Release Date:

October 25, 1941

Main Character(s):

None

Summary:

Spot gags on military life.

That’s Not All, Folks:

This is the very first time on this blog where a post for a cartoon is published on the same day it was released (October 25).

Henry Binder is caricatured as a soldier.

The cartoon is in the public domain.

The $32 question is a reference to the radio quiz show “Take It or Leave It”.

What I Like About This One:

Soldiers are heard snoring to the tune of “You’re in the Army Now”.

The bugler is shown to have a rather easy job: his cuckoo dressed in a soldier uniform wakes him up with a quiet version of Reveille that only he can hear. The bugler then inserts a coin in a jukebox that plays all sorts of bugle calls. After he selects “Reveille”, he then goes back to sleep.

A midget soldier resembling Elmer Fudd initially comes out in just his underwear.

As the soldiers do a count-off with each saying 1, 2, 3, or 4, a dopey one can’t remember his number (how he even got accepted into the Army is a mystery). The soldier next to him tries to help him out by whispering “4” but the general says, “Now now. No coaching, please!” The dopey soldier finally remembers to say “4”. The general asks him if he wants to try for the $32 question. The dopey soldier decides he’d better take the 16 dollars instead (animated by Gil Turner).

At the mess hall, three soldiers are seen eating sloppily before the soldier who is a caricature of Henry Binder notices the audience and silently tells the other two to show their manners while “machine gunners” down their food like machine guns firing. (animated by Richard Bickenbach)

After marching a considerably long distance, the Infantry are very tired by the time they pass a “Next Time Try the Train” billboard (Carl Stalling appropriates this by having the music slow down to show their tiredness).

The “camouflaged troops” are shown to be invisible.

A few “substitutes” are used for training practice. One example is the “machine gun” where one soldier moves a wooden stick around and imitates machine gun-like noise while another says “Bang” over and over again. Another is “tanks” being old jalopies as well as a Good Rumor Ice Cream truck. But the biggest insult is for the parachute troops. A pilot jumping out of a plane pulls on the cord for his parachute but he instead opens a piece of paper that simply reads “Parachute” as he continues falling.

Pursuit planes engage in an aerial game of Tic Tac Toe with their planes’ smoke.

The last gag is an extended one where the army’s largest gun is given specific coordinates by the general at his headquarters as he transfers this information to a radio operator who then tells this to the two men operating the gun. The end result blows up the general’s headquarters! Amidst the wreckage and with a black eye, the general sighs, “I’m a bad general!”; a reference to Lou Costello’s “I’m a bad boy!” (animated by Turner).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕