Private Snafu
Private Snafu is the title character of a series of black-and-white American instructional cartoon shorts, ironic and humorous in tone, that were produced between 1943 and 1945 during World War II. The films were designed to instruct service personnel about security, proper sanitation habits, booby traps and other military subjects, and to improve troop morale.
The series was directed by Chuck Jones and other prominent Hollywood animators, and the voice of Private Snafu was performed by Mel Blanc.
Background
The character was created by director Frank Capra, chairman of the U.S. Army Air Force First Motion Picture Unit, and most were written by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel, Philip D. Eastman, and Munro Leaf. Although the United States Army gave Walt Disney the first crack at creating the cartoons, Leon Schlesinger of the Warner Bros. animation studio underbid Disney by two-thirds and won the contract. Disney had also demanded exclusive ownership of the character, and merchandising rights.
'Private Snafu' is featured as a movie character in the following productions:
Toonheads: The Lost Cartoons (2000)
Actors: Henry Binder (actor), Mel Blanc (actor), Mel Blanc (actor), Mel Blanc (actor), Mel Blanc (actor), Mel Blanc (actor), Mel Blanc (actor), Mel Blanc (actor), Mel Blanc (actor), Mel Blanc (actor), Mel Blanc (actor), Treg Brown (actor), Robert C. Bruce (actor), Arthur Q. Bryan (actor), Tex Avery (actor),
Genres: Animation, Documentary,It's Murder She Says... (1945)
Actors: Mel Blanc (actor), Robert C. Bruce (actor), Bea Benaderet (actress), Sara Berner (actress), Marjorie Rambeau (actress), Edward Selzer (producer), Dr. Seuss (producer), Phil Eastman (writer), Dr. Seuss (writer), Carl W. Stalling (composer), Chuck Jones (director), Treg Brown (editor),
Genres: Animation, Short,Operation Snafu (1945)
Actors: Mel Blanc (actor), Mel Blanc (actor), Edward Selzer (producer), Dr. Seuss (producer), Phil Eastman (writer), Dr. Seuss (writer), Carl W. Stalling (composer), Friz Freleng (director), Treg Brown (editor),
Genres: Animation, Short,A Few Quick Facts: Inflation (1944)
Actors: Mel Blanc (actor), Phil Eastman (writer), Dr. Seuss (writer), Osmond Evans (director),
Genres: Animation, Comedy, Short, War,A Lecture on Camouflage (1944)
Actors: Mel Blanc (actor), Mel Blanc (actor), Mel Blanc (actor), Mel Blanc (actor), Robert C. Bruce (actor), Leon Schlesinger (producer), Dr. Seuss (producer), Dr. Seuss (writer), Carl W. Stalling (composer), Chuck Jones (director), Treg Brown (editor),
Genres: Animation, Short,Fighting Tools (1943)
Actors: Mel Blanc (actor), Mel Blanc (actor), Mel Blanc (actor), Mel Blanc (actor), Leon Schlesinger (producer), Dr. Seuss (producer), Phil Eastman (writer), Carl W. Stalling (composer), Robert Clampett (director), Treg Brown (editor),
Genres: Animation, Short,Quotes:
[last lines]::[Snafu is a prisoner-of-war]::Nazi soldier: Oh, like all careless gents / He winds up behind fence / Snafu is the war's greatest zero.Nazi soldier: [Private Snafu points a tank at him] Oh now I'm sunk I am thinking!::Mouse: Oh you're perfectly safe I am thinking, it's musty and dusty and mighty damn rusty!
[first lines]::Pvt. Snafu: Oh, I'll be the war's greatest hero / With these guns I have nothing to fear-o / My guns are the best / They can pass any test / Oh, I'll be the war's greatest hero.
Pvt. Snafu: Oh, I'm the world's best fighting machine-o / The Nazis will learn what I mean-o / My wonderful guns / Will murder the bums / And I'll bury them in the latrine-o.
[Pvt. Snafu rams his gun muzzle into the Nazi soldier's rear end]::Pvt. Snafu: Stick 'em up, or I'll blow your brains out!
Nazi soldier: That rifle looks a bit gooey / If you think I am scared you are screwy / Go on, fire away, buck / You're guns full of muck / And nothing comes out but just hooey.
Spies (1943)
Actors: Mel Blanc (actor), Mel Blanc (actor), Mel Blanc (actor), Mel Blanc (actor), Leon Schlesinger (producer), Dr. Seuss (producer), Phil Eastman (writer), Dr. Seuss (writer), Carl W. Stalling (composer), Chuck Jones (director), Treg Brown (editor),
Plot: The doltish but self-confident and self-congratulatory Private Snafu is in possession of a military secret during World War II. Over the course of the day, spouting rhymed couplets, he divulges the secret a little at a time to listening Axis spies. He tells his mom some of the secret when he calls her from a phone booth; the rest he spills to a dolly dolly spy who plies him with liquor. Snafu's loose lips put himself at risk.
Keywords: careless-talk, carrier-pigeon, devil, drunkenness, educational-film, ephemeral-film, explosion, female-spy, floral-microphone, germanGenres: Animation, Comedy, Short, War,
Quotes:
Snafu: I just learned a secret, it's a honey, it's a pip. But the enemy is listening, so I'll never let it slip. 'Cause when I learn a secret, boy, I zipper up my lip![last lines]::Snafu: Now who in hell do you s'pose it was that let my secret out.::Hitler as the Devil: Vat vas zat I herd you zay, my little zouerkraut?::Nazi Devils: He vonders who the hell it vas who let his secret out?::[Hitler holds up a mirror in front of Snafu]
Snafu: It's a cinch to keep a secret, if a feller just takes care.::Moose Head: He's zailing on a troop ship, now vee gotta find out vere!
The Draft Horse (1942)
Actors: Mel Blanc (actor), Mel Blanc (actor), Mel Blanc (actor), Leon Schlesinger (producer), Tedd Pierce (writer), Carl W. Stalling (composer), Chuck Jones (director), Treg Brown (editor),
Genres: Animation, Comedy, Family, Short, War,