The Good Egg

This is a cute little WWII propaganda film that was made with American servicemen in mind. It is a cute little cartoon that extols the virtue of investing your monthly stipend in war bonds. Since it was not intended to be seen by the general public but only by servicemen, there are two things you'll notice. First, to save money, unlike other Warner Brothers cartoons, this one is in black & white--a money-saving maneuver. Second, as impressionable children wouldn't see it, the jokes are a tad risqué--at least by WWII standards. There are lots of hints at sex--which makes a lot of sense considering the soldiers were no doubt preoccupied with it!

The film consists of cute Mr. Hook's conscience (in the form of a cute devil and angel) arguing about the reasons to not invest or invest in war bonds. Considering the film was commissioned by the US Navy (and made by Warner Brothers), take a guess which wins this argument?!

This is the second Mr. Hook cartoon. There are several differences: Like instead of the Walter Lantz Studio producing this, it's the Warners one with Chuck Jones directing. Instead of Georg O'Hanlon, Mr. Hook here is voiced by Arthur "Dagwood" Lake. And instead of color, this one is in black and white. This one has a devil and angel debating in Mr. Hook's dreams about the worthiness of war bonds. Pretty funny with the familiar Carl Stalling music throughout. Lake made these cartoons between a one and a half year hiatus during the Blondie movie series. This voices he employed here didn't sound too different from his Bumstead voice. So on that note, The Good Egg is worth a look for any animations buffs out there.

This wartime animated short tells of the value of a person holding onto their War Bonds.

Navy seaman "Mr. Hook" is minding his own business in his bunk aboard ship with a little devil wakes him up and asks why he's wasting his money holding onto the bonds. He should cash them and have a good time. Well, the "angel" pops up, tells Mr. Hook what nonsense that is, and the two little imaginary "voices" begin duking it out. A speech from the victor follows.

This is one of those WWII messages produced by the U.S. Navy. You know it had a lot more meaning back then; now it's a little piece of history or maybe nostalgia for some who can remember this kind of cartoon message. I saw it as one of the added features on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume Five DVD set.