I was helping a friend with some Disney history research this weekend and stumbled upon this great WWII poster.

As David Lesjak explains in his seminal book Service with Character:

[In 1941, United China Relief, an organization was formed to aid the people of China, set a goal to raise five million dollars in donations. The Sino-Japanese War, which had started in 1937, caused untold misery for hundreds-of-thousands Chinese citizens who suffered under the yoke of Japanese occupation. The main purpose of United China Relief was to raise money to help ease the suffering of the displaced and sick, as well as aide wounded Chinese servicemen and guerilla forces fighting in the country’s northwest region.]

This DVD has just been released and I will definitely pick it up right away, if only because it contains a never-released-before Disney WWII short, but more importantly because of the 20-minute long short about the making of films at the First Motion Picture Unit, including the animation unit.

This just in from Garry Apgar. Does anyone know where thIs platter ended up?

Here is a WWII document spotted on ebay last week and which I had never seen before.

This just in from Gunnar Andreassen:

[The enlosed photos show Clarence Nash and his Donald Duck Doll. Since the doll wears a uniform, it must have been taken during WWII.

On one of the photos "Donald" is given a badge/pin, and as the photo is of very high resolution it was possible for my son to read on the badge: Father Duffy Canteen. When zooming in on the photo, I was able to read the same. See close-up scan.

Father Duffy was a well known person in New York, and probably also in the whole USA and there is a statue of him on Duffy Square. He was an American soldier and Roman Catholic priest - a military chaplain during WWI. and he died in 1932.

There's a large article about him on Wikipedia, a quote from this:

In the 1940s movie The Fighting 69th, Father Duffy is portrayed by Pat O'Brien.

This is what I found about Father Duffy Canteen on the web:

Having a little extra time on my hands I founded the Father Duffy Canteen, Inc., a group of 125 women who nightly with their ambulance canteens cover the water front and anti-aircraft bases of New York, serving the men on sentry duty. We average 60,000 servicemen and women a month, and have served over 1,250,000 since our inception. All food is prepared in Reuben's Restaurant and is financed by public contributions. There are no salaries in the Father Duffy Canteen. The drivers are the USAAC Emergency Corps men.

The Billboard, Dec. 25, 1943 (Probably by Alan Corelli, Executive Secretary, Theater Authority, Inc.)

New York, May 22. - Father Duffy Canteen, organized by showfolk and catering to local servicemen, is running a Canteen Ball next Saturday (29) night at the Hotel Astor. Harry Brandt is chairman of the arrangements committee.

The Billboard, May 29, 1943

My friend David Lesjak found a couple of newspaper items which show that Nash was in New York for three weeks in March 1943 doing what appeared to be a promo tour for Saludos Amigos. The other was from February 1942 and he was in Niagara Falls (on the American not Canadian side).

Even if "Donald" was given this badge, it doesn't necessarily mean that this was an event organized by Father Duffy Canteen, but it's not impossible. What seems pretty clear is that it did happen in New York. There's a New York photographer's stamp on the back of the photos.

Do any of the readers of your blog know anything about these photos, and possibly on what occasion they were taken - to share with us ?]

Dental Health (1945)

This just in from Florian (through Jim Korkis):

[I found your article called "The Whole Tooth: Disney and Dentistry". You mentioned there the film "Dental Health" (produced in 1945 for the U.S. Army). I wonder where you found the project number 7280? The film is now available online and the project number is 8-2096.

This information can also be found here.

Another note - the running time of the film is obviously not 8 minutes. I guess you have this information from Richard Shale's book "Donald Duck Joins Up", but Shale wrote in there: "Running times refer to Disney-produced footage and are sometimes not the total running time of the film."]

This just in from Jim Korkis:

[Here's an interesting link, especially for folks interested in Disney in World War II. Mickey Mouse, Popeye, Felix the Cat and other cartoon heroes in a 1944 propaganda cartoon.]

Note: This anti-American cartoon created under the Vichy regime in France is also featured on the excellent DVD, The Golden Age of Cartoons: Cartoons for Victory!.