Private Snafu

Private Snafu is a series of black-and-white American animated instructional short films produced by the First Motion Picture Unit between 1943 and 1945 during World War II. The main character's name is a play on the military slang acronym SNAFU, "Situation Normal: All Fucked Up" (often minced as "All Fouled Up"). He is depicted as an incompetent soldier whose misadventures are intended to instruct service personnel about security, proper sanitation habits, booby traps and other military subjects. The series' animation was primarily outsourced to Warner Bros. Cartoons, producers of the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series. The character was created by director Frank Capra, chairman of the U.S. Army Air Force First Motion Picture Unit, and most shorts were written by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel, Philip D. Eastman, and Munro Leaf. Although the United States Army gave Walt Disney Productions the first crack at creating the cartoons, Leon Schlesinger Productions underbid Disney by two-thirds and won the contract. Disney had also demanded exclusive ownership of the character and merchandising rights, but in the end was forced to use Donald Duck or produce individual propaganda films. Snafu was designed by Art Heinemann, the same man who would soon redesign Woody Woodpecker for Walter Lantz Productions.