Animated American Patrol

First of all, I'd like to salute our troops on this Memorial Day, including my biological father Bruce (Vietnam), my late uncle Ken (World War II), and two who are currently in the Navy, my friend Jen Waters and my brother Keefe.

Second, I ran my annual Memorial Day marathon of wartime cartoons all day, starting during my late breakfast. Woody Woodpecker debuted in 1940 and quickly became by far the biggest star at Walter Lantz' studio. The war years were perfect for his wacky, noisy personality. "Ace In the Hole" has him desperate to become a pilot, but he ends up shaving horses. He doesn't exactly make himself popular with his sergeant when he finally does get up in the air! Lanz also made several one-shot wartime shorts. Despite its rather heavy African-American stereotypes, "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B" features a really swinging version of the title tune and is one of the few wartime shorts to depict minorities in the military. "Pigeon Patrol," the tale of a country bumpkin bird who becomes a hero, is a bit more typical of the era.

I got to the laundromat around 11:30. I assumed a lot of people would want to get their laundry done on their day off, but the place was quiet for almost the entire hour I was there. I had no problem getting my small load done as I listened to President Obama make a speech on the radio, then the French Open.

When I got back in, I put my laundry away, had a quick lunch of leftovers, and ran the "Donald Duck in the Army" shorts. Woody wasn't the only cartoon bird who became a star in the brash early 40s. Donald's popularity had begun in the mid-30s, but the war years made him Disney's number-one animated shorts star. Like Woody, he was desperate to fly - "Donald Gets Drafted" and "Sky Trooper" shows why he wants to get in the air, and what happens when he finally does. My personal favorite, "The Vanishing Private," has Don as a camouflage painter who finds a way to make a gun - and himself - really hard to see! The surreal Oscar-winning "Der Fuherer's Face" puts Donald inside Germany as the Nazis' demands nearly drive him loonier than he already is.

"Commando Duck," the eighth and final Donald army short, takes him into Japan, where he proceeds to "wash out" the enemy. Like the Popeye wartime shorts, the nasty Japanese stereotypes makes this a tough watch today, and it goes without saying that it doesn't turn up that often outside of the Walt Disney Treasures DVD sets. Audiences weren't all that amused, either. By 1944, many folks on the home front were tiring of the constant reminders of war and just wanted to get away from it all. Walt saw that, too.  Evidently, Disney planned far more wartime shorts than actually made it out, including several more on Donald's Army exploits and "How to be a Commando" for Goofy.

Work was very busy when I got in, quiet as a mouse when I finished. It was a beautiful, sunny, warm-but-not-hot day and a major holiday. Once the traffic on the Black Horse Pike settled down and people got home from the Shore, that was that. I was in and out with no problems other than spending the last two hours or so very bored.