WWII Cartoon Art
HOST: During World War II, millions of Americans went to work in battlefields and factories, while some surprising volunteers worked their magic at home. NARRATOR: Commando Duck, here are your orders. Yes, sir. HOST: Studios like Disney, Warner Brothers and Paramount used the star power of popular characters to help rally Allied forces to victory. Roadshow landed in the World War II hangar of the Commemorative Air Force, Minnesota Wing, to look at some cartoons in combat. So a lot of studios did their part in the war effort in World War II. But we're focusing on what Disney did. Why Disney?
APPRAISER:
Number one, Disney historically is one of the hottest areas collecting. Secondly, Disney was very, very important in the war effort.
HOST: In this first piece, we see Donald Duck certainly doing his part for the American and Allied forces, throwing a tomato in Hitler's eye.
APPRAISER:
This first piece is a piece of sheet music which was done for a Disney short called Der Fuehrer's Face. And it had a very catchy tune with the same name, "Der Fuehrer's Face."
NARRATOR: ♪ When Der Fuehrer says we is the master race ♪..♪ We heil... ♪
APPRAISER:
It's a cartoon where Donald plays a miserable, reluctant Nazi, only to wake up realizing he's been in a horrible nightmare.
HOST: It sounds like a horrible nightmare.
APPRAISER:
It was for Donald.
HOST: Let's take a look at this next piece, which has a similar image, but this is a different publication. What is this?
APPRAISER:
Well, this is a Disney Dispatch. This was a publication that was sent out to people who worked for Disney Studios during the war effort all around the globe. The newsletter brought them up to date, let them know what was going on at home and in the Disney world itself.
HOST: Was this a dispatch that went out weekly or monthly? How many of these could there have been?
APPRAISER:
Well, this was a one-time issue, Mark, and obviously they didn't issue that many, because there was a limited number of Disney employees serving in the military throughout the globe.
HOST: What would be the value of the sheet music?
APPRAISER:
There were quite a number of these done. It's a fairly easy thing to find if you wanted to purchase it. However, in this condition, this looks like it just came off the presses. I would probably estimate that at auction somewhere between $50 and $75. The newsletter I'd put a much higher value on, and for auction purposes, I'd say $500 to $750.
HOST: I see. Let's move on to these examples here, sort of a grouping. Tell me about this.
APPRAISER:
This is an example of insignia art. And during the Second World War, around 1943, Disney was receiving so many requests for artwork, and to use their characters for arm patches, for the military nose art, that they put one of their best artists, Hank Porter, on to handle all these requests and work with the studio artists in creating these military patches. This particular one is a mechanical engineer's patch, the top piece being a very, very complete sketch rendition of the patch they were going to use. And below it you have the actual patch that's leather-made and was handcrafted in Italy. This was all part of the Disney effort to help the War. There were no licensing fees charged, and they could use any of the characters they wanted. This is a character from Pinocchio. It was Lampwick, and he was one of the tough boys that wound up on Pleasure Island drinking, smoking cigars and shooting pool, naturally to a bad end.
HOST: Yeah, they all turned into donkeys, if I remember correctly.
APPRAISER:
Exactly, as did Pinocchio start to turn into a donkey as well.
HOST: So in addition to being on the patches of the mechanics, it was probably in the nightmares of many young boys who saw Pinocchio.
APPRAISER:
Well, I'm sure it was, absolutely.
HOST: So what would you say the value would be for these?
APPRAISER:
At auction, I would definitely keep them together. And as a package, I wouldn't hesitate to estimate them between $2,500 and $3,500.
HOST: Well, it's great to see Disney's effort during World War II, and I appreciate your effort for us.
APPRAISER:
It's great seeing you as always, Mark.
HOST: Thank you.
Appraisal Details
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