifty degrees below zero,
Which isn't exactly hot.

When you're frozen blue like your Spitfire,
And your scared a Mosquito pink.
When you're thousands of miles from nowhere,   

And there's nothing below but the drink.

It's then that you'll see the Gremlins,
Green and gamboge and gold,
Male and female and neuter,
Gremlins both young and old.

It's no good trying to dodge them,
The lessons you learnt on the Link
Won't help you evade a Gremlin,
Though you boost and you dive and you jink.

White one's will wiggle your wing tips,
Male one's will muddle your maps,
Green one's will guzzle your glycol,
Females will flutter your flaps.

Pink one's will perch on your perspex,
And dance pirouettes on your prop,
There's a spherical middle-aged Gremlin,
Who'll spin on your stick like a top.

They'll freeze up your camera shutters,
They'll bite through your aileron wires,
They'll bend and they'll break and they'll batter,
They'll insert toasting forks into your tyres.

And that is the tale of the Gremlins,
As told by the PRU,
(P)retty (R)uddy (U)nlikely to many,
But a fact, none the less, to the few.

~Felicia

Disney Goes to War

With everyone visiting Walt Disney World this spring break, and I mean everyone (including myself, my extended family, and thousands of other families), we thought it would be nice to bring a little Disney to the rest of y'all sitting at home.  Since I'm out of the office, my colleague Felicia is our guest blogger.  Enjoy!  - Megan

From the desk of Felicia:

This topic is one that is near and dear to me, since I spent the bulk of my graduate school career studying and writing about this for my thesis.  This post is designed to give you little bits of information on what Disney was doing during WWII. 

Walt Disney had several different responsibilities over the course of the war.  One that we are probably most familiar was the use of Fifinella, a female gremlin, as the official mascot of the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots).  Disney had developed this character for Richard Dahl for use in his work The Gremlins.  Members of WASP asked if this image could be used as their mascot and Disney agreed, changing the design slightly to better be suited for WASP needs.

In 1939, Disney had begun construction on his Burbank studios.  Completed in 1940, the original soundstage (known today as the Fantasia Stage) was repurposed during the war as an area where army vehicle were repaired. 

Finally, we come to what I think is one of the most interesting aspects of the Walt Disney Company during the war – the development of propaganda and informational films.  Like other Hollywood producers at the time, Disney believed that film should have an integral role in molding the public opinion of the war efforts.  Unlike the other producers, Disney moved from the battlefields and worked to create an animated short that was more tangible to the public viewing the film. 

Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck had been well established personalities by 1941 and the public was able to connect with their character.  It was Donald, not Mickey who was the star of the Disney Studio in 1930s and 1940s.  The first film produced by Disney in the US in WWII was The New Spirit.  Secretary of Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr. meet with Walt Disney on December 17, 1941 to discuss the production of a short animation that would explain to the audience the importance of paying taxes on time.  Donald was chosen to be the protagonist because Disney had just a few short weeks to create this film – a process which generally took eight months to a year!  Released in January 1942, this animated short would have been seen by millions of people in over 12,000 studios by the March 15^th tax deadline.  Donald would go on to star in twelve additional films produced for the war effort.

Other films produced included instructional films used by the military to teach specialized training, and in military factories to instruct workers on skills such as the methods of flush riveting (View here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyXEjn7f330).  Additionally, Disney released four “psychological” animations, such as the 1943 film Education for Death, which became one of the most popular Disney films produced during this time period.  Based on the book by Gregor Ziemer, this film took more of a psychological look at the development of a young German into a Nazi party member. 

The Disney Company participated in the war effort in a variety of ways, but one thing is certain, Walt Disney made sure everything he produced was educational, informative, entertaining, and promoted national unity in victory over the Axis powers.

All of the Disney Company’s WWII productions can be found on YouTube or as part of the War Disney Treasures DVD collection. 

Suggested sources for this topic:

-       Learning from Mickey, Donald, and Walt: Essays on Disney’s Edutainment Films, A. Bowdoin Van Riper. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. 2011.

-       Shale, Richard. Donald Duck Joins Up: The Walt Disney Studio During World War II. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1982.