Both have little arms and feet. It takes 32 drawings for the two to leap frog, animated one per frame in a cycle. Unfortunately, the graph background doesn’t match at the start of each cycle, so we can’t put together a repeating version. Instead, you can see all 32 drawings below. There’s some slight movement, then a stretch up and down again.
The cartoon is copyright March 1, 1949. The music cues by former Disney composer Paul Smith are copyright September 26, 1949. This is one of the Sutherland cartoons MGM put on its release schedule, with a date February 4, 1950.
The first showing of the cartoon we can find so far was on July 26, 1947 at a meeting of the Batesville, Arkansas Lions Club at which members were warned about the bogey-man of socialism, “now the accepted philosophy in many sections of the United States,” according to a report on the event the next day in the Batesville Guard. The message of the cartoon is if Joe wants a raise, he’d better be a more productive worker, otherwise prices will jump to keep up.
The capitalist propaganda short made immediately before this, Meet King Joe was also screened.
There are no credits on the short. Bud Hiestand is the narrator, Frank Nelson plays a couple of characters, but I haven’t been able to identify the voice of Joe.
My vote for the best of these famous supply-side tilted economics lessons. Great animation, clever and often quite funny. In explaining inflation this one is just a tad less old school Republican than other cartoons from the studio - even if it lays the responsibility for increased productivity squarely on the shoulders not management. Love that gum chewing shop girl!
ReplyDeleteThis is the animated equivalent of Industry on Parade, where Peter Roberts voiced those little messages that the only way to stop inflation was for workers to increase productivity. As for business (meaning "America"), it would thrive if the government left it alone and cut taxes (resulting in fewer government services).
Delete