“Hell-Bent for Election,” a political animation for the 1944 presidential election, funded by the United Auto Workers, promoting President Franklin D. Roosevelt (the fast express train) over Republican oppontent Thomas Dewey (the tired old steamer). Voters are encouraged not to “fall asleep at the switch.” It’s also a “win the war” message.
Directed by Chuck Jones and written by Robert Lees, with music by Earl Robinson and lyrics by E.Y. “Yip” Harburg. Narrated by Marvin Miller. The is the first production of United Productions of America (UPA), made in founder Zack Schwartz’s apartment. UPA made training films during WWII, won Academy Awards for its post-war theatrical cartoons, and later transitioned to television. UPA was active up through the 1970s.
During the night of March 9–10, 1945, the U.S. Army Air Force conducted “Operation Meetinghouse,” the firebombing of Tokyo. It was the most brutal air operation of World War II, more destructive than the bombing of Dresden, the London Blitz, Hiroshima, or Nagasaki. Estimates suggest the firestorm caused by American bombs killed 80,000 to 100,000 civilians in that single night. Some one million people were left homeless.
Major General Curtis LeMay had assumed command of the Japanese home islands air war in January 1945, and rejected the strategy of precision bombing of military and industial targets in favor of the carpet bombing of civilian areas. Older readers may be familiar with LeMay’s name. He tried to institute the same type of wholesale civilian destruction during the Vietnam Conflict.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt passed Executive Order 9066 in February 1942, two months after Japan bombied Pearl Harbor. It empowered the US army to incarcerate 120,000 Japanese Americans in concentration camps during World War II.
In March 1942 the government created a new department, the War Relocation Authority, and hired photographers to document “resettlement” and life in the “relocation” camps, possibly to complement the work of the WRA’s Community Analysis Section. One of those photographers was Dorothea Lange, who had documented dustbowl migrants and other rural Americans for the Farm Security Administration. The WRA photographs were surpressed until 1972.
Dame Vera Lynn died yesterday at the age of 103. The singer, actress, and radio personality is best known for her 1939 recording of “We’ll Meet Again,” written by Ross Parker and Hughie Charles, a signature song of Britain in World War II. Not a bad anthem for the pandemic crisis quarantine, either.
More:
“Vera Lynn, Singer Whose Wartime Ballads Lifted Britain, Dies at 103,” Lawrence Van Gelder, New York Times
“Obituary: Dame Vera Lynn, a symbol of resilience and hope,” BBC News
“Umbriago,” written by Irving Caesar and Jimmy Durante, performed by Mr. Durante in a clip from the 1944 movie Music for Millions. Umbriago is apparently a happy-go-lucky character in Italian folklore.
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