Rumors

During WWII, various artists from the different cartoon units (such as Looney Tunes, Disney and Walter Lanz) all gave their time to the war effort by working on training films (among other things) meant only to be shown to the soldiers. Because of this, the cartoons were not in color but DID have some colorful content...such as swearing and sex jokes! I can only assume that folks thought that if the young men were old enough to die or kill, they were more than old enough for some bawdy humor.

"Rumors" is one of the more effective installments of Private Snafu. It's all about how stupid rumors morph and do much damage to morale. And, it's all begun with our favorite idiot, Private Snafu, listens to an unfounded rumor and begins passing it through camp. Very well made and enjoyable even today....more than 70 years later.

Very entertaining Private Snafu cartoon made for use by the U.S. military during World War II. This one's directed by Friz Freleng with a script by Dr. Seuss and Phil Eastman. Here we see Snafu learn a lesson about gossiping and the unintended impact it can have. He takes one comment from another G.I. about "bombing weather" and tells it to another, changing the meaning and tone of the original comment to something more sinister. Then that soldier tells another, who tells another, and so on, with each telling growing more and more exaggerated until the final result is a widespread panic about a Japanese invasion of the U.S. It's a fun short, possibly the best in the whole Snafu series, with lots of wacky Dr. Seuss touches and great black & white animation. The scene where Snafu is chased up a telephone pole is terrific stuff.

Rumors is a memorable entry in the wartime series of instructional cartoons starring "Private Snafu." The films were aimed at servicemen and were directed, animated and scored by some of the top talent from Warner Bros.' Termite Terrace, including Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones, and Carl Stalling. The invaluable Mel Blanc supplied the voice for Snafu, and the rhyming narration for many of the films was supplied by Theodor Geisel, i.e. Dr. Seuss. The idea was to convey basic concepts with humor and vivid imagery, using the character of Snafu as a perfect negative example: he was the dope, the little twerp who would do everything you're NOT supposed to do. According to Chuck Jones the scripts had to be approved by Pentagon officials, but Army brass also permitted the animators an unusual amount of freedom concerning language and bawdy jokes, certainly more than theatrical censorship of the time would allow -- all for the greater good, of course.

As the title indicates, this cartoon is an illustration of the damaging power of a rumor. The setting is an Army camp. Private Snafu sits next to another soldier in the latrine (something you won't see in any other Hollywood films of the era) and their casual conversation starts the ball rolling. We observe as an offhand remark about a bombing is misinterpreted, then exaggerated, then turned into an increasingly frightening rumor that sweeps the camp. The imagery is indeed vivid: the brain of one anxious soldier is depicted as a percolating pot, while the fevered speech of another is rendered as steamy hot air, i.e "balloon juice." A soldier "shoots his mouth off," cannon-style, and before you know it actual baloney is flying in every direction. Winged baloney, at that. Panicked soldiers tell each other that the Brooklyn Bridge has been pulverized, Coney Island wiped out, enemy troops have landed on the White House lawn, and the Japanese are in California. The visuals become ever more surreal and nightmarish until at last the camp is quarantined for "Rumor-itis" and Private Snafu has been locked up in a padded cell.

This is a highly effective piece of work. The filmmakers dramatized their theme with wit and startling energy, and the message is still a valid one. In recent years we've seen that catastrophic events (real or imagined) can breed all kinds of wild rumors that spread more rapidly than ever, thanks to advances in mass communication. Because the technology has improved, the Private Snafus of our time are able to broadcast their own balloon juice via e-mail, cellphones and blogs. Consequently, Rumors is a rare example of a World War II era educational film with a message that doesn't feel at all dated; in fact it may be more timely than ever.

Friz Freleng's 'Rumours' is an excellent Private Snafu cartoon that warns against spreading panic-inducing rumours during wartime. Produced, as were all the Snafu shorts, to be shown to military audiences as entertaining instructional films, 'Rumours' is extremely imaginative and crams tons of ideas into its very brief lifespan. When Snafu starts a rumour about a bombing, it escalates into an eventual rumour that America has lost the war. This is illustrated brilliantly by way of a long, rubbery piece of baloney and several strange, fictional creatures who come back to haunt Snafu with ever more terrible news about his country's military. 'Rumours' is inventive, fast paced and funny, all of which help to overshadow the rather laboured, "don't badmouth the military" message. It stands up as one of the best of the Private Snafu shorts.

Once when I was in college and we had an international fair, the Russian section had a Soviet-era poster saying "Ne boltay!", meaning "Don't gossip!". I "translated" it for the "generation" of TV watchers as "Don't be Gladys Kravitz!" (in reference to the nosy neighbor on "Bewitched").

However, when you see the result of gossip in the Pvt. Snafu short "Rumors", you see that it's not quite a laughing matter. In this case, the perpetually witless soldier overhears something about bombing and immediately assumes that the Axis Powers have attacked the United States. So, he tells it to someone, who tells someone else, who tells someone else, and it continues. As in "The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming", the story gets blown more and more out of proportion each time, so that when it gets back to Snafu...well, you know what I mean! Yes, it's mostly WWII propaganda - complete with a derogatory term for the Japanese - but I have to say that the Pvt. Snafu shorts were actually quite funny. Of course, since they had Dr. Seuss writing and Mel Blanc providing the voices, it's no surprise that these came out rather cool. Worth seeing.