A Bugs Bunny Memorial Day

by El Destino

2001-05-28 01:57:55

Treachery

You can learn alot about World War II from movies. Apparently Hitler's number one enemy was Daffy Duck, whose efforts at collecting scrap iron were destablizing the Axis.

According to recently uncovered footage, Hitler addressed the patriotic salvage warden by launching a secret Nazi weapon -- a torpedo containing a jackass that eats tin cans. "Thaboteurs, I betcha!" Daffy spits.

Okay, it's no documentary, but to support the war effort, even Warner Brothers cartoon characters were drafted. With funny titles like "Tokio Jokio" and "The Ducktators," their animated military hijinx were meant to bolster morale on the home front and among soldiers overseas. "Axis ducks take over a barnyard," reads one plot description.

Sixty years later, a different generation can watch seven of these World War II-era cartoons in their entirety using technologies our grandparents never dreamed of. Feel the cultural vertigo as a half century of change slips away. Bugs Bunny sings "Any Bonds Today" wearing Jolson blackface makeup, and there's also "Bugs Bunny versus the Nips."

Many, many things happened in the forties, and among the complex vectors were scrap iron jokes and racial caricatures. But military confrontations pass, and the world changes -- leaving future generations pondering "Scrap Happy Daffy" and hopefully also reading some history books.

Check it out yourself

tunafish@pigdog.org