I am fascinated by the propaganda animated shorts that Warner Brothers Studios turned out solely for U.S. Armed Forces consumption during World War II. These are like weird dream versions of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck cartoons -- you have the same directors, the same gags, the same voices (Mel Blanc and others) -- but you also get swearing, sex and bathroom humor. Mark Evanier has been featuring some of the PRIVATE SNAFU cartoons on his blog, and these have been available on home video (albeit not-well-publicized home video) pretty much since home video began. But here, he features a MR. HOOK short, the parallel series made for the Navy. Purportedly, Dr. Seuss was involved in writing the PRIVATE SNAFU cartoons, and Hank Ketchum (later known for DENNIS THE MENACE) worked on the Mr. Hook ones.
Warning: For those not up on their history, this short came out while the U.S. was at war with Japan; and racial stereotypes of Japanese people were not only acceptable, but a mark of patriotism. Thus, this cartoon features quite blatant and offensive stereotypes.
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