Daffy got more directly involved with the war in "Daffy-the Commando." Here, he goes up against villains who are very obvious bird Nazi parodies, including a nasty general who keeps abusing his diminutive but loyal underlying. Daffy wasn't the only one to take the Nazis head on, either. "Russian Rhapsody" introduces tiny, multi-colored "gremlins from the Kremlin" who sabotage the plane flown by none other than Hitler himself.
World War II was not the first time one of the Tunes fought for their country. "Bosko the Doughboy" takes on the Kaiser in Warners' earliest short to depict war battles. Despite one of his friends dying for his country, this short is largely more lighthearted than the 40's entries, with Bosko making music with machine guns and dodging snipers.
Headed out to work after "Bosko" ended. No trouble there. We were off-and-on steady, but never overwhelming. The weather helped a lot. This was the nicest day we'd had in almost a week. The sun was out when I arrived in the morning, and it was windy and much warmer, in the lower 70's. Even after the clouds rolled in, it remained warm, and it never rained. I suspect most people were either on vacation, or enjoying the weather at barbecues and picnics. I spent the entire time pushing carts and shelving cold items with no trouble whatsoever.
Went straight into the Match Game marathon when I got home and had dinner a few hours into the show. The men and women of the Armed Services did occasionally appear as contestants on the show. One pretty officer in 1976 turned up on Joey Bishop's first week. Another sweet female Naval private won big during the syndicated run. The first Armed Services member to appear in 1973 was a slightly bemused Army priest who came in for several religious jokes. One big Army officer in 1975 had such thick and wide winged eyebrows, Richard joked he could comb them over if he ever went bald.
They turned up even more often on the nighttime show. Eva Gabor one big money for an eager Air Force officer, but he was so happy to hug her, he accidentally broke her toe when he kicked it. Eva was very positive about it later and took it like a champ, though, saying she now had a cheaper pedicure. A handsome Naval officer appeared alongside a charming Israeli woman, but I'm not sure she really got the game all that well. The entire upper tier saluted a well-dressed Scottish officer after the contestants swung in. Jack Klugman spent an episode with a Navy captain complaining about not receiving gifts. The producers gave him a jacket...and then he proceeded to go crazy when the officer won, spinning the Star Wheel, running out in the audience, and sweeping the officer's beautiful fiancee off her feet!
The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour also had several Armed Services contestants. The most notable was the officer who played a young Butch Hartman (later creator of The Fairly Oddparents, among other cartoons), and the sailor who caught Leonard Frey's eye and made it to the second round.
No version of Match Game had more fun with the troops than Match Game '90. With the First Gulf War raging during most of the run, they had a whole week with Marines as contestants and in the audience. This coincided with the run of soap stars they had appearing on the show. Karen Whittier and Fiona Hutchinson of One Life to Live were wildly popular with the Marines, who cheered on everything they said or did. Sweet Karen proved to be more than a pretty face when she wrote a poem thanking the Marines with Charles Nelson Reilly and helped Marines wives win in the Head-to-Head twice in a row. Fiona spent the week flirting with Ronn Lucas and his dragon puppet Scorch.
Salute our men and women of the Armed Services with this wild Memorial Day Weekend marathon!
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