Dr Seuss Goes to War

(Dr. Seuss profile with two of his books.) Inpho: 'You probably know Dr. Seuss for his kid's books. Ones like Cat in the Hat or Green Eggs and Ham.'
(Dr. Seuss looking up at an image of war and the nazis.) Inpho: 'What you might not know is that, before his legendary career in children's lit, Dr. Seuss worked for the United States Army fighting against the Nazis! He served during WWII in the Information and Education Division, writing instructional cartoons and movies they made for the soldiers.'
(A movie theatre showing a movie to a group of soldiers.) Inpho: 'Dr. Seuss wrote scripts for these movies and cartoons that were designed to instruct and educate young soldiers, many of whom were as young as 18 years old.'
(Inpho in his podcast studio.) Inpho: 'Hello and welcome to the podcast. Today we're talking about Dr. Suess! How did this WWII film producer go on to become one of the world's most beloved children's writers? And joining us know to help out with our discussion, please welcome to the studio...'
(Inpho and Dr. Seuss in the podcast studio.) Inpho: 'Dr. Seuss! Thanks for coming on the podcast!' Dr. Seuss: 'Happy to be here, Inpho.'
(Inpho and Dr. Seuss in the studio.) Inpho: 'So can you tell us about how you got started making cartoons during the war?' Dr. Seuss: 'Sure, well, I was a fairly established cartoonist at the time, and the army was looking for cartoonists. So I signed up.'
(A famous loony tune character in front of a WWII recruitment poster.) Inpho: 'Hold on. The army was looking for cartoonists?' Dr. Seuss: 'They were. In fact, the Warner Brothers were there working for them, too.'
(Inpho and Dr. Seuss in studio with cartoon images circling them.) Inpho: 'Wow! You worked with the guys who made Loony Tunes?' Dr. Seuss: 'Yep. They animated and produced all the cartoons I wrote for the army.'
(Inpho and Dr. Seuss in studio.) Inpho: 'But why was the army interested in you guys in the first place? Why cartoons?' Dr. Seuss: 'Well, in preparing for the war, the army needed a way to mass educate and train their men. Not only with how to use the equipment, but a kind of behavioural and mental training as well.'
(Kid mesmerized, sitting in front of the TV.) Dr. Seuss: 'They believed that animated films were the best way they could accomplish this.'
(Line up of Inphos, smart version, average version, and below average version.) Dr. Seuss: 'You see, recruits into the army at the time all had very different levels of education. A lot of them didn't even know how to read.'
(Teacher blabbing in front of a class, all the students asleep.) Dr. Seuss: 'They needed a way to educate and influence these soldiers in a way that could work across all educational levels, and that wouldn't also bore them all to death.'
(Soldier investigating a comic book.) Dr. Seuss: 'In the 1920s and 1930s, comics were becoming very popular, and the U.S. Government's Office of War Information was investigating their potential use as a vehicle for propoganda.'
(The Hollywood Hills and a few buildings below.) Dr. Seuss: 'Their investigation led them to create the Information and Education Division stationed in Hollywood -- where I worked. My job was to help write and produce films for the army.'
(Inpho, Dr. Seuss, and images from the Private SNAFU cartoon.) Inpho: 'And the movies you made were all cartoons?' Dr. Seuss: 'Not all of them, but the cartoon series, Private SNAFU, was one of our main projects. SNAFU taught the importance of protecting military secrets and that you shouldn't get too distracted by beautiful women.'
(Dr. Seuss at the drawing board, writing and drawing the SNAFU stories.) Dr. Seuss: 'Making those films was a massive education for me. I learned a lot about how to write, how to use rhythm and rhyme, and how to make words and pictures work together to create stories.'
(Inpho and Dr. Seuss in studio.) Inpho: 'So... then you took everything you learned about writing propoganda cartoons for the army and used it to write books for children?' Dr. Seuss: 'Well, it's a bit more complicated than that.'
(Dr. Seuss at the microphone.) Dr. Seuss: 'The war affected us all very deeply. After it ended, I believed very strongly that in order for something like this to never happen, the next generation had to grow up to be more intelligent than ours.'
(Childlike Inpho reading a children's book.) Dr. Seuss: 'I also believed that a child's mind was the best place to go in order to grow the imagination, and the vision, that could change the next generation for the better. In fact, I would even go so far as to say that...'
(Dr. Seuss profile above his two most famous books.) Dr. Seuss: 'Books for children have a greater potential for good, or evil, than any other form of literature on earth.'
(Inpho and Dr. Seuss in studio.) Inpho: 'Wow. That is a profound statement. And, speaking of books, I was hoping we could end by having you do a short reading from one of your books?' Dr. Seuss: 'Why certainly!'
(Dr. Seuss reading from his book.) Excerpt from On Beyond Zebra's: 'In the places I go there are things that I see that I never could spell if I stopped with the Z. You'll be sort of surprised what there is to be found once you go beyond Z and start poking around. So on beyond Zebra! It's high time you were shown that you really don't know all there is to be known.'
(Inpho and Dr. Seuss in studio.) Inpho: 'Wow! Thanks so much for doing this, Dr. Seuss!' Dr. Seuss: 'It was my pleasure, Inpho.'