They said the toons would never air again.
They were jingoist. Racist. A relic of a time long past.
And on Memorial Day, Cartoon Network is showing them all.
Or at least some of them. Saw an advert in the TV Guide. WWII Cartoons, Memorial Day. This should be fun!
This special was originally shown last 4th of July, and it’s a good one. The cartoons are shown in historical context, so all the now-politically incorrect caricatures are explained. Though no full anti-Jap cartoons are shown, there are a lot of clips, plus four full anti-Nazi cartoons.
WATCH how the cartoon stars supported the war effort at home!
SEE the Three Pigs fight Adolf Wolf in Tex Avery’s first MGM cartoon!
SAVE scrap metal with Daffy Duck as he avoids a Nazi goat in glorious black and white!
COVER YOUR EYES as Bugs Bunny dances Wagner-style with Joe Gobbels in the Black Forest!
and LAUGH as a bunch of gremlins from the Kremlins sabotage Hitler’s personal warplane!
It’s Toonheads: The Wartime Cartoons. May 26th at 9pm Eastern and Pacific on Cartoon Network. Don’t miss it!
Hey, they had Private SNAFU on a recent Toonheads episode - one that didn’t get run originally, I think, because it featured a new “bomb” that the gov’t felt was a little too close to a certain project they were working on at the time.
But anyone is invited to come over to my house anytime for a private screening of the subject cartoon, as well as other works that are now deemed “Too Hot for TV.”
There is just something so surreal about hearing Bugs say [I forget the exact situation], “There you go, slanty-eyes!” to one of the Japanese caricatures. Looking back, I’m amazed they even showed it when I was young (I’m only 30 now).
Just as an aside, ALL the Private SNAFUs (and the one Private TARFU) are available on a DVD from Bosko Video. I got mine at Borders Books. VERY worth getting (even if the bastards do watermark the cartoons in the corner)
For Canadian Dopers: The Movieola digital channel is showing a real grab bag of old cartoons, including a lot that I am truly amazed to see …old Warner Brothers, and a lot from miscellaneous studios that I had simply never heard of. I’ve seen “All this and Rabbit Stew” there for example, and “Little Black Sambo.” Well worth checking out for fans of old animation.
Help! I live in Mountain Time Zone, and my TV guide makes no mention of Cartoon Network showing these cartoons, and the Cartoon Network website doesn’t say what time they’re showing them in Central and Mountain Time Zones. Are they just not showing them for us!! Are we too unsophisticated? Waah, I wanna see 'em!
Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips and the others can usually be found on a file sharing program like Kazza or Morpheus. I recommend Morpheus of Kazza lite, the regular Kazza loads your computer up with spyware.
I got home in time to watch the last 45 minutes of it. I was surprised at how crude and unfunny the cartoons were. Was it really necessary to show five minutes of Hitler making a fool of himself talking faux German and then actually have a hand appear in front of him with a sign saying “Isn’t He Silly?” Whatever happened to letting pictures speak for themselves? There were a few instances of actual creativeness but for the most part, these propaganda pieces were so heavy-handed as to be almost unwatchable. No modern audience would sit through the equivalent, and I’m amazed that even in wartime 40s audiences would.