Philip Nel > Courses > English 710: Dr. Seuss (Spring 2012) > Short Films Written by Theodor Geisel / Dr. Seuss

Short Films Written by Theodor Geisel / Dr. Seuss

        Since I last taught this course, films that were once hard to find are now... easy to find. For your reference, I've collected a few of them here.

Private SNAFU (1943-1945)

Coming SNAFU | Gripes | Spies | Goldbrick | The Infantry Blues | Fighting Tools | Home Front | Rumors | Going Home | The Chow Hound | It's Murder, She Says...

Coming SNAFU (June 1943)

Directed by Chuck Jones, this brief clip introduces the Private SNAFU series, which were made by Theodor Geisel, Phil Eastman, Chuck Jones, and others. Individual authorship is not known, but Geisel is generally considered to be the author of the verse SNAFU films, and "The Home Front." He and Munro Leaf are believed to be co-authors of "It's Murder, She Says...." For more information, see my article "Children's Literature Goes to War: Dr. Seuss, P.D. Eastman, Munro Leaf, and the Private SNAFU Films (1943-46)." The Journal of Popular Culture 40.3 (June 2007): 468-87. <www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1540-5931.2007.00404.x> (Available to subscribers.)

Source of the above film is Archive.org.

Private SNAFU: Gripes (July 1943)

Directed by Friz Freleng.

Source of the above film is Archive.org.

Private SNAFU: Spies (Aug. 1943)

Directed by Chuck Jones.

Source of the above film is Archive.org.

Private SNAFU: The Goldbrick (Sept. 1943)

Directed by Frank Tashlin.

Source of the above film is Archive.org.

Private SNAFU: The Infantry Blues (Sept. 1943)

Directed by Chuck Jones

Source of the above film is Archive.org.

Private SNAFU: Fighting Tools (Oct. 1943)

Directed by Bob Clampett.

Source of the above film is Archive.org.

Private SNAFU: The Home Front (Nov. 1943)

Directed by Frank Tashlin

Source of the above film is Archive.org.

Private SNAFU: Rumors (Dec. 1943)

Directed by Friz Freleng.

Source of the above film is Archive.org.

Private SNAFU: Going Home (May 1944)

Directed by Chuck Jones.

Source of the above film is Archive.org.

Private SNAFU: The Chow Hound  (June 1944)

Directed by Frank Tashlin.

Source of the above film is Archive.org.

Private SNAFU: It's Murder, She Says (May 1945)

Directed by Chuck Jones, and probably co-written by Geisel and Munro Leaf, since it closely follows their anti-malaria pamphlet, This Is Ann.

Source of the above film is Archive.org.

Your Job in Germany (1945)

Written by Theodor Geisel and directed by Frank Capra. The basis for the Oscar-winning film Hitler Lives (1946).

Source of the above film is Archive.org.

Our Job in Japan (1945)

Written by Theodor Geisel and directed by Elmo Williams. Later adapted into the documentary Design for Death (1947)

Source of the above film is Archive.org.

Gerald McBoing Boing (1950)

Story by Dr. Seuss. Adapted by Phil Eastman and Bill Scott. Directed by Robert Cannon. Won an Academy Award in 1951.