Coming!! Snafu

The first of a series of black & white cartoon shorts made for use by the U.S. Army during World War II. The shorts all centered on Private Snafu, an incompetent buffoon who shows soldiers what NOT to do in various situations. The shorts did not have to pass the Production Code so they were usually more risqué than what was allowed in theaters at the time. Mel Blanc did the voice for Snafu in all of them and the directing was handled by some of animation's best at the time. This first one was directed by Chuck Jones and is basically just about introducing the character of Private Snafu. We see how he ignores recommended procedures and daydreams of a curvy blonde stripping (my favorite part of the short!). It's a brief cartoon, clocking in at three minutes. But it manages to make an impact with some nice animation and racy humor.

You KNOW this animated short was made for the military guys, not for kids, when they tell you right in the beginning was SNAFU stands for.....well, almost. They hesitate of the f-word, shake the camera...and then say "fouled" up instead of what it really stands for, but you get the message. The explanation was there because this was the first of the "Pvt. Snafu" cartoons which had the purpose of giving a common-sense message to soldiers on how to behave during a tense war situation.

"Pvt. Snafu" is introduced as "the goofiest solider in the U.S. Army." Actually, as they explain here, he represents dumb soldiers, guys who mean well but "foul up" all the time. He used as an example of how NOT to do things. Mainly, he just dreams about naked women. (Well, I can't blame him on that one.)

There aren't really humorous, at least today, but they served a good purpose and they part of World War II history, even if in a very small way.

Coming!! Snarfu (1943)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This was the first film in a series of shorts that deals with Private Snafu, a rather dumb man who finds himself getting into various bad places in a variety of military branches. At less than three minutes there's really not too much to this film. It's serves as a good introduction to the character as we're basically just told that he's a member of the military who can't do anything right. From here we see a few examples. With such a short running time the film is certainly entertaining in its own way. The animation is good and there's some fun charm to be had including one wink/censor moment. Still, there's really no plot and nothing major here but we shall see what future entries have to offer.

This is the first appearance of WB's anti-war hero, Private Snafu.

It's only 3 minutes long.

So it's a little short for an actual Looney Tune short.

It's more of an advertisement/comical of the cartoon.

He's known as the worst solider of the US Army.

Snafu stands for "Situation Normal All Fowled Up" which fits perfectly in this character.

It also lists the names of the shorts that he's in as well.

I recommend this to those who want to know who Snafu is.

It's one of the best WW2 cartoons there was.

The Private Snafu series was composed of training films made by various animators, directors and writers working for the Warner Brothers animation department (I think MGM did a couple, but mostly it was the boys from Termite Terrace) and they revolved around the worst soldier in the Army. The name Snafu is derived from an acronym of the phrase, "Situation Normal-All Fouled Up" (this is the more socially acceptable variant) and quite aptly describes our "hero". This short serves as an introduction to the series, which was shown solely to the troops and is thus more risqué and the content quite often coarser and more colorful, like the standard version of the above-mentioned acronym. Excellent series well worth watching. Most recommended.