The “Private SNAFU” Collection

Private Snafu is the title character of a series of black-and-white American instructional cartoon shorts produced between 1943 and 1945 during World War II.  The character was created by director Frank Capra, chairman of the U.S. Army Air Force First Motion Picture Unit, and most were written by Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel, Philip D. Eastman, and Munro Leaf.  Although the United States Army gave Walt Disney the first crack at creating the cartoons, Leon Schlesinger of the Warner Bros. animation studio underbid Disney by two-thirds and won the contract.  Disney had also demanded exclusive ownership of the character, and merchandising rights.  Nel (2007) shows the goal was to help enlisted men with weak literacy skills learn through animated cartoons (and also supplementary comic books). They featured simple language, racy illustrations, mild profanity, and subtle moralizing. Private Snafu did everything wrong, so that his negative example taught basic lessons about secrecy, disease prevention, and proper military protocols.

 

Private Snafu cartoons were a military secret—for the armed forces only. Surveys to ascertain the soldiers’ film favorites showed that the Snafu cartoons usually rated highest or second highest. Each cartoon was produced in six weeks, compared to the six months usually taken for short cartoons of the same kind.  (Source: Wikipedia)

Warner Brothers Shorts

Coming!! Snafu  (1943)

Director Chuck Jones

Gripes  (1943)

Director Friz Feleng

Spies  (1943)

Director Chuck Jones

The Goldbrick  (1943)

Director Frank Tashlin

The Infantry Blues  (1943)

Director Chuck Jones

Fighting Tools  (1943)

Director Bob Clampett

The Home Front  (1943)

Director Frank Tashlin

Rumors  (1943)

Director Friz Freleng

Booby Traps  (1944)

Director Bob Clampett

Snafuperman  (1944)

Director Friz Freleng

Private Snafu vs. Malaria Mike  (1944)

Director Chuck Jones

A Lecture on Camouflage  (1944)

Director Chuck Jones

Gas  (1944)

Director Chuck Jones

Going Home  (1944)

Director Chuck Jones

The Chowhound  (1944)

Director Frank Tashlin

Censored  (1944)

Director Frank Tashlin

Outpost  (1944)

Director Chuck Jones

Pay Day  (1944)

Director Friz Freleng

Three Brothers  (1944)

Director Friz Freleng

Target: Snafu  (1944)

Director Friz Freleng

In the Aleutians – Isles of Enchantment  (9145)

Director Chuck Jones

It’s Murder She Says  (1945)

Director Chuck Jones

Hot Spot  (9145)

Director Friz Freleng

No Buddy Atoll  (1945)

Director Chuck Jones

Operation Snafu  (1945)

Director Friz Freleng

Shorts by Other Studios

Few Quick Fact: Inflation  (1944)

Director Osmond Evans – UPA Studios

Few Quick Facts: USS Iowa (1944)

MGM Studios

A Few Quick Facts about Fear  (1945)

Dierctor Zack Schwartz  Studio UPA

Seaman Tarfu  (1946)

Director Hugh Harman  Harman-Ising Studio

 

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.