Made during WWII and shown to the troops, this Private SNAFU cartoon “It’s Murder She Says” has a definite purpose — to encourage Allied troops to use protection against mosquitoes. With the threat of malaria and other mosquito-born diseases prominent in the Pacific Campaign as well as elsewhere, this ‘toon was an important communication tool.

If you’ve never heard of him, 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 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 (P.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.

The goal was to help enlisted men with weak literacy skills learn through animated cartoons (and also supplementary comic books). They featured simple language, racy illustrations, mild profanity, and subtle moralizing. Private Snafu did everything wrong, so that his negative example taught basic lessons about secrecy, disease prevention, and proper military protocols.

Private Snafu cartoons were a military secret and for the armed forces only. Surveys to ascertain the soldiers’ film favorites showed that the Snafu cartoons usually rated highest or second highest. Each cartoon was produced in six weeks.

The name “Private Snafu” comes from the unofficial military acronym SNAFU – “Situation Normal: All Fucked Up.”

We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 — President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.”

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com